“So, with Mike being held captive, Emma and Mary are very likely safe for the time being. Let’s work on getting Mike rescued. Then we can see to the safety of Emma and Mary.”
Carl positioned at the control console, nodded slowly as his concern for Mary eased slightly. He was closely scrutinizing the monitors and gauges. “You’d think that if it’s someone with any clout, they could just come up with a good excuse and order us to abort. But anyway, the latest readings from the satellite feed indicate dwindling activity of the dust storms and the atmosphere will be almost completely cleared over the next forty-eight hours,” He reported. “We may actually have an opportunity to land, at that point.”
“But if we touch down, they’ll kill Mike!” Jackie interrupted Carl with a loud wail and began weeping, once again.
Valerie leapt into the conversation, “Ok, we need to get busy, quick. Brandon, send an urgent note to Ty. Fill him in on everything that has occurred up to this point and give him Jackie’s address, if he doesn’t already have it. Make sure he knows damn well that this is reconnaissance only, until Steve can arrive with his team and relieve him. We don’t want him getting himself killed. Don’t mention our speculations about Claire or that this may be connected to his accident. I’ll contact Steve and have him get there as quickly as he can. I’m simply afraid that if we land they will murder Mike, but if we abort the mission they might take his life anyway, no longer needing him for insurance. So for now, we have to hold orbit and stay where we are. I’m going to e-mail Dr. Willis too, and suggest she put a hold on any email reports about these messages for a few days. I’ve known Pam since grad school and she is the one person I am sure we can trust.” Valerie was unaware of the psychologist’s revised reporting schedule to Commander Lewis, and that she wouldn’t see any message for several days.