Dangerous Ground by Grant Rachel

Author:Grant, Rachel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Montlake
Published: 2021-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

Fiona considered carefully whom she should call and decided her best bet was her boss. Graham might have some idea of what was going on and when a boat or helicopter would be sent for them. For all she knew, there could be a boat at the dock now, and he could call and tell the captain they were on their way.

As usual with the Aleutians, the connection was spotty. Every other word cut out at first, and it took a bit for Fiona to understand that Graham didn’t know she was still on Chiksook. “Where did you think I was?” she asked.

“I was—old y—er on—ak.”

She rubbed her temples and tried to fill in the gaps like a high-stakes Mad Libs. “You were . . . told we’re on Adak?”

“Yes—ak.”

“But who told you that? How?”

“Heli—er picked you—fly to Ad—”

Then he said something about the boat, then something about the helicopter again, and she slapped her hand over her mouth as cold dread sank in. “Wait. Graham. Is it possible the group on the helicopter was told a different story from those on the boat?” Did both groups think she and Dean had been rescued already? One being told the helicopter would pick them up and the other being told the boat would wait for them?

With different destinations—Unalaska and Adak—it was possible no one would’ve realized the truth for days.

“I can—eck with—eam. But, Fiona, I—on’t think any—knows—on Chiksook.”

“No one knows we’re on Chiksook,” she repeated so Dean would hear. “No one is coming for us. Not yet anyway.” Into the phone, she said, “Is there anyone else the helicopter was supposed to pick up?”

For a brief, blessed moment, the connection was clear. “The new geologist guy. The one you emailed me about.”

“Victor Neff.”

“Yeah. Told the heli—er picked up you, the orni—and Neff.” The phone cut out.

She pulled the small, low-tech cellular phone from her ear and checked the screen: Signal Lost.

She tried to call him back, but the bars disappeared from the upper left corner, the words No Signal taking their place.

“We’ve been having trouble for the last few days,” Marion said. “It might work in a few hours.”

Fiona met Dean's gaze. “No one is coming for us, and Victor is still here. The helicopter supposedly picked up all three of us.”

“I don’t want to wait a few hours. I want to go to the volcano and look for Dylan.” He faced Marion. “Will you try calling again for us? Please? Follow up with Fiona’s boss? Let him know we went to the volcano?”

“I will.”

“Thank you,” Fiona said as she wrote down Graham Sherwood’s phone number.

“One more thing,” Dean said. “When Dylan was here, did he ask about the lava tubes? Did he show you his map?”

The chairwoman’s face shuttered, and her voice turned guarded, a first when addressing Dean. “He did.”

“Have you ever been inside the caves?”

Marion pursed her lips. “I have not. It is our preference that the caves should not be unnecessarily disturbed.”

Fiona realized the woman was uncomfortable

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