One Call by Wendy Williams

Author:Wendy Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2023-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

28

Cardiff Airport is larger and busier than Hannah expects. Gates heads to an area on the perimeter of the airfield where private planes are housed. Hannah waits in the car while he goes inside a squat rectangular building. She is watching a small, sleek jet take off when Gates bursts from the building and hurries to the car. He looks bewildered.

‘What is it?’

‘I’ve been asked to go to the main airport to speak to someone there.’

‘What for?’

‘They wouldn’t say. But something’s up.’

Gates’ mouth is set in a grim line and a small rope of anxiety starts to coil inside Hannah’s stomach. Gates parks opposite the terminal building and they hurry inside to search for a desk marked Security.

After her past quiet days, the crowded hubbub makes Hannah cringe until she feels like the only skittle left standing. The noise is layered beneath the roof of the cavernous departure hall. There is the immediacy of human presence: snatches of conversation, whining kids, trolley wheels and the clatter of cups and saucers from the coffee shops. Above this lies the sounds emanating from the airport itself: the beep of electric carts, the rumble and thump of the baggage conveyors and the clunk of lift doors closing. And each time the huge exterior doors sweep open, the sounds of traffic and aircraft rush inside and the scent of jet fuel scents the air.

Hannah shuffles after Gates as he searches for the desk. Confusion weighs her down and she finds herself incapable of helping. When he locates the correct desk, Gates suggests that Hannah sits down while he sorts things out. She accepts at once and flops onto an inflexible plastic chair. Foreboding settles on one side of her, dread on the other.

Gates is a long time. Hannah shifts from surveying her surroundings to examining Gates. He is facing off to two uniformed men. He pulls himself to his full height and his back is stiff. He seems agitated, waves his arms, and gesticulates with his hands. He looks so unlike his usual self that Hannah tenses, anticipating their discovery by the police.

Gates pulls away from the two men and wheels around towards Hannah. She gasps at the sight of copious tears rolling down his white face. She stands as he comes towards her. Her mouth struggles with a half-formed question that doesn’t make it into speech. She reaches a hand towards Gates. He shrugs it aside. He slumps down into a seat and puts his face in his hands. His whole body heaves. Hannah sits back down and puts her arm around his shoulders. He slumps against her. She inhales his distress, catches it at the back of her throat.

It’s like Ruth, she thinks.

What the hell has happened? Hannah’s legs are jittering.

‘What is it? Gates, what’s wrong?’

Gates releases a long haa of air and lifts his hands from his face.

‘Olly’s plane crashed after take-off at Dundee. He’s dead.’

Hannah sits back in her chair and absorbs Gates’ words. Olly is dead. Hannah doesn’t know what this means for them, but she has some idea of what it must mean for Gates.

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