Page 13 of Drake Eternal

I woke when my alarm chimed in my ear. That meant we were less than half an hour out of London Heathrow, so I sat up in my seat and tried to wake up enough to get ready for landing and my two-hour layover. I made a quick trip to the washroom to freshen up, and then checked my messages. There was one from Kate, so I opened it up and saw that it was a very sexy image of her lying in bed, her lips slightly parted, her eyes half-lidded, and the swell of her full breasts was visible at the bottom of the image.

I smiled and felt a slight throb at the sight of her.

KATE: Here’s me thinking of you and what you and I are going to do when you get back from Kenya. I want a whole weekend alone with you at the beach house. Just you and me and nothing else…Love you always. XOXOX

Luckily, British Airways allowed passengers to use their Wi-Fi, so I was able to send her a quick text back. She would get it when she woke up.

It was me with my eyebrows raised, licking my bottom lip suggestively. I laughed to myself when I saw the photo. It was a very teenager thing to do, but I wanted her to know that I was looking forward to when we were together once more and hoped that my tongue gave her lots of ideas of what I was planning to do.

DRAKE: Think of me this morning when you’re in the shower, naked and covered in soapy water. I’ll be thinking of you when I’m doing the same once I’m in my hotel room in Nairobi. In fact, you could always send me an image… Love you more. XOXOXOX Give Sophie hugs and kisses from me.

I smiled as I sent the text and imagined what she’d do when she got it. She’d wake up and check her messages before she went to the bathroom so I knew it would be the first thing she saw.

I sighed and put my cell away and checked the flight info on the screen across from me. We were nearing the coast of England and were scheduled to be at Heathrow within fifteen minutes. However, we were delayed and flew a few circuits before getting into the final flightpath to land.

The landing was perfect, and we arrived at the terminal only fifteen minutes later than expected. I was glad to disembark and made my way to the British Airways First Class Lounge where I would spend the next couple of hours. I had a nice glass of wine and some food from the food bar, then read the local paper while I waited for the flight to Nairobi to board.

I was glad when I heard them call out that my flight was boarding, because the wine and the warm sun coming in from the window was almost putting me to sleep.

Yes, I was very jetlagged.

I made my way to check in and was boarded on my next flight, getting almost an identical seat on the flight to Nairobi.

I was determined to sleep the entire way, despite the fact it would screw up my sleep schedule when I arrived in Kenya. This way, I’d be able to stay up late meeting with Michael to discuss the details of the work we had ahead of us.

I would eventually catch up to the local time zone.

After waiting briefly for our flight to depart, we eventually became airborne and after settling into my seat, I did exactly what I planned — I slept. Luckily, once I was able to put on my noise cancelling headphones, a dark mask covering my eyes and my seat reclined, I did sleep. Before I did, I spoke with the flight attendant and told her of my plan to sleep for the entire flight and she promised to make sure I wasn’t disturbed.

“We all heard about the floods and the dam bursting. It’s a terrible tragedy. Did you know the doctors who were killed?”

I shook my head. “No, they were hired after my time in Kenya. But my former boss, Dr. Owiti who is meeting me there, worked with them before. If you could wake me with half an hour of time before we’re scheduled to land, that would be great.” I said as I finished reclining my seat and removing the sleep mask from its package.

“Yes, Dr. Morgan. We’ll make sure you are woken in time.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I have to catch some sleep before I arrive. There’s a lot of work that must be done and I need to be ready.”

She turned the lights off in my small corner of the cabin and so it was relatively dark and quiet when I finally lay down and got comfortable. My mind was still active, so I lay for quite a while thinking of what I would find when I arrived in Nairobi, but soon, thankfully, I drifted off.

As she promised, the flight attendant woke me when we were half an hour out of Nairobi. I felt quite refreshed, and after a trip to the washroom where I did a quick wash and combed my hair before returning to my seat in time to be served a meal. I was ready for breakfast, but instead, was served a dinner. Luckily, there was coffee and so I was at least able to get some caffeine in to ensure I was ready to hit the road running when I arrived at the hospital.

We landed on time, and after retrieving my bag, I found the limo that was waiting for me, the driver in a black uniform and hat holding a small sign with my name emblazoned on it.

Dr. Drake Morgan, MD

Michael thought of everything.

The driver took my bag from me even after I insisted that I could carry it to the limo myself, and I slipped into the rear passenger seat, ready for a trip to the hospital.

“Take me to the Aga Khan University Hospital please.”

“Don’t you wish to go to the hotel first? Dr. Owiti gave me instructions that you might want to go there and get a night’s sleep before meeting him at the hospital.”

I shook my head. “Just slept for six hours on the flight from London. I might as well get there and get caught up on cases.”

We drove through the city from the airport to the hospital, and I removed my suitcase and tipped the driver, taking his number so I could call him when I needed to go to the hotel.

Then, I went inside to my new home away from home for the next few weeks. Hopefully, Michael and I could find two new surgeons to replace those two who were so tragically killed in the dam burst, but I was ready to stay as long as needed. Hopefully, when I was finished at the hospital, Kate and Sophie could join me in Africa for a holiday.

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