Ice Shock(33)
I don’t answer, trembling with cold.
Benicio’s eyes zero in on the gun in my hand. Alarmed, he wrests it from my numbed fingers. “No manches! When it’s a real gun, don’t even pretend! Where’d this come from?”
I still can’t talk. Benicio looks carefully at the gun before he pockets it.
“I had to use the infrared scanner to find you. You’re freezing! Hardly even a blip.”
Benicio leads me toward the Muwan. He switches the lights on by remote as we approach it somewhere in the middle of the meadow. Then Benicio pushes me up the Muwan’s ladder. I drop heavily into the passenger seat. My hands are too numb to get into the seat properly. In the interior lights of the Muwan, Benicio removes the rotten carpet and gets his first real look at me. He inhales sharply. “Man … you’re a mess.”
I can’t reply. My cracked lips move, but I can’t make a sound. Benicio disappears briefly, reappears with blankets and a bottle of water. He throws the blankets around me and tucks me into one of the backseats. I begin to shake again. He tips water into my mouth and I drink the whole bottle, slowly. He follows up with a metal thermos. The liquid is so hot it almost scalds my tongue. Then I manage to taste it—hot chocolate.
Benicio chuckles. “Take it easy, buddy. Don’t hurt yourself.”
The heat goes straight into my chest. It’s like a warm glow spreading through me—something I thought I’d never feel again.
Benicio takes off soon after. The craft flies straight up into the sky for almost twenty seconds, then moves forward smoothly. Benicio must have hit autopilot because he twists around in the forward seat, looking at me.
“Man, you’re beat up pretty bad,” he says.
I nod, once.
“You think you can make it back to Ek Naab? I’m pretty sure there’s blood on your shirt. And you’re freezing, absolutely freezing.”
I can barely answer without almost biting off my tongue.
Benicio sounds doubtful. “I don’t know, Josh. It’s gonna be around two hours. Maybe I should take you to a hospital.”
I shake my head. “Hospital … will call Mom,” I manage.
“Yeah, we should call her.”
“No! No … can’t.”
“Ah … really … I don’t know.”
Benicio turns away and starts talking quietly into his headset, speaking in Yucatec. After a while, he says to me, “I’m going to land, take your pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and then we’ll see. You have hypothermia, Josh. You can die from this.”
We land ten minutes later, in Ireland. When Benicio tells me this, all I manage to mumble is, “I’ve never been to Ireland.”
He takes all his readings, but I already know what the answer is going to be. I can feel myself warming up from the inside out and from the outside in.
Finally, he gives me a grin. “You’re okay. I think!”
I breathe a long sigh of relief.
“You can tell me all about how this happened to you when we get home. But for now, you should sleep.”
“Can’t … ,” I say. “Tyler … danger.”
“Your friend is in danger?”
I nod. I’ve been thinking about what Ollie will do next, and I have a nightmarish feeling that she and Madison will bring Tyler in.
What have they got to lose now? She’s blown her cover with me. Tyler is their last chance to bargain.
“Have to warn him,” I say.
My phone is soaked, so Benicio takes out his own phone. I dial Tyler’s cell phone number and wait.
“Who’s this?” he answers, sounding sleepy and annoyed.
“It’s me, Josh.” I’m shocked at how much effort it takes to talk, even now. My lips are slow; my tongue feels thick.
“Josh! You know what time it is?”
“There’s danger. Ollie—she’s bad news. One of them. Stay away. Get out of Oxford.”
“What … ?”
“Tyler, I’m serious. Get up. Get out. You could be next.”
“You okay? You sound awful.”
“I will be okay. Can’t talk much now. Keep your cell phone on. Don’t let Ollie know you know. Leave tomorrow. Promise me!”
“Okay, okay! I’ll do it. You gonna tell me why?”
“I will.” I sigh. “But not now. Tired. Hurting.”
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“Who’s with you?”
“A friend.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. That’s good.”
“Tyler … one more thing. Listen, okay? Go to my house, soon as you can. Key is with neighbor, Jackie. Get postcards on my desk. There are six … keep them safe. Jackie can’t let Ollie in. For any reason. Got that?”