Test Pilot's Daughter: Revenge (12 page)

Jessica wasn’t laughing. “The Captain of the El Capitan survived to testify at an inquiry in Spain. Apparently, Juan Carlos Jerrera was a mathematician. He reported the galleon went down inside a group of three islands that formed a perfect equilateral triangle with two-kilometer legs. If you look at the report, they concentrated their efforts on three islands off Great Exuma. It’s not hard to see they form the corners of an isosceles triangle with two legs at four clicks and one side at two. He specifically noted an equilateral triangle.”

“
So come on, be real,” Christina prodded. “I’m sure they were just eyeballing. I mean, they were in the middle of a hurricane.”

“
True,” Jessica admitted. “But the Spaniards were very precise with land formations and navigational aids. The interesting thing is, just fifty miles due north, there are three small islets that form an almost perfect equilateral triangle, 1.8 clicks each. No record anyone ever salvaged there. So, what do you think?”

“
Hell yes!”
Heather was in.

“
But how would we hire a salvage company?” Christina asked.

“
I’ve already talked to some guys down there who call themselves
Wrecks Unlimited.
Found them on the web. For a meager investment of $10,000, they can get the proper permits, support us on site and search with their metal detectors for a full week. If we stumble onto something, they handle the Bahamian government, and we, the investors, would get 40% of anything salvaged.”

“
Well, that sounds pretty exciting, but there’s only one problem,” Christina chortled, “we don’t have $10,000.”

“
Daddy felt bad about our missing the Keys this year,” Heather said. “He’s already agreed to cough up the money if we want to hunt treasure.”

“
He didn’t agree to put up ten grand, so we can go and have ourselves a nice little swim,” said Christina with a large dose of sarcasm. “That’s a lotta dough.”

“
We didn’t talk an exact amount, but he said such a thing can be written off as a bad investment on his income taxes. He’s in the highest bracket, so it would actually cost him less.”

“
Sure,” Christina sneered.

“
Just to make it fair,” Jessica jumped in, “we could offer him half our cut. Should we get lucky, he could even make some money.”

“
I’ll call him,” Heather turned and walked out of the room.

Jessica had no desire to argue with Christina. She turned away and stared through a crack in the blinds. Her mind was racing with possibilities,
God, this could be it.
She stood there like a little girl with her eyes squeezed shut and her fingers crossed behind her back.

Heather returned with good news, and Jessica shrieked with delight. They started planning details for an excursion to the Exumas. It would be their last chance to vacation as three single women, so they planned to make the most of it. Burned out on academia, hunting treasure in the Bahamas had tremendous appeal, and even Christina finally agreed Jessica’s notion had potential.

Jessica was surprised when Weston agreed it would be a good idea for Heather to go off for a few days with her friends. He was very helpful with the planning, making several calls and arranging flights.

“
I know some people in West Palm,” he said, “who can give you a great deal on a charter. I insist. I’ll take care of everything.”

They were all three shocked when he decided to pay their way.

“
It’s the very least I can do,” he said, “after all you girls have done for my sweet Heather.”

* * *

Christina was excited when the day finally arrived. They were off to the airport overloaded with baggage and diving gear. After the short flight from Atlanta, they were shuttled to the West Palm fixed based operator,
Signature Flight Services
, on the far side of the airport. Their charter pilot, Hank Rogers, wore an old, beat up leather jacket. She took one look at him and thought,
Looks like he’s been flying about a hundred years.

An attractive older man in his sixties, Hank had a full set of dark brown hair with only a slight frosting of gray. His face was painted with light blue eyes and a friendly smile. After doing some paperwork, he walked over to Christina and explained that he planned to take his grandson, Billy, to do some fishing on the islands.

Billy, a nice looking teenager, was obviously caught in the awkward transformation from boy and man. The smooth skin on his face was dotted with freckles, accented with bright red hair. Christina snickered at his appearance. He was visibly taken aback by the Three Amigos, and he studied the floor in bashful silence. The girls ate lunch with their flight crew in the FBO diner just before departure, and Christina took an immediate liking to both Hank and Billy.

She walked into the lobby and noticed a female pilot filling out her logbook. A plain looking woman and a little overweight, she appeared to be about thirty. Christina wondered how long she’d been flying and decided to strike up a conversation.

“
Hi, my name is Christina Matthews. I noticed your wings, and I was just wondering what the job market for female pilots is like these days.”

“
Nice to meet you. I’m Barbara Gilmore. You, a pilot?”

“
Just getting started. How long have you been flying?”

“
Don’t think I want to answer that one,” she said with a chuckle. “I took my first lessons when I was a teenager in California, after I got out of high school.”

“
So, did you major in aeronautical engineering?”

“
No, as a matter of fact, I majored in Psychology at the University of Georgia.”

“
What a coincidence. My friend, Heather, is a Psych major there. Would you happen to know a Dr. Weston?”

Gilmore’s face turned bright red, and she coughed loudly, quickly looking away. Turning back to Christina she said, “Uh. . .hey, listen, I’m busy here. Only got a couple of minutes. Got to take a charter to the Exumas in less than an hour.”

“
Where are your passengers?”

“
I don’t know, my clients seem to be running late. Let me ask, how far along is your flight training then?”

“
Just soloed.”

“
So you want to be a commercial pilot?”

“
Well, my long-term goal is to be an astronaut.”

“
Astronaut?” Gilmore snorted in her face, rudely. “You’re kidding right? Why don’t you just go for President? Your chances would be better. Don’t you know those two words ‘female’ and ‘astronaut’ don’t mix?”

“
Thanks for the encouragement.”

“
Hey, I know some people at NASA. I tried to apply once myself, and they just laughed. The general policy at JSC is that women don’t have the
Right Stuff.”

“
Are you sure? But. . .”

“
Grow up kid. Of over three-hundred astronauts selected, only three females, and only one ever made it off the ground.”

“
But. . .”

“
Hey listen. If you want to build your hours without breaking the bank, your best route would be the military. If you qualify, they pay for the training and keep you in the air. Only other way to get the time without spending a fortune is to work as a flight instructor.”

Christina couldn’t figure.
Surely she knows about the most famous female Astronaut Commander.
“Guess you’re right,” Christina said, “I understand Eileen Collins did both. She was a T-38 instructor in the Air For. . .”

“
Eileen Collins? Are you kidding me? What a joke! NASA needed a female commander so they manufactured one.” Gilmore stomped back to her office before she could reply.

Christina was irate. She wanted to go after that woman and claw her eyes out. The bitch had seriously degraded her idol with a terrible lie.
Lt. Col. Eileen Collins is no joke! She made history in space. She wasn’t just some egghead going along for the ride.
She wondered,
How could she say something so obnoxious to a perfect stranger?

“
What a witch.” Christina whispered to Hank. “Where does she keep her broom?”

“
I’m afraid you’re right,” he said. “Gilmore’s the creme de la creme of witchdom. Pretty much keeps to herself here in the office. Always on the phone, trying to horn in on my business. I understand she also has a charter today. Should be right behind us.”

Gilmore came back out of her office looking like a different person. She had two open Coke cans in her hand and a big smile on her face. “I must apologize for my rudeness,” she said looking at Christina. “I’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” She walked a beeline to Hank. “Here’s the Coke I owe you, buddy,” like they were old friends. “Guess I’ll have to quit betting against the Braves.”

“
But, I’m not all that thirsty right now.”

“
C’mon, you have to take it. A bet’s a bet. I insist. Here, I like to pay my debts.” She shoved it in his hand and walked back to her office.

“
Miss Matthews, would you like this? Ice cold.” He tried to hand it to her.

“
No, no,” she pushed it back, “not unless you’ve got a porta-potty in that Saratoga.”

Hank chugged the soft drink as fast as he could and hustled outside with a loud belch. As she watched him inspect his plane, Christina was pleased. It brought to mind something Furgeson had said.

You can always tell about the quality of a pilot by watching the preflight. Don’t ever ride with someone who just gets in and takes off.

Heather protested at first sight of the charter plane, a single engine, six-passenger Piper Saratoga. “I’ve seen this before. On the news. It’s the same plane that got all the bad press when John Kennedy, Jr. went down in the Atlantic.”

“
You got to be kidding me,” Jessica complained. Christina knew she didn’t like flying at all, much less in a small plane.

“
I didn’t want to tell you guys this, but I had a bad dream last night,” Heather sighed. “We were cramped in a tiny airplane that was spinning out of control over the ocean. Everyone was screaming, and we just kept spinning and spinning like we were falling for eternity.”

“
Thanks a lot, Heather. I feel much better now,” Jessica said.

“
Relax ladies,” Christina stated with confidence. “The Saratoga is a fine piece of machinery, the perfect plane for hopping the islands.”

The only obvious concern was all the luggage and equipment. Hank weighed every piece and shyly asked the girls if they would mind revealing their body weight. Both Jessica and Heather gave Christina a look of disdain. Delta Airlines never asked their weight. Hank ran through his weight and balance calculations and instructed that the wing tanks be filled “only to the tabs.”

“
A three-hour flight, with four hours of fuel in perfect weather, plenty of margin,” he said softly, talking to himself. “Now if you ladies’d be so kind to climb in and make yourselves comfortable, we’ll have you on Exuma in no time.”

“
Be there in a minute,” Christina ran for the phones.

Lazer answered on the first ring. “Glad you called. Bin trying to git hold of ya. Seems Weston has quite a track record with the young gals. My buddy hit the jackpot.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Heather don’t wanna marry this ole boy.”

“
Give me a quick snapshot. We’re climbing aboard as we speak.”

Lazer had never said anything quickly in his entire life, and this would be a real challenge. “I’ll try. . .Married twenty years back, no kids. Divorced ten years later after his wife came home early from a family reunion and found him in bed with a seventeen-year-old freshman. Got that gal pregnant. Parents threatened to sue the school, but finally opted for a quiet abortion. After that, there were two other coeds that made the news, and get this, both had been engaged to Weston. One gal died in a drowning, and tother got run over by a car late one night in the parking lot of a bar. Hit and run. Never caught the killer.”