Melting the Surgeon's Heart, page 15
A few people were looking her way from the other side of the pond. Raising her hand, she half expected a scowl or a scathing remark, but the group of teenagers just waved back and smiled awkwardly, as if they’d seen a celebrity. Gunnar was so paranoid it had rubbed off on her!
After walking home, she hid behind the wall outside her apartment for a moment, till the man with the camera looked the other way. Then she darted to the door, jiggled the key in the lock, praying she wouldn’t be snapped, and hated herself for caring at all.
It was only Gunnar who cared. And Javid, now.
Javid’s own jealousy and ego had sent him to the airport. He’d known all along she was in Iceland, but he’d only flown here after seeing her photo with Gunnar. Typical. He didn’t even know who Gunnar was.
The sight of his jet-lagged face last night, first furious and scathing, and then begging, crying and pleading, trying to block her from leaving his hotel room, had just made her angry instead of wanting to cower under a table. He’d dropped to the floor broken, a mess, but he’d agreed to sign the papers—finally. She’d almost wanted to feel sorry for him. But all she’d been thinking about was how he wasn’t a part of her life any more. And neither was Gunnar.
* * *
Some hours later, Mahlia was between emails with her solicitor when a shriek from outside caught her ears. Suddenly several people were yelling, gathering outside, and Mahlia’s heart almost bottomed out when she craned her neck on the balcony to look at the mountain range.
The volcano, far in the distance, which just last week had been largely inconspicuous, disguised as a harmless mountain, was now spitting fire. A thick cloud of steam and smoke rose faster than she could contemplate, threatening to blot out the sun.
The sky was turning darker and darker, and Mahlia felt a chill run through her as she took the stairs two at a time down to the street, glancing around. People were starting to evacuate, loading cars with whatever they could carry, running inside their homes to grab what they’d need. Dogs barked and children whimpered in confusion while she just stared at the mountains, realising there were probably people out there, up there...
The volcano was erupting, spewing molten lava and ash high into the air like a firework display. It was surreal.
Already her phone was ringing off the hook.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
ERIK, ÁSTA AND Gunnar were in a huddle when she swerved into the hangar and hurried from her car.
‘You’re here.’ Ásta pulled her into a quick one-armed hug.
She was panicked, which put Mahlia even more on edge, but she straightened up—not least because Gunnar was staring at her. He looked tired.
‘Thanks for coming,’ Gunnar said gruffly, and her heart panged just at seeing his narrowed eyes, the way he shoved his hands harder into his pockets.
Erik and Gunnar had already gathered intel. The eruption had sent a slow flow of lava spilling down the south-eastern side of the volcano, and the mayor of Reykjavik was in danger of getting trapped at the research base he was visiting with the scientists. They were still up there, in an area that would soon become inaccessible or swallowed by lava.
Mahlia’s heart raced as she looked from Erik to Gunnar, then back again. Behind them more volunteers were loading vehicles with supplies, organising themselves into groups to head there by land and in helicopters.
‘What about the villagers?’ she asked as they headed towards Sven, who was hauling several boxes of water and supplies into the chopper.
‘Some of them have already evacuated,’ Gunnar said, hauling up another crate.
‘Yeah, and some of them think their prayers will keep them safe,’ Erik followed up.
Gunnar didn’t touch her or talk to her as they boarded the chopper.
As they flew closer to the danger zone, the air felt thick and hot. The winds were picking up ash and debris all around them, visibility was decreasing rapidly, and every minute brought them closer to potential disaster...
What if they couldn’t reach them in time?
It didn’t bear thinking about.
Gunnar started working with the winch equipment and Mahlia’s heart rose to her throat. She took his arm suddenly, leaning in over the roar of the blades. Hair whipped furiously around their faces as he partially opened the door and peeked out, sending ash inside to swirl between them. His gaze lowered to her fingers. She was clutching his arm tighter by the second.
‘You wouldn’t go down unless it was totally one hundred percent safe, would you?’ she said, trying and probably failing to keep the emotion from her face.
He stared at her. ‘Nothing about this is safe.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘I know, but...’
‘Nothing’s going to happen to me. Or you. OK?’
His eyes drilled into her and she fumbled for words—professional words...words that might befit the current unprecedented situation—but he got in first.
‘Why didn’t you tell me Javid was here?’ he said, stepping into a fire-retardant suit, yanking the zip up roughly.
She sat back, stunned. How did he know Javid was here?
‘I saw it on your phone,’ he said to her, reaching for the harness, tightening the belt around his waist. ‘Before you left. You didn’t tell me he was in the country. Did you think I’d try and stop you seeing him. Was that it?’
Mahlia gaped, feeling Ásta’s eyes on her as she looked over a map of the area. Was that why he’d broken it off so fast? He could have told her...so she could have explained.
‘I didn’t know he was coming till I’d already left. He saw us in those photos and he flew here. But, yes, I went to see him. I told him what I had to, and he’s signing the papers.’
Gunnar looked shocked. ‘Well...good.’
‘Anyway, you didn’t tell me your father was here!’ she continued, raising her voice above the roaring blades. ‘You really don’t trust me at all, do you? You don’t trust me with your family, and you don’t trust me to make my own mind up about my own future!’
He shook his head. ‘You want what I can’t give you.’
‘I only want you!’
She almost crumpled into him, but his eyes held hers now, and she swallowed a sob. This was pointless! He did know her, and he knew a part of her did still want a family, to be a mother. She always would...even if she willingly sacrificed the chance for him.
‘At least I thought I did. I don’t know, Gunnar.’
He said nothing, and she bit her tongue as he yanked on thick rubber boots.
‘I didn’t know my father was coming back,’ he said eventually, ‘not till this morning. That was news to me, too.’
She stared at him, grappling for words as the sequence of events started slotting into place. ‘But you went to see him and the world didn’t fall apart, did it? And you’re here now, risking your life for others all over again, because your past isn’t what’s important.’
His jaw shifted this way and that as he held her eyes. Her legs were shaking with adrenaline. She could see his thoughts churning, something weakening, but then he seemed to brush it off, as if he didn’t want to think about it. He tugged at the straps of the harness, then dragged his hands through his hair. She forced her mouth shut, cursing herself. She wanted to say the future was more important...the only thing that mattered. But his silence said it all.
She should book a flight home as soon as this mission was over, she thought defeatedly. Reassess, deal with the divorce with a clear head—not distract herself with someone she couldn’t have.
‘The research centre is there.’
Erik stuck his arm out to point between them, and she sucked a breath in, followed his finger. They were approaching the side of the volcano now, and the tiny research centre where the mayor and the scientists were trapped looked like nothing more than a series of shacks from up here. The spilling lava had already curled around the buildings, blocking the path for a rescue by land.
Despite the imminent danger, the sight was breathtaking. How could something so beautiful be so deadly?
Whenever the smoke cleared the molten lava glowed a brilliant orange-red against the deep hues of the ever-darkening ash-laden sky. Bright sparks flew off like fireflies as it spilled and spread like red treacle. It looked almost alive, with its own powerful energy, creating poker-like new paths for itself as it seeped and bubbled forward. Some trees had been charred black by fire, and whole sections of land had been swallowed up by molten rock already.
‘How many people are down there?’ she asked, sudden dread pooling in her stomach at just how close the lava was trickling to the research centre.
‘They just confirmed five,’ Erik said, his voice gruff with worry. ‘I’ll drop a cable once you get them out. The mayor is asthmatic, and with this smoke... We’re the closest team already—the only chance they have right now.’
‘I’ll bring him up first,’ Gunnar said. ‘Mahlia, get ready.’
For a second too long she held his gaze, searching for a hint of the man who’d made love to her so passionately. He looked almost pained as he pulled his eyes away, and she swallowed back the urge to tell him to be careful. He was already pulling away, trying to push her out of his life. She should keep a shred of dignity and accept it. This trip had never been about him anyway. At least, it had never been supposed to be...
Ásta shook her shoulder gently, urging her away from the door. Gunnar co-ordinated with Sven from the cockpit, checked the winch line with Erik, then shoved oxygen masks into his pack as they hovered closer. Below, Mahlia could just make out arms waving from a skylight in the observatory at the research centre, and her heart leapt as she grabbed up her backpack, ready to go with Gunnar.
‘Stay here,’ he commanded her.
She felt a jolt to her heart as Gunnar shoved the door further open, pulling his oxygen mask on tightly. The wind buffeted through her hair and dust and ash filled her lungs as he met her eyes one last time. In a heartbeat the clouds consumed him, and then he was gone.
* * *
The smoke was so thick it was more like a wall, but Gunnar kept going, forging through the ash towards the research centre. His lungs burned against his ribs and his heart pumped in his ears as he tried to breathe and stay calm. The steel shack that was the research centre was only metres away from where he’d landed, but the air around him was hot and toxic, and he could feel the intensity of the heat even from this distance, singeing his cheeks around the oxygen mask.
Above him, the chopper wove through a barrage of ash and debris, and he pictured Mahlia, gripping the doorframe, watching out for his return.
He’d pushed her away again... Why did he keep on doing that? Demus had got all up in his head on the phone, on his way to the hangar, telling him to keep Mahlia safe, that she was the best thing ever to have happened to him.
He knew that, he thought, glancing up as another chopper hovered into sight, then another, and another. Some were full of photographers and news correspondents. He couldn’t escape them even on the side of a damn volcano.
The main door to the research centre was blocked by a massive lava rock boulder. He shouted to the guys they’d seen in the observatory. There was no way he could get into their line of vision, and the other door was blocked already by more huge black boulders. Heaving against their weight, he started to try and move it, picturing the much-loved mayor in there, feeling more ashamed than ever of how he’d treated Mahlia before he’d ordered her not to come down with him.
His old demons had come out in force, convincing him she was going to leave him like Idina had, and he’d made every excuse under the sun to himself as to why he was wrong for her—including the whole children thing. Was that really what he wanted? To be alone in life?
‘Stop focusing on problems that don’t even exist or your whole life is going to pass you by. Look at me and Inks. If we can make it work, then you can!’ his brother had urged.
Demus saw through him and all his excuses, of course. He didn’t deserve a brother like him, Gunnar thought, urging the boulder to move, cursing when it still didn’t budge. And he probably didn’t deserve Mahlia either, the way he’d just spoken to her. He’d messed up. She hadn’t even seen that Javid was in Iceland when she’d asked him for a car back to Reykjavik from the cabin! And she’d finally given the guy his marching orders in person, all by herself. That must’ve taken courage, considering how the guy had had her in an emotional stranglehold for the last seven years—and he, as her trusted colleague, winchman and lover, had just broken things off with her.
Damn, this boulder was not giving an inch!
He almost turned around in defeat, but suddenly Mahlia was behind him, running through the swirling ash straight towards him. His stomach did a somersault as he watched her jump over a pile of glowing rocks. The smell of sulphur filled his nose and for a second he saw the strangest image in his mind: a little version of Mahlia, stubborn, determined, needing him despite trying her best to prove she didn’t, him sweeping her up in his arms... A daughter?
The smoke must be getting to his head.
‘Mahlia, you can’t be here.’
Her mouth twisted with exasperation as she pulled out a rope. ‘I made them let me come. I’ll stay away from you after this, if that’s what you want,’ she said through her mask. ‘We need to move fast, Gunnar.’
Her knuckles went white as she tightened the rope around the boulder, and together they heaved and tugged until the way was clear. Gunnar yanked at the heavy steel door, revealing their way in with an ominous creak.
‘It’s so dark...’ Panting, Mahlia grabbed the back of his suit by the belt as they entered the pitch-black corridor.
‘The generator’s out,’ he said, pulling out a flashlight and putting a hand out to steady her.
The air was filled with the echo of distant shouts for help as they felt their way around the walls towards the sound of the cries. She stumbled against a trolley full of glass vials and he caught her, holding the flashlight under his chin for a second, an inch from her eyes.
‘I’m sorry I overreacted about Javid flying to Reykjavik,’ he said.
Mahlia turned away from him, edging along the wall. ‘You did overreact, yes.’
‘But that doesn’t change anything, Mahlia. You deserve a better future now he’s out of your life. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your dreams for me...’
‘Great—so now there’s another man telling me what’s best for me,’ she huffed over her shoulder, stumbling again and righting herself. ‘I’m flying back to New Zealand soon anyway.’
He could have kicked himself. ‘Really? You’ve booked a flight already?’
She sighed. ‘Not yet, but there’s legal stuff to sort out there...and I probably won’t be back. Not for a while at least.’
‘Mahlia—’
His words were cut off. A huge rumble from overhead made Mahlia gasp, and they staggered into each other. He dropped the flashlight.
‘What was that?’ she asked, wide-eyed, just as the cries sounded out again.
This time they were close enough to gauge where they were coming from. Together they hurried the rest of the way, till the noise brought them to another giant steel door. Gunnar’s radio squawked.
‘Gunnar, this is Erik. We’ve got a problem. All entrances are blocked by lava so you’ll need to get the mayor and the others out through the roof. It’s too dangerous for you to go back the way you went in.’
Mahlia turned pale, but Gunnar steeled himself. He spoke into the radio for confirmation and then pushed at the door. It was stuck.
‘It’s probably locked now the power’s out,’ he said, banging on the door.
Sure enough, a man who sounded very panicked confirmed they could no longer open it. There were five people in there, including the mayor, who was probably the person they could hear coughing hoarsely.
‘Time to get creative,’ said Gunnar, his eyes darting around in search of a plan.
Urging Mahlia back a safe distance, he grabbed a metal pipe off a nearby wall. The stench of burning rock wafting down the corridor made his nostrils burn and his stomach lurch.
‘Can you do this?’ she asked him from the opposite wall, removing her mask, then coughing with the ash.
His heart swelled at the look on her face—the same one he’d seen in the chopper. She was trying not to appear fazed by the situation, but her voice was trembling with fear and uncertainty, and it made him want to pull her into him, ask her to stay, not to take that flight. Ever.
Maybe she was right in what she’d said before. His father had come back, Ma was getting help, and despite everyone knowing about all the ugly skeletons in his closet, the world hadn’t ended. He was making the past into a bigger deal than it had to be. And because of that he was destroying his own future!
Gunnar steeled himself, gripped the pipe hard and slammed it with all his strength repeatedly into the bar across the door. Over and over. On the fourth or fifth blow the lock shattered into pieces and the door swung open.
They pushed at it with one hard shove, and his eyes took in the facility, full of strange machinery, and the researchers, who flocked towards them in relief. The mayor, whom Gunnar recognised instantly, dropped to his knees on the floor when he saw them, holding his chest.
Gunnar passed out oxygen masks as Mahlia helped the mayor up, sitting him on a chair. ‘We need to get everyone out of here now,’ she said, eyeing the glass dome of the observatory above them nervously. It was so high.
‘The power outage has left the dome closed,’ one of the scientists told them. ‘I don’t know how else we can get out!’
Gunnar met Mahlia’s eyes, saw the look of despair she shot him. No. They would not be stuck in here, waiting for a river to molten lava to snake in and swallow them—not if he could help it.
