Page 22 of Final Approach

“Absolutely.” He dipped his head, the bouncy ringlet curls knocking the side of his broken frames as he did so. His response was uncharacteristically serious, but what could be more serious than this?

Tessa guided Vanessa to pick up her bag, bracing the other woman’s shoulders. The two women fearfully looked in my direction, waiting for my first step.

Nikki spoke up before I could. “Brooks, you help me bear Danny’s weight.” He shrugged under Danny’s shoulder and gestured to Brooks to do the left. Brooks complied, allowing the bleach-blond writer to lean on his shoulders.

“Diaz, please carry Danny and Brooks’ bag,” I pointed to the wayward laptop bag that would have no use here.

The convict—a man who’s name I still didn’t know—stepped forward. “I’ll carry what our flight attendant cannot.” He lifted the first aid kit and fire extinguisher with ease, along with his carry-on. I picked up the box of food rations Nikki’s quick thinking had provided and gestured everyone forward.

The ELT was firing out our position right now, and Aileron should already know we’d veered off course. This was just a temporary situation to avoid being blown apart by a potentially volatile time-bomb.

“Come on,” I called behind my shoulder. “We are looking for a protected cove or a clearing just off the riverbed where we’ll be seen by helicopter. The tree canopy is too thick, so we need to stay visible from the sky.”

We waded through muggy air with the thickness of a steam room, the jungle watching us with its many hidden eyes. I could feel them on me, but saw nothing every time I grew the courage to peer into the thick foliage. The rainforest had a heartbeat, and it pulsed all around us through rhythmic chirping and rustling ferns, with a few, terrifying animal growls interspersed in the distance.

Drawing in gulps of air to calm the expanding fear in my lungs, I focused all of my energy on getting the people in my care to safety. The uneven mix of smooth and rough pebbles combined with silty sand was beating the shit out of my suitcase, and my uniform heels tripped me up every twenty feet if I didn’t keep my eyes on the ground.

About the length of a football pitch later, we came to a thick bend in the topography. Behind it was a small cove in an almost perfect circle at a slightly higher elevation. Trees lined the area thickly on the three sides. The ground rose steeply all around it, like the flat ground was the base of a pit. With a mostly sandy bottom, it would be the most comfortable of a terrible list of options for sleep.

And protected. A slew of predators I didn’t want to name aloud lived in this jungle, and we were a tasty attraction.

Squinting in the distance, I searched the remaining riverbed in front of us, just in case. The ground appeared to incline, more sharply about one hundred feet farther, and then turned into another meander.

“Okay,” I announced to the waiting group. “This is where we’ll set up camp for the night. Let’s set down our bags and get situated.”

Nikki and Brooks carefully lowered Danny to a flattened rock at the entrance of the little cove. The women huddled together, tearful arms wrapped around each other. Ambrose surveyed the location, a sneer of distaste on his otherwise handsome features.

I could imagine a man wearing loafers the cost of my rent and a watch the cost of a car was used to luxury. His earlier words had pierced my heart with the truth in them, but his willingness to jump in and help the others even as he clearly had an injury gave him a pass.

The prisoner dropped his cargo in front of his feet and eyed me.

“How may we be of service, my captain?”

He held such a commanding presence, like he was used to dominating a room. Tight black jeans sheathed thick thighs, and the ridged outline of well-toned abdominal muscles flexed under the thin white T-shirt, the barrels of his shoulders only covered by a cracked and faded black leather jacket. He watched me with blue eyes so icy the hairs on my neck prickled under his stare.

“The basics,” I finally answered. “Food and fire first. Nikki brought some food from the plane, but if you have anything in your packs, it’s best to combine resources. This will only be a few days, and we all survive, or none of us survives. That’s the mentality we have to have going forward.”

I let that statement hang in the air as I attempted eye contact with every single one of them. “This is the most serious thing I can say to you. We will not make it out of here alive without each other. It’s now all of our duty to take care of each other.”

The detective’s dark eyes pulled me in, the almost black color of them devoid of all emotion, dead and dangerous. My spine chilled for a very different reason, but whatever his deal was, I had a responsibility to keep him safe, too.

Breaking the uncomfortable eye contact, I pulled my cellphone out of my bag and held it up. “These are useless out here. Keep it in airplane mode and turned off. When you’re rescued, you’re going to want to call your families right away, and you’ll want it charged enough to do so.”

Tessa’s big blue eyes widened as she gasped into her hands, and even that got a degree of emotion from Vanessa’s frail features.

I thought of Charlie, whose voice I would have given anything to hear this morning; instead, my last call was with Luisa. I fingered the pendant my twin had gifted me at my throat; it’s weight heavy with the reminder of her presence. I never planned to live a life into old age, but I was determined to say goodbye before I left. I’d tell her how much she meant to me before it was time to go.

Shaking my head out of that dark cloud, I continued. “If you have laptops, do the same. Jungle humidity can ruin electronics.”

Ambrose cursed heavily behind me, as if a ruined laptop was worse than a plane crash.

Moving closer into the circle, I emptied the remains of my bag onto the sand. A micro toiletry bag for travel, an oversized shirt and shorts for bed, and another standard-issue uniform, which I would not be wearing. Other than a charger and a hairbrush, I’d packed nothing else. I was a light traveler. With books on my phone and snacks from the plane cart, I never needed anything more.

Now, as I stared at the meager stack, I wished I packed like Charlie—seventeen outfits and ten pairs of shoes for three days. Fuck, I hadn’t even packed extra shoes.

I looked up at a sea of expectant eyes.

“Let’s combine our resources,” I suggested. “You don’t need to give everything—but anything useful. Food, lighters, hand sanitizer, extra Band-Aids … we need to see what we’re working with. If you have a change of clothes, get comfortable. Then, we’ll gather what we need for a fire.”