Brenda stood, frozen, staring at the dead radio, gripping the handset so tightly that the dangling cord trembled.
"What is it—oh no," Katie said as she joined Brenda in the office, color immediately draining from her face.
"They cut the radio," Brenda whispered dully.
They both stood there for a moment, paralyzed, unable to speak.
"I should tell Maura," Katie said finally, but didn't move.
"I'll do it," Brenda said, shaking off her daze. "I need you to go find Pierre or, or someone, and get him back here as fast as you can. Just him, though, have everyone else go to the dock and stay there. Let them know what's happening. Do not let them leave that dock unattended for even one second."
Katie nodded, her eyes wide. Stood for a second longer before seeming to snap out of her own trance and darting out of the room.
Brenda took a deep, shaky breath. Tried to calm herself, to steel herself.
This was very bad. The Russians must have slipped into the office when they'd first muscled the injured man inside. Brenda cursed herself for not seeing through the trap right away. It was her fault, she thought. She should have known better. And now . . .
"I think another two hours," Dr. Morales's voice filtered down the hall.
"I agree," Maura's voice replied, getting closer to the office. "I'll sit with him until then, you go—Brenda? What's—"
She stood in the doorway, face going ice-white as she registered what Brenda held in her hand. "Is that—"
"The Russians," Brenda said weakly. "Musta been when they brought their comrade in, before we managed to get over here."
"Oh god," Maura whispered.
"What?" Fernando said, poking his head around Maura. And then, "oh dear, that can't be good."
"I sent Katie to get Pierre. Everyone else should be headed to the dock. They're obviously plannin' somethin', and I can't imagine it'll be long before they come back, and they probably won't be so accommodatin' about leavin' their weapons behind this time."
Maura nodded stiffly, her face blank, but she was obviously terrified.
"Maura," Brenda said, trying to keep the tremor out of her own voice. "You said there's another radio somewhere, right?"
"At the Flower Farm," Maura whispered, her voice thin. "And another at the Big Farm."
"Do you have any reason to think Volkov knows about them?"
Maura shook her head. "We use a separate channel for local communications. It's possible they've been scanning, but—"
All right," Brenda said with a calmness she didn't feel. "Let's go with the idea that they don't know about the others. That's good. We're not totally isolated, we can still call out if we have to."
"But the farms are twenty miles away," Maura whispered. "It takes at least half an hour to get there, and I'm not sure if we even have any motor vehicles in town right now."
"Doesn't Charlotte have a little scooter thing?" Fernando said, startling both of them.
"How do you—"
"Brenda Leigh, all there is to do around here is talk to people," he said, "and you know how good I am at that."
"Yes," Maura breathed. "Yes, Dr. Morales, you're right."
"Why don't I go and ask her about it," he said, his voice somehow stronger and calmer than both of theirs. "She seems like a no-nonsense sort, I can't imagine she wouldn't let someone borrow her bike in an emergency."
"She should go herself," Maura said, still a bit faint, distant. "She goes out there a lot, she knows the way, and she'll know what to tell Julie and the others."
"Nobody is to use any of the other radios," Brenda cut in suddenly, and Fernando and Maura both frowned at her. "Just in case they've been scanning different channels, like Maura said. Keep 'em on, though, just in case someone else happens to be talkin' somewhere out there."
"The supply ship," Maura gasped after a beat.
"What?"
"We're expecting a supply ship in a couple of weeks."
"Right," Brenda said, a thin seam of hope cracking open in her. "Australians, you said."
"Yes. And they usually start reaching out to us well in advance of their arrival."
"Okay, that's good. But we can't respond, not even to have them switch channels."
"If we don't, I'm sure they'll take that as a cause for concern. Captain Harroway is a good man, we've developed a strong relationship over the years. I assume he'd be worried if we didn't reply."
"All right, we can let our silence speak for itself for a while. Fernando, thank you for getting Charlotte, have her let everybody know what's going on. Maura, do the folks on the farms have more weapons? Know how to use 'em?"
She nodded.
"All right, good. See if they'll round up anybody who can help. We need everyone we can get here in town. But quietly, of course," she added. "Well, as quietly as all this can be done, I suppose."
"People will start to notice something's happening, if they haven't already," Maura said. "What do we tell them?"
"You just let Uncle Fernando handle that," he said lightly. "I told you I'm good at talking to people."
Maura furrowed her brow, bit her lip. "They can meet in the town hall, it's the only place big enough. Though I don't know if it's good for people to leave their homes—"
"It's all right," Brenda said. "If you can get it done quickly, and then have everyone go lock themselves up tight."
Fernando nodded, smiled, gave a little flourishing bow. "Consider it done, ladies."
Maura gave him a wide grin. "Thank you, Dr. Morales," she said, embracing him.
"Don't you scare anybody, now," Brenda whispered as she hugged him too.
"I think I'm scared enough for all of us," he whispered back, hugging her a little more tightly. "So no need to worry about that." He dropped a brief kiss to the top of her head. "You've got this, Brenda Leigh."
"You too, Fernando." She squeezed his hand briefly, gave him a little wave as he walked out the door.
It had been hours since they had done all they could for the injured man, since they had sent instructions to everyone they thought might be able to help, and now Brenda sat next to Maura, both their hands clutched tightly in their laps, watching the shallow rise and fall of his chest.
Pierre had said very little when he'd rushed into the clinic with a frantic Katie close behind. Had listened carefully to Brenda, had nodded curtly.
"I find the others," he said. "I send Matthieu and Andrea back for guarding here."
"Please be careful," Brenda said. "It doesn't look like the news has gotten out yet, and I'd like to keep it that way until Dr. Morales can talk to everyone."
"Of course," he'd said. " We say nothing."
And he'd left again, his face hard, expressionless. Katie stayed behind, and Maura rushed to her, wrapping her in a tight embrace.
"I'm so sorry," she murmured. "I'm so sorry."
"Dr. Isles," Katie said, hugging her back. "This isn't your fault." She looked at Brenda, furrowed her brow expectantly.
"Of course it ain't," Brenda jumped in. "Maura, if anybody should have known about this, it's me. And I didn't. So if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."
"It's not your fault either, Chief," Katie said kindly. "It's only their fault. And we're doing everything we can."
Maura sighed, smiled wryly. "That's supposed to be my line. But thank you, Katie. Would you please find some food for yourself, and for us and Dr. Avery? He must be very worried."
"We'll have a late lunch together. What should I tell him?" Katie asked.
"Tell him we're workin' on it," Brenda said. "Tell him . . . tell him . . . "
"Tell him it's not his fault, either," Maura said softly. "Tell him he needs to stay where he is, but that we're taking every precaution, and that it's best and safest if he stays out of sight."
Katie nodded, offered them each a sincere smile. "You got it," she said. "And, um, Dr. Isles? Chief Johnson?" They looked at her. "We're all really lucky you're both here."
"That's my line too," Maura grinned. "Thank you, Katie."
Once she'd left, Brenda felt all the air suck out of her body, leaned over, braced herself against the reception desk. Maura moved behind her, gave her a gentle pat. "Come on," she said softly. "We've done what we can do, and now all we can do is wait."
"I hate waitin'," Brenda muttered, and Maura nearly laughed.
"I know," she smirked. "But will you come wait with me? I need to keep an eye on our patient."
They'd given him more morphine, covered him with a warm blanket. Maura had found one of their remaining IV kits and had run a line to keep him hydrated; his jaw was irreparably damaged, they'd discovered, and Maura had looked at Brenda with fear and sadness as she'd whispered her doubts that the man would survive.
"The broken jaw alone," she'd said. "If he develops a blood clot, which he almost certainly will, there won't be anything I can do for him."
Brenda had nodded sympathetically, assured her that she and Dr. Morales had done everything possible. Maura had shrugged, but her face didn't change.
They remained at the bedside, silently watching, for what felt like days. Brenda focused on the man in front of her, beaten by his own crew, but she still didn't know why. It had to do with the radio, that much was obvious; he'd clearly been used as part of the plot, but she wasn't sure if he'd volunteered, or if there was something else behind it. Looking at his shattered body, thinking about Maura's grim prognosis, she leaned toward the latter.
After a long time, the man stirred slightly, let out a faint groan. Maura leaped up. "Don't move," she murmured, laying a soft hand on his forehead. He seemed to hear her, turning his head slightly toward her voice. "Brenda," she whispered urgently. Brenda stood up, crossed to them.
"Don't move," she said. "You're still in the hospital. You've been badly hurt. Your jaw and arm are broken, but the doctor is here, and she's taking very good care of you."
The man groaned again, and Brenda frowned. "I think he's tryin' to tell us something."
"He can't!" Maura hissed. "He shouldn't be moving at all!"
The man lifted his unbroken arm, let it waver in the air for a moment, his fingers clenching and releasing, before sighing and dropping it back to the bed.
"I think he wants to write something," Brenda breathed. "Do you have paper? Somethin' to write with?"
Maura nodded, pulled open a drawer, handing Brenda a torn scrap of paper and a stubby pencil. Brenda carefully set the pencil in the man's hand, and he groaned again but flexed his fingers around it, gripping it with a wince. She slid the paper under his hand, and the man began to scrawl something, slowly, he'd finished, he let the pencil fall from his hand with a sigh, his body sagging back against the bed. Maura was at his side, adding another dose of morphine to his IV. "He shouldn't be awake," she murmured.
"I reckon he thinks so too, but I imagine this must be pretty important," Brenda said, carefully retrieving the slip of paper.
She stared down at it, the writing shaky, light, but legible. He'd scrawled three short words.
Алексе́ев. Судно. Помощь.
Alexeyev. Ship. Help.
She wasn't sure how long she held her breath, half-afraid that the words would dissolve in front of her. But when she finally let out a slow exhalation they remained, scratched faintly onto the paper.
"Maura, they've got Dr. Alexeyev on the ship."
"What?" Maura hissed, careful not to disturb the man who had lapsed back into unconsciousness. "Are you sure?"
Brenda held out the scrap of paper. "You said you can read some Russian, right?"
Maura studied the words, her eyes widening. "Oh my god," she breathed.
"I'm startin' to think our guest here might have found himself on the wrong side of his fellow crewmembers," Brenda muttered, looking at the man's ruined face. "Beat him badly enough that he couldn't talk, then brought him here so they had an opportunity to sabotage the radio. Two birds with one stone."
"Can you—do you trust him?"
Brenda shrugged. "I can't imagine he's got much left to lose," she said. "You said yourself you don't know if he'll make it."
Maura's face darkened. "I don't," she whispered. "His injuries are so . . ."
"I know," Brenda said. "You did everything you could."
"But what if it's not enough?" Her voice broke slightly on the words.
Brenda's heart ached as Maura's face fell, eyes suddenly brimming with tears. The little quiver of her chin as she tried to keep them from falling. Took a soft, deep breath, and carefully wrapped her arm around Maura's shoulders, pulling her close. Was afraid for a moment that Maura would pull away, but instead she slumped against Brenda, her face pressed to Brenda's neck as her shoulders shook.
"It's too much," Maura hiccuped. "I—"
"Shhh, it's all right," Brenda soothed, rubbing her palm over Maura's shoulder blades. "I've got you." She held Maura tightly for a long moment, stroking gently, tenderly along her thin back. Pressed her lips to Maura's temple. "I've got you," she murmured again.
Maura sobbed against her for a few minutes, her breath gradually evening out. She still didn't pull away, and Brenda felt her heart beat faster. Felt Maura's hand rest lightly on the curve of her waist, her fingers flexing just slightly.
"Thank you," Maura whispered against her neck, her breath warm and soft. "Thank you, Brenda."
"Nothin' at all," Brenda murmured back.
They stayed there for a while, holding each other, until Maura sniffled, pulled away, a faint, watery smile on her face, though her eyes were still dark and sad. Brenda reached up, tucked a strand of hair behind Maura's ear, let her thumb trace lightly across her temple. "You're all right," she said. "We're all right." Maura nodded. Took a deep breath. Brenda felt her heart constricting, her breath stopping as Maura leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Thank you," she said again, but this time her voice was almost shy.
Brenda couldn't help the blush that spread up her chest, her neck, her face. "We should go get . . ." she drifted off, unsure of what to do next.
"We'll find Pierre," Maura said, her voice stronger. "I'll get Dr. Morales to sit with him," she added, nodding to their patient.
"We can't tell Dr. Avery," Brenda said firmly.
"No," Maura agreed. "That doesn't seem very prudent."
"Why don't I go ask Fernando, and you can find Pierre, and we'll meet back here, figure out what to do next?"
Maura nodded. Brenda gave her a warm, reassuring smile, reached out and squeezed her hand.
"Maura," Brenda said abruptly as the other woman turned to leave, looked back at her. "Um, I just wanted to say that you're, um . . ." she fumbled her words, suddenly not quite sure of exactly what it was she wanted to say, or why she'd suddenly started saying it. "You're amazin'," she settled on, even though it wasn't right, somehow. Wasn't enough, but it was all she could manage. "All the things you've done, all the things you're doin' right now. I just, uh . . . thank you. For everything."
Maura paused, her face unreadable. "Thank you, Brenda Leigh," she whispered. Brenda felt a little thrill in her tummy, immediately felt embarrassed, both because of the sensation and because it was happening here, now, when there were so many more important things to focus on. But she couldn't help it. Blushed again. Maura offered her a wry little grin, then her expression shifted into something Brenda couldn't quite parse.
Then Maura was crossing back toward her, was touching her face, was leaning in, was pressing her lips softly, gently, to Brenda's.
It was a chaste kiss, brief and sweet, but it still made Brenda's head spin.
"I'll meet you back here soon." Maura smiled, squeezed her hand, slipped out the door.