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It was so small, so tiny. So seemingly insignificant. And yet…
And yet I’d taken it. I’d pocketed it! Then I’d forgotten about it… or at least, that’s what I told myself.
Outside, dawn was just breaking. The fire was low and the room was cold and the radio seemed a thousand miles away.
I ran to it anyway, eager for the suffering.
Forty-Four
BOONE
”MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!”
I heard the words loudly and clearly, even from the other side of the room. I jumped up and ran, still groggy, over to where Morgan sat hunched over the radio.
“You got it working!”
She shushed me with a quick gesture and repeated the cry.
”MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! We are AVALANCHE survivors from the CERVIGNO resort. We need HELP! Over!”
A quick glance at the radio showed me the transmit light was green! I clapped her on the shoulder so hard she nearly fell over.
“You did it!”
I expected happiness. Pride. Jubilation! But her expression was all business.
“Help me crank. Give me more juice.”
I took the hand crank from her and spun it so fast it nearly came off! Morgan closed her hand over mine as the lights behind the ham radio’s dials glowed brightly with renewed power. She pressed the button on the microphone again.
“MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!”
“Uhh… you sure it’s Mayday?”
“What?”
“I mean, isn’t Mayday for aviation? Aircraft going down, engine failures and all that?”
“No,” she said, almost annoyed. “Mayday is universal across all emergency radio channels.”
“Yeah?”
Morgan’s brow crossed. She cleared her throat. “Who’s the radio geek? You or me?”
“You,” I admitted sheepishly.
“Exactly.”
She called a few more times, and we eagerly awaited an answer. We got nothing but static. After ten minutes or so, she turned a few dials. Tried a few different channels.
“No one’s responding?”
Morgan shook her head. “I tried the emergency channel, and a few other frequencies. But we’re in Italy, so it might be different. Who the hell knows.”
I yawned, stretching my arms so hard my sternum cracked. “Maybe they’re still sleeping?”
The expression she gave me ended any further comment on my part. For some reason she was on edge. Instead of being thrilled that the transmitter was fixed, she looked… pissed?
