Read Defiant (an Ell Donsaii story #9) for Free Online

looked up, glanced at the other people she’d rescued and then over toward the main Santorini island. Her eyes narrowed. She said, “Allan, try to contact the helicopter that’s coming this way from the big island and vector it to us. Tell them we have an older man who isn’t breathing, though I can feel a pulse.” She gave the old man a couple more breaths then looked up at Aki. “Do you know anything about medicine or CPR?”
    Aki shook his head numbly. He sat down, not feeling very well himself. The girl gave the old man another couple of breaths. Aki saw that the third man of their little, last to be rescued, group was already sitting down. Aki and the third man were both breathing as hard as if they’d been running. Aki thought to himself that the volcanic gas had to be fairly toxic. He hoped it was mostly carbon dioxide that was making them sick, but thought sulfur likely had something to do with it…
     
    After a little time Aki felt better and took a turn giving the old man a few breaths. The other people from their Japanese tour group arrived where they were, apparently having walked over from where they’d been set down. An older woman sank to her knees beside the old man, tears streaming down her face.
    Large gusts heralded the landing of the helicopter. The old man had begun breathing on his own but still looked very sick. To Aki’s amazement, the girl picked him up like a child and placed him in one of the seats of the small helicopter. She reclined the seat fully into the one behind it. One person from the tour group claimed to be a doctor and got in with the old man. The old man’s wife got in too. This filled the small helicopter so it lifted off, presumably for a clinic on the main island.
    Aki absently noted the attractiveness of the young brunette woman when she turned back to him. “Ask the group if any of them are feeling sick?”
    He asked around and turned back to her. “They all feel a little bit ill.”
    “Do they feel they can walk down to the shore and the boat that brought you here, or would they rather we lifted them with the ropes? I know being lifted by the ropes is painful.”
    Aki frowned, “Yes it is, why don’t you have proper harnesses?”
    She shrugged, “We aren’t a rescue group. We’re just here on vacation like you.”
    His eyes widened. Why would they even have ropes? “Oh. Let me talk to them.” He turned to the group and spoke to them. Most of them had found riding in the rope slings to be frightening and uncomfortable, so they wanted to walk. He turned back to the young woman, “We’ll walk, but will you stand by in case something else happens with the volcano?”
    “Sure.”
    “May I get your name?”
    She gave a little grimace and shook her head. “Sorry, I wouldn’t want word getting out. I’m not supposed to be here on Santorini.”
     
    Aki and his tour group picked their way back to the path, and from there down to the harbor. They felt better and better as they got farther from the concentrated volcanic fumes. The tour boat which had dropped them off had pulled out to sea when the eruption started, but it pulled back in to pick them up. Once Aki was on board he looked around for their rescuers. He saw the two people on the hoverbike lift off with a wave and skim away to the north going faster and faster until they disappeared over the horizon. He wondered, who were those people?
    It was only later that he began to wonder what had connected the ropes to the hoverbike and why they had had all that rope…
     
    Shan said, “Why are we going this direction? Don’t we need to get back to Santorini?”
    “Yeah,” Ell chuckled, “but Steve was right. We don’t have a license for this thing, so I’d rather we didn’t have too many people asking us questions. Once we’re beyond the horizon we’ll circle around and come back in from the east. Hopefully we can sneak up to the beach and get the bike into the back of the SUV while everyone’s