Chapter 12
Angelo didn't waste another minute.
He walked straight toward the helicopter, with Daniel, Marcus, Russell and Doctor Durmont following behind.
Russell hurried to catch up.
"Where exactly are you going?"
"The nearest place where we can find people who know what they're doing."
"Phoenix?"
"No."
Angelo stopped beside the helicopter and looked at Durmont.
"You said the local medical records aren't enough."
"They aren't."
"And you said you don't know the source of the sickness."
"That's correct."
"Then we need people who can find out."
Durmont nodded slowly.
Angelo turned toward the pilot.
"Get us airborne."
The pilot hesitated.
"Where to, sir?"
"Bermuda."
Russell looked surprised.
"Bermuda?"
"It's the nearest place where we can arrange proper medical assistance."
He climbed aboard.
Daniel and Marcus followed.
Durmont hesitated before joining them.
Russell remained on the ground.
"Mr. Black, your mother specifically ordered that you remain in South River."
Angelo looked back at him.
"My mother also ordered me to resume production while people are dying."
He stepped into the helicopter.
"I've already ignored one order today."
The helicopter's engines roared to life.
Russell stood watching as the aircraft lifted from the ground.
Angelo looked down through the window as South River became smaller beneath them.
For the first time since arriving, he felt as though he was leaving the town behind.
But he knew he wasn't.
Not really.
The sickness was still there.
The miners were still there.
Maya was still there.
And someone was still watching him.
He turned toward Doctor Durmont.
"Tell me everything you remember about the eastern zone."
Durmont looked uncomfortable.
"I've never been inside."
"Why?"
"It was closed before I arrived."
"Then how do you recognize the smell?"
The doctor was silent.
Angelo stared at him.
"Doctor?"
"I've smelled it around the sickbay."
"That's not what I asked."
Durmont sighed.
"There have been rumors."
"What rumors?"
"That some of the workers who became sick had worked in the eastern zone."
Angelo leaned back.
"How many?"
"I don't know."
"Guess."
"Most of them."
Angelo's expression hardened.
"Most?"
Durmont nodded.
"I never had enough evidence to put it in an official report."
"Why not?"
"Because anyone who raised questions about the eastern zone was told to stop."
"By whom?"
Durmont looked toward Daniel and Marcus.
Then back at Angelo.
"Management."
Angelo looked out of the window.
His suspicion was becoming something far more serious.
The helicopter continued across the Atlantic.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Angelo's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His mother.
He answered.
"Hello."
"What are you doing?"
Angelo looked at the helicopter cabin.
"Leaving South River."
"You had no permission to do that."
"I don't need permission to save lives."
"You don't understand what you're doing."
"Then explain it to me."
Silence.
"Mom?"
His mother's voice finally came through.
"Come back."
"Why?"
"Because this isn't something you can fix."
Angelo's eyes narrowed.
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
"Then tell me what it is."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because if you know too much, you become a liability."
Angelo went completely still.
"A liability to whom?"
His mother didn't answer.
"Mom?"
The line went dead.
Angelo slowly lowered the phone.
Daniel had been listening.
"What did she mean?"
Angelo looked at him.
"I don't know."
But he was beginning to suspect that his mother wasn't simply trying to protect the company.
She was trying to protect him.
And that frightened him more.
Several hours later, the helicopter approached Bermuda.
Angelo looked down at the island below.
For the first time since leaving Phoenix, he felt a strange sense of determination.
He wasn't going to return to South River empty-handed.
He needed experts.
Scientists.
Virologists.
Biologists.
Anyone capable of identifying the sickness and determining whether it was connected to the mine.
The helicopter landed.
Angelo stepped onto the tarmac.
He immediately turned toward the pilot.
"Refuel."
The pilot looked surprised.
"We just arrived."
"I know."
"Are we leaving again?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Angelo looked at Doctor Durmont.
The doctor understood immediately.
"We need to contact the appropriate health authorities."
Angelo nodded.
"Exactly."
He turned toward Daniel.
"Find out who we need to speak to."
Daniel pulled out his phone.
Within minutes, he was making calls.
Angelo stood nearby, impatiently waiting.
He knew every minute mattered.
Then Daniel looked up.
"We can get someone to speak with us."
"Who?"
"Medical specialists. They want the case information first."
Angelo looked at Durmont.
"Give him everything."
Durmont handed over the documents.
Daniel began sending the reports.
Angelo walked away and stared toward the horizon.
South River was thousands of miles behind him.
But he could still picture the miners.
The sick.
The hopeless faces outside the sickbay.
And Maya.
He wondered what she was doing at that moment.
He wondered whether she knew he had left.
For the first time, the thought of leaving her behind bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
His phone rang.
Daniel handed it to him.
"They want to know how quickly you can get back."
Angelo looked toward the helicopter.
"Tell them immediately."
He turned toward the pilot.
"We're going back."
The pilot nodded.
Angelo climbed aboard.
As the helicopter lifted from the ground once again, he looked down at Bermuda disappearing beneath them.
He had left South River searching for answers.
Now he was returning with a mission.
But Angelo didn't yet know that while he had been away, someone had entered his office.
And the file containing the photographs of him and Maya was no longer there.