Priority One

Chapter Two

"Run Cate, run while you still can."

Laura couldn't contain her laughter.

"Tell me again where you are?"

"I'm sitting on the floor behind the recliners talking to you. Stop laughing and help me out."

I had walked into the Marian Beach Ambulance Station minutes before. Same sticky tiles on the floor, same smell of burnt toast and unwashed dishes in the kitchen. For a brief moment, I had felt a calming sense of de ja vu. Then I'd opened the door to the Crew Room expecting to see half a dozen uniform clad bodies slumped in the recliners watching football on TV.

"It's like a ghost town," I whispered, holding the red telephone handpiece like a lifeline to the real world. This particular phone was meant as a hotline between the Dispatchers and the station. I figured I was talking to someone in dispatch, so it was OK to break the rules and use it.

"There's no one here," I said noting there were only four recliners in the room. Nowhere near have enough for everyone who worked on station at one time. Where the hell did they sit between jobs?

"Cate, you need to get up and go looking. They must be people there. According to the screen both day cars are still out, and the shift starts in five minutes. There must be people on station. You just have to stop hiding and find them."

"Tell me again who's rostered on tonight."

"I'm not doing this anymore. You know damn well there's a student rostered on both cars."

"Maybe they've all called in sick?" I hoped at least one particular person had.

"You can't hide from Alex forever."

"I am not..."

"Just go out and find him. Break the ice. I'm sure he's not angry at you."

Maybe Laura was right. I hadn't seen Alex since my wedding day three years before, and certainly not since I'd left Mount Crawford. He was Drew's friend, not mine. They had been mates long before I had come on the scene, and I assume they would be mates long after I had left it.

"OK Laura, wish me luck..."

The creaking of the Crew Room door interrupted my thoughts. A big pair of men's black boots thudded into the room. From my little bolthole between the wall and the back of a large blue recliner I couldn't see who they belonged to. I didn't need to. My luck, or lack of it, spoke for itself.

Holding my breath, I prayed Laura wouldn't yell into the phone. If I could just sit here until his pager went off, I would be fine. He never needed to know I was in here. The only problem would be if he...

The back rest of the chair lurched back suddenly, knocking my head against the wall with a thud.

I tried not to react, but the pain in my temple as my head ricocheted off the chair and into the wall sent an uncontrollable squeaking noise out of my mouth.

"You know I can see you, don't you?"

Alex didn't bother to look around. He sat the chair back upright, then reached for the handle on its side as if to recline again.

"You wouldn't?" Before the words were out of my mouth, he'd sent the chair backward once more, hitting my head again.

Trapped in my little hide out, I was forced to wiggle backward, bum in the air until I could stand up.

Staring straight ahead at the television, Alex lifted up the footrest of the chair, and slowly brought his hands up, resting them behind his head.

He was smiling. Not the 'happy to see you' smile he used to give me, but the sly smile of someone intent on making my life hell.