Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

to faint. Torres reached down and grabbed Glyn’s collar, pulled him partway to his feet.

“A little less criticism of the man who did the job you should have been doing would be appreciated.” She let him go to flop back down. “Get on with it.”

Glyn muttered dark threats but got on with the job, undoing the laces of Zach’s left boot. Adam watched, riveted, as Glyn eased the boot off with one hand, holding the leg steady under the ankle with the other. Zach moaned, and his head spun as the movement sent waves of pain up his leg. When Glyn peeled off his sock, Zach’s foot looked normal, pale, and bony, with some rather gross black hairs on top of the big toe. How Adam had been able to bring himself to touch the disgusting things when he gave Zach a foot massage remained a mystery to Zach.

“Feels warm enough,” Glyn said, running his hand over it in a professional manner very different to the massage. “You can feel this?”

“Yes, fine.”

“Wiggle your toes, please.” His cold manner had been replaced by a more businesslike one. Zach wiggled his toes, which gave him some pain in his leg, but his toes did what he wanted them to.

“His foot’s fine,” Glyn said and muttered something about dumb luck. He ran a few more checks before covering Zach with the blanket again and standing. “I want my med kit back,” he said to Adam. “Especially the drugs.”

“You seriously think I’d let you take charge of his painkillers?”

“You’d better, because you’re damn lucky you haven’t put him in a coma so far. Adam, I…” He looked back down at Zach, then back at Adam. “I’m not going to hurt him, for God’s sake.”

They stood for a moment, gazes locked, and then Adam glanced down at Zach. Asking for permission? Still acknowledging Zach as the leader? When it came to Adam, he didn’t trust Glyn as far as he could throw him, but the overt hostility between them reassured him Glyn must have given up all hopes of anything happening with Adam. He nodded. Go ahead, trust the guy. Give him a chance to redeem himself.

Adam picked up the med kit and handed it to Glyn.

After Glyn stalked off, Adam sat and started to put Zach’s sock back on. He took the other boot off and stashed it beside the first one, not saying a word. Did he feel bad he hadn’t checked the foot before? He shouldn’t; he wasn’t to know. He should be mad at Glyn, maybe. But that time was past. No point in it anymore.

He reached out. Adam took his hand and lay down beside him on a blanket. The stretcher kept them from getting as close as Zach wanted to be to him, but their hands stayed clasped. Nothing they could do but wait.

* * * *

“Adam! Adam! Wake up!”

Adam jerked awake. Damn, he hadn’t meant to fall asleep. He was supposed to be watching over Zach. He looked over at him. Zach’s eyes were open and wide. He seemed okay.

“What is it?” Zach said. Only then did Adam take notice of the shouts. They came from Simon. He shoved aside the canvas flap of their shelter and bent to look inside with a huge grin on his face.

“They’re here. The ship’s back.” He ran off again, and Adam climbed out of the shelter. The noise of it hit him as he finally woke up fully. The ship he’d seen twice before, and at last would be getting aboard, hovered overhead. Third time lucky. He laughed with delight and turned back inside to Zach, who was struggling to sit up, trying to see outside.

“Lie down. It’s okay, we’re rescued. The ship is here.”

Zach flopped back and passed a hand over his eyes. He didn’t cheer or laugh the way Adam thought he might. He only spoke softly. “Oh thank God. Nobody else will die, Adam. Nobody else will die.”

“You did it,” Adam said quietly. He took Zach’s hand and squeezed it gently. “You did this. You got us up here. We’re alive because of you. Nobody can ever take that from you.”

“But—”

He was going to talk about the people he hadn’t saved, but Adam wouldn’t let him. He shook his head. “Three hundred people who would have been dead are alive because of you.”

“And I couldn’t have done any of it without you.”

Adam bent down close to him. “It was great working with you, Dr. Zach Benesh.” He kissed him, gently, cautiously. The tent flap behind him pulled back. Whoever it was didn’t back out when they saw them kissing, just waited.

Adam looked back when he was good and ready. Glyn.

“If you’re done molesting him, we have to get him ready to move.”

The ship couldn’t land, not only because they couldn’t find a large enough piece of flat ground but because of the seismic activity. If a quake hit while the ship was on the ground… Adam didn’t dare think about it.

So they had to be hauled up. From a hatch on the bottom of the hovering ship, the crew lowered a cradle which could take two people at a time.

“Zach should go first,” Adam said, but Torres shook her head.

“Let’s give it a couple of test runs first before we start loading casualties into it. Volunteers?” Nobody stepped forward. Not out of fear, Adam thought, just nobody wanted to be the first to step into the lifeboat and look like a coward. “Okay, you and you,” Torres said, pointing at a couple of the men and giving them no chance to argue. “One of you lie down, one sit up. Come on, let’s move it.”

Adam left her to organize that and went back to wait with Zach. About fifteen minutes passed, and then Simon approached them.

“Time for Zach to take his ride. We’ve given it a good test. Jan’s already gone up. It’s safe.”

“Here we go, then,” Adam said. He leaned close to Zach. “Zach, I want to