Michael un-strapped Tim and smiled. "Welcome to HDA1. She's big and she's beautiful. Now, where can we drop you?"
Tim wrinkled his brow. "Don't say drop, okay?"
*
For several minutes, Collin paced nervously across the studio floor. His latest station break was complete and with no word from Beth or Candy, he could think of nothing else to do. Max kept busy in the control room and Sarah hardly ever looked up. He walked away from the window, stopped, and turned back just in time to see a pebble fly in and roll across the floor. Cautiously, he eased closer until he was able look straight down.
A woman dressed in a dirty shirt and blue jeans smiled up at him, and in her hand, she held a fresh, unopened pack of cigarettes. Using her best aim, she threw the pack as high as she could and then watched as Collin reached out just in time to grab it. She smiled and yelled up, "Don't worry, the guy I took those off of won't be needing them anymore." With that, she turned and headed on down the street.
Collin eyed the pack in his hand, and then muttered under his breath, "I sure wish she hadn't told me that." He shrugged, ripped the plastic seal off, opened the pack and lit his first cigarette in nearly 24 hours.
*
By ten o'clock in the morning, Sam Taylor had had enough. He paid fifty dollars for a ride on the back of a motorcycle – a dangerous one at that – over broken and traffic-snarled side streets. When he reached the Lake Union Ship Canal, he paid another hundred and fifty dollars for a small rowboat and two oars. In less than two hours, he rowed out of Shilshoe Bay, passed the bustling Aircraft Carrier and landed on the littered beaches of West Seattle. His favorite pier was gone.
He got out, pulled his boat alongside huge chunks of a broken ship, tossed the oars inside and started toward home. He was still mad when he finally stopped to take a good look around. The air smelled of dead fish. Remnants of small boats and back-washed houses were everywhere. A compact car was near the water's edge and lying on its top. When he noticed a body, he immediately turned and walked away. Half way up the hillside, he put both hands in the small of his aching back, stretched from side to side a time or two, and then headed on. He hardly recognized the broken and splintered remains of the missing ferry.
There it was at last – home. It stood where it always had, with its front porch still oddly intact and only part of the front siding gone. Located high enough up the hill, the water damage was minimal and he wondered if it could be repaired. Suddenly hopeful, he hurried up the steps and opened the door. The living room was gutted and the back half of the house was gone. Sam slowly closed the door, walked across the porch and sat down on the steps. "Well Lord, at least I've got my Max. That's more than most folks. On the other hand, couldn't you have left me a pair of softer, kinder shoes?"
He fretted for a time more and then the Ham Radio call he'd prayed for came over his transistor.
"K7PNO."
"PNO, go ahead," Sarah said.
"K7PNO relaying a message from Candy Taylor. Boys safe, injuries are slight and car burned. Beth Slater unaccounted for."
At KMPR, Collin Slater bolted. He ran down both flights of stairs, yanked open the front door and raced into the street. With tears in his eyes, he abruptly stopped. He put his head in his hands, slumped to his knees and cried out, "No, Beth, no!"
*
The blue chopper, complete with "HDA1" lit up on the side panels, glided through the air above Vancouver, British Columbia. Standing in wait atop the ten-story hotel, Evan Cole kept his eyes glued to the approaching dot. Steadily it drew closer, its long blue blades whipping the air and its engines filling the afternoon breeze with sound. A few feet away, a doctor and a nurse waited beside a gurney, and Michelle stood beside her husband and daughters. Slowly, the helicopter descended until its hydraulic legs touched down on the chopper pad.
Instantly, the doctor and nurse shoved the gurney forward. At the same time, Jackie opened a side door, let down the folding steps and then disappeared back inside the body of the air crane. Apprehensive, Michelle and Theo took a step forward and paused, while both the Doctor and Nurse climbed into the chopper.
Evan Cole did not move. The slow turning blades generated wind, mussing his hair and fluttering the collars of both his shirt and jacket. His pant legs waved and his jaw tightened, relaxed, and then tightened again.
Finally, the doctor rushed back down the stairs. Theo bolted forward and reached out two strong arms just as Jackie and the nurse brought Seely to the door. Her hair was streaked with dried blood and below the cut on her head; a dark bruise discolored her right eye. Her left lower jaw was swollen, her white blouse was blood stained and both legs of her blue jeans flapped with rips and tears. One shoe was missing.
She didn't look his way, her pain-ridden eyes fixed instead on the steps and the long awaited soft bed of the gurney. She hardly recognized Theo and when the gurney rolled past Michelle, she only half-heartedly smiled, and then her eyes drooped and closed.
Less than six feet away, Evan Cole looked on. He watched them take her to the waiting elevator, nodded as Michelle glanced his direction, and then bowed his head when the door closed.
Suddenly, Jackie was standing beside him, "I drugged her."
Evan turned to stare, "What?"
"Don't worry, I've got a doctor friend who supervised the whole thing. She's going to make it. I monitored her heart all the way back and sent the tape to my doctor friend. Her heart looks great for what's she's been through. Just give her time to rest. Meanwhile, fill her room with flowers."
"Did you tell her about me?"
"I tried, but who knows how much she heard. The poor thing is exhausted, and drugged. I was hoping it would wear off a little sooner, but it hasn't."
Evan smiled and wrapped his arms around Jackie, "How do I thank you?"
Jackie giggled and cocked her head to one side, "Well, you can start by giving me a bonus. I've suddenly become homeless."
"Done."
"And you can hand me that basket. We ordered take out on the way in."
"You'll go back then?"
"There are a lot of people still in trouble in Seattle."
With his arm still around her, he scooped up the basket and walked her back to the chopper. He waited until she climbed the stairs, handed her the basket, moved back, waved and watched her close the door. The chopper's blades took on speed and in a matter of moments; it became nothing more than a dark speck in the distant sky.
*
This time the huge bubble-faced air crane came from behind, high in the air above Magnolia Hill. Already, a man wearing a safety vest and full headgear hung from the strong cables beneath the chopper. Attached to another cable was a second safety vest and both were slowly descending toward A7BB and his tree.
Overjoyed and hidden by branches and leaves, Jim Sarasosa reached up his free arm and began to furiously wave, "Over here!"
Jackie sat in the aft bubble working the controls -- with Carl's constant supervision. She lowered the line until Michael dangled in the air just opposite the trapped man. "See, this is not so hard."
In the Pilot's seat, Carl rolled his eyes.
Dangling below, Michael examined the situation, glancing first at the roots of the tree, and then the branches. With a hand, he motioned for Jackie to lower him until he could see beneath the tree where A7BB's legs hung free. Again, he motioned and Jackie lifted him higher and up over the trapped man. Once more, she returned Michael to his original position.
Michael looked A7BB in the eye, and then scratched the side of his face. A second later, he began speaking into a thin, vest mounted microphone. At length, another -- stronger cable with a giant hook and two long chains began a slow descent from above.
A7BB never said a word. Instead, he watched Michael maneuver one chain around the trunk of the tree and the other around the branches on the opposite side of him. Next, Michael grabbed hold of a branch. Hand-over-hand, he walked his way toward A7BB until he was close enough. He opened the spare safety vest and tried to slip it over the man's head, but not enough of A7BB's chest was exposed. Michael thought for a long moment more. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
He spoke quickly into the mike and Jackie lifted him away. He turned in midair, and then Jackie lowered him behind A7BB. With his feet spread apart as wide as possible, Michael put his feet on the tree. He quickly crouched down, slipped his arms under A7BB's armpits and then locked his hands around Jim’s chest.
Suddenly they were in motion. The tree pulled away from the cliff, causing loose dirt to slide down on the bodies below. Leaves fluttered and Michael strained to hoist A7BB up over the trunk.
Jim Sarasosa threw his arms up and dug his fingers into the bark. but he was sliding. He kicked his dangling feet, arched his back and tried to hoist himself higher and couldn’t. Michael's chest grip was all that kept him from falling to the shallow water below. The tree started to turn and his hand-held radio fell, sailing downward and splashing into the bay. And still they moved upward, faster now with the tree swinging, tilting and starting to spin. The tree stopped moving and Michael abruptly let go.
A7BB panicked. His eyes widened in terror, his heart pounded, his breathing stopped and his hands began to slip. Horrified, he quickly looked behind him. To his amazement, Magnolia Park's lush green grass lay right below his feet. After nearly twenty hours, A7BB gingerly stepped down to safety.
"NP7WS."
"NP, go ahead Navy."
"Your man on the cliff has been rescued, over."
Sarah heaved a sigh of relief, "Thanks Navy."
*
All through the day, Ham calls came. The little girl named Charlie died before she could be rescued, but help began pouring in -- by land, by air and by water. Sarah got a personal apology from the Mayor and John asked her to dinner. Max wrapped and re-wrapped his aching foot a dozen times and listened to each exchange on the Ham Radio intently, but no word came of Beth. The aftershocks still struck, but none so great as the initial quake and by nightfall, Max and Sarah quickly fell asleep.
Many hours later, Collin still stood at the window, staring into the night.
"Momma?"
Seely's mind was still a fog and the familiar voice sounded so far away. Slowly, she forced her eyes open a bit and drank in the golden sunlight streaming through fluttering white sheers. The air held a hint of freshly brewed tea, soft music played and the voice was growing louder.
"Momma?"
When she at last fully lifted her heavy eyelids, Michelle's glowing face greeted her with a loving smile. "Oh there you are. Are you okay? Where are the girls?"
"We're fine, Momma. We're all just fine."
Tears rimmed the bottom of her mother's eyes so Michelle leaned over and kissed her cheek. She sat back down in a chair next to the bed and took Seely's hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Truthfully?"
"Truthfully."
"I hurt everywhere. Did Jenna and Tim make it? Where am I?"
"Tim and Jenna are home with their families and you've in a hotel in Vancouver, BC. The doctor said you needed rest more than anything else and the hospitals are full. Besides, we wanted you here with us."
"How long have I been here?"
Michelle glanced at her watch, "About a day and a half. Momma, do you remember how you got here?"
Seely though for a moment, "I remember a woman with a hypo. She frightened me. Baby, help me sit up will you? And I sure could use something to drink."
Michelle did as her mother asked, and then walked to the small table and poured a cup of hot tea.
"Where are Theo and the girls?"
"Downstairs shopping. We left everything behind. Momma, do you remember the blue chopper?" She sat back down, and then blew on the hot tea.
"I remember hearing about it over the radio and I think I did see it once. Oh Michelle, Seattle is ruined. How many are dead?"
She handed her mother the cup of tea and scooted back in the chair. "The last count was fourteen hundred and thousands are still unaccounted for. But Momma, do you remember..."
"Baby, what is it? That's the third ‘do you remember’ in a row."
"Okay, but promise me you won't get upset."
"Why would I get upset? Are the girls hurt?"
"No, I swear we're all fine. It's just that, well, I know the truth now."
For a long moment, Seely searched her daughter's eyes. "The truth?"
"Uh huh, and Momma, there's no reason to be scared or upset. In fact, everything is wonderful. I've met him and he's just the way I always imagined. Momma, he still loves you."
Seely quickly grew suspicious. She narrowed her eyes and hesitantly asked the next question, "Who still loves me?"
"My father. Don’t be scared, Loraine is in jail. She turned herself in. Oh Momma, he’s so wonderful and so easy to talk to. I have two half-brothers and my father was the one who saved us. He found out you were still alive, he hired the blue chopper to find us and he..."
Seely's mind was suddenly alert. Her hands began to tremble and her voice sounded like thunder, "Michelle, where is he?"
Taken aback by her mother's harsh tone, Michelle quickly got to her feet, "He's in the next room."
"Get him! Get him now, Michelle!" Seeley watched her daughter rush out of the room, threw her blankets off and painfully climbed out of bed. She reached for the robe on the back of the chair and almost had it on by the time they returned. She ignored both Evan and her daughter. Instead, she walked to the phone and picked it up. "Would you please page Theo Wesley?"
Her eyes filled with anger, Seely held the phone next to her injured face, mindless of the pain, "Theo, bring the girls upstairs and do it quickly. You'll understand when you get here, and be careful, you’re in grave danger." As soon as she hung up, she turned her furious expression on Evan. "Where is the other sister?"
He was hesitant, trying to understand, "Whose sister?"
"Jennifer’s! There were four sisters, one died years ago, Loraine is in jail and Jennifer died of cancer, but Susan was always the dangerous one."
Shocked, Even Cole could only stammer, "I only know about Jennifer and Loraine. I’ve never heard of anyone named Susan."
"You’re kidding. Evan, you supported all these people for thirty years. Think! Even if you didn’t know her by that name, wasn’t there anyone suspicious, anyone both Jennifer and Loraine knew?”
Evan brought both hands up to his face and tried to concentrate, "No, Jennifer only had one sister and neither of them had close friends."
Confused, Michelle just stood there and watched Seely walk to the window and lowered the blinds.
"Christina, please calm down. You’ve nothing to be afraid of now, Loraine confessed," Evan went on.
"Confessed to what, stealing your money?" Seely turned around and glared at the man she was once married to. "Do you really think I would have stayed out of your life all these years if I didn’t believe Susan was capable of killing us all? Believe me, Loraine is not the problem. In fact, Loraine saved my life. Susan killed Julie Wilcox, her own sister, and arranged for that little boat accident. She killed seven good men that night, just so she could get me out of the way. Only I didn’t die. God knows how many others she’s killed. She’s a monster who would do anything to keep her hands on your money, with or without Loraine’s help."
Just then, someone knocked on the door. Seely rushed to it, peeked through the hole and yanked it open. Forgetting her injuries, she happily threw her arms around her granddaughters. "There's my babies, let me look at you. Did you get scared in the earthquake?"
While Seely chatted with her granddaughters, Michelle whispered in her husband’s ear, "Get her to go back to bed. She listens to you."
Theo nodded and soon took a turn at hugging Seely, "Mom, I owe you an apology." He slipped an arm around her waist and guided her back toward the bed. "From now on, whatever you're worried about I'm worried about too. I nearly had a heart attack of my own."
Seely finally relaxed a little and let him help her back into bed. She waited until he covered her, and then looked long into his eyes. "I should have warned you about a whole lot more. You married into a real mess, son and I should have told you about it years ago.”
“What sort of mess?” Theo asked, allowing the girls to climb up on the double bed with their grandmother.
Timid no longer, Evan sat down next to Seely and took her hand, "Christina, tell us what happened."
Seeley thought for moment before she began, “We’d only been out to sea a few hours when the storm blew in, so we quickly turned back. It was such a fierce and sudden storm that everyone was concentrating on that instead of watching for other boats. Suddenly, there it was, just off our bow and we couldn’t get out of the way in time. Captain Marrow grabbed me and threw me overboard, and then jumped in himself. We both had lifejackets, but the water was bitter cold and I was afraid for my baby. So when a cabin cruiser appeared to pick us up, it never occurred to me to refuse. Two women pulled me in, but when I was safe and expecting them to pull the Captain aboard, they turned the boat and left – they left him there to die.
I couldn’t believe it! I remember screaming until I passed out. The next thing I knew, I was tied up and lying in a bed below deck. Jennifer was sitting opposite me with a gun in her hands. The sea was calm and I could hear Susan and Loraine having a horrible fight in the next room. Susan wanted to kill me and be done with it, but Loraine said no. There had been enough killing. “Why not?” I wondered. They’d already killed the others. Why didn’t they just let me die with the Captain?
Anyway, Loraine was smarter, that’s all. She’d kept the evidence and could prove Susan killed Julie Wilcox. Did you know Julie Wilcox was their sister? She was the only sane one of the bunch.” Seeley paused, reached for her teacup and took a long sip.
“But why didn’t Susan just kill Loraine?” Evan asked.
“Because Loraine left a letter with someone to be mailed to the police, in the event of her death or disappearance. I don’t know if that was really true, but Susan believed her. So they drove me to California and made me assume another identity. In those days, it wasn’t hard to do. Loraine made me promise to stay away and Susan vowed to watch every move I made. She said if I went to the Police, she would kill you.”
“But surely there was some way to let me know. I would have come to you, I would have protected you with my life,” Evan said.
“I know, and I tried to once. After Michelle was born, I made sure I wasn’t being followed and called you from a pay phone. You had a new secretary and I didn't recognize Loraine's voice in time. She refused to put me through. The next morning, I found a note from Susan in Michelle’s crib. The doors and the windows were locked tight and she couldn't have gotten in --- but she did. The cat was lying on the kitchen floor with its throat cut. I never tried again."
Michelle, wrinkled her brow, "So if Susan was the dangerous one, why did Loraine turn herself in?"
"Because she's smart. Jail is the one place Susan can't kill her."
Evan got up and went straight to the phone. First he called hotel security, and then he placed a call to his eldest son and insisted on security for the rest of his family in New York. When he was finished, he found himself alone in the room with Seely. He walked back to her bed and sat down in the chair. "How can you ever forgive me, Christina? I never guessed you were still alive."
Seely dropped her eyes and fiddled with the edge of the blanket. "I haven't been called Christina in years. It's good to hear it again. For years, Susan called to report how happy you were with Jennifer." With a hint of mischief, she looked into his eyes, "I didn't believe her. Jennifer didn't even like you."
Evan chuckled and took her hand again, "I found that much out for myself. I did a lot of drinking after you...died, and one day I woke up in her bed. When she said she was pregnant, I married her. Why not, I knew I would never love anyone but you." He brought her hand to his lips and lightly kissed it. "We’ll find Susan. I have a friend on the Police force and he’ll see to it. In the meantime, are you hungry?"
"Starved."
*
A little more than a week after the earthquake, they stood among several others on opposite sides of a long conveyor belt in the sweltering Yakima heat. Each wore a sweatband, shorts, cotton shirts and slip on shoes. Finally, round ripe peaches began streaming down the belt, rolling and turning as they went.
Heather McClurg sighed, grabbed hold of a can of baby powder and quickly dumped the contents on the inside bend of both arms. She set it down and with two dainty fingers lifted the first over-ripe peach off the belt and tossed it in a nearby basket. She cringed, and then turned to glare at her brother.
"What Heather?"
"We could have escaped."
"How? The Army had us surrounded. Face it Heather, we gambled and lost. At least Dad let us keep the truck."
"Us? The truck is yours, remember? And the only reason they let you keep it was because Mom doesn't want to drive us. They didn't even take your Amateur Radio away."
"Yes, but the only one I'm allowed to talk to, is Aunt Blanch in Iowa. How old is she anyway, sixty, seventy? She doesn't even know what a CD is. You still get to go to summer camp, don't forget."
Heather soured her face and grudgingly took another rotten peach off the belt, "Some favor. For two whole weeks I get to set tables, peel potatoes and wash dishes. I think I'll probably die there."
*
Just after sundown on the eighth day, Collin Slater stood amid the rubbish on Alki Point. Aimlessly, he stared across the still water at the gold and amber reflection of a fading sunset. Behind him the darkened city of Seattle lay in ruins. The space needle was still there but the people had gotten out of the glass elevators. The Winningham Blue still stood, but it dangerously leaned toward the water and men wearing cloth masks still tended the burial of unclaimed bodies. Huge cables stretched from the Aircraft Carrier supplying badly needed electricity to hospitals. Heavy equipment steadily moved from telephone pole to telephone pole while workers restored service. Ships of varying sizes sailed into the bay bringing water and supplies to displaced families. And Hams, including Sarah and Max, still passed messages.
The sparkling water gave no hint of its destructive force. No lingering memories marred its surface and no healing did it offer to the wrenching pain in Collin's heart. It simply rippled with the coming tide.
One block back amid the other damaged homes on the hillside, Max, Candy and Sam Taylor stood on Sam's front porch watching. Three little boys played with toy cars at their feet and Sarah sat in a new wheelchair donated by the US Navy.
Suddenly, the familiar, repetitive thud of a helicopter broke the silence. It was a royal blue chopper with a bubble face resembling a mutant dragonfly. Beneath it, heavy cables with giant hooks led to a forest green, forty-foot mobile home. At first, the air crane seemed to struggle, its heavy load swaying forward and back. As it glided toward Collin with its cargo just above the water, it slowed. He watched in awe as the chopper began to turn in midair, gradually coaxing the mobile home to turn with it.
With his eyes, he followed the cables upward; examining the huge blue crane he'd heard so much about. He lifted his eyes higher to the side panel where hundreds of small bulbs were coming alive. Suddenly, large black letters began to drift across the panel. Standing too close, Collin wrinkled his brow and strained to make the letters into words.