by Marion Myles
She clicked off before Jack could say anything else and threw the phone down on the seat beside her. A few minutes later, Liam walked out of the liquor store carrying a cardboard box against his chest. Patrick immediately stepped out and held the back door open for him.
“Would you like me to take your purchases?” he asked Liam.
“Nope. I’m good.”
Liam clambered in beside Rebecca, setting the box on the seat between them while she hastily snatched up her phone. He ran a hand across his forehead, slicking off the water and patted his wet hair. With relief settling into his belly, he slid out a bottle of whiskey and twisted off the top.
“Everyone ready?” Patrick asked.
“As we’ll ever be,” Rebecca mumbled.
Ten minutes later, they were on a road bordering the water. Patrick turned into a parking lot beside a sign that said Pier 14 and drove over to a small building with Seattle’s Sea Hopper stenciled along the side. Rebecca scrolled through her phone and found the reservation then checked the time. They were almost ten minutes late. Grabbing the umbrella, she stepped out into the rain and made a dash for the office door.
Inside, a woman with short frizzy hair sat behind the counter. She glanced up from her computer screen and nodded.
“Hello,” Rebecca said. “I’m so sorry. We’re a little late for our reservation. I’m Rebecca Diaz.”
The woman smiled and took Rebecca’s proffered phone and scanned the reservation code.
“Yep, you’re late, but only a little and it’s no matter since you’re the only passengers. This is our last flight out today. Weather’s closing in.”
“Great,” Rebecca said. “Where do we go?”
“Drive over toward the water, and you’ll see markings along the railing. You’re looking for section five. Gregg will be flying you today. It’s the only plane out there. If you have a delicate stomach, I’d suggest Dramamine. We’ve got some right here.” She pointed to a small display case containing postcards, mugs, keychains, and a few toiletries.
“Thanks, but I have some with me.”
Rebecca told Patrick where to go, and he eased the Navigator across the parking area. As the receptionist had said, there was only one plane on the water. It was gold with brilliant blue stripes. A flap of metal was lifted at the front exposing the engine where a man, wearing a yellow rain slicker and hat, hunched over it with some sort of tool in his hand.
Once again, Rebecca stepped out into the rain. She clutched the umbrella handle tighter when a gust of wind tried to snatch it away. She approached the man, calling out “Hello,” when she judged he could hear her.
The man lifted his head and turned to face her. His hands were black with grease. At some point, he’d swiped at his right cheek because a dark smudge rode high over his cheekbone. He stepped off the floats and onto the dock.
“Sorry we’re late,” Rebecca said. “Are you Gregg?”
He nodded. “I’m the one who’s sorry. This girl isn’t going anywhere today. Looks like a carburetor problem. It’ll take me an hour or more to fix it, and with the weather the way is, I won’t make it back before the worst of the storm socks us in.”
“But…don’t you have any other planes?”
“They’re all in the air. I really am sorry. We do a full engine service on the fleet every month, but still, sometimes things happen. You’ll get a complete refund, of course, and I can offer you a fifty percent discount if you book with us again in the next twelve months.”
“I don’t want a discount,” Rebecca said. “I want to get to Lake Chelan.”
“I’m afraid I can’t help you today. Talk to Betsy inside. She can give you names of other floatplane operators. Maybe some of them will be able to take you out. My suggestion…if you want it. Go into the city and get yourself a nice hotel for a day or so. Let the weather pass. We’ll probably be shut down tomorrow, but by the day after, we can have you up and out on the lake.”
Back in the office, Rebecca pressed Betsy to not only give her a list of other places but to also call around so they didn’t waste time driving up and down the pier. When it was reported that most of them had already sent out their last runs of the day, her spirits flagged.
There’d be no way to handle Liam in a hotel room in Seattle. He already had a case of booze, and they’d been on the ground for less than an hour. She’d bet her last dollar, which at this point might actually be in her wallet, that he’d scare up all kinds of drugs to go along with the alcohol before she so much as blinked.
No, they had to get to the cabin tonight.
“I’m sorry,” Betsy said, breaking into Rebecca’s thoughts. “Looks like you aren’t getting out of here today. There are a couple of smaller one-man operations farther out. I don’t know a lot about any of them but keep following this road north for about ten miles or so, and maybe you’ll get lucky.”
“Okay.” Rebecca nodded. “Yes. We’ll try them. Thank you.”
“You be careful out there. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better.”
Back in the SUV, she gave Patrick the instructions and smoothed her hands along her soaking thighs. Liam lifted the bottle and took another swig.
“You sure don’t give up easy,” he said.
She ignored him and leaning forward, watched through the windshield wipers while Patrick followed the road north. As Betsy had said, they eventually came across a few signs offering scenic tours of the city and surrounding area. The first three were closed, but at the fourth one—Rory’s Sea-Air Service—displayed a neon orange Open sign that shone brightly in the window. Rebecca scooted inside and found a rotund man, likely somewhere in his mid-sixties, watching a golf tournament on his computer.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“I sure hope so. I need to get two people and some luggage to Lake Chelan.”
“Could be I’d be willing to fly you out especially if you were of a mind to pay cash.”
“Really?” Instantly, the knots in her neck loosened their death grip. “That would be fantastic.”
“I’ll just need about ten or so minutes to do my pre-flight. I’ll show you where to load the bags. If you wouldn’t mind going ahead with that, we’ll be outta here quicker.”
“I’d be happy to. I’m Rebecca by the way.”
He held out a hand. “Rory McMaster.”
With Patrick’s help, she had the luggage loaded within a few moments. She understood now why she’d been instructed to pack everything in small, soft bags. Most of the luggage was shoved into narrow storage compartments near the tail of the plane and accessed from the outside. She stood on the floats, the plane bobbing up and down, while Patrick passed the bags from the dock.
Inside, the plane space was minimal. There were eight seats, including the pilot’s. It looked like the plane had been around for some time and could use an upgrade in the comfort department. The seats were worn, and Rebecca noticed the floor had been patched with duct tape in places.
“Don’t normally allow this much luggage,” Rory commented. “But seeing as there’s only two of you, we should be fine with weight. I have a couple more things to check, and then we’ll be on our way.”
Rebecca hopped out of the plane and down the short section of steps before nimbly jumping back onto the dock. At the Navigator, she worked up a smile and opened the back door.
“Okay, almost ready. Time to get you on the plane.”
“Fine but I’m taking this.” Liam patted the box of alcohol.
“Whatever. Patrick, can you help?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
They steadied Liam as he got out of the car. Patrick leaned in and retrieved the alcohol.
“It’s hardly raining anymore,” Liam said.
“Figures,” Rebecca said. “Now that I’m soaked to the skin.”
With Patrick standing on the float and holding out his hand to steady Liam, and Rebecca guiding his shoulders from behind, they got him onto the small section of ladder and int
o the plane. Liam climbed over the middle seats and settled in the back on the pilot’s side before looking around, clearly unimpressed.
“What kind of tin can is this?”
“Shush,” Rebecca said, glancing back to make sure Rory wasn’t near the open door. “It’s the best I could find. The flight’s less than two hours, so you’ll just have to suck it up.”
“Where do you want this?” Patrick asked.
“You can put it right next to me,” Liam pointed to the seat on his right.
Patrick’s eyes shifted to Rebecca, and she shook her head.
“No, Rory said everything has to go in the compartments back here,” she said, pointing along the side of the plane.”
“If you throw it away, I’m off the plane,” Liam said.
“I’m not throwing it away. Frankly, I don’t care if you drink all of it tonight.”
“Good.” Liam pulled his seatbelt on and slumped down.
Rebecca shimmied into the plane and shifted over to the far side, taking the seat in the second row by the window.
Patrick leaned in through the door. “Well, folks. I guess this is goodbye. Have a good flight.”
“Thank you, Patrick,” Rebecca said. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Could be. Bye, Mr. Connors.”
“Yeah. Bye,” Liam said.
Rory poked his head in the door. “Okay. We’re all set. I’m gonna push us off, and we’ll get going. Luck is on our side because the wind has calmed a little. Let’s not lose this window of good weather.”
In less than a minute, Rory hopped back inside and immediately started the engine, the propeller on the nose turning too fast for the eye to see. The noise was startlingly loud inside the plane. Rory pointed above her head, and Rebecca saw a headset.
“Everyone okay?” Rory’s voice came through the headset.
“I’m good,” Rebecca said.
“Here we go.”
“I guess you don’t have to be cleared by a control tower like at the airport?” Rebecca asked.
Rory tossed a smile over his shoulder. “Don’t even have to file a flight plan.”
The plane circled away from the dock and began to pick up speed, bumping along against the waves. Rebecca held onto the handle above her window. Rory tipped the GPS screen toward him and tapped against it several times before nodding his head in satisfaction.
“You fly using that?” Rebecca asked.
“That and my eyes. This is what’s called a VFR flight…meaning I’m operating using my vision. The ceiling’s a little low, but I reckon I’ll be fine to get there and back.”
The plane accelerated, and the next second they were in the air. Rebecca pressed her face up against the window while they climbed toward the sky. Through her headphones she could hear Liam gulping from his bottle of Jack Daniels. She blocked it out.
The right wing dipped, and the plane turned, angling away from the docks and heading inland.
“The flight attendants will be circulating the cabin shortly to feed you and take your drink orders. The in-flight movie will start up right after, so sit back and relax and enjoy your flight. Thank you for choosing Rory’s Sea-Air Service.”
Rory laughed at his own joke and tapped one of the gauges on the instrument panel.
“How many flights do you typically do in a week?” Rebecca asked.
“Somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen. I love being up in the sky. You can’t get this kind of peace down there on the ground. Besides, I have a cabin, and it gives me a good excuse to spend a night at the lake. Lake Wenatchee isn’t as far out as Lake Chelan. In fact, we’ll practically cross right over it. I always keep my gear on board ’cause you never know. Often times when I fly out clients for a day or two, I’ll stay out myself.”
“Doesn’t your wife mind you being away so much?”
“She might if we still lived together and hadn’t gotten a divorce.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosy,” Rebecca said.
“Women always mean to be nosy,” Liam said.
“Now folks, I’m not gonna step into the middle of that one,” Rory said. “If you look down, we’re flying over Lake Sammamish State Park. It’s real popular with the city folks ’cause it’s an easy drive out.”
Rebecca saw the acres of treed land stretching below them and spreading out as far as the eye could see. In the distance, snow-covered mountains rose up to the sky. The plane pitched and bumped. When her stomach started to make its displeasure known, she turned her head facing forward again.
Rory pulled a tablet out from a webbed pocket under the instrument panel and slide his finger across the screen bringing up a weather radar map. He studied it then squinted through the windshield.
“Think I’d best head a little more north than my usual route. It looks likely to be smoother that way. It’ll add on maybe fifteen minutes, but I think you’ll appreciate not seeing your lunch again.” He cackled and turned the yoke wheel slightly to the left.
Liam started singing softly. She realized it was, appropriately enough, Elton John’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Except for the jet part, she thought.
“Hey, Rory. Do you think you could come and pick me up tomorrow afternoon?” Rebecca asked.
He glanced over his shoulder. “If that’s what you want, I sure can. Gives me the perfect opportunity to stay at the lake tonight. Say, how come you folks are only going for the one night?”
She shook her head. “He’s staying for a lot longer. I’ll make sure he gets there safely, and then another person is tag teaming in.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Liam exploded from behind her.
“I can’t help someone who doesn’t want to get better,” she said. “Look at you. You’ve been drunk since this morning.”
The plane pitched to the right, and Rebecca’s eyes shot toward Rory who wrestled it back left. They dropped several feet, and this time the left wing dipped.
“It’s pretty rough out there,” Rebecca said, trying to keep her voice steady.
“I can’t believe you’re bailing on me,” Liam said. “Typical.” He tried to make it seem as though Rebecca leaving was an inconvenience when in actuality, what he felt was crawling fear.
Rory held the tablet up again and nodded. “Yeah, the wind’s kicking up some. I’ll climb up a thousand feet or so and see if that helps.”
When the plane leveled off again, Rory craned his head toward the back of the plane. “Say, aren’t you Liam Connors? I just put it together.”
“You got me,” Liam said, saluting him with the bottle.
“I read about that trouble…I mean…um,” Rory’s face flushed bright red. He cleared his throat. “Saw that movie you were in. It was real good.”
“We’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about…you know…” Rebecca tipped her head back and made a motion with her hand to indicate drinking.
“Of course. Pilot-client confidentiality. My lips are sealed. Liam, you in the mood to sing?” Rory asked.
“Sure. What’d you have in mind?”
“I do like that one song. I think it’s called ‘Sunset Over Panama.’”
Liam hummed a few bars then launched in, his familiar gravelly voice coming through the headset as well as filling the tiny plane. Goosebumps prickled along Rebecca’s arms. With all the drama and stress Liam had brought into her life in the last few weeks, she’d forgotten how talented he was.
Within the next second, fury rose up in her belly. She had no doubt if he continued on the way he was going he’d be dead inside a year. What a stupid waste to lose his gifts from the world.
There’s nothing you can do, she reminded herself.
Liam sang two more songs and Rory hooted and hollered with appreciation when he was done. “Man, that’s something I’ll never forget,” he said.
“See, Rebecca. Someone thinks I’m worth something,” Liam said even though he’d promised himself not to bring up the subject agai
n.
“I never said you aren’t worth anything,” Rebecca said.
The plane dropped straight down for several seconds, and Rebecca squealed.
“So why are you leaving me then?” Liam asked, unperturbed by the bumpy flight.
“Because.” She caught her breath while her heart hammered in her ear. The clouds directly in front were black as black could be, and out the side window she saw fog rolling in like something from a horror movie.
She turned back to Liam. “I can’t help you, and you know it. If you ever are ready to get sober, I’d be happy to support you.”
“Folks, make sure your seatbelts are fastened. The wind’s kicked up a couple of notches, and I don’t know if I can get around this storm front. I might have to take her through.”
“How far are we from Lake Chelan?” Rebecca asked while pulling her seatbelt as tight as possible.
“A good forty-five minutes give or…” The plane tipped side to side and then plummeted before Rory managed to level it out. “Take,” he finished.
He kept his hand tight on the wheel and leaned forward to inspect the GPS more closely. When the plane bucked again, sending Rebecca’s stomach into her throat, Rory corrected before sighing heavily.
“Okay, I’m not gonna lie. The storm’s come faster than predicted. I’ll take her up above the worst part of the cell and turn north where we’ll hopefully get into some calmer air. I may need to find a lake to set her down on and wait it out.”
“I told you we shoulda stayed in Seattle,” Liam said to Rebecca.
Rory turned a switch and picked up a radio comm. “This is one five seven RST. I’m at coordinates forty-eight point zero nine two degrees north and one hundred and twenty-one point four three west. We’re caught up in this storm. Winds must be getting close to thirty knots, and visibility is now less than two miles. Making a break for Watson Lake. If anyone’s out there, I suggest you find somewhere to hole up.”
He set the unit back on the cradle by the dashboard and turned up the sound. All Rebecca could hear was static.
“Is that connected to an airport?” she asked.
“Nope. It’s set to an emergency frequency. If anyone else is out there and monitoring, they’ll hear it and know to be careful.”
