After the longest day of her life, Megan was happy when the night fell on the island and Colonel Packard decided to stop the march until the next morning. Meg was exhausted. They had walked kilometers, not in the best conditions, and she was out of shape. She lay on the wet grass and stretched her legs. Her quadriceps throbbed and her feet ached as if she had spent a whole night dancing in high heels.
The soldiers rushed to mark a perimeter and mount a guard. The Colonel had decided to settle the camp in an open field. Only in the distance were hills visible. It was a good idea to avoid surprise attacks, but with nothing over their heads, the cold of the night and the dew threatened to make their bones ache.
A few meters from Megan, where the terrain was more arid, they had lit a bonfire. Packard had sat in front of it and watched the flames with lost eyes. Meg observed him and realized that the man was fine-tuning his plan.
«If I had the guts,» she thought, «I would make my way alone on this island.» But the memory of the spider was still fresh. Those purple eyes would chase her for a long time. She felt some footsteps around her and her pulse quickened. But it was just Randa. The man passed by and occupied a tree trunk in front of the fire on the opposite side of Packard.
From where she was, Meg could not see Randa's face, but she could hear both men clearly.
"Colonel Packard..." Randa started. "This mission to the crash site is folly. I understand going after your man, but the rest of it... This is beyond us"
Packard took his eyes away from the fire and nailed them in Randa. If they were deadly weapons, everything at several meters around would have died instantly. Packard was furious.
"You don't like the way I'm running things? You know where the door is" the Colonel spoke without raising his voice; but there wasn't doubt, he had made his mind about how to proceed. "You set this in motion when you put this place on the map. And I will not cut and run. I know an enemy when I see it"
A chill ran through Megan's body. It was getting cold, and the Colonel's tone of voice made it worse.
Cole passed by and placed his army jacket over Megan shoulders.
"You should get closer to the fire" told her.
"Thanks" said she and moved her shoulders up and down, weighing the jacket. It was heavy and was made of a stiff moss green fabric. It felt like a shield. Meg ran her arms through the sleeves and a salty scent came to her nose. It made her think of Slivko. She flexed her legs, hugged them, and rested her forehead on her knees. «Please, be safe» she prayed.
When she looked up, the colonel was walking away from the campfire. She stood up and went closer to it. She stretched out her arms and let the heat of the flames warm his palms, it was a pleasant sensation. Then she embraced her body and sat on the tree trunk that Packard had been occupying.
Randa watched her silently. She could feel his eyes on her, but she did not bother to return the courtesy. She did not feel like talking to him; their last talk had made a mess in her head.
"So..." Randa tried to start a conversation. "Is he more than a friend?"
"I won't talk with you about that" she cut him off without removing her eyes from the fire.
"Fair enough" Randa said more to him than to her.
"You can't expect that after all this time I just sit here and talk to you like if you never gone" Megan snapped.
"I know" the man said and gently smiled at her.
She turned her eyes to the fire again.
"I'm really sorry," Randa said for lack of anything better, stood up and turned to leave her alone.
Meg looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and when she saw him standing up and turning around, something stirred inside her.
"We are not together" she confessed "not anymore..." Meg had no clue what was pushing her to talk to him. A day ago, she would have bitten her tongue before sitting down to chat with him, but now... "I guess I've become really good at letting people go," she said trying to sound funny, but she really felt that way.
Randa looked at her and took some steps closer to the fire.
"What about letting them in?" he asked and put his hands near the flames to warm them up.
Meg stabbed him with a look.
"I mean, I heard you two talking before we launch... he was trying" Randa said with a suggestive look.
"Yes, well, maybe it was too late" Meg defended herself. Then, the memories of the night before came to her mind and the cold seemed to increase. She closed her eyes and pictured Slivkos's arms surrounding her.
"Now maybe... but then...I don't think so" continued Randa.
"Jeez. Thank you. Now I feel better" Meg told him, coming out of her dreams.
"I mean... I wanted to say... that you, that both of you..." Randa tried to explain himself without much success.
Meg smiled.
"I know what you tried to said" she told him. "I... kinda agree..."
Randa smiled, sight, and sat down.
Meg kept contemplating the fire. The flames danced at a mute music, releasing sparks that, like fireflies, rose in the air and disappeared. They were ephemeral. In a second they were there and then, no longer.
"Why did you leave?" she suddenly asked. That question had choked her for years.
Randa took a deep breath and took his time to answer. He seemed to weigh the words that crossed his mind in search of the most appropriate.
"I... have to do this" he finally said referring to his organization, MONARCH. "I know it can be hard to understand but... there are calls that must be answered. This was mine."
Randa accentuated the words of the last sentence in an attempt to sound fearless. But Megan did not believe him much. He had a hunched back and sagging shoulders. "The call" seemed more like a heavy burden.
"I don't get it," she said surrendering. "It seems that you are convinced that you do us a favor when you leave us out of your lives ... but, that is not how it feels. At least not for me."
"I'm sorry" Randa said.
Meg shook her head. She wasn't looking for an apology.
"This guy..." told her Randa.
"Reg," Megan said and noticed how her cheeks flamed when she named him.
"He is really lucky"
Meg laughed out loud.
"Thank you" she said making herself proud. "That's better!"
On the other hand, Slivko and the rest, had spent the whole afternoon trying to fix the boat that Marlow and his mate, Gumpei, had built. It was made with the remains of Marlow's P-51 and Gumpei's old Zero. They had called it "The Grey Fox" and Marlow claimed it floated. But, even though they had worked for hours, they had not managed to get it going.
That night, Slivko had no trouble falling asleep. Although the situation was strange, fatigue had taken over his body and mind; the only thing that retained his strength was his heart. Far from despairing, Slivko was excited. Fixing things was another of his passions. That night, he fell asleep reviewing the design of the engine and rehearsing on his head everything he could do to get the boat on going.
The next morning, it was just a matter of putting his ideas to the test. With a little effort, the group managed to put the boat in gear and by mid-morning they were already sailing north.
Slivko had settled on the roof of the boat. From there he had a wider view of the terrain that extended to one side and another of the river. His eyes were attentive and his ears alert. He was holding the radio between his feet. He would have given everything to hear Meg's voice coming out of the device.
But nothing happened and despair reappeared in Slivko's mind. He jumped from positive to negative thoughts in a matter of seconds. First he was convinced that he would find Meg behind any tree or rock. Immediately, he remembered how stupid he had been and told himself that he did not deserve her. Then, he thought about how much he loved her and all the times that they had spent together. And later, he went back to reviewing how she must have felt when he did not answer her letters. What had led him to act that way? He could not find a satisfactory answer anymore.
"I got a wife." Marlow said speaking with Conrad and Weaver. "Had a wife. Have a wife? Guess I don't know anymore..."
"She definitely thinks you're dead, man" Slivko said. Marlow's comment had caught him in a bad mood.
"Hey! You don't know that" told him Conrad. "You'd be surprised how long people wait" said addressing Marlow.
"Truth is I don't expect her to be waiting. I'd be fine either way. I just want one last chance to see her. That'd be good enough for me."
«Amen!» thought Slivko. At the end, knowing that she was fine was all that he wanted.
"Fox five, come back. Is there anyone out there?" Mill's voice came out of the radio.
Slivko's heart beat hard and he hurried to answer. He almost dropped the radio and fell of the roof by the rush.
"Hey! This is fox five. We hear you. We're on a boat headed up north on a river"
"A boat? What kind of boat?"
"It's more of, like a plane than a boat, really. Let's call it a ploat. We're on a ploat"
"We need their location, Slivko" Conrad hurried him
"Hey! Send up a flare so we can find you!"
"Roger that, Fox five" said Packard taking the lead. "Fire in the hole!"
The flare rose among the trees casting a red smoke.
"We have a visual! Two klicks to our north" Slivko informed.
"Roger that, Fox five. Fox One out" Packard said and hung up. "Rendezvous point, one hour"
Meg was sitting on a rock, resting her back on Randa's back, when heard Slivko's voice coming out of the radio. She sat straight with her heart wanting to jump out of her chest. Her smile was so big that made her cheeks hurt. She feared it was only his imagination; it seems to god to be true. So she looked at Randa, Mills, Reles and Cole. Every one of them was also smiling.
"Come on Slivko's girl" Told her Cole "one hour left"
"YES!" Slivko celebrated raising his hands to the sky. They were closer to go home. But the communication had been so brief that Slivko couldn't ask for Meg. Was she with Mills? «She have to» thought Slivko trying to scare away the bad thoughts. He had a long hour ahead.