Radclyffe - Wild Shores

“Those are really good,” Claudia said from behind her. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yes.” Austin smiled and casually flipped over the page.

“You could make a living doing that.”

“I might have to, seeing how this is coming down.”

Claudia rested a hip on the only spare inch of the corner of the desk. “I thought we’d have heard something from the company a long time ago. Weren’t we looking at a timetable of a few hours?”

Austin stood, turned the pad facedown on the counter, and stretched. Some of the soreness was due to inactivity, but not all of it. Some was from the hours she’d spent in Gem’s bed. She tamped down the images of Gem in her arms before they destroyed her focus. “I think Eloise misjudged the rate at which attorneys move, particularly late on a Friday night going into a Saturday morning when half the country is obsessed with watching the news of the impending hurricane.”

“Ah,” Claudia said musingly. “The attorneys. I’d forgotten about those.”

“Lucky you. I seem to live with them shadowing my shoulder.”

“Well, that’s the nature of your beast, isn’t it? You only get called out in a crisis, and where there’s a corporate crisis, there’s an attorney or twenty.”

Austin laughed. “You’re absolutely right. Once they’ve discussed the wording of the formal statement, and the appropriate federal bureaus and agencies have been advised, Eloise will—”

Austin’s phone rang and she pulled it from her pocket. “And that would be her now,” she said to Claudia as she answered. “Germaine.”

“The Department of Fish and Wildlife has been advised, we have a statement ready to release to the Associated Press, and your name has been provided as the on-site incident commander,” Eloise snapped out. “Coast Guard command at the regional level has been alerted, but not given any details. We haven’t yet contacted the people at the sanctuary, mostly because we’re still going through channels and their exact directorship is a labyrinth.”

“I know who is in charge,” Austin said, hearing the flatness in her voice.

“I am aware of that, and I suggest you set something up for early in the morning. You’ll have to wake a few people up.”

“I understand.” If Eloise thought her orders put Austin in an uncomfortable position, she gave no sign of it. And Austin had no room to complain. She’d been the one to complicate the situation, and now she’d have to pay the price. “I’ll contact them as soon as we finish.”

“Good. Our meteorologists tell us you will have at least thirty-six hours before significant winds and water impact the shoreline.”

“That means we have twenty-four hours, maybe a little longer, to contain any oil that makes it to the surface or gets caught up in the currents.”

“That’s our estimation, yes.”

“Then I need to get to shore.”

“You need to set up your command center on shore, but I want you overseeing the work on the rig,” Eloise said.

“Tatum can—”

“Not Tatum—I want a direct line, and I want you on the other end of it.”

“Right. I’ll split my time.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage.”

“Thanks.” Austin wasn’t at all sure she’d be able to manage anything once Gem discovered who she was and why she was here. But she’d know very soon. She checked her phone for messages. There were none, but she had Gem’s number. She glanced at Claudia. “You got the gist of that?”

“Enough. I guess it’s time for you to stir up a storm,” Claudia said quietly.

“Past time,” Austin murmured and tapped Gem’s number.

❖

Gem couldn’t sleep and it was a few more hours until sunrise. Finally she gave up trying, got up, and lit a lamp in the center of the table. The cabin was chilly, and she heated water for tea. While the water boiled, she made toast and checked the cabinets for peanut butter. Hallelujah, someone had left a jar. She needed to stock in some supplies first thing in the morning.

Fortified with caffeine and protein, she settled into a chair at the table and powered up her laptop. She’d bookmarked the NOAA site and studied the latest forecasts. The projected cone of the storm’s movement predicted landfall somewhere along the coast within fifty miles of the sanctuary if the storm kept on course at its current speed. That was close enough to be a direct hit, and even if it wasn’t, the high winds and storm surge would strip coastal trees, erode the shoreline, and flood the coastal marshes with enough sediment to destroy habitats and waterways. The resident wildlife and migratory populations would be decimated. If they acted quickly, they could sandbag the high-tide line and at least limit erosion beyond that point. That kind of mobilization took days, though, and they might not have that long. Someone in DC should have warned her—their team reported directly to a division at the NIH, but bureaucrats being who they were, no one probably thought to take responsibility. It was done now and her complaints wouldn’t change anything. She rubbed her eyes and thought about calling Emily, but there was no point in both of them losing sleep.

She had the number of her liaison at the NIH. She’d just have to wake him up and get him to contact FEMA and approve funding for the people and equipment she’d need. They could get the trucks and FEMA personnel moving before daylight, hopefully out of Baltimore. Until then, they’d just have to—

Her phone rang and, expecting it to be Alex, she thumbed it on and said, “Have you heard anything else?”

“Gem?”

She recognized the voice but it took her a moment to grasp Austin was calling her at three a.m. “Austin?”

“Yes, sorry. I woke you.”

“No,” she said, confused and pleased at the same time. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m afraid it isn’t.”

Austin sounded different—formal and distant. Gem’s heart beat a rapid tattoo against the inside of her rib cage. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m sorry. Let me explain why I’m calling. There’s a developing situation that may involve the sanctuary. I’d like you to gather your people for a briefing at seven a.m. I’ll be able to explain then to everyone at once exactly what’s going on.”

“I’m not following,” Gem said quietly. “What are you talking about?”

“All I can say at this time is we have some problems that may impact the sanctuary. It’s best if everyone hears the details at one time.”

“And you want me to get the team together at seven a.m.?” Gem parroted Austin’s request while trying to assimilate the impossible. Why was Austin involved in anything to do with the sanctuary? “Can you at least tell me—”

“I’m sorry, I can’t. I know this all seems cryptic, but if you could just hold your questions until the briefing—”

Everyone kept mentioning a briefing, but no one was giving any details. Gem’s temper flared. “At seven a.m. at the sanctuary.”

“Yes, the sanctuary visitors’ center would be fine for now.”

“Austin—”

“I’m sorry, Gem, I’ll explain everything in a few hours.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on, but I don’t seem to have any choice,” Gem said, hearing the ice in her voice.

“I really am sorry.” Austin sounded weary. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Good night, then,” Gem said, understanding on some fundamental level that everything she thought she knew about Austin and what they’d shared had suddenly changed. She redialed Alex with a steady hand, but her insides roiled like rough surf.

“Martin,” Alex said almost immediately.

“I just got the strangest call—”

“About what?”

“About a meeting—”