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‘Thank goodness I found you.’
Olivia stepped forward.
The man lowered his hood.
Her heart pounded as she recognized him. ‘Pierre?’ Her voice cracked as she spoke his name.
Any relief she felt drained away, replaced instead by a jolt of fear.
She thought she’d flagged down their rescuer. But instead, she might have waved over more trouble than ever.
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Pierre stepped towards them, but Olivia held up her hands.
‘Wh-what are you doing here?’
‘I came for you. Come on. The storm has abated but not for long. We have to get to my yacht.’
‘Who is that?’ asked Janine, grabbing Olivia’s sleeve.
‘It’s … Pierre Lavaud.’
‘The billionaire guy?’ she whispered, and Olivia nodded.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘We don’t have much time.’
Olivia gestured to Cutler. ‘This man needs help.’
Pierre nodded. ‘I have a doctor on board.’
A strong wind blasted Olivia from behind, battering her almost to her knees, proving Pierre’s point that the storm wasn’t done with them yet.
‘There’s more of us,’ Olivia said to Pierre. ‘Shouldn’t we go find them first?’
Pierre kneeled down next to Cutler. ‘Is this Mr Hughes?’
Olivia nodded.
‘He’s not going to make it if we wait much longer,’ he said. ‘Where are the other passengers?’
‘They took shelter somewhere in the research base. But we don’t know in which building.’
‘I will return for them. I promise. If they’re in the base, they’ll be sheltered for now. But we need to move.’
Cutler let out a guttural moan. He needed a doctor. The questions she had swirling around Pierre’s appearance would have to wait. Between the three of them, they managed to get Cutler to his feet. Just. He swooned and groaned, his feet dragging.
‘Is it safe to go out there?’ Olivia asked, as they headed down the beach towards the tender. While the storm had lessened, she still didn’t like the look of the waves in the bay, topped with chunks of ice. Only a highly skilled pilot could navigate it successfully.
‘I’ve been waiting for the right conditions to come ashore. My yacht is anchored in a small inlet, so while we are cut off for now from the Lemaire Channel, we can still access the beach. We heard the distress call from the MSVigilon our radio and I came to see if I could find you.Bien, on y va.’
Between them, they got Cutler into the bottom of the Zodiac, then Janine followed. As Olivia reached the inflatable boat, she hesitated, still wary of Pierre, her eyes hardly believing he was there, in Antarctica. Wasn’t Sergei working for him? The madman they’d been running from?
But then why was he being so kind? If he wanted Olivia dead, he could have left her to the elements – or to Sergei. At that moment, the will to survive overtook all other fears. Pierre wouldn’t capsize the tender with them all in it, so that meant he really was taking them to theClarissa II.
One step at a time. She could figure out what to do next once she was on the boat. At least Janine was with her. Together the two of them could look out for each other.
The Zodiac crunched through the thick slushy water, bouncing over rogue waves. The journey was mercifully short, but it was clear why theVigilhadn’t been able to send a rescue. The nose of the boat rose over the waves before slamming down like an unbalanced seesaw, and Olivia cowered, clinging on and trying not to wince every time Cutler cried out in pain.