"Are you ready?"
"Let me finish the pancakes and the coffee, I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to eat later on."
"I'll be waiting for you on the runway, Skylinep92. In the meantime I’ll check on the aircraft and the passengers, then I'll check back with you. When the three men are on board, use the detector as a precaution, I want to avoid any bad surprises. We have engaged you, not a professional pilot, to avoid problems with the press as we don’t want them spreading bad news and unnecessary alarmism."
"It seems over the top to me as this is a public project, but I’ll do it. I know the Colonel very well, and I want to avoid being reprimanded. He cannot wait to do that," said Anaïs.
"Yeah, I got one just yesterday. I'll wait for you outside, bye."
Anaïs finished her coffee, took her tablet onto which she had installed a satellite navigation system, set all the parameters and walked to the runway.
The passengers were already on board, and Jago C. Green was completing the checklist.
Skylinep92 began the external routine check of the twin-engine Otter then she climbed aboard and set the controls. She began the takeoff procedure, she said hello to her host without presenting herself for safety reasons, she made a gesture with her hand towards Green and left the parking lot.
70
Anaïs landed at Alva Regional Airport on schedule, the trip had been quiet and the male nurse had fallen asleep.
When she turned off the engines, two ambulances approached the plane, but Anaïs did not authorize anyone to leave until she had returned from the bar, having quickly drunk a cup of coffee.
The operations lasted forty minutes and she verified that there were no bugs or geo-positional locator devices on the material or the people onboard; meanwhile, the male nurse took care of the patients who were placed in the special seats that had been specially prepared by Biosketch Technologies Inc. for patient transport.
Once all the necessary checks had been carried out, SkylineP92 glanced at the METAR and SIGMET, which had been issued a half-hour before and grimaced with disappointment: the cold front had moved faster than expected, and therefore she would have to anticipate a possible landing during the trip.
Having three sedated patients as passengers that might need immediate treatment, she traced out an alternative route. She entered the airfields suitable for landing or transit into the GPS navigator, and then she began the routine checks.
71
"David, I fear that the day is going to change for the worse,” said Mark, “if you agree, we can go immediately to the Dallas Air Park, grab a bite at the airport and in the meantime I’ll choose the plane."
"Sounds good to me," replied David Marshall with a smile.
"I checked the forecast and SIGMET again, we’re comfortable up to about 3:30 pm, afterwards we need to understand how the front will move and whether it makes sense to resume flying."
Mark and David arrived at the Dallas Air-Park around 1:00 pm and went straight to reception to book the plane; there wasn't a lot of traffic in fact and Mark wanted to see what was available for rental. Next time he would reserve the aircraft directly by phone.
One of the receptionists led them to the hangar reserved for rentals: Mark noticed that they even had some Cessna T206 Turbo Stationairs and twin-engine turboprops for rent, in addition to light sports aircraft, and he wondered who the regular customers for the planes that could carry more than two passengers were.
When he saw the yellow Savage, Mark turned to David.
"I didn’t expect to find this STOL here, but it’s a great little plane, real fun. It was designed a decade ago in Italy, and now a new company in the Czech Republic produces it. This plane gives me a lot of happy memories! When I was finishing my PhD, I spent three weeks one summer in Italy. I was on Elba. I used to go to the airport at Marina di Campo and I always rented a yellow Savage, just like this one here. I used to fly for a couple of hours over the islands and the Argentario and then I’d fly back to Elba.
“I used to take off in the morning, go for a ride over Umbria and fly back in the evening. The landscape was very picturesque; Lara sometimes flew with me as second pilot. She used to spend her summer holidays on the island, while she was living in Florence and attending her last year at the city university."
"And how was she?" asked David.
"Definitely interesting, from every point of view…too bad she got married six months later and went to live in Amsterdam. OK, let's eat a sandwich and then we'll fly with our yellow friend."
Half an hour later Mark had completed the checks and was ready to taxi the STOL on to the runway. David was smiling and talkative, he obviously wanted to see the world from another perspective for a while, one that was not down to earth, a perspective not caged in and lost in the labyrinths of mental illness.
As usual, leaving the ground sent a shiver of pleasure down the former British agent’s spine; finally he felt light and free again after the recent events that had upset his life once more, with great satisfaction he steered the Savage away from the ground and felt like he was sliding along the track of the horizon.
After days with no time to breathe and with a life that had become very precarious, he felt very good; flying a plane allowed him to go over his deepest thoughts, and as the landscape expanded in front of him, his vision of the present was changing and taking a much clearer and more transparent shape.
He wasn’t afraid of what might happen to him in the future; he only feared being imprisoned in Dallas forever, having to settle down in Texas and remain a prisoner of his monsters and at the mercy of events.
He was aware that the Colonel wouldn’t leave him in peace, and the first thing he had to do was to wait for the storm at the agency and for the rumors about him to die down. Afterwards he would have to find the Colonel’s Achilles heel and use it to gain his rehabilitation. A burned agent had a life expectancy of no more than one year, unless he was able to maintain the strictest secrecy.
Secrecy meant moving in a very narrow niche, leading a measured and repetitive life so as not to arouse suspicion, and that modus operandi, although necessary, wasn’t suited to Mark.
When Savannah felt that the flight had become too bumpy because of the sudden gusts of wind, forcing him to work the stick and rudder more to keep the Savage’s attitude steady, he decided that it was better to return to the airfield because the front was making its entry into that area early.
"David, I believe that there will be a thunderstorm soon, look at those storm cells, they’re getting thicker and advancing rapidly. I’m turning back to the airport."
In the final approach, Mark felt the right wing of the plane stress under the gusts of wind that were getting stronger and stronger. He approached with less flaps and higher landing speed, taking into account the warning of the tower of possible low level wind shear. As he was quickly working on the stick, rudder and power in the brief final approach, he thought that the noise of the wind gusting was quite disturbing.
Just as heavy rain started to fall, the Savage was secured inside the hangar and the two doctors were at the bar for coffee while waiting for the thunderstorm to pass.
"Let's see, if within half an hour the sky clears, we can take off again. The Savage wasn’t booked out at all today." Mark said to David.
"I'd love to fly again later,” replied David. “In the meantime how about a game of chess?"
"Virtual or real?"
David walked up to the counter, from which he took a chessboard.
"Real, real, no computers today!"
Shortly afterwards, they were at the table and started to play.
72
Anaïs knew she was running low on gas and had made a call to the Dallas Air-Park for authorization to land, within seven minutes they would be on the ground. She wasn’t concerned about the weather situation; she had logged enough flight hours to make a commercial pilot green with envy. She was worried about the health of the passengers: in their s
tate, any delay could cause them additional problems.
The Twin Otter began to drift heavily sideways pushed by the wind; Anaïs’ eyes moved quickly between the anemometer and the turn and bank indicator to control the balanced turn and attitude; her body movements and the contractions of her muscles became faster, she increased the pressure on the pedals to coordinate the rudder.
Anaïs was working on the stick and rudder continuously to handle the inclination of the wings and to maintain attitude and direction because of the lateral gusts of wind that were putting greater pressure on one side of the aircraft.
Everything seemed to be happening very fast, but Skylinep92 had to make time slow down if she wanted to keep calm and handle the situation with intelligence and coolness.
Skylinep92 noticed that her rate of descent was too fast so she pushed the power levers making the engines roar and propellers speed up; she stabilized her descent, reaching the final approach with flaps at 20° in order to maintain aileron effectiveness, a gust from the left slammed against the wing and the fuselage, forcing the agent to fight with her foot and the stick, then finally the identification lights of the threshold flashed.
Anaïs felt like a boxer in a violent full contact match, the gusts got stronger, leaving the male nurse definitely awake and breathless. Now Anaïs could read the number 16, she was clear-headed and impassive. It began to hail.
A final flurry forced her to quickly correct and give a bit of throttle and opposite rudder to avoid drifting from the center of the runway. Anaïs held the Otter on central lines, as airspeed decreased she increased the control on the upwind wing and on the opposite rudder, and finally the flare application got the left wheel to touch down, followed by the right. She immediately applied full reverse thrust to decelerate and leave the aircraft weight to settle on the wheels.
Skylinep92 relaxed and let time resume its normal speed. She was able to taxi to the hangar and park the plane as the wind was getting stronger and the hail, accompanied by thunder and lightning, lashed the ground with an unusual violence on account of the size of the hailstones.
"If you need to go to the bathroom, I'll help you get off," she said to the male nurse, whose face was still taut and almost green as a result of the turbulence.
"Thank you, I’d love to get off, I got a little air sick there. I just need a minute to go to the toilet. The patients are stable and they don’t need any special care. I'll be right back, just call me on the protected line if you need anything. I really got scared, I’ll admit it. You were really great!"
"Take it slow, nothing will happen to them."
The male nurse got slowly down from the plane, regained his balance, crossed the parking lot and headed to the bar of the airport; he was aware of being on a mission and that he should speak as little as possible and mind his own business, even at the risk of being rude.
When he came back on board ten minutes later, completely soaked, he had regained a healthy and relaxed glow.
"I had a quick snack and drank some coffee, I feel better now. How long do you think we need to wait? How are the patients?"
"I think we can take off again in about twenty minutes,” replied Anaïs. “I checked the SIGMET and the forecasts, we’ll find a little residual turbulence, but not like before. As for the patients, their parameters are exactly the same and they don't show any signs of waking. They’re all yours. Oh look! The rain is letting up; I'll check the wings and the landing gear."
"Why? Have they been damaged?" asked the nurse, a little dismayed.
"Just routine checks. And since we briefly got caught in that hail storm, it’s best to check that nothing is damaged. I also want to drink a coffee. I'll be quick, don’t worry."
Anaïs got off the plane and began to carefully inspect the wings, the fuselage, rudder, elevators, propellers and then she looked over the landing gear: fortunately she saw no damage.
73
"Damn it! The pilot of the turboprop that made that landing under the storm was a woman! Congratulations to her!" said the bartender looking out and seeing Anaïs inspect the wings of the Twin Otter.
Mark had also witnessed the landing and when he heard that it was a woman, he picked up his binoculars and stood up to look through the windows suddenly interrupting the game of chess. Even David stopped concentrating on the board and followed his gaze curiously.
When Mark brought the lenses into focus, he barely managed to hold back an expression of surprise: he recognized Anaïs Degann. He wondered who she was carrying and for what purpose.
"Do you happen to know who that pilot is? She was, as you say, truly remarkable," he turned and called to the bartender.
"One of her passengers came into the bar, a quiet kind of a guy, he didn’t say anything. No, I don’t know her, not from around here. I only noticed when the guy paid the bill that he had a company badge, a name like Biotech..."
"Biosketch Technologies by chance?"
"I think so, you know them?"
"It's a government biotechnology research company."
"Ah!" said the bartender who had now lost any interest in the issue.
"Why are you making that face? Do you know her?" David asked intrigued.
"No, but I wonder who she’s carrying at the moment. Usually, you don’t travel in two in a Twin Otter and, if I am not wrong, aren't those patients from the "Transtem 1.1 project?"
"Why do you care about them?"
"Because we’re talking about Biosketch Technologies Inc., which comes as a big surprise to me," Mark said, quietly.
"What shall we do?" asked David, who wasn’t at all interested in Biosketch Technologies Inc. “It’s stopped raining."
"Do you want to fly again?"
"I would love to!"
"There is still some turbulence, we’ll wait half an hour then we’ll do another circuit."
"Okay, we can finish our chess game, too," Marshall concluded.
As Mark sat down to resume the game, he realized that Anaïs Degann was heading toward them: he had to hide but where…certainly not in the bathroom since she might go right there.
He looked around and decided to go out on the balcony; he had no choice if he didn’t want to arouse David’s suspicions.
"I’m going out on the balcony for a moment to check the weather situation... no cheating!"
Mark opened the door onto the balcony and followed the path to the terrace from which he could peek inside carefully without being seen.
Soon afterwards, Anaïs Degann entered the bar and asked for the toilet. When she returned, she ordered a coffee and sat down at a table to relax before leaving.
"Congratulations, you made a superb landing!" the bartender smiled affably.
"Thanks," she said muffling her tone.
"Are you a professional pilot?"
"Yes, for a company."
Anaïs, ignoring the barman and his obvious interest in her, put sugar in her coffee and leaned back in her chair. The bartender nodded in assent and then went back to his work.
Mark watched Anaïs carefully from the balcony, he still felt that nagging sense of familiarity that he’d felt when he met her the first time in New York; and he realized, as if that were not enough, that he was happy to see that she was well and that he had not left any scars on her face.
He thought that she was exceptionally beautiful and interesting, she had to have years of flying behind her to be able to land safely during a storm with such strong lateral wind gusts and the hail that had left her no room for error.
For a moment, he found himself thinking that he’d really have liked to take her out to dinner if only their lives were different. He barely had the time to imagine a quiet candlelight dinner talking about aircraft, when he remembered she was trying to kill him and she wouldn’t give up easily.
Mark moved slowly and positioned himself in order to observe the twin-engine with his binoculars: he saw three people on stretchers and a male nurse inside the aircraft. He imagined they were patients
of the "Transtem 1.1" project since the bartender had noticed the Biosketch Technologies Inc. badge.
After ten minutes the girl started to move quickly. Mark watched as Anaïs Degann got up, took her empty cup of coffee to the counter, paid the bill, said goodbye to the bartender, and quickly returned to the Twin Otter.
When he saw the turboprop aircraft taxiing on the runway, Mark Savannah came back into the room to join Marshall again.
"I would say that if you feel like it, we can go for another ride," he said to David.
"I’m ready!"
They headed back to the hangar to board the Savage. Mark began the routine checks and when he took off, he decided it was best to avoid following the exact same route as the Twin Otter, and immediately turned North-East.
74
"Are you tired? It must’ve been a tiring journey," Jago C. Green asked Anaïs, as she came down from the Twin Otter and he coordinated the transfer operations of the sedated patients.
"Hello Green, not particularly, but I still have that intercostal pain, that bastard Savannah, I hope I find him soon. Do you have any news about him?"
"Yes, my dear, Savannah was reported seen in a recording while he was leaving a station. You sure are a lucky bastard! And you have a nice ass, I've always thought that..."
"Mind your own business and your own fat butt. Jago... so where is Savannah?"
"I was paying you a compliment but never mind…Arkansas, Little Rock, on the Texas Eagle route, but when he came out of the station, we lost track of him; at which point I guess he either stopped in town to visit someone, or went on with some other means of transport, not a cab, because no taxi-driver remembers him… And no hotel has registered any of his aliases; there’s been no positive response from the photo we showed the hotels, so it is likely that he continued the journey."
Black Hawk Day Rewind: An action packed spy thriller (Mark Savannah Espionage Series Book 1) Page 17
