The Color of Love (The Color of Heaven Series) (2 page)

Within minutes I had wrapped a bandage around his head and was on my feet, checking my cell phone for service again.

Still nothing, and I’d spent enough time in remote locations to know that if I let the phone continue to search for a signal, the battery would be dead within an hour. So I shut it down to conserve the battery, slipped it into my back pocket and shone my flashlight around what was left of the interior of the plane.

For a somber moment, I paused to stare at the place where Jason had been sitting not long ago. How lucky for me that I had chosen my seat and not his when we boarded.

Poor Jason
. I wondered if he was alive out there somewhere…

Beneath the hole in the floor was a bed of snow, and along the open side, a thick wall of evergreen boughs.

Carefully, I turned and made my way toward the flight deck to check on the pilots.

To get there, I had to step over my large backpack and a mess of dented aluminum crates that must have flown forward from the galley.

I found the cockpit door unlocked, but I struggled to open it because the panel was warped and had become wedged against the floor.

When I finally squeezed through the narrow opening and shone my light on the scene, it was not what I’d hoped to find.

The nose section of the jet had been completely smashed in. Thick spruce branches filled what was left of the space. I wrestled with the prickly growth, fighting to thrust the disorderly green boughs out of the way, but in the end, all I found were two dead pilots, their bodies crushed between the flight control panel and bulkhead.

The gruesome sight of their lifeless eyes caused me to lose my breath, and I stumbled back, fell out of the cockpit and landed on my back on top of the cabin debris.

Panic and nausea flooded through me. I slammed the door shut with my boot.

That’s when I heard the scream.

Chapter Four

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” I shouted as I scrambled to my feet and hurried to Aaron’s side.

He was thrashing about in his seat like a chained-up animal.

“We’re okay!” I assured him. “The plane crashed, but we’re fine.”

He fumbled clumsily with the seatbelt buckle. “Get me out of here.”

“It’s easy. Look… There.” I flicked the mechanism and freed him.

Aaron leapt out of his seat and tripped over my backpack.

“Where are we?” he asked, his eyes darting about.

“We’re inside the plane,” I explained. “We crashed into some trees, but I don’t know anything more than that.”

He took a moment to gather his wits. “Are we in Iceland?” he asked.

I was relieved that he was at least conscious of where we’d been heading. I was worried for a few seconds that because of his head wound he might not remember anything.

“I don’t think so,” I replied. “Based on when we left Halifax, we’re probably in Newfoundland. I thought we were over the water when we were going down, but clearly we weren’t, which was damn lucky for us. Or maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe the pilots had intentionally flown us to dry land.”

Aaron wobbled and staggered sideways, then reached for the back of a seat to steady himself.

“Sit down.” I reached out to help him. “You were hit on the head.”

“Shit,” he said.

“Don’t worry. It’s a clean wound and I stopped the bleeding, but you might have a mild concussion. I don’t know. I’m not a doctor.”

Aaron sat still for a moment, staring straight ahead. “Where’s Jason?” he asked.

I hesitated, then shook my head. “The wing of the plane was ripped off when we were landing. He must have been sucked out. It’s possible he might be alive somewhere, if we weren’t too far off the ground when he fell. He was buckled into his seat, so the cushions might have provided some padding.”

“Should we go look for him?” Aaron asked.

Again I shook my head. “It’s too dark. We’ll wait until morning, and even then, we shouldn’t stray too far because the search planes will be looking for the wreckage. We’ll need to be ready to signal them.”

“You think they’ll come in the morning?” Aaron asked.

“Of course, if not before then,” I replied. “This jet belongs to a billionaire. I’m sure he’ll be missing it, and the pilots must have radioed that we were in trouble.”

Aaron slouched back in the seat and closed his eyes. “What about the pilots?”

“Both dead,” I told him without elaborating. “And there’s no power and the nose is completely crushed, so I don’t think there’s any hope of using the radio. I tried my cell phone but couldn’t get a signal.”

“What about GPS so we know where we are?”

I shook my head. “Without a mobile network, my phone will be dead within an hour just trying to find a signal. I’m keeping it shut off for now.”

Neither of us said anything for a long time, then Aaron began to shiver. “It’s freezing in here.”

Maybe it was adrenaline, but I’d barely noticed the cold until he mentioned it. Then I realized my extremities were growing numb.

Geez. I was a seasoned climber and wasn’t proud of the fact that I hadn’t been more on top of this. I blamed it on the shock of the crash.

“You’re right,” I said. “We need to keep warm and make it through the night without freezing. That’s the most important thing. Help me get some stuff out of my pack.”

Chapter Five

We barely slept a wink that night.

Because I had only one sleeping bag and we couldn’t find Aaron’s jacket (it must have blown out of the plane when the wing broke off, along with his cell phone which was in the pocket), we had to share what I had in my pack. This included an insulated parka I’d brought in addition to the jacket I was wearing.

We didn’t talk much. What exactly do you chat about with a total stranger when you’re shivering in the cold and weighing the fact that you just survived a plane crash, when others didn’t? And two of those lost souls were only a few feet away, so it seemed proper, somehow, to remain silent.

When the sun finally came up, I nudged Aaron, tossed off the sleeping bag, and rose stiffly. My body felt sluggish and heavy from the cold, but my hands and feet were okay. I told Aaron to keep checking his extremities and not to ignore any numbness, then I crossed to the hole in the side of the plane to examine the situation in the light of day.

“We need to get out of here and see where we are,” I said, “and make sure the wreckage is visible from the sky.”

With the daylight, it was easier to establish what we were dealing with, at least in terms of an exit strategy. I made sure my gloves were on tight, then attempted to push some of the prickly branches out of the way. I discovered we were wedged tightly up against a giant black spruce.

“We won’t be leaving through here,” I said, giving up the task.

“Let’s try the door,” Aaron suggested.

Together we managed to open the passenger door which included an integral set of steps. I descended first and hopped into a foot and a half of snow.

“You stay where you are for now,” I said to Aaron who stood on the steps. “It’s important to stay dry.”

There was not a single breath of wind in the air as I waded through the snow to gain some distance from the plane and get a better view of the wreckage.

“
Jesus…
” I whispered as I took in the devastated nose section and strips of steel ripped like thin ribbons from the length of the fuselage. The tail end was in shreds too. It was a miracle Aaron and I had survived.

“It doesn’t help that the plane is white,” I said to him. “The trees are tall and covered in snow. The branches are hiding most of the wreckage. Let’s hope we left an obvious trail of damage when we were landing.”

A snowflake fell on my nose just then. I looked up through a hole in the trees at the cloudy sky.

Great
…
Just what we need
.

“They should know where we are, though, shouldn’t they?” Aaron asked. “I mean…the pilots must have radioed that we were in trouble.”

“Of course,” I replied, wading back to the plane. “But still, we should do something to make it easier for them to spot us. I have a red tent in my backpack. We’ll find the nearest clearing and fly it like a flag. And we should keep busy today in case they don’t find us right away. We’ll need to light a fire to keep warm and then take stock of what we have for supplies.”

I returned to the steps and glanced briefly at the pilots’ frozen remains, visible through the smashed-in window as I climbed back up.

Again, I thought about what had been on my mind as the plane was zigzagging through the turbulence and I believed we were plunging to our deaths.

Carla and Kaleigh
.

Chapter Six

The snow began to fall lightly around 9:00 a.m., and by noon Aaron and I were huddled inside the plane, grateful to have a roof over our heads while a vicious blizzard raged outside.

I didn’t bother to find a place to lay out my tent as a distress signal because it would have been buried within an hour. Either that, or it would have been ripped away by the wind.

And we couldn’t venture out to search for Jason.

All we could do was sit and wait out the storm, uncomfortably aware that any potential search and rescue attempts would also have to be postponed until the weather cleared.

o0o

“I guess it’s lucky for me that you’re a mountaineer,” Aaron said as he rubbed his palms together over the small fire I’d lit on an aluminum tray inside the plane. “I can honestly say, no one else I know would pull an ice ax, ropes and a thermal sleeping bag out of his carry-on.”

I leaned back in my seat and regarded Aaron curiously. “I have two axes. One for each hand. But you must know something about climbing if they hired you to film us going up the side of the volcano.”

He chuckled. “No, I’m a city boy through and through. This isn’t even my day job. I’m just here because I own a decent high def camera and a Go Pro.”

“You’re kidding me.” My eyebrows pulled together in surprise. “So you don’t know anything about climbing?”

“Not a thing.” He raised his boot to show me. “I just bought these hiking boots two days ago, and I got the Go Pro because I wanted to film tropical fish when I went snorkeling in Mexico last year.”

“What’s your day job, then?” I asked, intrigued but unimpressed.

“I’m a therapist, and I teach guitar lessons on the side.”

“How do you know George Atherton?”

Aaron continued to hold his hands over the fire. “He’s a client.”

Maybe it was bad manners, but I laughed. “So are you his therapist or his guitar teacher?”

“Therapist. But don’t worry, he hired an experienced D.O.P. to be in charge of the shoot, and from what I hear, the guy’s a real pro.” Aaron leaned to the side and gestured toward his camera case at the front of the plane. “I doubt I’ll be shooting anything now. My camera’s probably wrecked.”

“Cameras can be replaced,” I carefully reminded him.

Aaron’s gaze met mine. “Yeah. We were lucky last night.”

While we considered the loss of life and pondered the miracle of our existence on that day, the wind howled like a beast through the treetops overhead. Then suddenly…
boom
! There was a thunderous explosion and the whole plane shook.

Aaron jolted and looked up. “What was that?”

I remained seated in a lazy sprawl, slightly amused as I peered up at him. “Relax city boy. A big clump of snow just slid off a tree and landed on the roof.”

He let out a breath and relaxed. “Ah.” Then he frowned. “No chance we’ll get buried alive in here…”

“Don’t worry,” I replied. “I’m keeping a close eye on the situation.”

“Good to know,” he said uneasily.

As I watched him lay another stick on the fire, I wondered if I should search for that bottle of single malt scotch, because the poor guy was seriously out of his element. He could probably have used a drink or two right then.

I could have used a couple myself.

News

Chapter Seven

Carla Matthews

Boston, Massachusetts

I was in the kitchen cooking cheesy bowtie pasta for Kaleigh when the telephone rang. She had just arrived home from school and was doing her homework on the sofa.

“Hello,” I said, resting the receiver on my shoulder as I strained the pasta over the sink.

The voice on the other end caught me by surprise. I immediately set down the colander and turned to face Kaleigh, who was punching numbers into her calculator and scribbling in her notebook.

“Hi Gladys,” I said. “It’s nice to hear from you. It’s been a while.”

Over a year, in fact.

Not that I was counting the days or anything.

But
seriously
. One would think a sixty-year-old woman living alone would take more interest in seeing her only grandchild.

Like mother like son, I supposed.

“What’s going on?” I asked.