Lost Valley Box Set, page 13
part #1 of Lost Valley Series
There was a click and she heard Luc come on the line. “Christie, what’s going on?”
The helicopter tilted forwards again, and she screamed. She could tell it was now in a nosedive and heading straight toward the ground.
“We’re going to crash, Luc.”
“What’s your location?”
She looked up at the map display. There was a blinking message at the top of the screen that read:
- - WARNING - -
GPS Off-line
Using Inertial Navigation
Accuracy Is Reduced
She didn’t completely understand what the message meant, but it didn’t look good. She read off the latitude and longitude numbers to Luc.
“I’m not sure the location is accurate,” she yelled into the phone.
She heard Luc’s voice. “I didn’t get all the numbers. You’re cutting out. Can you―” The shrill scream of digital garbage filled her ear as the satellite phone lost the connection.
She looked up and stared out the front window. They were heading straight for the top of a mountain. She screamed as they hit the ground, and she felt herself slammed down into her seat. The phone was torn from her hand and then all hell broke loose.
Horrendous banging and skidding sounds invaded the cabin. They had hit, but they were still alive, she thought, amazed. She lifted her head back up and once again looked out the front cockpit window. She saw they were skidding down a steep slope, heading straight for several large trees.
Just before they reached the trees she braced herself against the table in front of her. Then they reached the trees and a series of explosive concussions occurred and shock waves raced through the cabin. The helicopter began to violently shake back and forth, while the engine above them began making a terrible whining sound. She was sure the helicopter would tear itself apart, but it didn’t.
Directly ahead was another tree with a thick low-hanging branch that looked like it would hit them head on. She saw the pilot scoot down in his seat and duck.
Panicked, she buried her face in her arms on the tabletop. She felt herself thrown forward and heard the crack of the branch breaking through the windshield.
She lifted her head up and felt wind blowing against her face. She abruptly felt the seat thrust up beneath her as the helicopter was thrown upwards and was once again airborne. A weightless feeling lasted only seconds before they crashed back to earth and continued their skid down the mountainside.
Would the helicopter ever stop moving? she wondered. She didn’t know how much more the helicopter could take before it broke into pieces. Please, please, let it stop, she begged.
She forced herself to look up again and saw they were sliding toward a small clearing that ended in a thick stand of trees. She braced herself and waited for the collision.
She watched the trees approaching with a strange sense of detachment, as if in slow motion, and then they collided. She felt herself thrown forward with terrible force, her head hit the table, and everything went black...
* * *
In shock, Luc stared at the silent phone. He heard a loud click and a recorded voice came on the line: “If you would like to make a call please hang up and redial the number.”
He stood holding the phone, staring at the tabletop as his mind refused to accept what he had just heard. He didn’t know what to do. Was this really happening? Was this some sort of a terrible prank? No, it couldn’t be. It was Christie’s voice and she would never joke that way. Something terrible had happened.
He pressed the call history button on the phone and saw a list of all calls. He selected the most recent and pushed the talk button. The phone dialed the number. It gave two short rings then a recorded message began to play.
“The number you are trying to reach is currently not accepting calls. Please leave a message at the tone.”
Luc hung up the phone and went into the kitchen where the answering machine sat. He saw a light blinking red on the front and realized that it must be the first part of the message that Christie had been trying to leave.
He pushed the play button and listened. He listened to her panicked voice. It was no joke, no prank. She was dead serious and scared to death.
He picked up his personal phone book and looked up the number for the Manatuk airport. He quickly dialed the number. His call was routed directly to the Manatuk airport control tower.
He explained the emergency and the man asked him to hold for a minute. His heart was racing so fast that he found it hard to breathe. This can’t be happening, he repeated over and over to himself. God, please don’t let this be happening.
In his mind he kept replaying the picture of the kids climbing on the helicopter and waving at him with smiles on their faces. Then he remembered Philip, impatient to leave. He hated that man.
The man at the airport came back on the line, “I’m sorry, sir. There was no flight plan filed for the Northern Energies helicopter.”
Luc yelled at the man, “That doesn’t matter. I’m telling you that it crashed.”
“We haven’t received any emergency communications concerning a helicopter crash.”
“ My kids were on that helicopter, for God’s sake!”
“Try to stay calm, sir.”
Luc took a deep breath. “You have to believe me. It’s gone down somewhere about 100 miles north of Manatuk.”
“Sir, I’ll check state emergency services to see if any alerts have been logged.”
Once again, Luc waited.
The man’s voice came back on the line. “Sir, I’m sorry. There have been no Mayday’s, and no emergency black box beacons have been picked up. If you would like to follow up with the FAA, here is their number—”
“Never mind,” Luc yelled into the receiver. He hung up then dialed the 4-1-1 operator and asked her to connect him with the Northern Energies corporate offices in Seattle.
The Northern Energies automated answering system answered the phone. He went through the menus until he was finally given an emergency option and a lady came on the line almost immediately.
“You have reached the Northern Energies emergency center. Can I have your name and client number?”
“My name is Luc Moon, and I’m not a client. I called to report an emergency situation to you.”
“What is the nature of the emergency?” the lady asked calmly.
“A Northern Energies helicopter has crashed about 100 miles north of the village of Manatuk in Alaska. I need to get in touch with Mr. Roland Valenkamp so he can get a search started.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but Mr. Valenkamp is the CEO of Northern Energies. He’s not available for phone calls.”
“This is an emergency, my two children were on that helicopter. I got a satellite call from their mother who was on the helicopter with them. She said the copter was out of control and going down.”
There was silence for a moment. “Okay. Please hold the line, sir. I’ll see if I can get in touch with any of the staff.”
Luc waited, his mind racing, thinking what his next step would be, but that depended on who came on the line next. Minute after minute went by until he was ready to scream. Then the music stopped and he heard a click.
“Hello, this is Roland Valenkamp. Is that you, Mr. Moon?”
“Yes. The helicopter that you let Philip, Jim Lackland, and Christie use crashed this afternoon.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes. I got a satellite call from Christie on the helicopter. She was terrified and yelling that the copter was going down, and they needed help.”
“Mr. Moon. The helicopters we fly are sophisticated machines, and we have never had one go down. Our security department has not notified me of any crashes, but I’ll notify them about your call. They can try to contact the helicopter over our satellite communications link.”
“Thank you, Mr. Valenkamp. I appreciate that. Will you call me when you get any information?” Luc asked.
“Of course. What’s your number?”
Luc gave him his phone number and Valenkamp hung up.
Luc stared at the phone. He couldn’t get the sound of Christie’s screams out of his mind. The thought was almost too much to bear that everyone he loved most could be dead.
Chapter 2
Kate and Chuck sat at a corner table in McDonald’s in Fairbanks. They had almost finished eating an early dinner.
Kate put down her hamburger and looked at Chuck. “This afternoon, when Luc was helping me clean my plane, it just seemed so right. You know, just the two of us. But I know a part of Luc still has feelings for Christie.”
“I don’t think so. His eyes light up every time he sees you,” Chuck said.
“Maybe you’re right. I just don’t like the fact that he went out to dinner with her. Is that wrong of me? Am I just being jealous?”
“No. Everything’s going to work out. You just worry too much,” Chuck said, finishing the last bite of his second Big Mac.
“I wouldn’t have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it,” Kate said.
“Told you I could eat two of these and a large fries.”
Kate’s cell phone rang, interrupting their conversation. She looked at the screen.
“It’s Luc. I wonder what’s up. He should be having a nice cozy little evening with his kids and Christie right about now.” She pressed the answer button. “Hello.”
“Kate!” His voice was tense and she could tell he was upset.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“There’s been an accident. The helicopter Christie and the kids were on has crashed somewhere in the eastern mountains.”
“Oh God, Luc… No...”
“She called me on the helicopter’s satellite phone screaming and scared to death. She said there had been an explosion and the helicopter was going down. It was horrible, Kate.”
“Are you at your house?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m packing. I have a rough idea of where to start looking, but that’s about it.”
“Looking? Have you called the authorities?”
“I tried. I didn’t get anywhere. Can you come over? I need someone to talk to. I’ve got to make some plans.”
“Of course, I’m leaving the restaurant right now. Try and stay calm. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She threw the phone in her purse and put on her jacket. “That was Luc. He thinks the helicopter his kids were on crashed. I have to get over to his place right away.”
“Crashed…” Chuck said with a stunned look. “If there’s anything I can do to help, have him call me.”
“Thanks, Chuck. I will. I’ll see you later, I have to go.” She picked up her purse and hurried out of the restaurant.
* * *
Kate pushed her Ford Explorer hard and within ten minutes was at Luc’s house. She pulled into the driveway and saw him in the garage, pulling things off the shelves. She shut off the engine and rushed in.
“Have you heard anything else since we talked?” she asked.
“No, but come with me, I want you to hear Christie’s message on the answering machine.”
With a grim look on his face, he led her out of the garage and into the house. They went into the kitchen where he pressed the play button on the machine.
Kate listened to Christie’s frantic pleas for help with increasing discomfort. She felt her heart racing.
“Her last request was for me to rescue her and the kids. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s that.”
“Do you have any idea where the helicopter went down?” Kate asked.
“She tried to give me the latitude and longitude readings but her voice was cutting in and out. I missed a few of the numbers.” Luc walked into the dining room, and she followed. He picked up a pad of paper and handed it to Kate.
“You’re missing the seconds on the latitude,” she said, handing it back to him.
“I know. It’s going to be impossible to pinpoint where she was located when she called me.”
He went to his desk and pulled out a map of Alaska. He unfolded it and spread it across the dining room table. Running his fingers across the top and the sides of the map, he located the intersection of the coordinates. He drew a red X at the location then drew a vertical line through the X.
She watched him studying the map as his expression slowly became even more somber. He threw the pen down, slowly closed his eyes, and shook his head.
“They could’ve gone down anywhere along that line.” He sighed and took a contemplative breath. Biting his lip, he studied the map a little more. He picked up the pen again.
“It’s hard to be sure, but I think I found the boy somewhere in this region. That had to be where they were headed.” He drew a red circle around a mountainous area. The red line extended up into the circle, intersecting it.
“It’s a good bet they were flying in from the south and heading toward a location somewhere within this circle,” he said.
“That would make sense,” she said, looking at the map.
“I wonder how big of an area we’re dealing with.” Luc picked up a small ruler lying on the table and measured the diameter of the circle. Laying the ruler against the map legend, he determined the length of the circle in miles. He performed a few quick calculations on the pad of paper. He dropped his head and was silent.
Kate looked at the pad of paper and read the number. “Okay... It’s about 300 square miles and that’s a lot of territory, but we could cover it in my plane.”
He looked at her. “You’d be willing to risk flying over those mountains?”
“I would. I’ll fly you in a search pattern over the area. I don’t know how many passes we can make before we run low on fuel, but we can give it our best shot.”
“I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
“I can’t stand the thought of them in that valley alone,” she said.
He put his arms around her and held her. “Kate, thank you so much. I don’t deserve it, but Kelly and Stuart do.”
“We’ll find them,” she said softly.
He kissed her and then slowly pulled away. “But first, we need to come up with a plan.”
Chapter 3
Christie gradually opened her eyes and lifted her head. She struggled to focus on the helicopter’s jumbled interior. The cabin seemed to be spinning, and everything she looked at seemed to move just out of her sight. She looked around but didn’t recognize the surroundings. Her attention was drawn to her head, which was hurting terribly.
Confused, she reached up and brushed her fingers across her forehead. It was wet. She brought her hand back down and saw it was covered in blood. She noticed her ears were ringing and slowly became aware of a voice calling out Mom over and over again.
She struggled to clear her mind and began remembering bits and pieces. They had been flying in the helicopter, and there had been an explosion. The pilot had lost control, and they had crashed...
The aching in her head intruded on her thoughts again, and she closed her eyes and held her head. At least she was still alive and able to notice the pain, she thought.
She opened her eyes again. The interior of the cabin was no longer spinning. She glanced to the front. Things didn’t look right. There were branches coming into the cockpit where the windshield should have been. She didn’t see the pilot nor Philip.
The smell of smoke was heavy in the air. In addition to that, there was an oily pungent odor, which she couldn’t place. Her mind began to clear as she started wondering if the helicopter was going to burst into flames. Wasn’t that what usually happened when aircraft crashed?
“Mom... Mom...” She heard the voice again.
With a gasp, she came fully to her senses and recognized the voice. It was Stuart calling out to her, over and over again. My God, what had she been thinking? She had to try to help him. She looked around the cabin and saw his sneakers sticking out from the edge of a seat.
She tried to stand but was abruptly pulled back by the seatbelt. She frantically clawed at the latch and finally got it to release. She worked her way around the conference table and forward between the seats until she reached the kids. She saw Stuart hunkered down over Kelly, holding a pillow over her head. He was still trying to protect her, she thought.
Now that she was closer she could hear Kelly calling out in a muffled voice. “Stuart, take the pillow off me. I can’t breathe. Take it away.”
Christie grabbed the pillow and tried to lift it up, but Stuart’s grip was strong. “It’s okay, baby. We can take the pillow off her now. It’s okay.”
Stuart looked up at her with glazed eyes and slowly let go. As Christie removed the pillow, Kelly sat up, apparently uninjured.
“He wouldn’t take the pillow off me, Mommy,” she said indignantly. Kelly looked around the helicopter and her eyes went wide. “What happened, Mommy?”
Stuart unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up between the seats. He looked around the helicopter cabin with a confused expression.
Christie worked to get Kelly’s seatbelt unbuckled. “We were in an accident, sweetie. Can you stand up? Do you hurt anywhere?”
“Nothing hurts, but I don’t like it here. Can Daddy come get us?” Somehow, Christie found her naïveté reassuring.
“Yes. I think Daddy will come and get us soon. I called him just before we crashed.”
Stuart looked up at Christie with concern. “Mom, we’re fine, but you have blood on your face.”
That was right, she remembered. It was probably frightening them. “It’s not that bad. It’s just a little cut. I’ll be fine.” She wondered for a moment if that was the truth.
“What happened. Mom? Where are we?” Stuart asked.
“The helicopter crashed, but we’re going to be okay. I need you guys to be brave. Okay?”
“Okay,” Stuart said.
Christie stood and moved to the front of the helicopter where she saw Lackland lying crumpled near the hatch. His head was bent at a strange angle. It didn’t look good, she thought. She squatted down beside him. “Jim, are you okay?”
