Captive at Christmas (20 page)

“Right, are you ready?”

“Yeah.” Violet gave the guy on the stairs a thumbs up, just like he told her to.

“Good. Just relax and have fun.”

“I’ll try,” she whispered.

Morné switched from friendly chat to flight-checks, calling off what sounded like random words and letters, saying ‘check’ after the flight controller’s voice came over the radio. She heard everything in her headset and the deep, South African accent continued to soothe her frazzled nerves. Soon, Violet saw things outside of the jet beginning to move – wait,
they
were moving!

And fast, too. Morné taxied the jet to where they would take off from and remained in contact with flight control. The second they gave him the green light, Violet was thrust back into her seat. She felt like a pancake. Her neck and body compressed as they punched through the air although soon enough, she was comfortable again. Through it all, she managed to keep her eyes open to watch their ascent into the sky.

“How you doing back there?”

“Squishy.” His laughter sent spirals of heat through her body that pooled in her lower abdomen. “You?”

“Perfect. Look up, Violet.”

Tilting her head back as far as she could, Violet saw nothing but blue skies and bright, nearly blinding sunlight. “Beautiful,” she murmured.

“Mmhmm.” He leveled the jet out and Morné quickly glanced over his shoulder. The flash of chocolate eyes raised her body temperature by about ten degrees. “What do you think, should we turn this thing over?”

The realization hit her in the stomach like when they took off just moments ago. “Uh, you mean um, upside-down?”

His chuckling rang in her ears. “Yes, I mean upside-down. What do you say, hmm?”

Violet pondered it, noticing the sound of his breathing, the hum of the engines and her steady pulse. She honestly thought that this would be more terrifying, though the only scary part was taking off. And she survived that with very little increase to her heart rate. “Yeah,” she grinned. “Let’s do it.”

Less than a second after she finished the sentence, Morné tilted the right wing, moving nice and slow. Then he jerked the yoke and forced the jet to comply with his demand. Violet squealed in sheer delight as her heart pounded beneath her ribs. Seeing him controlling this multi-million dollar piece of equipment with such ease and confidence made her feel safe enough not to worry though.

“Oh my…” Violet looked up – technically it was down, she supposed – to see the ground below. They were high enough that she could see a lot of ground beneath them, but low enough to notice the ridges in the mountains.

“We’re flying over the Mojave Desert,” Morné informed her. “Once I right us, do you want to take the controls?”

“Uh…”

“Violet, darling, we went over everything. It’s simple and straightforward. I will be right here to take over if you feel uncomfortable, alright?”

Inside of the gloves, her hands were sweating. Her mouth felt as dry as the desert she looked down at. But Violet nodded and said, “Okay.”

“There’s my girl,” Morné chuckled.

If they weren’t flying at – well, however fast they were flying – she might have stopped to ask him what he meant by that comment. But all Violet could think about was trying to keep from throwing up as Morné straightened them out and began explaining things once last time before handing over the controls.

“Are you ready?”

“What are those terms again? Roll, pitch and…”

“Yaw.”

Violet burst out laughing, though it wasn’t her intention. “I’m sorry! It’s just like when you say ‘
ja
’, I didn’t mean to…” she tried to stop giggling when a sharp female voice chastised her over the radio.

“What am I going to do with you,” Morné joked as he clicked his tongue a few times. “Ready?”

Deep breaths, in and out…in and out… “Okay.”

“Hands on the throttle like I showed you?”

“Check,” Violet giggled nervously.

“Cheeky,” he laughed. “Right, you’re in control…nnnow.”

She sucked in a breath and felt the pull on the stick. Nerves instantly got the better of her and Violet swallowed down the bile rising up her throat. “Okay, Vi, you can do this,” she whispered.

“You’re doing fantastic, my darling. Pull up a little, just a tiny bit.”

“Uh-huh.” A tiny bit thrust them higher into the sky and she shrieked. “Sorry! What do I do?” She could barely hear anything over the incessant pounding of her heart.

“Eyes on the dial and give a gentle push to level us out.”

Time to get serious. Violet slipped into office mode and gave a slight push to the yoke while keeping her eyes on the instruments. When she saw they were level, she released her grip on the throttle. “Okay, whew. I-I think you should take over again, Morné – I uh, I mean Mr. Styger.”

“Violet, I think we can drop the formalities, hmm?”

What’s he trying to do?
“Okay, fine, just please…”

The horizon shifted to the left and she gripped the yoke, trying to right it. But left was right and up was down, nothing worked the way she thought it would. Her heart jumped into her throat. “Morné, please!”

“Violet, relax. Take a deep breath and release your grip until you feel a slight drop in your stomach, sweetheart.”

Slight drop in my stomach?
She didn’t question him though, Violet released her grip and felt that sinking feeling; just like when she and her father drove up to the cottage over the winding and hilly roads. Hopefully he would take over now.

“Good job. See how easy that was?”

“Easy? I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

Morné chuckled. “You’re a natural. Perhaps you’d prefer a small plane next?”

“I don’t travel in small planes,” she admitted, a sense of relief flooding through her body as the yoke went stiff.

“I’ve got the controls now.”

“Thank you.” Sighing, she let her shoulders fall and closed her eyes for a moment.

“So tell me why you don’t travel in small planes, and yet here you are sitting in a US military jet?”

Purely an instinctive move, Violet placed a hand on her lower abdomen. Even under the flight suit and her clothing, she could feel the scar. “I was eleven and flying in a Cessna business jet to go and visit my father in Calgary with some of his associates. The plane went down.” She couldn’t finish the story, not with the ball of emotions in her throat.

“Oh, Violet.”

When he spoke with compassion, Morné’s voice took on a completely different tone. She was getting used to them now. But it still didn’t take away the ache in her heart from the memory, and the news she received during her recovery. “It’s okay. This is helping.” Violet took a deep breath. “You’re helping,” she whispered.

“Good.” Morné coughed a few times, grumbled something incoherent and straightened his shoulders. “It’s almost time to head back. Anything you wanted to do before then?”

She thought for a minute. “Surprise me.”

~~~

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