Ross and Rachel
Emily rolled her eyes.
'Of course not. I'm not a killer.' Well Ross thought, when people wear army gear, you couldn't be blamed for thinking that they had been trained to kill people and possibly even had a bit of practice at it. And furthermore, when they talked nonsense like this, they could do anything.
'Then what are you talking about?' Rachel asked, still not sure of the situation.
'It's quite simple. You'll never leave this island. You will be spending the rest of your lives here together.' Ross and Rachel stared at each other and then at Emily. 'Of course there's nothing to stop you splitting up, but you won't have anyone else to turn to. I really don't think the locals are an option, you wait till you see them. They've been affected by some rather nasty experiments from thirty years ago, so they don't look like other people. So you'll have to make up your minds to be happy together because there will be no-one else.' Ross had finally managed to struggle up and balance on his legs.
'We'll escape.'
'You don't even know what ocean you are in, and if you study the currents around this island, you'll find it would be impossible to get off.' Emily walked outside. Ross helped Rachel up and slowly followed her. Their legs were unsteady and they felt as though every moment they might fall over. Behind them were tall, unfriendly looking trees and the dingy hut they had just left. Ahead of them was a narrow strip of beach with nothing but ocean…
'There's land there,' Rachel said.
'An uninhabited island, with no fresh water and no shelter,' Emily said. 'Even if you got a boat made, and even if you got past the currents you would be shot as soon as you get more than twenty miles away.'
'You're mad,' Ross said in horror. 'You arranged that for us?'
'Oh it's not me who's arranged that,' Emily said. 'They are very serious about keeping people away from this area. Don't expect me to tell you why, because then I really will have to kill you.' She gave a smile, which was not returned. 'Any boat coming within sight of the island would be sunk, no questions asked. They wouldn't care that you were leaving – in fact that would make them even less likely to ask questions.'
'We're American citizens,' Ross said, 'You can't do this to us.' Emily merely smiled, and suddenly he wondered who 'They' really were.
'How did we get here at all?'
'Special delivery.'
'But we'll starve,' Rachel said, horrified.
'You can grow things,' Emily said. The look of horror was still there.
'What?'
'You know, put seeds in the ground, water, harvest? We'll do drops once every two months as well. We have to do them anyway in this general area so a detour for you is no problem. We've left you a food package to start with. It's got Chinese food in it. Mona wanted you to have that Rachel, I don't know why.' Rachel stared. 'There's not a bad little house up the path.' They looked back, and in what looked like a tangled undergrowth, there was in fact a path. As they walked around, they got a view right up the path towards a very rudimentary house.
'That's it? You expect us to live there.' Rachel stared. It was primitive.
'Sleep on the beach if you want. The house is from when this island was being studied and it's still in reasonable condition and you could fix up whatever needs to be repaired. There's a pump with fresh water. There's a list on the table of things you need to know about the island – what's poisonous, what can give you a nasty rash, that sort of thing. I'd read it carefully if I were you.'
'Emma?' Rachel asked.
'Ben?' Ross asked.
'Our families?' Rachel asked.
'Our friends?' Ross asked.
'No,' Emily said. 'If either of them came, they'd have to stay here too. Forever I mean, and this is no place for a child. I certainly wouldn't want my son to be here.' Ross and Rachel blinked. They had never considered that Emily might have had a life away from them and this news was as unreal to them as the news that she was in some kind of secret service organisation. 'Your children certainly don't deserve to be punished for your behaviour. So everyone thinks you've had a tragic accident. They'll be sad, they'll miss you, but they'll move on with their lives. Carol and Susan will take care of them – they've always wanted a little girl' Ross took a sharp breath in at this, 'and Emma should grow up with Ben. I'll be back in five days with some contraception for you, and I suggest you use a bit of restraint in the meantime, which could be an interesting new experience for you both.' Sex was the last thing on their minds at this point.
'You – you'll leave us!'
'Oh yes. I'll be bringing your photo albums too,' Emily said, 'Of your children. Better than nothing. Worth waiting for.' They had heard the sound of a helicopter for a while now, but given what Emily had been saying, they hadn't held out much hope. Perhaps they could rush at it if it landed… a rope dropped down and Emily grabbed it. 'See you in six days.'
Ross and Rachel stood on the beach, watching, as the last sight and sound of the helicopter disappeared.
Eight days later
Emily looked up as Susan joined her at the restaurant.
'Are you sure you're all right?' Emily asked.
'I'm only pregnant, I'm not ill,' Susan said.
'When I was first pregnant, I was tired all the time,' Emily said. It was a bit of a liability in her job, and to tell the truth, there was a nagging sensation that it was happening again. She'd have to see. Maybe it was just stress – after all she'd just planned and carried out a major operation, solo. The assistance of the co-conspirators was in fact of little significance to the overall plan – they hadn't been needed, but they'd enjoyed it so much, and the whole thing had cast a pall over the wedding that to Emily's mind wasn't entirely without justice.
'I'd trade you that for being sick all the time,' Susan said dryly. Emily grinned back.
'No thanks. But are you feeling sick now?' Susan shook her head.
'I'm only sick for sixteen hours a day, and this doesn't appear to be one of those hours.' Emily looked mischievous.
'What did they say when you told them you were pregnant?'
'Ross said, "how?"'
'He would.'
'It just stopped him in his tracks. He'd been telling everyone the whole story of how they'd been kidnapped and trapped on a desert island – no-one believed it, except for Monica, who looked as though she might believe it. When Carol and I brought Ben to visit, Ross pointed at me, and said, "she wanted to steal Emma!" Carol just looked at him and said, "It's worse than I thought, he's raving mad. We're having a baby of our own Ross, Susan's pregnant." I said nothing, neither did Ben and Ross just sat there looking as though he'd had a fast one pulled on him.' Emily raised an eyebrow. 'After that, I don't even think Monica believed him,' Susan finished.
'It's just a totally cracked story made up by a couple who were found stoned out of their minds in their hotel room after a six day drug orgy,' Emily commented.
Such reports as the hotel gave were of a couple only ever seen at night, if at all, ordering room service to a darkened room. As a honeymooning couple, they hadn't been disturbed by the staff. A neighbour had complained of loud music on the sixth day, and staff had eventually opened up, to find Ross and Rachel hallucinating in a stuffy room with the detritus of six days of room service. The drugs wore off, but they had had an amnesiac effect which meant that they remembered nothing of Emily's return, the second drugging, nor the transport to the hotel under cover of darkness. They were clear on the rest of it, but their attempts to tell anyone just confirmed the impression that they were affected by drugs. The fact that Ross had noticed Southern Hemisphere stars in the sky when he was on the island had only added to the conviction that he was babbling.
'I wonder who would believe it,' Susan mused.
'National Enquirer, next to the UFO stories,' Emily said.
'There would be no pictures though,' Susan objected. 'They'd never publish a story without pictures.'
'Do you think the UFO pictures in the Enquirer are real pictures?' Emily quipped.
'Rachel's got a terrible rash on her face and hands,' Susan said. 'She looks a sight.' Emily gave a shrug. That's what happened when you didn't read the instructions, especially instructions that warned against picking up any of the pretty pink jellyfish. It would clear up without scarring. 'And all our tracks are covered,' Susan said. Emily looked blank and Susan remembered that Emily had never, ever, said anything that incriminated herself. Somehow, she had made them understand what they had to do without saying so explicitly. And like Ross and Rachel, what they did know would hardly be credible.
'I don't think that Ross would want to keep talking about being kidnapped. It could damage his reputation,' Emily said.
'Yes,' Susan said. 'They could have got themselves seriously hurt though.' Well that was a risk she was prepared to take. If Rachel had found the pretty blue jellyfish before the pretty pink ones, it might have been a different story. A very inconvenient one. She had had a back up plan but it would have earned her a fail grade for sure. Because there had been a plan within a plan.
Suddenly her pager alarm went off. Because she wasn't on duty and because she was with Susan, she was prepared to ignore it, but Susan gave her a nod.
'Go on.' Emily glanced at it.
86
She blinked, taken aback. That was ten points higher than she'd hoped for, but she knew better than to send a query back. The number was what it was.
'Good news?' Susan asked. If Susan wasn't pregnant, and if she was sure about herself, she'd have ordered champagne, but instead she just smiled and raised her glass of water.
'Let's toast Ross and Rachel,' Emily said. 'Together forever.'
