by S. E. Smith
“If you guys feel like you’re going to get sick, there are bags in the pockets next to you and on the back of each of the front seats. In case of an emergency, there are exits on both sides of the plane. The seats are also floatation devices should we go down in the water. Do you have any questions?” Allie asked as she started the plane.
“What… what do you mean if we go down?” Jonathan asked loudly before wincing as he heard the volume in his ears. “What the fuck?”
“You don’t have to shout,” Allie said with a shake of her head and looking over her shoulder at them. “The mics are very sensitive. Just talk in a normal voice and everyone will hear you just fine. By going down, I mean in the unlikely event we have to make an emergency landing or worse, crash. As I said, I’m an excellent pilot. I don’t plan on there being any issues and the weather is expected to be good. We’ll have a decent tailwind so we should make good time.”
“I don’t understand half of what you are talking about,” Jacob admitted.
Allie shook her head in amusement. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride,” she said in a suddenly cheerful voice.
Jacob listened as Allie spoke to someone who answered her. She stated a series of strange words followed by numbers. A moment later, they started moving out of the hanger.
He frowned, trying to understand why Allie had the door on her side propped open as they moved slowly along the hard-packed ground. He glanced through the window as they left the building behind. He could see a path where this wagon seemed to go often.
The frown grew even darker when the wagon turned again to face a long stretch of flat ground. There were little silver metal stakes on each side. Allie spoke again and he could hear the sound of the ‘engine’ grow louder. Allie reached over and shut the door on her side.
“There’re trees at the end,” Jonathan muttered as an uneasy feeling started to build inside him. “I don’t see any of the hard roads at the end.”
“I don’t either,” Jacob muttered as the sound of the engine grew almost deafening. “Allie…”
“Hold on,” Allie said. “This is…”
Jacob’s hands tightened on the armrest as the wagon began to move. His breathing turned to pants as he realized that they were going very, very fast and it looked as if they were still speeding up as they sped toward the trees. Jacob swallowed, trying to clear the lump in his throat, so he could yell for Allie to stop.
“Allie,” he forced out in a hoarse voice. “There… are… there are… Holy shit!”
“We’re going to die,” Jonathan groaned, closing his eyes.
Jacob felt as if his stomach suddenly dropped completely down to his feet. Hell, forget his feet. He didn’t have a stomach any longer. His fingers turned white, almost as white as he imagined his face was, as the metal wagon suddenly rose off the ground.
He braced his feet against the floor and pressed upward. He couldn’t go anywhere due to the buckle Allie had placed across his waist. It didn’t matter anyway. His fingers were permanently attached to the armrests and he wasn’t about to release them, even if he could force his fingers to obey his mind.
“Oh, Mother Mary, please forgive me for my sins,” Jacob began muttering as fast as he could. His mind frantically searched for all the prayers their mother had taught them when they were younger. “I shouldn’t have taken the apple pie from Widow Miller’s windowsill and blamed Jonathan for it. Please forgive me. I’ll never steal another apple pie again.”
“How about adding, you won’t lie?” Allie chuckled as she listened to all the ‘sins’ Jacob was asking forgiveness from. “You guys are not going to die!”
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Jacob whispered.
“Bag… Get the bag next to you!” Allie snapped out as she banked to the west. “Do NOT throw up in my plane! There is nothing worse than a flight filled with the smell of vomit. Breathe into the bag.”
Jacob forced the fingers of his right hand to release the armrest. He had to focus on one finger at a time to get it to release. As soon as it was free, he fumbled in the pocket next to the seat. His fingers wrapped around paper and he pulled it upward.
He realized he was going to have to release the left armrest as well. A cold sweat broke out all over his body. The feeling of nausea helped motivate him to release it faster. He quickly opened the bag and began panting into it.
Chapter 9
Allie glanced over her shoulder for the hundredth time to check on her two passengers. Both sat behind her with their eyes still closed. At least Jacob had quit panting into the puke bag. It had been touch and go there for a while. If she was in the mind to blackmail, she had heard enough confessions to make a fortune. Something told her that they had kept the local confession box occupied on a pretty regular basis.
She finally couldn’t keep from picking on them. They were both just too funny. They acted like they had never seen a plane before!
“You both can open your eyes. If you want, I can give you a little bit of information about what we are flying over. It might take your minds off the fact you're both scared shitless of flying,” Allie said with a glimmer of amusement threading through her voice.
“How is it possible for something made of metal to fly? When was this invented?” Jacob asked in an awed voice as he dropped the crumpled paper bag to his lap. “Where are we?”
“You guys are so funny,” Allie chuckled at the excitement suddenly in his voice before she shook her head in amazement. “We’re skirting Yellowstone before heading down to Salt Lake City, Utah. I have to drop something off and we’ll refuel before heading down to Las Vegas for another refuel then Los Angeles. We’ll do the same on the way back. It is almost twelve hundred miles and we'll be reaching speeds of 174 mph or more. The tailwind we have is making up for the time we lost since we left a little late. We should be there around noon – one o’clock at the latest- if all goes well,” she explained.
“Twelve hundred miles,” Jacob whispered. “This is unbelievable.”
“Haven’t either one of you ever flown before?” Allie asked, glancing at them over her shoulder. She whistled softly when they both shook their heads. “You guys must live in a very isolated spot if you’ve never flown before.”
*.*.*
Several hours later, Allie landed for the second time at a small airport just west of Las Vegas. Both men had cursed and muttered as the plane descended each time. Jacob had revealed a few more sins as they touched down. She honestly thought he forgot that she could hear every mumbled whisper. As they taxied to the small terminal, Allie couldn’t help, but ask about one of his muttered confessions.
“Wow! You really visited five different widows in the last three months?” She asked, glancing back at Jacob’s pale face.
Jonathan’s choked laughter echoed in the narrow confines of the cabin. Allie’s laughter joined his when Jacob muttered another dark curse under his breath. It sounded suspiciously like ‘it wasn’t five, it was four’.
Allie shut the engine off and pulled her headphone off her head. Undoing her seat belt, she turned in the seat. Her eyes danced as she noted that Jacob was definitely a little greener around the gills than his twin.
“Potty break,” she said in a cheerful voice. “I’ve got to drop off another package and refuel. I’ll also check in back home to see if anything has changed. The bathrooms are inside to the left. They have cold drinks and some pre-made sandwiches that are pretty good if you are hungry.”
“Just the bathroom,” Jacob muttered. “And you don’t have to be enjoying this so damn much.”
Allie reached over and pulled the clasp on his seat belt as he continued to tug on it. Her eyes darkened with emotion when he covered her hands in his. She felt the slight tremble in them and realized that he was seriously shaken by the flight.
“I really am an excellent pilot,” Allie whispered, ignoring Jonathan, who was watching them with a bemused expression on his face. “I would never endanger anyone on board, including mysel
f.”
“It’s just…,” Jacob swallowed before he asked in a low voice. “Would you miss it… this, if you couldn’t fly?”
“I enjoy it,” Allie admitted. “I’d probably miss it, but it isn’t in my blood like it is in some peoples. I fly because it helps get me where I need to go.”
Jacob’s lips curled into a ghost of a smile as if he was pleased with her response. He nodded as the door opened and an older man looked in. Allie squeezed his hand before she turned with an easy grin.
“Hey, Pete,” Allie said. “Mom sent you a gift.”
“Hell, I hope it’s another supply of her peanut butter cookies,” Pete commented. “I’ll get you topped off.”
“Thanks,” Allie replied, grabbing the package from the front passenger seat before she climbed out of the plane. A low groan escaped her as she stretched. “How’s Lynn doing?”
“She’s doing good,” Pete replied with a grin. “She’s inside.”
Allie nodded as she listened distractedly to Pete. She raised a hand to his wife, Lynn, when she glanced through the window. Her eyes and mind were focused on Jacob’s tall form as he walked toward the building. There was just something about him that fascinated her. He was different from the guys that she knew, including Chris.
“I’ll go say hi to Lynn and give her the cookies,” Allie told Pete after a few minutes.
“No problem,” Pete said as he walked over to the pumper truck.
*.*.*
Jacob sighed in relief as he emptied his bladder. Hell, he was thankful he’d been able to hold it. He swore there was no way that the damn ‘plane’ could land, but Allie had set it down as if they’d just been floating.
“It is amazing to fly like a bird,” Jonathan commented, pulling him back to the present. “I never would have imagined something like that could be done.”
“Me either,” Jacob admitted as he washed his hands. “There are a lot of things that I can’t believe have been invented.”
“Jacob,” Jonathan murmured, waiting for his twin to turn to look at him. “Indy doesn’t miss any of this. Well, except for the bathroom. She said she actually likes it better back home.”
Jacob looked down and nodded. Indy did fit in, but would Allie. Would she feel the same way? There was just so much here! It wasn’t just the comfort and convenience, but he imagined medicine was better too. Hell, he knew it was! Indy had doctored up Jake after he had been shot and the old cowpoke swore it hadn’t hurt at all.
There was not only that, he admitted grudgingly. Women didn’t have the same independence back in his time as they did here. Hell, just watching the colorful box on the wall was proof of that.
He glanced up at Jonathan, trying to think of a way to ask him what he thought about how Allie would react to living back in the past. Just thinking about it that way made him realize that it was ludicrous to consider it. Life would be twice as hard for someone like Allie. Yet…
“What is that?” He asked instead, watching as Jonathan tried to pull the lever down on a box by the wall.
“I don’t know,” Jonathan admitted. “There wasn’t one of these in the bathroom at Sam’s house.”
Jacob walked over to the large silver and metal box. He thumbed a coin in his pocket. It was about the same size as the little slot that said ‘Insert Coin’. Pulling it out, he dropped it in the narrow opening.
“Try to pull it now,” Jacob said.
Jonathan glanced at him and shrugged. Jacob watched as Jonathan pulled the lever. Three pictures in the front began to spin before stopping one at a time. They both jumped with several coins dropped in the small bin underneath it.
“Wow!” Jonathan said with a grin. “Indy didn’t tell me they had machines that gave you more money than you put in.”
Jacob scooped up the coins and handed one to Jonathan. “Try it again.”
Jonathan slipped one of the new coins in the machine and pulled the lever again. The numbers spun around, but no money came out this time. A frown creased both of their brows as they tried to figure out what was wrong.
“It looks like they have to be on the same number,” Jacob said as he noticed the difference. This time, all three numbers were different, whereas the first time, they were all the same. “Try another coin.”
Jonathan played again and again until they were down to the last coin. He grunted when the numbers came up different again. He was obviously doing something wrong.
“You do the last coin,” Jonathan muttered. “Then, we need to see if Allie is ready to go.”
Jacob snorted. “I don’t mind it so much when we are up in the air, but I have to tell you, I don’t like the leaving the ground or coming back down,” he said as he dropped the last coin into the machine. “I still think if man were meant to fly, he’d have feathers.”
Jacob grabbed the lever and pulled it down in aggravation. He didn’t want to admit that it was also another reminder of just how different his world was from Allie’s. It bugged him that there was so much he didn’t know.
He froze when bright lights began to flash as three sevens came up on the front of the machine. A loud bell also sounded as coins began pouring out of the machine so fast that they fell to the floor. Unsure if he had broken the damn thing, he and Jonathan scrambled to catch as many of the coins as they could in their hands.
“It says you hit the Jackpot,” Jonathan said with a grin.
“Yeah,” Jacob replied as a matching smile curved his lips.
*.*.*
Allie had finally given up on the guys. She chatted with Lynn for several minutes, used the ladies room, and chatted some more. She decided they must be in the ‘Library’, as she and Aleaha used to tease Taylor whenever he took forever. She went ahead and started the pre-flight walk around while she waited.
Her head turned and an exasperated smile formed on her lips as she watched them finally emerge from the single story building. Both of them were walking toward her with animated grins. She rolled her eyes when she saw that Jacob’s hands were filled with quarters.
“I think that one is mine,” Jonathan was saying as he plucked one of the quarters that threatened to spill out onto the runway.
“Allie, there was this metal box on the wall with a place that said ‘Insert Coin’. It is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Well, except for the silver wagon and this flying machine and the lights that come on without a flame and the water out of the wall,” Jacob exclaimed in excitement as he climbed awkwardly back into the plane. “Who would have thought a machine would give you money if you pull on its arm?”
“It doesn’t always,” Allie replied with a chuckle as she slid into her seat and buckled back up. “Guess you guys live pretty rustic lives back home?”
“Yes, you could say that,” Jonathan replied when Jacob’s smile faded and his eyes grew dark and withdrawn at her question. “But, we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I know what you mean. All this could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss it. I love to fly, but to live where…,” Allie started to say before she shook her head and concentrated on the pre-flight list in her hand.
No sense in wishing for things that can’t be changed, she thought as Chris’s face flashed in front of her. I should know that better than anyone.
Chapter 10
Jacob adjusted his long coat over his gun belt to make sure they were hidden. Allie’s eyes had widened in surprise and her lips had formed a circle as she watched him and Jonathan unroll their long, tan-colored coats. A small smile of satisfaction curved his lips as she watched them in silence. What made him grin was the way her eyes had followed the movement of his hands. Her eyes had turned a darker blue as he buckled the belt.
He liked the way her gaze had eventually returned to his face. A soft flush turned her cheeks a light rose color and her mouth opened and closed several times before any sound escaped. The first time she'd seen him dressed as he did back home, she had been distracted. This time, he had her full attention
.
"Why?" she swallowed as she stared at him. "Why are you wearing guns like that?"
"Because when another man takes something that belongs to one of us, we take it seriously, Allie," Jacob murmured as Jonathan exited the plane. "Indy is my brother's world. He loves her. She was taken against her will and where we come from, that is a dying offense."
Allie didn't respond, just nodded her head. He reached out and ran his fingers down along her flushed cheek. Rubbing his thumb along her bottom lip, he remembered how good she tasted.
"When this is over, you and I need to talk Allie Whitewater," Jacob murmured in a husky voice before he pulled away and followed his brother out of the plane.
Jacob glanced around as he stepped out into the midday sun. He adjusted his hat to shade his eyes as he focused on a tall, lean man resting against a black vehicle that was almost as big as Allie's truck. The only difference was this one was completely filled in, so there was no open space in the back.
He watched as a man in a gray suit stepped away from the black machine and walked toward them. This must be Trey, the man that Sam had told them about. His head swiveled as Allie stepped around him. She had a smile on her face as she responded to the man's greeting. His arms shot out and wrapped around Allie's waist, pulling her back against his body, when the man bent to kiss her.
He didn’t care if Allie got mad at him. He’d be damned if he would just stand aside and let another man kiss the woman he had already claimed. Jacob stared back at Trey when he looked up at him in surprise. The look he gave the man was clear. Allie was off-limits.
“I wouldn’t,” Jacob warned as he tightened his arm around Allie. “Jacob Tucker.”
“Trey Randall,” Trey replied with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m Jonathan Tucker. Sam said you could help me get my wife back,” Jonathan said, moving to stand beside Jacob and Allie. “He said you would know where she is being held.”