Bullard's Best Page 8

  Katie heard the camaraderie between them, as the two men bounced ideas back and forth for building up a space for what they wanted here. She was only really concerned about food prep and a space to serve and eat, but they had to consider sleeping spaces as well.

  Linny bounced all over the place, apparently just enjoying being here. “It’s so beautiful.”

  “I know,” Katie agreed. “I’m struggling with the whole wedding-in-paradise setup though.”

  “I just want to retire here,” Linny stated, “even though retirement would be severely premature, but, man, this would be an amazing place to call home.”

  “I can’t argue with you on that,” Katie said. “It’s really stunning. We’ve slept on the yacht the last couple nights, and that’s been gorgeous too.”

  “I think I’m jealous,” Linny said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I wanted to be here last night, and now that I’ve seen it, I just want to stay here for a couple weeks at least.”

  “I think that’s what they’ve got in mind,” Katie said, with a twist of her lips. “Like a retirement or a vacation center for everybody.”

  “What’s not to like?” she replied. “And Bullard’s very good at taking care of people.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.” Katie smiled. “It would be nice to think that anybody in the company could use this.” She looked around and couldn’t help smiling. “I spend a lot of time on the yacht, depending on what Bullard’s got going on, with traveling and offshore communication centers and such,” she explained. “But, wow, I could cheerfully spend a week or two here every year.”

  “We might spend longer than that too,” Fallon stated. “Depends on whether we end up setting up a center here or not.”

  “I think that would be ideal,” Katie agreed.

  “Well, now that we all think it’s a great idea, we’ll still have to convince Bullard of it,” Dave said, with a smile.

  Katie looked at him, laughed, and added, “Plus, we all have jobs to do, and his jobs keep the rest of us employed.”

  “There is that to consider as well,” Fallon admitted, “but a compound on a South Pacific island? Hell yes!”

  As Katie got back to sorting out her inventory of food supplies, she saw the vessel in the distance getting closer and closer. She watched in awe, when it finally got close enough, a small boat came off it and soared through the water at high speed toward the shore. Soon she saw Kano and Ryland. She smiled and lifted a hand, as they drifted past her. It was like having brought the army in because, with this team, they had enough men to start mobilizing equipment off the ship when it arrived.

  Pretty quickly, they had a floating dock emplaced that she was just stunned about, and, as soon as the rest of the materials were unloaded, the captain would bring the yacht in and dock here. It sounded perfect to her that they would have a gangplank to get on and off the island, which would make moving the food and the setups a lot easier.

  As it was, she wanted to stay on board and just watch as the men moved at the speed of lightning. She realized a bunch of other guys had arrived as well and had probably stayed on board. But it looked like all of Bullard’s team was here now.

  Bullard was still in the village with Leia, which made sense, depending on how the birth was going. Katie hoped everything was okay and that any complications were minor. That was the negative side of being here on the island because just no medical service was otherwise available. Even now, with Leia, Bullard, and Dave here, they all had tons of surgical experience but no equipment to speak of. They didn’t have any testing equipment either and had only basic medical supplies. A lot of that could be taken care of perhaps, but was it worth it to provide medical supplies for a small village like that, with its lack of medical providers? She didn’t know.

  As Katie worked away, setting up dinner for everybody, and half expecting a head count much higher than originally planned, she turned and jumped, seeing Dave standing right behind her. “Oh my gosh,” she said, patting her hand above her heart. “I didn’t hear you.”

  “And here I was, trying to call you gently, so as not to scare you,” he explained, with a smile.

  “Oh, I don’t think you succeeded.” She laughed. “Come on with me back to the yacht and update me. So, where are we at?”

  “We’ve got a ton unloaded, and we’ve got it organized. The entire crew is here, and several of their partners will be coming in later today,” he noted. “So, there will be a few more trips back and forth to the mainland, and, by tomorrow, it looks like everybody will be here.”

  “I might need more food supplies then,” she warned, getting into her boat and taking them back to the yacht.

  He nodded. “Yeah, I wondered. That’s one of the reasons I’m here, to check on what else you might need.”

  She did a rapid head count, as she thought about the number she would be feeding, and frowned. “Have we got barbecue grills yet?”

  “Two large ones came off already,” he replied, “and they’ll be set up down on the extension of the beach deck.”

  She frowned at him. “Beach deck? Have you already got something like that set up? I so wanted to watch what all the guys were doing, but I needed to stay focused on my job here.”

  “It’s a temporary setup for this visit,” he said. “It will give us a good chance to test it out, as we work toward figuring out what we want for the future and getting that all in.”

  She smiled and nodded. “Well, I was just getting everything ready for dinner here,” she said. “I wasn’t exactly sure, with all the people coming and going, how many we are feeding tonight, but I’ve made sure there is a lot.”

  They reached the yacht, and she took him to her kitchen, to show him her progress so far.

  He looked around, and his eyebrows shot up. “It doesn’t look like that much,” he noted cautiously.

  She smiled. “Don’t worry. The fridges are full. But I could certainly use more of that kind of equipment too.”

  “Yeah, I know. Refrigeration is an issue here,” he said, “but we will be running fresh food daily from the mainland.”

  “That will help,” she said cheerfully. “If I don’t have to store that kind of thing, it will be a godsend.”

  “Exactly. Is there something I can help you with now?”

  “All of this.” She opened up a refrigerator to show him trays upon trays. “It all needs to go to the island, but we need a place for it first.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  He went up on deck. Moments later, she heard the engine start up, and the yacht headed toward the new floating dock they had out. When she stepped outside, she stared, surprised. Actually maybe stunned was a better word, to see how much was now sitting at beach level and up at the area where Bullard’s little shelter and bunk had been. There was also a massive stack of building materials off to the side. She imagined that the entire island would be thrumming with news over this. But it’s kind of the way Bullard did things, … always in a big way, always with everything he needed. He didn’t like to do without when it came to his people.

  Just then Katie got a phone call from Ice.

  “How’s the island?” Ice asked her.

  “It’s gorgeous,” she said. “Bullard and Leia are helping somebody deliver a baby right now. Plus, the old medicine woman took a bad blow to the head from one of the locals who was looking for medical attention—courtesy of Dave—but thankfully the medicine woman woke up and seems to be better.” She then quickly explained everything that had gone on to date.

  “Wow. So even in paradise he’s finding plenty to keep him busy,” Ice replied, but there was a note of anxiety in her voice. “Is it safe there?”

  “I think so,” Katie said. “I know the guys are certainly on full alert, just in case that gunman turns up again. It seems like he’s been the source of all the trouble this trip.”

  “Right,” she said.

  “Are you coming
?”

  “Yes, we’re leaving today. I’m actually calling from the airport,” Ice stated. “We’ll be in tomorrow.”

  “I’m so glad you’re coming,” Katie said warmly.

  “Yeah, we’re coming with the minister. We’ve got other plans we’re kind of involved in too, so we’ll see how this all works out.” But a note of laughter was in her voice.

  “Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

  “Can’t wait.” And, with that, Ice hung up.

  Katie turned to see Dave standing there, frowning.

  “Was that Ice?”

  “Yes.” Not sure what she should tell him, she decided to not tell him anything. She immediately started taking trays out of the fridge. “Can you take these out?”

  “Sure, but I wanted to show you how we’ve got it set up to make sure it’s okay.”

  “You can show me as we carry these all out there.” Katie grabbed two big trays herself.

  Just then the captain joined them, but the confines in the galley were fairly small, so they passed the trays over, like a fire brigade, so everybody had two, and she grabbed two more.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Katie said. “We’ll have to come back for another round.” They went up to the main deck, and then she walked down the new gangplank, so she could go from the yacht to the floating dock. She smiled. “Oh my gosh, this is exactly what we needed.” Katie marveled at how fast the men had pulled it all together. “Is this like military equipment or something?”

  “That’s exactly what it is,” Dave said, with a smile.

  “It’s perfect. And then what? Down the road you’ll just build something more permanent?”

  “Correct.” He chuckled.

  As they got down a little farther, she could see that the flat decking area had been quadrupled in size. Some of it even went out over the water, obviously with some steel supports underneath—exposed as the tide shifted it.

  “Is all that stable?” she asked in awe.

  “Most definitely.” Dave nodded. “Those over the water float.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything go up so fast in my life.”

  “It’s kind of what we do.”

  “Oh, I get that, but it never occurred to me that so few of you could do something like this so fast.”

  “Well, when it comes to mobilizing, accessibility is something we’re specialists at.” Dave walked down the ramp and called out, “Hey, Ry, have you got empty tables there for us?”

  Ryland took one look and hopped up from what he was working on at the edge of the deck. “We will in just a second.” And, just like that, they opened up four tables. Three trips later, Katie and her two helpers had everything she thought she needed for dinner. “What about Bullard? Where is he?”

  “I haven’t heard from him,” Dave replied. “I should go see if I can get an idea of how far along they are with the birth.”

  “Did you ever find a path that leads directly through to the main area of the village?”

  “Kano headed to the village right after we returned and located a decent-sized path, something we can all traverse.” Dave turned and looked at Ryland. “Where is he?”

  “He went to check on Bullard and Leia himself. He should be back soon.” Ryland pulled out his phone, frowned. “I haven’t heard anything from him.”

  They all looked at each other, and Katie felt her stomach knot.

  “That could be a problem,” Dave noted.

  “Yeah.” Ryland looked to Dave. “You coming with me?”

  “Hell yes.” Then he hesitated and turned to Katie.

  “Oh, no, you don’t.” She raised one finger and shook her head. “Go. Lots of us are here.”

  He nodded, looked around at the rest of the team, all on alert. “We’ll go check on Kano and Bullard and the progress with the baby. Everybody, keep your eyes and ears open, okay?”

  “Keep in touch,” Garret replied. Eton, Quinn, Cain, and Fallon all nodded, working nearby.

  “Yeah, will do.” With that, Dave took off with Ryland, as Katie stood here watching. Garret came over and looked at dinner. “Will this keep?”

  “It will, for an hour or so. But we could always put it back on the yacht.”

  “Or not,” Linny said, coming over. “I’m getting really hungry.”

  “Like, seriously hungry?” Katie asked. “Or like the food is now in front of you, so you’re hungry?”

  Linny laughed. “I can wait for Bullard to get back.” She turned and looked in the direction Dave and Ryland went. “Maybe I can. Didn’t they say it was a forty-five-minute walk?”

  “Ryland got it down to about half an hour,” Fallon noted, “but it’s still a distance.”

  Linny nodded. “I hope we don’t have to do that too often here, whether now or later as a vacation spot. Otherwise we might want to find a way to make it even faster, other than the skiff obviously. Especially when dealing with more people and transporting goods of any kind.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, “but we should take a look at the area and see if there’s a faster way to go on foot.”

  “I’ll do that right now.” Garret brought up an aerial view on his phone.

  Linny smiled. “My laptop has a bigger screen. Let’s go take a look.”

  Leaving them to deal with that, Katie walked around the deck, seeing several of the other men still finishing off bits and pieces. She marveled at the engineering that had brought this in so fast. She stood in front of a huge stack of what looked like prefab building walls and shook her head, realizing these were for the cabins that would go up almost as quickly.

  Was it safe to leave the cabins behind after they left, she wondered, or would the islanders take them over, like squatters? Or would that be another issue? She didn’t really know. She knew the locals marched to a different drummer here, so maybe it would be just fine. And Leia was well loved and even now was helping out the locals, so maybe that would keep all of this protected.

  Smiling happily, Katie headed back to the kitchen on the yacht. What she really needed was to finish off the last few things, like the desserts, before everybody got back. Then they could all sit down at once and eat. And, if there was one thing that she really appreciated, it was food being served promptly.

  She had gone to a lot of work to prepare all this, and it was always nice when people were considerate and showed up on time. But somehow she figured that today, all bets were off.

  *

  Dave followed Ryland as they headed past Leia’s cabin to the pathway that showed years of use. But it wasn’t very wide, and it was dark as they headed into the thicket of trees. “I wonder if this is a straight-through path.”

  “Yeah, I was wondering about clearing it out some, making it easier for walking,” Ryland stated. “If this will be a path we take on a regular basis, we’ll want something that’s wider, more stable, and sure-footed.”

  “That we can actually see too, yet we don’t really want to impact the environment either. So, if there’s no reason to cut down trees, then I don’t want to do it.”

  “Exactly. According to Bullard, it’s about a thirty-minute walk, and it’s—”

  “I thought Leia said forty-five,” Dave interrupted.

  “A forty-five-minute stroll apparently,” Ryland said, with a chuckle. “A thirty-minute walk if you’re heading from point A to point B.”

  “Got it.” And Dave did because a lot of people strolled in life, when they didn’t have a certain place to be at a specific time. And walking with purpose could eat up the miles a whole lot faster.

  They approached the midway point, as near as Ryland could tell. “Looks like a whole bunch of trails split off in here.”

  “I know the locals root around in here for nuts and berries and things too. I’m sure they have their favorite spots.”

  “Makes sense.” Ryland nodded. “And if we knew which one of these was the faster route, we could make better
use of it.”

  “I still don’t think we’ll get it much faster,” Dave said. “It’s a pretty direct trail, considering.”

  As they carried on, they never saw another soul. “Is that weird?” Ryland asked. “You can walk for this long in this place and not actually come across another person.”

  “I like it though,” Dave admitted.

  “Oh, me too,” Ryland agreed. “But it’s amazing just how different this island life is. It must have been quite a culture shock for Leia coming from New York to this.”

  “And yet I think her soul probably craved it. She encountered so much destruction for her in New York.”

  “It’s good that has all been taken care of now.”

  “They’re clearing her name and reestablishing her medical credentials. She’s apparently been getting requests to consider stepping back into the medical world. But I don’t know that she’s made a decision on what she wants to do.”

  “It can’t be easy,” Ryland murmured. “She probably lost a lot of faith in the system. And in people.”

  “True, but she still has a lot to offer.”

  “Maybe. A lot of doctors are out there in New York.”

  “No, listen,” Dave said. “It’s more than a maybe. Leia was one of the most talented surgeons they’d ever had. She was pioneering new techniques, which is what sparked so much jealousy.”

  “Have to love jealousy,” Ryland mockingly said.

  “Or not,” Dave replied.

  They walked for another ten minutes in silence, and up ahead they could see the path widening, with multiple paths joining in, as if this were a main walkway, which made sense.

  As they came into the village, several of the people stopped and stared. Dave smiled at them and lifted a hand and waved. “I’ve seen a lot of these people in the last couple days, but I’m not sure they’re terribly comfortable with us being here.”

  “It all depends on how Leia’s presence is taken.”

  “Well, I think it was decent. They greeted her warmly earlier.”

  “But you never really know with people.”

  “That’s true enough.” As they got closer, Dave looked up to see several of the younger women standing there, staring at them, then glancing back toward the hut where the old woman was. “Everybody is looking toward the one hut,” he murmured to Ryland. “That’s where the old woman lives.”