Tropical Nightmare- Chapter 9:Fallen (Kate´s POV)

Disclaimer: I don´t own any characters or anything!

Summary: Tony and Kate are sent to Argentina for an undercover mission, but they have to take a detour.They are bound to find out that atropical island can be a real nightmare -at least if you´re on your own out there...

Additional note: I usually don´t write 1st-person narrator, but it seemed to fit rather well for this little story as the POV changes with each chapter.Also, the use of present-tense is wanted here, eventhough it may seem a bit odd. I hope it´s still readable.

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We´ve been stuck on this island for over two months now, at least if I´m correct with my calculations and if Tony hasn´t messed with the counter I´ve set up on one of the trees. Basically, it is just a collection of holes I poke into it every morning. There are 64 now, I can´t believe it´s been so long already. Our little camp has become quite nice, we even have kind of a bathroom. Okay, it´s only a large bush with a giant leave as a sink and a hole for the rest. It´s working all right, though it´s not four-stars. Tony found a glass shard, which he now uses to shave. It´s not perfect, but he certainly doesn´t have the right face to grow a beard.

Tony´s gone, probably fishing or looking for more packages at the beach. There are still some coming in during the night, not as many as at first, but sometimes they are nice finds. We had two cans of peaches and one can of chili in one a few days ago -tastes wonderful if you have only coconut, bananas and fish the rest of the time. I open the tin box we use to keep the tea dry. It´s almost empty, but still enough for another one or two days.

Tony comes back just as I pour myself a cup of tea -sand tea we call it because there is so much sand falling into the can we use to boil the water in. My dentist will have a lot of work to do when I get back home. „The SOS is still pretty readable, but we need a plane to come by and see it." He says and gets himself some tea as well. „Just one package tonight, I guess we got almost the whole load by now. Nothing good inside though...A first aid kit and some meds, I think it´s antibiotics or something like that." He hands me two bottles.

„This one is an antibiotic, but that´s a painkiller. I wonder why anyone would send stuff like that per FedEx...I just wish we had that when you managed to get that infection." I put both bottles away into another tin box. „What´s that?" I ask and point at a small box he´s still holding in his hand.

„Electronics repair set -seems like someone ordered it on home shopping channel." He says and flashes a smile. „I´ll try to get one of our GPRS chips back online, but I´m no expert on electronics."

My mood goes up several points. I know he will probably not get it to work anyway, but even the slightest chance is just wonderful. „What about the power cell? That´s soaked, remember?" I throw in, but he seems to have an answer to that as well.

„There´s a solar cell in that kit -we will need to get it placed somewhere as high as possible, maybe one of the trees or something, but let me get it working first. Good thing the set was sealed in a plastic cover." He bustles around with the small tools and I decide to let him do that alone. I take a walk out on the beach and look out onto the open sea. This place would be perfect for a vacation, but without a hotel and all those wonderful modern inventions, it´s horror. My hair is dull and I´m almost sure I´ll have to get it cut off big ways once we´re home. There´s nothing I want more than a hot shower and a huge cup of Caf-Pow right now, but I get neither.

In the afternoon, I sit next to Tony again. He´s still trying to get the solar cell connected to the chip, but the connection keeps falling off. He tries to fix it with some thread and it finally holds it in place. „Done...I just don´t know if it will work..." I get up and follow him out into the sun. The chip has a tiny LED to show if it is powered up. When we walk into the sun, there´s a tiny flash from that LED. „Hey, look at that... we just have to get it up towards the sun now." Tony says and grins.

I smile at him, but don´t really know what to say. He might have saved our lives with this, but somehow, I feel like it´s not over yet. „There´s a very tall palm right behind our campsite." I suggest and point at it. Indeed the palm is sticking out higher than the rest. It´s about 25 ft high and always in the sun, no matter what time of the day it is.

We stand around the palm and try to find a way up. Tony tried getting up twice, but every time he fell down and almost broke the chip at one point. „Maybe, I can lift you up high enough so you get a hold up there." He says and points at the spot where the palm grows more into a horizontal direction. Only the first 7 ft are rather steep.

I just nod and let him lift me. I reach out and get a hold. „Got it." I yell down and put my feet onto the palm. He hands me the chip and I climb up higher. The palm is swaying dangerously, but I can still hold on. The top is so close. I have a thread and a small board with me, that will hold the chip in place even if there´s a storm at night. I tie the chip to the board and the board to the crown of the palm. It sits there as if it was glued on with Abby´s special glue -nothing will get it off.

The LED jumps to life and I feel relieved. Now we have to hope that someone is still checking for our frequencies...it´s been a long time after all. I turn around to tell Tony, but before I can, I lose my balance. I can see Tony looking up, horror on his face. The palm is swaying around me, scratching my arms and the ground comes rushing towards me. I want to scream, but I can´t hear myself. Everything is gone all the sudden, all I hear is a sickening crack when my head hits the ground. For a second, I see Tony, his face ashen, but I´m not sure what exactly happened. I drift into complete darkness.