“Hello?” he answered on the first ring. It was only ten p.m. there, so I didn’t think I’d be wakinghim.
“Arch,” I said with relief. It was so good to hear hisvoice.
“Linda! Oh, God, you’re okay!” He began tosob.
Oh, they really were worried. “Don’tcry!”
“I can’t help it,” he said. “We were about to send helicopters up there, blizzard be damned. We’ve been on the phone with the local police every couple of hours since your plane landed and you didn’t text us. We tried your phone, pinged all your accounts, and none of them showed alocation.”
“I’m so sorry, Arch.” I fought back tears of my own. “I was so tired, and I broke my phone, and I wanted to get to my patient’s house. Then I wrecked, and these guys rescued me, and their internet wasout.”
“Slow down,” he said. “Hang on, let me texteveryone.”
I waited patiently. I could hear him whispering what I’d told him to Ellie. They were probably inbed.
“I’m safe, that’s what’simportant.”
He laughed. “I’m so beyond happy to hear your voice. I’m coming to get you,” hesaid.
“No, you’re not. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m safe, and they’re taking care ofme.”
“Who is ‘they?’ ” Archasked.
I could hear Ellie’s voice in the background. “Arch, don’t give her the third degree. She says she’ssafe.”
“Okay, Linny. Once the blizzard lets up, can you get back to theairport?”
“I don’t know,” Isaid.
Ellion must have been able to hear Arch through the phone. “We can get you to the airport, if that’s where you want to go.” He soundedsad.
I smiled athim.
“Yeah, big brother. I’ve got a way to the airport. Make sure everyone knows I’m okay, wouldyou?”
He agreed, and I promised I’d call him again in themorning.
After we hung up, I logged in to my cell phone cloud and got my boss’snumber.
She was also glad to hear my voice. “Your brother has threatened to sue me into the nextcentury.”
I laughed and planned to murder him when I saw him. “He’s a lawyer, so of course that’s where his mind goes first. But I have no desire or need to sue, Ipromise.”
The other nurse had stayed with my patient, and she’d sent someone to go sit with the ailing mother. Everyone was okay in the end. I promised to keep her up to date on my situation and travelplans.
I opened my email and sent a mass message to my family, detailing what my Alaskan adventure had been like. Once everyone was up to date, I grabbed Ellion and gave him a big hug. “Thank you,” I said. “I feel so much better knowing they’re not worryinganymore.”
While I’d spoken to my family, Chandler and Griffin had been busy setting up a room for Hunter to be heldin.
“It’ll be maybe another day before they get out to us. And we’ve been able to notify all the appropriate authorities now that the internet is back.” Griffin explained what would happen to Hunter after they joined us in the computer lab. “He’ll be tried in Tennessee, where the fire was. But he’s a Grenèvian citizen, not an American. I think he’ll be extradited to Grenève where they’ll probably kill him. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have him drawn and quartered.” He looked a little too excited by theprospect.
“That’s gruesome—do they even still do that?” I asked, and he shrugged. “But, if the Grenèvian people loved Amanda as much as you say they did, they may demand something horrible.” I went along with his thought process because I felt like he needed to believe Hunter would be dealt with harshly, but I was sure that Grenève wouldn’t allow such a horrificpunishment.
“Will they plow the roads?” I asked. “When’s the snow supposed to letup?”
“According to the radar,” said Ellion, “it alreadyhas.”
I rolled my chair over to the window to look, and he wasright.
