He glanced toward his bedroom.A sheet of rain splattered itself against the sliding glass doors that led onto the deck.His belly tied itself in a knot and he frowned, trying once again to focus on the weather man’s report.
“The line runs from…”
Ryder groaned.On the map, the line of storms was virtually from the top to bottom of the state and moving eastward at a very fast pace.What was even more disturbing, the front extended across a large portion of the northern states, including Illinois.Maybe that’s why he hadn’t heard anything.Maybe her flight had been delayed and she was waiting for new information before she called.
No sooner had he thought it than the phone rang right near his hand.He jumped and then grabbed it before it had time to ring again.”
“Hello?”
“Ryder!It’s me!I’m in a cab on the way to the airport.Traffic is a mess, but I’ll make my flight.I should get into Ruban Crossing around three.Can you pick me up?”
“What’s the weather like up there?”
“Ummm, it’s raining a little, but no big deal.”
No big deal.“It’s raining like crazy here.Why don’t you just take a later flight, or better yet, take the first one out tomorrow?”
She laughed.“Now I know I’ve been gone too long.You are already making excuses as to why I shouldn’t come back.”
He got up and walked to the sliding glass doors and then jumped when a stroke of lightning tore across the sky right above his head.
“Did you hear that?”he asked, as the phone cracked in his ear.“A storm front is moving through.Today is not a good day to fly.”
There was laughter in her voice.“It will be fine.You know they won’t take off if there’s any danger.Besides, the pilots usually just fly above the storms and land behind them.”
He felt sick.Something inside kept telling him this was wrong—so wrong.“Casey, don’t.I know what I’m talking about.Please, for God’s sake, don’t get on that plane.”
The underlying fear in his voice was about to make her nervous.She decided to change the subject.“You didn’t even ask me if the deal went through!”
He sighed and shifted the phone to the other ear.“Okay, I’ll bite.How did the meetings go?”
She hugged herself, resisting the urge to giggle.She was pretty sure that CEOs did not giggle.“We got it!”she crowed.
“It’s a done deal.I swear, Delaney is probably rolling over in his grave as we speak.”
“Don’t be talking about graves.”
She laughed.“Just be at the airport.I can’t wait to get home.”
Their connection began to break up.“Remember,” Casey said.“Flight 209.Three o’clock.”
“Dammit, Casey, I don’t want you to—”
The line was dead.Ryder hung up with a curse and sat back down, staring at the television as if it were the lifeline between himself and sanity.
* * *
Ryder heard someone groan.That’s when he looked up at the airport monitor, watching as the On Time notice of Flight 209 from Chicago was changed to Delayed.
His gut hitched itself into a knot.It figured.While it wasn’t raining at the moment, the sky was black and the intermittent flashes of cloud-to-ground lightning could be seen for miles.It was an all too familiar scene.One right out of his nightmares.
He stood and walked to the observation point overlooking the runway.A couple of planes were waiting to take off, another was off-loading.Except for the weather, nothing seemed out of sync.
I’m just borrowing trouble.
Fifteen minutes passed, and then Flight 209 was a half hour late and before he knew it, an hour overdue.And, the information on the monitor hadn’t changed.
He’d been up and down the terminal a dozen times, walking, trying to pass the time and ease the nervous tension that kept growing within him.Now he was back at the arrival gate, standing at the windows and watching the skies.
