If The World Was Ending

Chapter 3

Elizabeth yawns and grips Shane’s arm even tighter to her chest. She smiles rubbing her cheek against his shoulder and it was in that moment that her eyes fly open. Mortified she pushes herself away and sits upright in her seat. She had been practically drooling all over him.

She dares a quick glance at Shane and finds, to her relief, he was still asleep. She inhales a shaky breath and then exhales. She cannot quite remember when she had fallen asleep as she looks down at the blanket over her legs. She had been busy reading a report, and she remembers she had to reread it several times, because nothing on it was making any sense.

She will have to contact Dr Kramer as soon as they land, or maybe she should just leave it until her boss joins them. Her mind was still undecided when she feels Shane move beside her.

“Good morning,” she greets as he yawns adjusting his seat back into an upright position. She follows suit adjusting her own chair.

“Yeah, morning,” Shane nods, “sleep well?”

Elizabeth swallows nervously, “yes, thank you” she answers, pretending to be busy with the buttons on her armrest. She turns to face him when she hears him chuckle.

“I noticed,” he smiles standing up and then strides down the aisle towards the back of the plane.

Shane squeezes his muscled frame through the toilet cubicle door, the gear he wore was not making it any easier. On the other hand he was extremely grateful, the extra layers had helped to hide his aroused friend. He shakes his head as he finally closes the door behind him. Having Elizabeth clinging to his arm for the majority of the night has awoken parts of him he would have preferred remain dormant.

Shane sighs in frustration, even after relieving himself his friend was still saluting him. He seriously needs to get himself under control otherwise he was going to be extremely uncomfortable the rest of the flight.

Shane sits back down after spending several minutes longer in the toilet than he wanted to. Elizabeth has her laptop open up in front of her again and seems engrossed in whatever was displayed on her screen.

The stewardess came past offering coffee to which Elizabeth absentmindedly agrees to.

Shane takes the two coffees and places them onto his tray. He stirs in his sugar and he drinks his coffee slowly watching Elizabeth.

He cannot really make out what was happening on her screen, but she was watching a video of little blobs moving about erratically on what looks like a petri dish.

“What is that?” he asks nonchalantly, he needs to sound not too interested.

Elizabeth’s head whips towards him and she closes her laptop.

“Nothing ” she says harshly, and then gives a small apologetic smile reaching for her coffee. She sits back in her chair, sipping her coffee staring at the closed laptop.

Shane frowns, that was not nothing.

Elizabeth’s hair hung forward covering her face so that Shane cannot see her worried expression. She was only an assistant, but she has learned enough to know that what she has just witnessed in that video was cause for some major concern. She hopes that it will be classified as a misunderstanding and that whatever was going on at the facility in South Africa was just a fluke.

Dr Kramer has never clarified their reason for travelling to the facility, but after that video Elizabeth was starting to draw her own conclusions. It was not her place to speculate though and she will have to talk to Dr Kramer.

Elizabeth shivers, can whatever was going on in South Africa be the reason for the attempt on Dr Kramer’s life?

Shane sees the shiver and his frown deepens. He was absolutely certain that Elizabeth has discovered something. He had been briefed about the South African Prince Albert Cure Cybertech medical facility and that Dr Kramer had been on her way to investigate a report that the company had received until her accident. He was in the dark about what had happened exactly at the medical facility but he knew it had been the reason for Dr Kramer’s accident.

He will have to remain vigilant, his main priority has been first and foremost to keep a close eye on Elizabeth. Her safety and well being was important if he has any hope of completing his mission.

With Shane’s assistance, again, Elizabeth was securely fastened into her seat for the airplane’s descent. They have finally arrived in South Africa and Elizabeth was looking forward to disembarking at Cape Town International Airport, frankly she will just be happy to get her feet back onto solid ground.

The motion of the plane going downward had been easier on Elizabeth than the take off, and it had not been necessary for her to grip any armrests or arms pretending to be one.

Their exit off the plane had been quick, and getting their luggage even quicker but by the time they got to the pickup zone, Elizabeth’s hair was clinging to her sweaty neck, and she wished she had thought to tie it back into a braid. They have gone from a cold, snowy winter to an unbearable hot summer.

Shane and Elizabeth stand side by side as they wait, despite the bustling around them and the colorful array of sunny Cape Town there was no one to greet them. Then out of the corner of her eye she sees a young olive skinned man rushing towards them, a piece of white cardboard in his hands, with both her name and Dr Kramer’s names printed on it.

He was wearing blue jeans with a buttoned striped blue shirt, and his black hair in a flat top style which was popular among the young generation.

She lifts her hand to give a wave and his face broke out in the biggest grin making Elizabeth smile.

“Miss Van Rooyen? Dr Kramer?” he asks out of breath and Elizabeth nods.

"I am Thabo Ndlovu, your driver and guide” and he holds out his hand.