Flight into Darkness (Flight Trilogy, Book 2) (7 page)

“Don’t worry. I’m
not
going to shoot myself.”

I
should
have
never
told
her
.

He continued, “As little as I talked to Rex, I honestly had no way of knowing what he was going through. I do know that Emily can be a handful.”

“Are
we
doing okay financially?”

“We’ve taken on a little debt, but it’s nothing we can’t handle…as long as the company holds together.”

She took his hand. “Promise me you will never keep any secrets from me.”

In a loving and serious tone he said, “You have nothing to worry about. I’m fine…we’re fine. Everything is going to be alright.”

“I don’t want to lose you.” Her voice trembled. Her face drooped with sadness. “I can’t live without you.”

“Look at me.” He lifted her chin up. “Nothing is going to happen to me. We’re going to be fine. If things get too bad, I’ll quit…find another job. We can move back to Georgia. All I care about is you and the kids. A job is a job… even if we do have to live in a hut and forge for nuts and berries.”

She smiled. His words seemed to ease her, but the reality of his words blanketed him with a new wave of stress. Leaving the airline and starting over—at his age—presented many concerns. He was not eligible for retirement for another two years. David would be starting college in less than three years, with Martha close behind.

Thoughts of living in a hut and forging for berries were pushed aside when Keri said, “I just can’t stop thinking about it.” Sounding anxious and fearful, she said, “Why would someone want to kill Emily?”

“Calm down.” Ryan took her hand.

“Well, if Rex didn’t do it—and you and I both know he didn’t—then don’t you think it’s kind of strange that Emily was murdered on the same night Rex’s flight crashed?”

I
don’t
want
to
get
into
it
with
Keri
.
If
the
two
events
were
tied
together
,
someone
would
have
had
to
know
that
I
traded
trips
with
Rex
the
week
before
the
flight
.
To
know
that
,
they
would
need
access
to
the
company
computers
,
or
know
someone
who
did
.
And
if
Emily
was
murdered
simply
because
she
was
the
pilot’s
wife
…
that
means
if
I
had
flown
the
trip
,
instead
of
Rex
,
Keri
would
have
been
killed
—
and
possibly
the
kids
too
.

A dizzy wave washed over him. His chest tightened, pushing his heart into his throat. His skin tingled with currents of electrical impulses.

If
I
had
flown
that
trip
instead
of
Rex
,
there
would
be
four
,
granite
markers
in
the
grass
instead
of
two
.

He looked at Keri. Her eyes searched his soul as though she knew something bothered him. “What’s wrong?” she said.

He turned away, not wanting her to see the fear in his face. He gazed in the direction of Rex and Emily’s gravesite. His good friend and ex-wife were dead. Rex had died in his place. Emily had been a substitute sacrifice for Keri and his children.

“Ryan, what is it?”

“Nothing,” he lied. Beside him sat the most dedicated and loving wife a man could ever dream of having. He needed her more now than ever. If he told her what he was thinking, she would freak.

The silence weighed heavy as they drove away from the cemetery. “What are you thinking?” she said. “I can tell something is wrong.”

He glanced at her, then back at the road. He sighed. She shifted more toward him as if she was preparing to catch the outpouring of his soul, but the mere thought of verbalizing what he was thinking made him want to vomit—he should be dead, not Rex Dean. Emily had been murdered on the same night of the crash. If the two events were connected, as he was beginning to suspect they were, and he had flown the trip that night instead of Rex—as it had been originally scheduled—there is a strong probability Keri and the kids would have been murdered, instead of Emily. This put an entirely new twist on the fear he battled daily.

His heart raced. Bile rose in his throat. He swallowed hard. “We just need to be thankful my life was spared.”

“I’m scared,” she said, her voice weak and trembling.

He took her hand and looked her in the eye. “Honey, it’s over. We both need to put this behind us. It’s been almost a year.”

“No! It’s not over! It will never be over until they find out who killed Emily.” She burst out crying and buried her head against his shoulder.

“Keri, we can’t let fear keep us from living.” The words he regurgitated were cold—almost mechanical. How could he expect
her
to do something
he
couldn’t do? Every flight he flew carried the risk that some lunatic with a death wish might board his plane, but it was not until now that he feared for the safety of Keri and his children. Fear was the driving force in his life that had nearly robbed him of his sanity.

Then, suddenly, Rex’s words from the dream popped into his head. “Don’t let your fear blind you, get busy!” It must have been his subconscious using the dominate thoughts from that day to bring life to his dream characters. After all, dreams are based on the past, not on the future. Everything in our dreams originates from people, places, and words from our past. “Get busy.”

Doing
what
?

“You’ll find answers in the here.”

Where
is
“
the
here
”?

Keri lifted her head and wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks. “Ryan, don’t you understand? Next time it could be you—us?”

He pushed his fears aside, reaching for words that might calm her. “There are always risks, but the government and the airlines are doing everything possible to keep these kinds of things from happening. We’ll be fine.” Again, he knew what he said was not true. The government and the airlines only did what they
had
to do, not always what they
should
do.

Keri did not respond. She appeared to be in a trance. Perhaps the visit to the cemetery had been too much—too soon. The silence weighed heavy as they drove away from the cemetery, leaving behind the bones of those who sleep eternal and their whispers of satisfying remembrances of life.

CHAPTER 6

Heading north on Interstate 5 toward San Clemente, Ryan sat quietly focused on the road ahead. Keri wanted to scream, but the constriction in her throat made it impossible; partly due to grief and partly due to fear.

Since the funeral, everything related to the crash had been pushed into the remotest corners of her memory. She should have left it that way—buried and forgotten—but her guilt had forced her to return to the grave site, hoping for closure—promising never to return again. Seeing Rex and Emily’s names etched into the granite had removed every ounce of denial.

She would never mention it to Ryan, but there were things about Rex she would miss. He was funny, playful, and in his own way, caring and sensitive. Disregarding the fact that he had deceived her and broken her heart, she believed that deep down he was not all bad. Death had a way of bringing to surface his good traits.

Years ago, when she had lost Ryan to Emily, Rex had been there for her. Even in his twisted way, he had provided the companionship she needed to work through her heartbreak. Who better than Ryan’s best friend. There were moments when she believed her marriage to Rex might last. If Emily had not left Ryan, who knows, she and Rex might have had a life together.

The idea of
her
name being chiseled in the granite marker next to Rex sent a cold chill up her spine. She pondered a flurry of
what
ifs
. Every choice in life ignites a separate set of consequences propelling us down a particular path filled with unique life experiences. When she looked back, she thanked God that her life had been spared.

Her thoughts returned to the present, but held tight to the image of the grave markers. A fresh wave of grief ambushed her, but it could not compare to the chilling fear that wrapped her in a death squeeze.

Ryan
would
be
dead
if
Rex
had
not
flown
that
trip
.
Emily
was
murdered
because
she
was
the
wife
of
the
pilot
.
I
would
be
dead
,
and
possibly
the
children
,
too
.

The freeway blurred as cars droned toward unknown destinations. Ryan sat quietly beside her. He was alive. She was alive. The children were alive.

I
need
to
hold
the
children
.
We
need
to
get
home
,
fast
!

They were safe. But that was today. What about tomorrow and the next day and the day after that?

She quickly raised her hands to her mouth to silence a scream.

The
children
!

“What’s wrong?” Ryan asked. “What?”

She gasped in jerky breaths as tears streamed from her eyes uncontrollably. She couldn’t respond.

“Keri! What is it?”

She shook her head.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, wiping her eyes, looking for a tissue.”

“What’s going on?”

She sniffled, and then turned to meet his concerned stare. “It’s all connected, I know it is.”

“What?”

“Whoever hijacked the plane also murdered Emily. I just know it!”

“We don’t know for sure.”

“Ryan, it’s the only possible explanation. It’s too freaky.”

“Why would someone want to kill the pilot’s family? What would it prove?”

“How should I know? All I know is if you’d flown that flight….” She paused. Her words ignited an uncontrollable flurry of emotions. Her throat tightened. Her eyes filled with water. An icy chill riveted up her spine.

“Keri, you don’t know this.”

She looked at him with a glazed stare. She couldn’t understand how he could be so sure. Even if he agreed with her, she knew he would hide his true thoughts—especially seeing how horrified she was of the thought of anyone harming the children. “Ryan, I’m scared.”

He took her hand. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Everything is going to be fine. I’ve got a couple of days off before I fly again. We’ll work through it.”

His words, “fly again”, jolted her. He might as well have said: “cheat death again” or “risk my life again” or “give the barrel another spin again”, as if his life were a game of Russian roulette.

Ryan drove into their subdivision and slowly rolled by manicured lawns with children playing in front yards. The moment he wheeled into the driveway, David and Martha burst out the front door.

The sight of the children—healthy and alive—ignited a rush of emotions. Keri fought back fresh tears.

David, leading the way, a stocky blond-headed, blue-eyed, fifteen-year-old beamed a big smile, his five-year-old sister close behind. Although trailing her big brother, she was first to latch onto her daddy as he stepped out of the car. David headed for Keri.

“How’s my little princess?” Ryan lifted her up into a big hug.

“Fine,” she said. “I missed you, Daddy.”

“I missed you too, Sweetheart.”

Pictures of Keri at age five could have easily passed for her daughter. Martha had even inherited her mother’s tiny dimples.

David grabbed Keri’s hand as she exited the car. David was deaf. “Hi, Mom. Missed you.” When he spoke, his free hand signed the words. Though understandable, his words were clouded in a guttural tone.

“I missed you too,” she said, smiling, signing as she spoke. Ryan, Keri, and even little Martha were fluent in Sign Language. Whenever David was present, whoever was talking would instinctively sign as they spoke, so as not to leave him out of the conversation.

A small, beige-colored plastic button, the size of a bottle cap was attached to David’s scalp just behind his right ear. It was part of a hearing device called a cochlear implant. A wire from the plastic button (antenna) led to a mini computer located behind his ear called a sound processor. The sound processor digitized sounds, sending them through the tiny wire leading to the antenna. The antenna, appearing to be glued to the scalp, was actually held in place magnetically by a receptor which had been surgically implanted under the skin. The device converted the digital signals from the antenna into electrical signals. The electrical signals traveled down an electrical array into the part of the inner ear called the cochlea. The electrodes stimulated the auditory nerves sending sound information to David’s brain, bypassing the damaged part of the inner ear. Although David’s cochlear implant provided sound signals—some would say robotic sound sensations—it did not restore normal hearing.

Keri’s heart warmed, watching Martha cling to her older brother as they returned to the front door and into the house. She knew how much Martha loved David. It was a relationship most siblings never experienced. David’s deafness insulated him from many of the negative influences most kids his age were exposed to. She and Ryan also did everything possible to shield him from a world filled with evil.