The Rock Star and the Billionaire

Part 8

EIGHT

A man wearing shorts and knee socks carried her bags to the waiting helicopter. Gaia hadn't seen a grown man wear anything like it since she was a kid, and even then it was rare. He looked like an overgrown schoolboy. She hid her laughter behind her usual public mask, though, and followed him to her ride.

He started asking questions the moment they left the ground, but she refused to respond. Instead, she stared out the window, as red rock gave way to a riot of green that ended in white beach and aquamarine seas. The colours out here were enough to make her eyes water. Gaia donned her sunglasses to block out the unfamiliar glare. Perhaps she shouldn't have had that second glass of champagne on the flight up. Thank goodness she'd refused a third.

Aquamarine deepened to turquoise, dotted with rust-coloured islands frosted in green. None of them looked like paradise. In fact, many of them resembled the photos of Lorikeet Island, though without the buildings. Maybe that meant the vegetation hid rich ore bodies like the Lorikeet one. She wondered who owned the mining lease for them all. With luck, it was Vasse Prospecting. She needed to send a geology team out here to investigate, if no one had already.

"Approaching Romance Island now," the pilot said.

Gaia tapped him on the shoulder. "I want to fly over Lorikeet Island on the way."

He shot her a puzzled glance. "Lorikeet isn't on the way."

"It is on mine. I'm not landing at the resort until I've seen the damage at Lorikeet Island for myself." Gaia drew herself up. "I understood that my assistant booked your services for the length of my stay here. You're at my disposal. And I say we fly to Lorikeet Island."

"Yes, ma'am," he drawled, sketching a sloppy salute. "I can do a flyover for you, but there's nowhere safe to land at the moment. The helipad's underwater right now."

"Fine," she snapped. Was it just her imagination, or was his show of respect more a mockery than the real thing? Perhaps he didn't know who she was. She'd enlighten him later, when she had a better view of his face, so she could enjoy his horrified expression.

After some time with only the sound of the helicopter blades, the pilot broke the silence. "There's your island up ahead, Ms Vasse. Where your mine used to be."

Gaia stared in stunned disbelief. Sandwiched between steel-grey seas and scudding clouds, the island looked as uninhabited as all the others they'd passed on the way here. But how could that be? She'd seen pictures of houses over half the island...an air strip...a swimming pool...not to mention the sea wall. Now, there was nothing to show for nearly seventy years' work. How could one storm obliterate her family's whole history?

"Fly lower," she instructed.

Without warning, the pilot banked and the island loomed closer to the side window before he straightened out to hover over a red slope that looked like it had just been cleared of vegetation. "This is what's left of the camp, after your airstrip turned mudslide and engulfed it," he said, then pointed out the window. "At low tide, you can still see what remains of the sea wall, but now even that's under water. It was a disaster waiting to happen and the guys who worked here were glad to be evacuated before it did. They flew out yesterday, or the pubs in town would still be full." He stared at the island. "End of an era, they said. The end of Lorikeet Island mine."

"It's not the end. I will never shut down Lorikeet Island. Not as long as I live and breathe," Gaia insisted.

The pilot snorted. "Looks pretty well shut down to me, and your mining crew think the same. You might want to let them know not to start looking for new jobs yet, or start retraining them as divers. There are a few good dive schools in town I can recommend."

It wasn't until she caught his grin that she realised he was joking.

"It's no laughing matter. The mine will reopen. Just watch me."

"Good luck, Ms Vasse. You're going to need it. Have you seen enough, or do you want to hang around here for a bit, planning bigger and better for the future? I don't know about you, but the resort's pub is a whole lot more hospitable for that sort of thing. It even has beer."

Gaia frowned in distaste. Beer was for common men, not her. She preferred a fine white wine, or a bottle of champagne. The resort had better serve more than just beer if they intended to keep her among their clientele.