Flight 3430

by Druga, Jacqueline

  Getting him out of there was more than possible. Not only did Gene have to divert Flight 3430 from flying to Gainesville, Tom and the boys weren’t long behind.

  “So I estimate,” Wiley said. “The first flight should be here in ninety minutes. I can see them on the app.”

  “What app?”

  “The one that shows where every plane in the sky is.”

  “Seriously?” Gene asked.

  “Yep, there’s two. I honestly don’t think it will be working for very long. I’m surprised we still have power. But …” Wiley set down his phone. “They’ll be here soon. Should we go to the airport and greet them?”

  “Like tourist or family?”

  Wiley shrugged.

  “I think we need to focus more on where to put them and what to do.”

  “Plenty of food out there.”

  “Plenty of bodies,”

  “Yeah, and a hundred and forty people can move bodies.”

  Gene sighed out and turned to the screen. “Susan’s phone is off now, completely. I can’t get through to Gainesville at all.”

  “Good thing they helped us tap into NOAA, huh?”

  “Yeah, but what are the readouts now?” Gene asked.

  “I actually have no idea what I am looking at as far as ocean swells and whatever these numbers mean. Storm surges.” Wilen shrugged.

  “Maybe they’re just having a bad storm,” Gene said.

  “Maybe they’re underwater.”

  “What?”

  “Okay, just hear me out.” Wiley lifted a hand. “Don’t get me wrong, I am all for models. But didn’t you think it was a bit much that of all the state of Florida predicted to be underwater, that the only dry spot is Gainesville, which happened to also be the only spot in Florida not bashed by methane heavy air. Come on, can they really have that much luck.”

  Gene sighed out. “I suppose you have a point.”

  “So Gainesville, is pretty much out. It’s time to think about long term survival. I mean, let’s face it. We have a good jump start with the amount of people from Flight 3430. Too bad every other flight in the sky that remained went to Gainesville.”

  “I know.”

  “All those people.”

  “I know,” Gene partially snapped.

  “Substation Two, Billings, do you copy,” came a strange male voice over the system. The last call that came was from Kyle.

  Wiley looked ta Gene. “Substation two?”

  “I haven’t a clue.”

  Wiley grabbed the radio. ‘Um … this is Billings. We read you.”

  “Have you heard from Director Diel recently?”

  “Well, we think she was wiped out in the flood. Not sure, but she was in …” Wiley stopped talking when Gene removed his hand.

  “We don’t even know who that is,” Gene said.

  “Why does it matter?”

  Gene took the radio. “This is Doctor Gene Taylor of the USGS, who am I speaking to?”

  “This is Lt. Colonel Macintosh with the CMAFS,”

  “What? What is that?” Gene asked.

  “Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station in Colorado Springs, I’m with the president and cabinet and Designated survivor network. We have been communicating with Director Diel and Dr. Armenov since yesterday and we lost contact with Diel last night, and Armenov a few hours ago.”

  “Why … why are you contacting them?” Gene asked. “I actually discovered this. I set up the whole monitoring system in twenty-four hours.”

  Wiley laughed.

  Gene mouthed the word, “What?”

  “You’re seriously acting green over them contacting someone else.”

  “That’s because I am sitting here … with you … thinking no one is left.”

  “No one is left.”

  “Um, apparently there is a designated survivor network out of Colorado Springs with the president and neither Susan nor this Armenov asshole told us.”

  “Actually, she did, remember?” Wiley said. “When she told you that the president was evacuated and you …”

  “Alright. Alright.”

  “Are you still there?” The Colonel asked.

  Disgruntled, Gene replied. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here.”

  “Good.” The Colonel said with a hint of sarcasm. “Since you are the big wig and started the monitoring, do you have the latest readouts for us? Any eruptions coming our way. We need to protect the president.”

  “Yeah … um, let me check and get back to you.” He pushed the radio forward.

  “You’re making them wait.”

  “Hey, we’re substation … two. Two. Not one. So yeah,” Gene said. “They can wait.”

  <><><><>

  Flight 3430 B

  Gabe was more relieved than anyone that his take off went without a hitch. He saw on his brother’s face, even through the mask, that Owen was concerned. Once they had started rolling, there was no turning back.

  Gabe was proud of himself.

  He gave it a minute or so after reaching what was a safe altitude and began to remove his mask.

  Owen stopped him, stating if something was wrong, the last person they needed to fall victim was the person that could fly the plane. So Owen took off his oxygen first.

  He was nervous, Gabe saw that. And Gabe imagined his brother was scared to take that first breath, but upon seeing that Owen was fine. Gabe took off his mask, chuckled in emotional relief and turned on the seatbelt sign.

  They talked for a few minutes. Owen mentioned how cool he thought the camera system was and how it had been on the cockpit door camera the whole time. They switched it and things looked normal in first class.

  Gabe had been so concerned with getting them off the ground, out of Vegas and to a safe altitude, that he was headed in the wrong direction.

  They needed to head Northeast.

  After punching in the coordinates, he turned the plane and once on a steady course, Owen got up to check on things in the back.

  Gabe didn’t expect, when Owen returned, to hear there was a critical and life-threatening incident with his father.

  It was a good thing the camera wasn’t on the cabin or they would have seen it.

  Switching the plane to autopilot, Gabe undid his belt and stood.

  “What?” Owen asked. “You’re leaving?”

  “I want to check on Dad.”

  “But you can’t leave me here.”

  “It’s okay. It’s on autopilot, I’ll be right back.”

  He supposed his brother freaked a little when he left the cockpit, Gabe understood that. He would only be gone a few minutes and needed to see his father.

  “I’m fine,” his father told him. “I really am. A little problem with the hose, but it’s good. Delaney, she … she saved my life.”

  “Thank you,” Gabe told her.

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “No,” Gary said. “It wasn’t anything. It was quick thinking. Your father could have died.”

  “You saved my life,” Tom said.

  “Then think of it as repayment for you saving mine,” she said.

  “I’m good son.” Tom grabbed Gabe’s hand. “Don’t worry. Go back and fly the plane. I’m fine.”

  There was something about his father’s appearance that screamed otherwise.

  Was it Gabe’s imagination?

  Tom went from looking in his forties to looking in his sixties. He was pale, very pale, and he spoke softly. Almost as if he struggled.

  Maybe it was nothing and just the physical ramifications of being near death.

  Tom reiterated he was fine and Gabe had to believe that.

  Taking his father’s word for it, Gabe returned to the cockpit.

  He tried to reconcile what had happened. A problem with the tubing, his father wasn’t getting pure oxygen.

  The deadly air seeped into his mask and it was a slower process than anyone else.

  It stayed with him, the worry over his father. He wanted to dismiss it as
just concern and not a gut instinct, but when Delaney came into the cockpit, he knew that wasn’t the case.

  “What is it?” Gabe asked. “What’s wrong.”

  “Your father … I’m not a doctor, Gabe, but something isn’t right.”

  “He was fine ten minutes ago.”

  “I know.”

  Gabe stood.

  “You’re leaving the cockpit again?” Owen asked

  “Something is wrong with Dad.”

  “Go,” Delaney said. “It’s on autopilot, right? I’ll stay.”

  Gabe led the way as he and Owen made it to first class.

  His father sat in the first row, over where Delaney had been sitting. Gary sat next to him, he had taken the facial part of the SCBA mask off and held the black breathing portion to his father’s face.

  “Dad?” Gabe asked with worried. “What’s going on?”

  Tom pushed the mask away. When he spoke, he spoke short and breathless. “It’s … it’s hard to breath. Feels sluggish.”

  Gary spoke up, “It just started. He said his chest felt like it was tightening. His blood pressure and heart rate are good. But I listened to his lungs, there is very little air movement. And I hear fluid.”

  “Like pneumonia?” Owen asked.

  “Like that, but fast.” Gary put the oxygen back to Tom. “His O2 levels are around ninety percent, not dangerously low, but low.”

  Gabe asked. “Was this because his mask malfunctioned?”

  “Absolutely,” Gary replied. “When Delaney did the autopsy, remember. She said the lungs were horribly inflamed and it appeared they had been …” Gary stopped talking when Tom began to cough violently.

  He coughed so badly, he couldn’t keep the mask on. He brought his arm over his mouth and hacked. It was deep and continuous. The spasm lasted only half a minute, but ended with Tom looking horrified, pulling down his sleeve and exposing blood.

  Gary exhaled heavily and peered up to Gabe. “Hemorrhaging. Delaney said the lungs on that man appeared to have been hemorrhaging.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Tom said, then Gary gave him the oxygen once more.

  “I know you will,” Gabe said, turned and rushed to the cockpit.

  “How far are we from Billings?” Delaney asked.

  “Hour and a half,” Gabe replied.

  “Gabe,” Owen said. “Dad needs a doctor. I don’t think Billings has one.”

  “They don’t. But maybe Uncle Gene knows where one is. Maybe Gainesville.”

  “Can we make it there on the fuel?” Owen asked.

  “Unfortunately, no, we’ll need to stop for more fuel. Either way, we have to call Uncle Gene.” Gabe grabbed his phone and stepped into the little hallway between the cockpit and cabin.

  His phone call was brief and at least it was encouraging.

  Uncle Gene knew exactly where they could go for a doctor and would set it up. All Gabe had to do was turn the plane.

  Gabe was relieved. He was also happy that, if the worst happened with his father, they were going home.

  They were headed to Colorado.

  NINETEEN – ABATED HOPE

  Naval Operations Support – Billings

  “Did they mention any other symptoms?” Colonel Macintosh asked over the radio. “We have a doctor wanting to know.”

  “No, just what I told you,” Gene said.

  “We got them on radar looks like they’ll land in about ninety minutes maybe less. We’ll give them coordinates and communicate with them.”

  “Thank you.”

  “We will have emergency transport ready at the airfield for them. We’ll take care of your family.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  “We need every person there is. So we all have to do what we can.”

  Gene thanked the colonel again before ending the call. He was a mess, a frazzled mess. He didn’t have many details about Tom, just that he took in too much tainted air and was having difficulties.

  “Uncle Gene,” Gabe said. “He’s coughing up blood and it’s thick.”

  It sickened him to hear that.

  All that Tom did to survive with his sons. All the passengers of that plane had went through just to fall to a faulty tube.

  After taking a walk to try to clear his mind, Gene returned to Wiley.

  “Just talked to 3430,” Wiley told him. “They said twenty minutes.”

  Gene nodded. “I figured. Which means Gabe should be getting to Colorado Springs in about a half hour.”

  “Anything from Gabe or Owen on how Tom is?” Wiley asked.

  “Not since the last call. They’re communicating with the Colonel now.”

  “I did … I did speak to the morgue lady on the plane. She contacted me.”

  This caused Gene to perk up. “And? Is everything with Tom okay?”

  “She said he was the same. Which is better than worse, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Anyhow, she called because she has some location, family tracking app,” Wiley said. “She got movement from her brother.”

  “What do you mean movement?”

  “Apparently the app is on a phone, when the phone moves, the app alerts. The phone was moving for about two hours. She’s not been able to get an answer.”

  “Maybe someone has his phone?” Gene suggested.

  “That’s what I think, but, then he stopped moving in Clarksville, Tennessee.”

  “Do we know where he was and how he survived?”

  Wiley shook his head. “She didn’t give me that. Just his phone number and asked that I try, too. I did. Same thing. Two rings and voicemail … but … fortunately the internet is still up, but spotty. So I reached out to CMAFS to see if they could get me any numbers whatsoever from Clarksville. Anything.”

  “And?”

  “They gave me a bunch, then they started reaching out like me. Just calling random numbers,” Wiley replied. “They were never hit. We have a whole town of people confused and scared … but alive.”

  “Tennessee,” Gene said softly. “Let’s get a hold of Kyle. Give him a destination and see if he can get there.”

  “What about Gainesville, have we given up on them?”

  “Not yet.” Gene looked down to his watch. He needed to get to the airport to greet that plane, find those people a means to get into town, then after that it was time for Gene to leave Billings.

  His work there was done.

  He had to find a means of transportation. Either by the pilot, Jeff, from Flight 3430 or a car, because one way or another Gene had to get to Colorado.

  He couldn’t stay in Billings happy about finding life across the country, when Tom was fighting for his.

  <><><><>

  Flight 3430 B - Colorado Springs, CO

  Owen knew his brother was nervous. They weren’t only siblings they were best friends and Owen didn’t need for Gabe to say a word. He knew everything that bothered him.

  Without question their father’s health, but Gabe was also second guessing himself when it came to landing that plane.

  Owen didn’t know anything about flying. But he saw the shifting of Gabe’s eyes, the reaching for a control, then retracting his hand in a quick change of mind.

  Perhaps everything going on with their Dad was weighing too heavily on Gabe’s mind.

  Owen didn’t get it. He didn’t get any of it when it came to what was happening with his father.

  His dad was a fit man, strong. How could just two minutes cause his health to fail so fast?

  That was the amount of time Delaney estimated. Two minutes.

  Yet he went from running through Las Vegas to trying desperately to catch his breath.

  For something to hit him so hard, so fast, Owen had a hard time believing it couldn’t easily be fixed.

  He held on to that.

  He wouldn’t think the worst.

  Owen believed his father would get better.

  They were getting ready to land. Gabe made the announcement.

&nb
sp; Where was he?

  Delaney had gone to the rest room and rushed out when she heard Gabe say they would be landing. Only she walked out to see Tom’s empty seat, the oxygen on it and Gary with a look that said, ‘nothing I could do.’

  She wasn’t in the bathroom that long, yet three empty airline bottles of vodka rolled down the aisle as the plane lowered.

  Following the bottles like a trail, she saw a bloody shirt on the floor, then Tom seated in the first row on the economy cabin. He wore a white button down shirt that looked like one a pilot would wear.

  He was so pale and his shoulders raised and lowered with each struggled breath.

  “What are you doing, Tom?” she asked, sitting next to him.

  “I came back … to change … the boys … don’t need to see that shirt.”

  “They can handle seeing it. Your boys are grown men.”

  “They’re my boys. Always … my boys. I can’t … handle them seeing it.”

  “Tom.” She grabbed his hand.

  “I couldn’t make it back there. Up front.”

  “Well, we’re landing.” She reached over and strapped his belt. “We’ll stay here until we land. They are bringing help.”

  “I don’t want to be carried … off this plane.” He tilted his head her way. “Don’t let them carry me off this plane.”

  Delaney nodded. “Okay. Hold on.”

  It probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do with the plane preparing to land, but if Tom truly wanted to walk from the plane, it wasn’t going to happen if he went any longer without oxygen.

  Using the seats as a crutch, she made her way to the front and grabbed for the oxygen.

  “You need to take a seat,” Gary told her as he handed her the tank.

  “I will. Thanks.” She carried it back to economy, then plopped in the seat. “Okay, you know this is the last tank. Use it wisely.” She turned the knob and gave him the mask.

  “You tried.” Tom brought the mask to his face. He inhaled closing his eyes and showing facially how much it helped.

  “I’ll carry the tank.” Delaney buckled her belt. “You keep the oxygen on as you walk. Deal?”

  Tom nodded.