Code Black (38 page)

“I helped him a little bit here and there.” Donovan said, though Henry would need to explain to her later, how important it was to keep his involvement a secret. “How is he?”

Nancy exhaled deeply and dabbed her tears with a tissue. “He has second and third degree burns and he suffered a concussion. But the doctor assured me he would recover. I can only sit with him for a few minutes at a time, so I thought I’d come meet you.”

“What have you heard about Audrey?” Henry asked, but Nancy shook her head to indicate that she knew nothing. Henry looked around and found the female staff member he’d first spoken with. “Where can I go to find my wife?”

“If you’ll follow me,” she said, “I’ll take you to a waiting area. Someone will be in to speak with you shortly.”

Donovan felt a hand on his arm and turned to see it was Michael. “I’ve got to find a phone and call home. Susan still thinks I’m coming home tonight. I’m so glad none of this happened, I’d hate to have to explain my day to her. I’ll catch up with you in a little while. Can I bring you some coffee or anything when I come back?”

“No thanks.”

Lauren shook her head too, to show that she was fine for the moment. “Tell Susan hello from us.”

“I will.” Michael nodded and hurried away.

“Are you immediate family?” The nurse said to Donovan and Lauren as they caught up.

“Yes,” Henry said without hesitation. “They’re with us.”

“Very well.” The woman pointed down the spotless hallway to a bank of elevators. “The waiting room is up one floor and then to your left. There is a refreshment area to your right as you step off the elevator. I’ll let someone know you’re waiting.”

“Thank you.” Henry hurried off in the direction of the elevator.

Moments later, the small group entered the empty waiting room. There were rows of chairs, a few pictures on the wall, and a magazine rack. The room, though it tried to create a feeling of warmth, fell far short.

Donovan was still far too wired to sit and wait in the confining space. “I’ve changed my mind. I think coffee sounds good. Who all would like some?”

“I’m fine.” Lauren gave him a puzzled look. She knew Donovan rarely drank coffee after his second cup in the morning.

“I’ll go with you,” Henry said as Donovan started to leave the room.

Donovan walked to where he’d seen the machines when they got off the elevator. He dug in his pocket for some change, only to discover that he had none.

Henry pulled some singles out of his front pocket. “Maybe it’ll take these.”

The two men stood in the small alcove. Donovan’s tension rose as Henry went about the process of feeding his dollar bills to the machine. He bought Donovan a cup, then himself.

“Let’s you and I have a little talk,” Henry said.

Donovan didn’t really want to have this talk now, not here in the hospital while they were waiting to hear about Audrey. In his mind, this was something to be done later.

“Just who in the hell do you think you are?” Henry’s words poured out with venom. “I can’t believe you faked your death and deserted all of us. Was it so bad, you had to run off and hide—and leave us to clean up your mess?”

“I didn’t leave much of a mess,” Donovan said softly. “In fact, everyone who was hurt by my departure was well taken care of.”

Henry stared Donovan down. “Let me fill you in on a few little details. After your plane crashed, first the FAA, then the insurance people, then finally the media, everyone was all over me.”

“I did everything I could to calculate the fallout.” Donovan recalled the painstaking planning that went into his final days as Robert Huntington. “The only aspect I didn’t plan on was your insisting on trying to recover the airplane from the bottom of the ocean. It would have been a monumental task, but the investigators would have discovered enough clues to cast doubt on certain elements of the accident. I couldn’t afford that kind of scrutiny.”

“Is that when I was terminated?” Henry said. “When I wanted to raise the airplane.”

Donovan nodded. “I was in Europe by then. I’m sorry Henry, I really am, but I can assure you no one paid a higher price for my actions than I did.”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“Did it make you want to escape? When it felt like the entire world had you in their sights, did you ever feel like making it all go away?”

Henry seemed unfazed by Donovan’s words.

“Now imagine what was going on in my life. I’d lost Meredith and the world was blaming me for her death. Imagine trying to get through each day with that kind of grief, while also trying to deal with death threats against friends, boycotts of the company. I would never try to minimize what you went through, Henry. But I will ask you to search inside, and see if there is even the smallest bit of empathy for what I was dealing with.”

Henry looked up at Donovan “If you’d have asked, I would have probably helped you do what you needed to do.”

“That’s not the way it worked. I didn’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t put that burden on anyone else.” Donovan paused to see if his words were having any effect. “Which brings us to the real issue at hand.”

Henry stood rigid, his face flush with resentment.

“You and Audrey both know the truth about me.” Donovan sought out Henry’s eyes and held them with his own. “Henry—is my secret safe with you?”

Henry said nothing, his jaw clenched and his expression unyielding.

“You knew me for a long time,” Donovan said, his tone softening. “You also knew Meredith. It’s taken me almost twenty years to feel that way again. Lauren and my daughter mean everything to me. But if the world discovers I’m still alive, the backlash will be considerable. It’s up to you.”

“Dad?” Matt’s voice carried down the quiet hallway. “Dad!”

“I’m in here,” Henry called out to his son.

“Dad. They’re showing the crash on the television. I think you’d better come see this.”

“I better go see what’s going on,” Henry said, eyeing Donovan as if to say they’d talk later. Matt joined the two men and stood next to his father.

“Go,” Donovan urged Henry, while putting out his hand and resting it on Matt’s shoulder to get him to stay. Henry returned to the waiting room. “Hello Matt. I was hoping we’d have some time to talk.” Donovan could clearly see both Audrey’s and Henry’s features in Matt’s face. “I still can’t get over how brave and resourceful you were today. Your mom was so proud of you.”

“She was?”

“Yes.” Donovan carefully measured his words. “She loved that you and your father were working together to help us. It was what she wanted most of all—.”

“Did she really say that?”

“She also wanted me to tell you that she loved you. Some pretty amazing things happened today, but the most amazing person by far was your mother. She held things together, in the end; it was her that saved us from going into the lake. I owe her my life.”

“Really?” Matt looked up. “She saved you?”

“She saved all of us,” Donovan said.

“Excuse me? Are you by chance Henry Parrish?”

Donovan turned in the direction of the voice. A doctor stopped where he and Matt stood. He was wearing green surgical scrubs. An identically clad nurse was at his side. “Are you Mr. Parrish?”

“No.” Donovan shook his head. “He’s in the waiting room though. Do you have news about Audrey?”

“I really need to speak with her husband.” The doctor said before continuing down the hall. Donovan, with Matt on his heels, followed the doctor into where the others waited. When they entered the room, Donovan saw that only Lauren and Henry remained; Nancy had left.

“Mr. Parrish?” the doctor repeated.

“I’m Henry Parrish.” They shook hands briefly and Matt joined his father. “This is my son, Matt. Do you have news about my wife?”

“Hello, I’m Dr. Mueller.” He hesitated for a moment. “I’m sorry—but we lost her. We did everything we could—but her injuries were just too severe. I’m deeply sorry.”

EPILOGUE

It was a picture-perfect south Florida evening. A gentle breeze swayed the tall palm trees and the ocean waves lapped up onto the white sand. Donovan and Lauren, hand in hand, had quietly slipped away from the wedding reception. The ceremony had been beautiful. Michael had been the best man and Calvin Reynolds had given the bride away. They’d been man and wife now for nearly four hours. They walked across the patio, away from their reception at the Breakers Hotel.

“The air feels wonderful,” Lauren said, as she leaned close, putting her head on Donovan’s shoulder. “I hope they won’t miss us.”

“They’ll be fine.” Donovan kissed her cheek and slipped his arm around her waist. “It was down there on this very beach where we had our first kiss.”

“I remember.” Lauren smiled at the memory, then pointed out over the waves. “And somewhere out there you proposed.”

Donovan nodded as they stopped at the ornate railing that looked out over the water. It had been a perfect day. Their friends and loved ones had made the trip to West Palm Beach for their wedding. Everyone was spending the weekend at the Breakers. The next day, he and Lauren were getting on a chartered jet and flying south to a private island. They’d marveled at the pictures of the luxurious house, pristine grounds and protected beach. It was going to be a memorable honeymoon.

“What do you think will happen from here?” Lauren said wistfully, asking the question that had been on both of their minds.

Each day they’d both devoured the newspapers and followed the media coverage of the dramatic events in Chicago. The aftershock had been wide and varied. As promised, neither Donovan, Lauren, or Eco-Watch had ever been mentioned. Leo Singer and Wayfarer Airlines had been the focal point of the after-crash media barrage. Henry’s daring exploits had served to draw the attention away from the twenty-nine passengers who had been permanently damaged from lack of oxygen. The loss of his wife had served to make Henry an even bigger hero. Wayfarer had acted swiftly and decisively to spin the aftermath into a celebration of those who had lived and those who had helped facilitate the rescue. As far as Donovan knew, John and Christy were still in the hospital; both Captain Tucker and Keith were fine and had been released. Keith was back home in Aspen. Rafael was in Chicago getting ready to start school. In their statements to the press, everyone involved had carefully kept to the story orchestrated by Leo and Henry. Norman Wetzler had eagerly agreed to stay silent in return for a dismissal of the federal charges leveled against him. All of the personnel at O’Hare were quietly commended by the head of the FAA, as well as by the mayor of Chicago. The inadvertent shutdown of the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center was branded a freak accident, and additional steps were already underway to ensure that a repeat of the tragic events would never occur.

“I wish I knew,” Donovan replied honestly. “But whatever happens we’ll deal with it together. Maybe we could buy this island we’re going to, and live there happily ever after.”

“I like that idea. Run around naked for the next thirty or forty years.”

Donovan smiled, but the shadow of the events in Chicago loomed heavily over their future. Lauren had bravely reassured him that whatever the future brought would be fine with her. But only he fully understood how dramatically their lives would shift if the secrets of his past were made public. His fortune could buy them a certain amount of privacy, but the price on their security and mobility would be high. Abigail would probably suffer the most. As the only child of billionaire Robert Huntington, she would grow up with the media focused on her every move. Any hope for a normal childhood would instantly vanish under the onslaught. It was that thought that made Donovan the saddest.

“Any regrets?” Lauren looked up into his eyes.

“Only that I didn’t find you years ago.”

“Good answer.” Lauren smiled.

“Excuse me, am I interrupting?” a man’s voice called out from behind them.

Donovan turned, not sure who had spoken. In the waning light someone was approaching. Several moments passed before he recognized Leo Singer.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Donovan faced Lauren. “Did you know about this?”

Lauren shook her head.

Donovan stood and waited for him to draw closer. He wasn’t sure what to expect; he hadn’t talked to Henry since the hospital. Leo Singer had been kind enough to call earlier in the week to give Donovan updates on everyone’s condition. But after that he’d heard nothing.

“Hello,” Lauren said.

“Congratulations. May I kiss the bride?” Leo put one arm around Lauren’s waist and kissed her gently on the cheek. Then he put his hand out to Donovan.

Donovan shook Leo’s hand, knowing that this wasn’t a social call—something had happened. Donovan braced himself for the worst.

“I hope you don’t mind that I crashed your wedding,” Leo began, then hesitated as he searched for exactly what to say next. “There have been some developments.”

“Uh oh.” Donovan reached out and found Lauren’s hand.

“Yesterday,” Leo said, “A body was discovered in the Wayfarer employee parking lot. It was found buried under fifteen feet of snow. Apparently it took almost a week for the snow to melt enough to reveal the body. It has been identified as Cyrus Richtman.”

“What?” Donovan shook his head at the news. “What happened?”

“The preliminary autopsy indicated that he suffocated,” Leo said. “The authorities speculate that he must have inadvertently wandered into the path of a snow plow on the way to his car. They’ve ruled his death accidental.”

Donovan squeezed Lauren’s hand. With Cyrus dead, and by all appearances it looked as if he’d died shortly after he’d left the airport, there was almost no chance he’d told anyone what he knew about Donovan’s past. A brief image of Emmett flashed through Donovan’s mind. Had the grief stricken man taken justice into his own hands?

“There’s more,” Leo continued. “Henry and I have discussed much of what needs to be done before we can put this ordeal behind us—both professionally and personally. When Cyrus’ demise was made public, I used that opportunity to announce that after an appropriate interval, Henry Parrish would be named as the new Chief Executive Officer of Wayfarer Airlines. It has to be voted on by the board, but I’ve been assured that it’s merely a formality. I have you to thank for planting that seed.”