‘Jonah.’ He read the message. It was from just before they’d lost contact with the Welshman. He must have sent it but it had failed to transmit, and now for some reason it had come through late. Vic sighed, because it could mean nothing. Perhaps he was about to read the old man’s final message.
And look after that family of yours, you bastard, the message read. Vic smiled and showed it to Lucy. She pointed at the phone.
‘What?’
‘Next to Jonah’s name.’
And Vic slapped his forehead because he had been so stupid. The small green square meant that Jonah was available, the line between them live, and that must mean something good.
‘Marc!’ Vic said, slinging on his headset. ‘I think I might be in touch with Jonah.’ He called Jonah’s speed-dial and held the phone to his ear. Somewhere in Coldbrook a satphone might be ringing, and Vic could not help imagining what might be hearing that noise, the things passing it by.
And he could not help thinking of Jonah as one of them. Much as he and the old man had never really been friends, the idea of such an ignominious end for Jonah broke Vic’s heart.
The phone was answered.
‘Vic?’
‘Holly?’ he gasped, feeling a surge of emotion. ‘Jesus, Holly!’
‘Vic! You’re okay, you and Olivia and Lucy?’
‘We’re fine, all fine. We’re flying from Baltimore back to—’
‘What are you doing there?’
‘Long story. But you! Jonah said you went through. Did you? What happened? And where is he?’
‘Right here with me,’ Holly said. She sounded close enough to touch, and an unbidden image flashed across Vic’s mind – Holly naked in his small room down in Coldbrook, smiling contentedly, skin flushed and hair awry. He blinked hard and looked at Lucy, mouthing Jonah’s okay. She nodded and smiled.
‘I haven’t been able to reach him,’ he said. ‘I thought he was—’
‘What’s it like out there, Vic?’ Holly asked. He wasn’t sure how to answer. Wasn’t sure he wanted to.
‘It’s bad,’ he said. Across from him, Jayne averted her eyes and Sean looked out of the helicopter window. Dawn had smeared itself across the landscape, and the sun was trying to break through clouds of smoke heavy in the air. Somewhere to the south of them, a city burned. ‘And it’s spreading.’
‘How far?’
‘Everywhere,’ he said.
‘Washington? New York? What about south, how far south?’
‘Everywhere, Holly. South America. Europe. It’s . . .’ He heard her repeating this information, and even below the helicopter’s thudding rotors he heard Jonah’s voice.
‘Pass it over,’ Jonah said in the background, then he was on the line. ‘Vic. It’s good to hear you. But Europe?’
‘We think so.’
‘Where are you now?’
‘We’re airborne from Baltimore back to Cincinnati.’
‘Is Baltimore okay? What the hell were you doing there?’
‘No, it’s fucked,’ Vic said. Marc was leaning back over the seats with his hand held out, gesturing with his fingers: Pass the phone. ‘Jonah, Marc wants to talk,’ Vic said. ‘But you’re okay down there?’
‘Yes,’ Jonah said, but everything about the tone of his voice said No! ‘Sitting here right now with my other.’
‘Your what?’ Vic said, confused.
‘From over there. My opposite, from through the breach. It’s seriously fucked there, too.’
‘Oh, Jesus.’ Vic stared at Jayne where she leaned against Sean. Her eyes were drooping, and her skin looked incredibly pale. It wasn’t just the early-morning light. ‘Jonah, we went to Baltimore to get someone who’s immune.’
‘Immune?’ Jonah said. Behind his voice Vic heard others, a babble of excitement. One was Holly’s; he didn’t recognise anyone else’s.
‘Here. Marc.’ Vic passed him the phone and sat back down.
‘Are we going to see Uncle Jonah?’ Olivia asked, and Vic shook his head, stroking her chin when she pouted in disappointment.
Marc talked briefly into the phone, then snapped it shut.
‘That was quick,’ Lucy said.
‘Yeah.’
‘So who was that?’ Sean asked.