Elly's Ghost (13 page)

Nick realized
he’d been staring at the injector, and his coworker Dave was looking at him. “Are
you all right, man?” Dave asked.

Nick turned toward
him. “Hey, you used to work on airplanes. Do you know how far a plane can fly
on one tank of fuel?”

“It depends on
the plane.”

“What about a
propeller plane?”

“You mean like a
small Cessna?”

“No. I mean a
corporate jet, but with propellers.”

“A turboprop?”

“Yeah.”

Dave shrugged
his shoulders. “It could be anywhere from a thousand miles to four thousand
miles; it just depends on the type of plane and the fuel load it can carry.
They’re all different.”

Nick nodded.
“Thanks, Dave.”

Nick left the
parts department still holding the old injector. He walked across the showroom
to Mandy’s office. Mandy was by far the nicest salesperson at the dealership,
even to shop grunts like Nick. She was putting on her jacket as he approached.

“Hey, Mandy,”
Nick said. “May I use your computer for a few minutes?”

“I’m heading
out, so be my guest,” she said, motioning to her chair.

“Thanks.”

“My pleasure.”
She grabbed a set of car keys and left her office, closing the door behind her.

Nick found Big
Sky Aircraft’s website and wasn’t surprised to see there was no mention of any
crash.

He clicked on
the link to the turboprop line and found the BSA-3000, which he’d remembered
from the CNN broadcast as the model of Elly’s plane. Nick scrolled through the
specifications until he found what he was looking for.

“Fuel capacity,
630 gallons,” Nick said to himself. “Maximum range, 2,130 miles.” His next
search was even quicker, and his voice got louder. “Baltimore to Seattle, 2,790 miles. What the hell?”

* * *

The smell of
burning pine needles woke Elly from a deep sleep. Her eyes were greeted with a
soft yellow glow through the tent walls. The shadow projected on the side of
the tent showed Jay crouched next to a campfire. The soreness in her legs was
gone, and for the first time in months her throat seemed completely healed. She
stretched her arms out wide enjoying the fact that she hadn’t been able to wake
up and do that for three days. She ran her fingers over her wrists, which were
already back to normal.

Elly was wearing
a pair of Jay’s gym shorts and a T-shirt that read, “Pender Brothers Helicopter
Logging Service.” In fact, everything she was wearing belonged to him. She didn’t
mind the oversized clothes and loved finally being rid of the bloodstained
shirt she’d been wearing since Sunday. She put on Jay’s hooded sweatshirt and
took a few seconds to breathe in his scent.

A dense fog
greeted Elly as she exited the tent. She reached out with amazement, as if to
touch it, like it was a floating mist of gray cotton candy enveloping the
entire campsite. Only a foot or two of lake water was visible from the fire’s
glow before it disappeared in the heavy fog. Even the campfire remained hazy
until Elly stepped closer.

Jay was putting
the last of the branches he’d collected on top. The fire hissed at the wet
wood. Jay was shirtless and in gym shorts. Elly’s eyes followed the muscles
around his shoulder blades down to his lower back. A tattoo on his left
shoulder showed an eagle perched on top of a globe with an anchor through the
middle of it. The words “United States Marine Corps” wrapped around it. Jay’s
right shoulder had another tattoo of a pair of wings behind a scuba diver,
which Elly guessed was also a military emblem.

It took all of
Elly’s strength to fight off the urge to reach out and touch him. Elly’s eyes
lingered on his shoulders as a wave of euphoria spread in all directions from
her stomach like she’d just swallowed something stronger that Vicodin.

Elly wondered
what Jay was thinking. He was so serious most of the time, yet for the short
time she’d known him, the situation demanded it. His slight frown was almost
always present, and then occasionally he’d start joking around about something.
It seemed like she was dealing with two versions of the same man. She wondered
what he’d be like in a normal situation, one where he wasn’t protecting them
from men wanting to kidnap her and kill him. She’d never met anyone who’d just
come home from a war before. Elly couldn’t imagine dealing with what he must
have seen as a Marine, and it hit her that the joking around must be Jay’s way
of coping.

She remembered
her shouting match with him when the helicopter flew over them, and then how
she shoved him when he’d thrown what she thought were her pills into the
forest. Jay challenged her in ways no one did anymore, like a close friend
wanting Elly to better herself. She had her bandmates, but Jeremy, Brent, and
Alex didn’t challenge her in that way. No one had in a really long time.

The demands of
the tour and life on the road had nearly sucked Elly dry of any drive to keep
going. She’d been mentally and physically wiped out. But now, having Jay so close,
Elly’s desires surfaced, like a forest coming alive after a long winter.

Elly didn’t know
what would happen after they got out of the woods and back into civilization.
Would Jay want to be around her? What kind of man would Jay be when they
weren’t on the run? She decided once they were no longer in danger she was
going to find out, but she also didn’t want to do anything to screw it up. Her
eyes traced a line from his bare back down past his tattoo to his bicep as her conscience
nagged her,
I don’t care how good he looks, you don’t know him well enough.
You’re not sleeping with him!
Elly really hated her conscience sometimes.

“Good morning,”
Jay said.

“Good morning.”
Elly blinked and shifted her focus from his shirtless form hunched over the
fire. “It’s beautiful out here.” Just feet away, the trees seemed to melt into
the fog. It made Elly feel like she was in a completely different world. “How
cool is this?”

“I absolutely
love it out here,” Jay said. “The water is warmer than the air, so the fog is
just rolling off the lake.”

“There’s no wind.
This is perfect.” Elly stepped closer to him and held her palms out to the
campfire, taking in its warmth. “Nice fire.”

“Thanks.”

Elly noticed
Jay’s sadness from last night had been replaced with the same serious Marine
she’d been following for the last three days.

“Are you okay?”
she asked.

Jay nodded.

“Is there
anything you want to talk about?”

Jay looked at
her and opened his mouth to say something but then stopped himself. He turned
back to the fire, and Elly wondered if he’d ever open up. She was embarrassed
for asking and thought about apologizing. Instead Jay spoke.

“All I thought
about when I was in Afghanistan was coming home to something like this.” Jay
motioned to the lake and the surrounding woods. “I love coming out here. I
spent a lot of time out here when I was younger. I love how peaceful it is.”
Jay smiled at Elly and said, “Unless there are kidnappers in the area.”

Elly laughed.

“Every night, as
I was falling asleep in a desert, this place was what I tried to imagine, and my
imagination didn’t do it justice.”

“It would be
hard to imagine something as cool as this,” Elly said.

“Believe me, I
tried. This is way better. I never imagined having a beautiful woman with me.”

Elly’s eyes met
his. The flames reflected off his blue eyes as he looked at her. The confident
way he said “beautiful” made the hair on the back of Elly’s neck stand on end
as electricity flowed out her arms and legs, making everything tingle.
He
thinks I’m beautiful,
she thought.

“I was hoping
this place would help me sort out what I want to remember and what I want to
forget.” Jay picked up a handful of soil. “If only it were as easy as washing
away the dirt,” he said as he let the soil sift through his fingers.

“What do you
want to forget?”

“Mostly the war.
There are things I’ve done that I know I will deal with the rest of my life. It
seems the more I try to forget, the harder it is to do so. Being back here
helps, but I’m still trying to figure out how to sort through it all. I didn’t
realize how hard it would be.”

“I wish it were
as easy as taking a bath.”

“Now that’s an
idea.”

“What?”

“In fact, that’s
the best idea I’ve heard in a long time.” Jay stood.

“What do you
mean?” Elly asked, looking up at him.

“I’m not sure if
it’ll work, but there’s only one way to find out.” Jay walked to the shore
facing the lake with his back to Elly. He was only partially visible in the
fog. Elly froze as Jay removed his shorts and underwear in one quick motion.
Her mouth hung open as she took in all the details of his naked body. With one more
step forward, he faded into the dense fog, leaving Elly with only the sound of
splashing water.

Elly didn’t
move. The fire hissed at her as she bit her lower lip. Her desires and her
conscience started shouting at each other.

* * *

The soft sandy bottom
of the lake greeted Jay’s feet, and the cool water instantly made his aching
joints feel brand new. He let himself float silently, with only the faint glow
of the campfire intruding into his own private world. It was as if everything had
washed off of him: the blood from the men he’d killed just hours ago, sand from
the Afghanistan desert, and the loss of his parents and best friend. Jay wanted
the fog to stay forever, keeping the world from seeing him. He wanted to feel
joy again, and immediately he thought about Elly.

Jay wondered
what Elly was thinking. If they were back in the real world, would she want
anything to do with him? Is it possible Elly could be interested in him? It was
a question he’d been contemplating for days. He thought about how she’d shoved
him when he’d faked throwing her pills into the woods, and about her thousands
of fans and how she could probably date just about any guy she wanted. But him?
Jay figured the answer was no.

He heard a faint
splash coming from shore and instantly thought maybe he was wrong. Slowly the
curved outline of a beautiful young woman appeared in the fog. The water was up
to Elly’s waist when Jay began to see details of her belly button and her arms
crossed in front, covering her breasts as she walked toward him into deeper
water.

Elly plunged
underwater, then reappeared just outside arm’s reach, her chin above the
waterline. The fog surrounding them cut out most of the light, but the glow
from the fire was enough for them to see each other smile. Jay loved the sight
of her wet hair as she pushed it out of her eyes.

“Hi,” Elly said,
blushing.

“Hi.” The little
light from the fire was enough to highlight the freckles just below Elly’s
beautiful brown eyes. Her smiled reflected off the water.

“Have you ever
done this before?” Elly asked.

“You mean, wait
for someone to try and kidnap a beautiful woman so I could bring her out here
to swim early in the morning in this very lake?” Jay shrugged. “It’s my fifth
time.”

“Ha! Yeah,
right.” Elly splashed water at him. Jay returned fire with a slap of his hand
against the lake’s surface. Elly disappeared into the lake.

Jay remained
still, trying to figure out where she’d gone. After a few moments she shot out
of the water behind him and jumped onto his bare back, wrapping her arms around
his shoulders. They both laughed as Jay spun around in a circle and felt his
heart rate increase. He loved the feel of her skin on his. He slowly stopped
their spinning and lowered them both, still as one, so their heads were just
above the waterline.

Elly held him
tightly, her chin resting on his shoulder and her right cheek against his left.
Jay loved the grounding effect of her skin on his. Elly rested the side of her
head on the back of his neck.

“There are
people trying to kidnap me,” she whispered into his ear, “and yet I’ve never
felt so safe. I don’t want to leave here.”

“I wish it could
stay like this,” Jay said.

Elly slowly let
go and swam around to look him in the eyes, the orange glow reflected off their
faces just inches apart.

“Say it again,”
Elly said. “Say I’m beautiful.”

Weightlessness
overcame Jay. “Elly, you are beautiful.”

She closed her
eyes as Jay leaned in. Her lips were softer than he’d imagined. She placed her
hands on his solid shoulders as they held their kiss.

Elly smiled as
she pulled away. She glanced down at the water with a shy smile, and their eyes
met. “When we get out of this, I want you to come with me to my lake cabin.”
She stared at him. “Promise me you’ll come.”

“I promise.”

Elly glanced
down at the water. “I … I want to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“About a week
ago, I was feeling overwhelmed with all the touring and everything. I remember
thinking that I didn’t even feel alive anymore.” Elly’s eyes met his. “Being
around you has made me feel alive again. I just wanted you to know.”

Jay wanted to
kiss her again, to pull her close to him, but Elly slowly backed away toward
the yellow-orange glow of the fire. The fog quickly closed the space between
them, and the curved outline of the beautiful young woman disappeared. Despite
her invitation to her cabin, he feared he’d just witnessed the answer to his
question.

* * *

Henry Dunquist
and game warden Doug Peterson sat in the back of the fishing boat in their rain
gear and watched as Jim Grey, a member of the county’s water rescue team,
entered the lake backward off the bow. Grey disappeared under the water, then
bobbed back up as he repositioned his mouthpiece.