Flight 19, Part II, page 19
He walked slowly toward her, as if he feared she’d drop her shopping for real and start throwing punches at him.
A large swath of gauze covered most of his nose.
Lee had never admired Brandon, and had barely warmed to him. At the outset, he’d been just a harmless, average-looking guy, who she’d always thought was batting a bit above his average. She’d never come out and said it to her best friend’s face, but had thought about it in the early days.
She thought Tammy could have done better.
Maybe someone like the pilot type.
Watch this space, Lee.
“What happened to you?” She couldn’t help but cut straight to the chase.
Brandon walked toward her until he was about three feet away.
“I walked straight into a door in the middle of the night.” He’d said it a couple of times now, and it was starting to feel like the truth.
Lee studied his face for a few moments longer, and was only half convinced.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Brandon turned to the security guard, and seeing the guy’s face couldn’t be any closer to his phone, he said, “I was hoping you could just tell me something.”
Lee stared at him blankly. She knew it would have something to do with Tammy. This was a sure thing.
She could feel the shopping bags cutting into her hands, so she said, “Clock’s ticking, Bran. Can we cut to the chase?”
“Do you think there’d ever be a chance Tammy would be interested in getting back with me?” he said.
Lee put her shopping bags on the floor, two on each side of herself. Ah, that was better; her hands stopped hurting for a moment. She rubbed them together before focusing on Brandon again.
What a schmuck, she thought. He’d hooked up with Annie only weeks after Tammy’s plane had disappeared, presumed crashed. And now Tammy was somehow back, he wanted to leave Annie and go crawling back to his ex-wife?
If she didn’t still feel sorry for him, she’d have told him what she really thought of his ridiculous question.
“I will give you my honest opinion,” she said, but as she took a breath, he interjected.
“But…”
He looked over to the security guard once again. He really didn’t want him to hear what he was about to say next. Still, like half the world’s population these days, he had his head bent permanently forward, looking straight at a miniature screen.
Brandon stared at Lee in such a way she now felt genuine pity. She could see his sunken eyes starting to mist over.
“You want to know,” he whispered, leaning in closer, “if she did this to me.”
Lee thought, if he’s one step ahead of me, who am I to stop him?
She wanted to get upstairs and start dinner. A glass of Sauvignon Blanc was also on the radar, and would be especially welcome now.
“Did she?” Lee asked, without making any attempt to speak quietly.
Brandon felt affronted by her lack of discretion.
“Yes,” he hissed, causing Lee to step back and instinctively reach down for her shopping bags.
“Sorry,” he said. “Can you just tell me what my chances are, huh?”
Lee shook her head before looking toward the lift and thinking how she couldn’t wait to be standing in it alone, hopefully in mere moments.
“There’s more chance of Donald Trump pulling off a mask and revealing he’s actually Elvis Presley in disguise.”
She held Brandon’s eyes for a moment before heading for the lift.
“Goodbye, Brandon,” Lee said, not even in his direction.
When she got about ten feet away, Brandon nearly shouted, “I still love her, you know!”
Lee stopped on the spot before turning around to face Brandon and not mincing her words in the slightest.
“Well, you really showed her how much.” She shook her head and laughed sarcastically. “Jesus, Brandon, when are you going to stop being such a certifiable dickhead?”
As she headed for the lift, Brandon bit his bottom lip and said, “I’d die for Tammy, you know that, Lee?”
Lee heard what Brandon said, but ignored him.
Fate certainly wouldn’t.
“Tim Erwin,” he said, giving his name to the security officer.
“Sir, allow me to take your bag.”
Tim was escorted into a small, neat office. There, he was directed to sit on the couch against the far wall, which afforded him a rather bland view of the section of Oakland Airport he’d come to.
After fifteen or so minutes of sitting there alone, Tim heard the distant sound of a helicopter in the air. Being an airport, this was quite the common sound, though it was the first he’d heard today.
When he heard it directly above him, he knew it was his ride.
As the helicopter began to descend, Tim sat forward and waited until it dropped into view through the office windows. It landed with complete finesse, and Tim could not help but be in awe of how easy the pilot made it look. It was also a sleek-looking chopper, jet-black, with matching windows Tim couldn’t see into. When Tim saw the rear door of the chopper open and a man jump out and onto the ground, he knew it was his son.
Ben was dressed in black from head to toe. He ignored his hair flinging around his face as he slipped the glasses in his left hand over his eyes.
He ducked instinctively until he was clear of the chopper, and came heading straight for the office.
“Here he is,” Ben said, closing the door and grinning at his old man.
Tim stood up, and when Ben walked over to him, they gave each other the mandatory man-hug.
“You ready for this?” Ben couldn’t have appeared more relaxed than he did at that moment.
“Never more ready, my boy. Let’s do it,” Tim said.
Ben slipped his glasses over his eyes with a smile.
“Follow me,” he said.
Tim pulled the seat belt tight as the adrenaline coursing through his body started to come under control. Ben had strapped in next to him, but the security officer sat in the front of the chopper with the pilot.
Tim looked out through the heavily tinted windows as he felt the helicopter blades change position before the chopper lightly lifted off the ground.
When the chopper rose to about five hundred feet, Ben turned to his dad and said, “There’s not much I can tell you right now other than we’re on our way. But can I ask how you went with Mom?”
It pained Tim greatly he couldn’t tell Sandra that Ben was alive. He hoped one day the enormous veil of secrecy Ben now lived behind could come down, and he could be reunited with her.
Ben could tell Tim was forming a response, and guessed correctly what was going through his old man’s thoughts.
Lying to his wife wasn’t something he was proud of.
“She bought it. Lock, stock, and barrel,” Tim said.
Ben started to feel a little awkward.
Tim seemed to shake off his guilt, and as the chopper continued on, he said, “I spent many days and sometimes months away from home, as you may or may not recall.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So I guess she didn’t really make an issue of it, which was a relief. If she hadn’t wanted me to go, that would have made it very difficult indeed.”
“I’m relieved to hear it went okay with her,” Ben said.
Tim sat there for a moment and without any warning, the words just came straight out of his mouth.
“Do you miss her, son?”
For a moment, Ben’s eyes shifted elsewhere.
“I’ve always missed everyone,” he said eventually. A moment later, his demeanor changed from reflective to serious. “But I’m part of something pretty incredible here.”
Tim wasn’t sure how to take Ben’s last words. He was trying to figure out if he should be a little offended, or understanding. Ben had pursued a dream, but at what cost?
Tim sat forward. “And do you think it is all worth it?” he said.
Ben nodded confidently, but Tim decided he’d ask him one more question. “Will you ever be able to return? You know, to life as you knew it? Do you think your mother will ever see you again?”
The thought had crossed Ben’s mind from time to time.
“It’s not on my radar right now.” Ben checked his watch. “But one day, who knows.”
Ben shifted in his seat before pulling out his tablet and turning it on. “Get some rest, Pop,” he said. “We’ve got a bit of a journey ahead.”
Ross woke to his fiancée’s subtle movements. When he opened his eyes, he saw Melanie was sitting up in bed, looking with keen interest at her iPad.
He realized she was looking at pictures of a house, and presumed it was for sale on a real-estate website.
“Morning to you, future wifey.” Ross kissed her.
“Soon-to-be-hub,” she whispered, “how did you sleep?”
Ross put his hands behind his head and said, “Like a man who asked the woman of his dreams to marry him last night.”
Melanie ignored his words before saying, “Whoa, this is nice.”
Ross was about to ask her what she was referring to, but was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the phone on his bedside table.
He shared a curious look with Melanie before picking up the handset.
“Hello?”
Melanie continued to flick through the photos of the amazing beachfront property she’d just found in Monterey.
“Yes, this is Ross Moore.”
She wondered who it was, but knew Ross would tell her.
Ross sat up. Whoever was on the other end of the phone was talking.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Ross peered over to Melanie before adding, “Ellen Degeneres wants to interview me on her show?”
Melanie could tell he was getting excited. The grin on his face was enormous.
“Uh-huh, yes. I’ll call you back later today to discuss arrangements.” A few seconds later he said, “You too. Have a great day.”
Ross put the phone down.
“I’ve been invited to go on the Ellen Degeneres show to be interviewed.”
“I could tell.” Melanie put her iPad down on her lap. “That sounds pretty cool, babe.” But a thought came from nowhere and straight out of her lips. “Do you think it’s a good idea, though? You’ll need to be really careful what you say.”
Ross shook his head. “Agree, but for $750K for a half-hour interview, I think I’ll be okay with all that.”
Melanie whistled. “Wow, they’re going to pay you that much? That’s crazy. But money isn’t something we need to worry about, honey.”
Ross agreed, but he still felt he had to make his own way even though his wife was worth a quarter of a billion dollars.
“I know, babe, but I still need to contribute.” Ross said before kissing her. “You know what I mean, right?”
It was one thing Melanie loved about Ross. Unlike Charles, Ross acted like a real man. If he wanted to work and feel like he was doing the right thing, who was she to argue with him?
“Well, in that case,” Melanie said, picking up her iPad and shuffling closer to him, “you may want to see this.”
Melanie showed him photos of the house she’d just seen, a gorgeous seaside place on Scenic Road at Carmel Point, Monterey. It overlooked Carmel Bay, and Ross immediately liked what he saw.
Melanie continued to flick through the photos, which only made Ross more interested in visiting.
When they studied the very last photo, Ross saw the open-for-inspection hours in a box on the screen.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Ross said. “It’s open this afternoon at three.”
Melanie saw the time—8.46am. “We’d better get going, then,” she said. “It’s a five-hour drive to Monterey.”
Ross pulled himself out of bed. As he thought about what he wanted for breakfast, he stared down at Melanie.
“What’s going through that head of yours?” she said.
“No one is driving to Monterey today, baby.”
As he slipped on his dressing gown, she raised her hands in the air and said, “Then how do we get there?”
Ross walked to the bed, “Darcy told me the other night that we have full use of his company helicopter if need be.”
Melanie put her iPad down and motioned for Ross to jump back into bed.
“Well that gives us just a little more time, then. Get back in here, future hubby,” she whispered, “I have something I want to show you.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Eighteen hours later.
Tim had drifted in and out of sleep for most of the trip.
He’d had the hood on a number of times, and had grown so accustomed to it he wondered if he may as well have left it on the whole trip.
He knew the chopper had landed at an airstrip originally, and wondered if it were Homey. He could feel the wind and heat greet him when they landed and then eventually boarded an airplane.
When the plane leveled out, Ben took the hood off, and Tim could see that the windows were blacked out.
Ben told him the next leg of the journey would be over twelve hours long. He told his old man to get some sleep, which Tim did eventually after he’d had a meal and something to drink.
Tim woke with a fright as the rear wheels of the plane bounced on the tarmac. He opened his eyes to find Ben looking over at him.
“How you doing, Pop?” he said.
“Traveling is in my blood,” Tim said as sarcastically as he could.
“Trust me—when we get there, it will be all worth it.”
Tim wiped his face with his bare hands. He was still trying to clear the sleep-fog from his head. “How long do we have to go?” he mumbled.
Ben checked his smartphone before meeting his father’s eyes. “We stay here overnight. At dawn, we take the final leg of the journey.”
“And I’ll have no idea where we are right now and where I’ll sleep tonight,” Tim said.
Ben said, “You’ve done this all before, haven’t you?”
Tim tried to figure out where on God’s earth he was right now, but he couldn’t. If he wasn’t in his hood, he was in a room with no windows, exit points, or ways to figure out where the hell he was. After more sleep, a meal, and a lukewarm shower, Tim was escorted from the room by his son once more.
The hood was back on, and to be honest, by now he was growing tired of it.
When the helicopter lifted off, he could tell it was much bigger and far more powerful than the last one. Tim then put two and two together. He was in the back of a V-22 Osprey. The craft was a hybrid: half helicopter, half plane. In layman’s terms, it could land and take off like a chopper, but then fly like an airplane.
Now, Tim started to really wonder where the hell they were and where they were heading.
After about half an hour, Tim could feel himself dozing off. Without being able to see anything, he’d closed his eyes and, surprisingly, fallen asleep.
Tim was woken by the tap on his arm. “Dad, are you awake?”
Ben waited for an answer, and when one eventually came, he said, “You can take the hood off now if you wish.”
Tim welcomed the freedom of being able to look around. The hood had been stuffy. Breathing wasn’t difficult, but it sure was much easier without the darn thing pulled over his head.
He looked to Ben, and then beyond and through the windows.
They weren’t blacked out, and no attempt had been made to cover them.
Tim could see they were flying at a considerable height and speed, over water. When he saw the rotors on the wings through the windows, he could confirm they were in fact traveling inside a V-22 Osprey.
“Are we getting close?”
Ben nodded. “In about an hour,” he said, looking down at the hood with an expression almost of shame, “we will arrive at our final destination. You’ll just have to put your friendly hoodie back on one more time. I’m sorry.”
Tim smiled. Knowing they were this close, one more hour and another session of hood time didn’t bother him in the slightest.
“Roger that,” Tim said.
The V-22 went into helicopter mode.
That could mean only one thing.
They’d arrived.
After a bumpy descent, Tim felt relief as the wheels touched the ground.
Through his hood, he could hear his son speaking. A few moments later, he was escorted off the V-22 and into a sheltered space off the landing pad.
Tim could feel the temperature and sound of the outside world disappear.
He heard the lift doors open, and a second later the sensation of descending.
When the lift stopped, Ben stepped over to Tim and said, “I’m now going to take the hood off, okay?”
“I’ve been looking forward to it, son,” Tim replied.
A second later, Tim welcomed the relief of not having the damned thing stuck over his head.
He then turned to Ben, who’d been watching him the whole time.
His son looked quite pleased with himself. “Welcome, father,” he said in a near whisper, “to the world’s most advanced top-secret facility.”
“Jesus Christ. I must be dreaming,” Tim said.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Todd tried to muster something resembling a smile for Michelle.
Eventually, she said, “Are you really sure you want to find this guy?”
Todd drove on for a few moments before nodding. Looking straight ahead at the road, he said, “Yes. All I want to do is meet him and see if I can help.”
The two police officers had gone to the address at Avalon Gardens a few days earlier.
They’d entered the housing estate in the late afternoon, and had no desire to be there after sunset.
But Jason was not at the address.
That meant they had to go to Star Apartments, in the heart of Skid Row.
The first issue they had was that they didn’t want other cops to see them in the area. So they went in plain clothes.
