THE CRUEL SEVEN

by Terence Mitford

  As the air currents buffeted the plane, he glanced to his right again, and while holding her hand in his, he stroked his thumb across the back of her hand in a subtle display of affection. She didn’t pull away, but she turned her head and gave him a look that said, don’t push your luck.

  As Mike leaned across to shout over the plane’s rumble, the engine stuttered to a halt. No rumble and no drone. Just silence. Carlos began flicking switches and turning dials until, just as suddenly as the engine had cut out, it started up again, and the deep drone was restored to its reassuring, deafening pitch.

  Lisa gripped Mike’s hand so tight her nails almost drew blood.

  Carlos turned and shouted over his shoulder. “Sorry about that folks, Nothing to worry about though.”

  Mike leaned forward. “What happened?”

  “Just a fuel interruption. It happened last week, so I had the guys take a look. They told me it was probably dirt in the fuel system. I had them drain it off and refill the tank.”

  Lisa leaned forward. “Well, it didn’t work, did it? There must be something else wrong.” As she sat back in her seat, the plane lurched and the engine spluttered again before picking up momentum.

  “That’s it.” Lisa shouted. “Carlos, take us back.”

  Carlos didn’t answer. He was too busy going through the same procedure of flicking switches and checking dials.

  Lisa turned to Mike. “Do something. Tell him to turn around.”

  Although his stomach was starting to tighten, Mike tried his best to sound calm. ‘We can’t go back. We are well past halfway.’

  Then he looked down through the window.

  Something was wrong.

  They had been in the air for around three hours, yet there was just forest for as far as he could see. “Carlos, shouldn’t we be over Montreal by now?”

  No answer.

  “Are we off course?”

  Still no answer. Mike grabbed his shoulder. “Carlos, What’s happening?”

  Carlos just shook his head.

  Lisa nudged Mike with her elbow. “We are losing height.”

  He looked out again. She was right. “Carlos, pull up.”

  Carlos began mumbling something in Spanish, and although Mike didn’t speak the language, he guessed Carlos was praying.

  Mike unfastened his seat belt and squeezed through the gap into the empty co-pilot’s seat. “What can I do to help?”

  Carlos just stared at him with a look of terror in his eyes and beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

  Then the engine spluttered one last time and gave up, and only sound was the whistling air as it dragged over the plane’s body and wings. It would have been so serene had it not been foreshadowing terrifying consequences. They were going down and there was nothing he or Carlos could do about it.

  Mike spun around in his seat to face Lisa. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Brace yourself.”

  He turned back and stiffened his whole body. The trees below were getting closer, then the undercarriage grazed across the top of them. It happened so fast. One minute, they were gliding over the forest, the next they were plowing through it. The crunching of metal versus wood was deafening. The smooth glide became a series of bone jarring lurches as the plane forced its way through one set of branches, only to be met by another. Finally, the plane, or what was left of it, came to a full stop, slamming him against the front of the cockpit.

  Then nothing.

  4

  LISA

  It was the stench of aviation fuel that Lisa noticed first, followed by a pounding in her head and a stinging at the top of her right leg.

  Someone was pulling on her left arm. She opened her eyes and strained to lift her face away from the back of the co-pilot’s seat. Her first thought was how the soft padding on the back of the chair had probably saved her life.

  She struggled to turn her head. Mike was next to her, shouting her name and trying to lift her up. His face and pale blue shirt were peppered with blood. “Lisa, can you hear me? We need to get out of here.”

  It took a few seconds for her to clear the fog from her mind and find her voice. “What happened?”

  “We crashed. You were right. We shouldn’t have taken this flight.”

  Being right was no consolation. In fact, she would have given anything to have been wrong, because then they would have arrived safely at their destination. She scanned Mike’s face and body for the source of the blood. He was covered in minor cuts, but there were no large injuries visible, and she was pleased about that. Despite everything, she didn’t want to lose him. Not like this.

  The plane was tilted forward at a downward angle, but Mike helped her into a more upright sitting position, then studied her, no doubt checking for injuries. “Thank God, Lisa. It looks like you only have a few minor cuts and bruises. Can you move your arms and legs?”

  It was this question that suddenly rammed home the seriousness of what had just happened. Until then, she hadn’t considered the possibility she may have broken bones. She moved her arms first, raising and bending them until she was satisfied they were intact. Next, she moved her left leg, flexing her foot and knee, and then carried out the same routine with her right leg and winced. “I think I’m okay. Nothing feels broken, but the top of my right leg stings.”

  Mike lifted the hem of her short summer dress and gasped. “You have a piece of metal embedded in the top of your thigh.”

  “Pull it out.”

  “I can’t. If it’s damaged an artery, you could bleed to death. We need to leave it in until we get you to a hospital.”

  She glanced through the windows at their surroundings of trees, branches, and leaves. “Have you looked around us? I don’t see any paramedics, do you?”

  Mike nodded. “Okay, but let’s get you out first.”

  “What about you?”

  Mike patted himself down, then assured her he was okay.

  She glanced at the pilot’s seat. Carlos was nowhere in sight. He must be crumpled under the front control panel. She’d seen it once before at the scene of a car crash. An adult female passenger compressed into one square foot of space. It was a sight she would never forget, and one she never wanted to see again.

  She couldn’t bear to look, so she just pointed to pilot’s seat. “What about Carlos?”

  “He’s gone.”

  “Are you sure, have you checked for a pulse?”

  “I mean, he’s not here. As I regained consciousness, I saw him staggering away. He must have climbed down, or maybe he was thrown through the front windshield.”

  “So he didn’t stop to help us?”

  Mike shook his head. “He must have been dazed and confused. He didn’t seem to hear me shouting his name.”

  “Well, I don’t think much of his customer service. Remember not to tip him.”

  Mike held his ribs as he laughed.

  Lisa turned to him. “Let me see.” She raised his shirt, revealing a red welt across his ribcage. “Can you breathe, okay?”

  Mike took a deep breath and winced. “I can, but it hurts like hell.”

  “You may have cracked or broken ribs. Can you move?”

  “Yes, I climbed back over from the front seats, so I think they are just bruised. We need to get out of here in case a spark sends it up in flames.”

  He turned and pushed his shoulder against the door, which creaked but held firm. He adjusted his position, raised his feet, and pushed with both legs. The door swung open and lodged itself into the surrounding branches.

  Mike looked down. “We’re about six or seven feet off the ground. We’ll have to jump.”

  “Can’t we go down through the front windshield? It’s nearer the ground.”

  “I already checked. As we plowed through the trees, we must have broken off too many branches. There’s a wall of foliage compacted down there. The door is our best option. I’ll go first and catch you.” He sat on the edge of the door’s sill and then pushed himself over, dropping out of
sight.

  Lisa crawled across the seats to the door and looked down. He was laid on the ground holding his side. “Mike, are you okay?”

  He stopped groaning and held up a thumb. “I’m just winded. Give me a minute.”

  She maneuvered into the same seated position and waited. “You are not in any condition to catch me. Move out of the way and I’ll jump.”

  “Wait. If you land on that metal in your leg, it could do more damage.”

  Lisa took hold of the shard of twisted metal and manipulated it. “I don’t think it’s very deep.”

  “You can’t know that.”

  “Well, there is only one way to find out.” Before Mike could respond, she gripped the object close to her thigh and pulled. Then she looked at how much metal was protruding from her hand and held it up to show Mike. “See, it was only about an inch deep.”

  Mike shook his head. “It’s a good job. One of these days you might do as I ask. That could have been serious, Lisa.”

  “It’s my leg, and I didn’t fancy leaving that thing sticking out of it. It could have caught on my dress and ripped it.”

  Mike smirked. “It’s a little late for that.”

  She flashed him a cheeky grin. Her dress had several small rips and had lost the top button on the v between her breasts, revealing the lace on the top of her white bra. But she didn’t need to worry about that, because other than Mike, there was no one around to see.

  “Stand back, Mike, here I come.” She placed her hands down on the sill on each side and pushed. She landed on her feet, then fell forward onto her hands and knees.

  Mike rushed over and helped her to sit down.

  They sat side by side, and as she brushed the dirt from her hands and knees, she looked up at the plane, or what was left of it. With its crumpled nose stuck into the ground, its tail pointing diagonally upwards, and both wings missing, ripped away by the undergrowth, it was barely recognizable as a plane.

  “I’ll say this Mike, you sure know how to show a girl a good time.”

  Mike held his ribs again. “How can you joke at a time like this?”

  “We survived a plane crash. What are the odds on that? I think fate is on our side, or something is. Maybe we have a guardian angel.”

  “That’s one way of looking at it, I suppose.”

  “Do you have any idea where we are?”

  “Why are you asking me? Ask your guardian angel.”

  Lisa smirked. “That’s not how it works.”

  Mike nodded. “Okay. We should be over Montreal by now, but I never saw a break in the trees during our flight. No towns, no water, just tree tops everywhere. If I didn’t know better, I’d say we flew over Maine.”

  “Maybe we did.”

  “If we did, we are way off course, and if we are off course, going by our flight time, we must have come down in the middle of the Maine forest.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “Only if we want to be rescued. I read an article about Maine’s forest while I was in the dentist’s waiting room last month. It said there was something like twenty-four billion trees in over seventeen-million acres of land.”

  Lisa shrugged. “You’ve always been a bit of a nerd about things like that, haven’t you?”

  “Things like what?”

  “Statistics and numbers and all that.”

  “Well, I know it’s one of the remotest places in North America. We could be ten miles or more from any help. We’re below the canopy and probably invisible from the air. That’s if anyone comes looking for us.”

  “But how can we be off course? Didn’t you say Carlos makes this journey several times a month?”

  Mike didn’t answer.

  Lisa stared at him. “Okay, what is it you are not telling me?”

  “What makes you think I have anything to tell you?”

  “Because I know you. You have that look.”

  “What look?”

  “Guilt.”

  “Jeez, Lisa. Your intuition is scary.”

  “So I’m right?”

  “Maybe.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Mike heaved in a deep breath and exhaled. “When I negotiated the price of this flight with Carlos, he told me he could keep the cost down if he combined it with business.”

  “Go on.”

  “He didn’t tell me what kind of business, and I didn’t ask, but now I have an idea.”

  “And judging by your face you think it’s something shady.”

  “I heard that he used to associate with a few undesirables.”

  “What do you mean, used to?”

  “His associates are in prison.”

  Lisa gasped. “What for?”

  Mike pursed his lips and sighed. “Narcotics.”

  Lisa’s mouth fell open. “So you think the business he was combining was delivering drugs?”

  “I don’t know, maybe.”

  “Brilliant. Not only did we risk our lives in that thing”—she pointed to the crumpled plane—“but we risked our freedom too.”

  “I don’t know. I’m just trying to make sense of it all.”

  “We took a four-hour flight in an old clapped out plane with fuel problems piloted by a drug trafficker. What is there to work out?”

  “We should have flown over Montreal. But there was only wilderness below us the entire flight.”

  “You already said that.”

  Mike nodded. “I know. I’m just thinking aloud. Carlos must have detoured.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite, although I think I know the answer. Why would he detour?”

  “To make a drop.”

  “Was he carrying anything when you saw him staggering away?”

  “I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure. During the flight he had a black carryall bag on the seat next to him and he pulled it onto his lap when I climbed into the front.”

  Lisa looked up at the plane. “So the drugs could still be in there.”

  Mike shrugged. “Maybe.”

  Lisa got to her feet. “We need to check.”

  Mike squinted up at her. “Why?”

  “Because if they are, we need to get rid of them. Eventually, they’ll find the plane, and if they find a bag full of drugs, it won’t be hard to link it to us. Even if there’s no flight record and passenger list, our blood and DNA will be all over that plane. Do you want to spend the next ten years in prison for drug trafficking?”

  Mike nodded. “You’re right… again.” He held his ribs as he got to his feet. “I’ll check.”

  “How are you going to get back up there?”

  Mike seemed to study the plane for a moment, then went to the front, pulled some branches away, and climbed onto the crumpled nose, over the roof, and swung down through the door. A few seconds later he shouted down, “Nothing here.”

  Lisa shouted back. “Are you sure, have you checked the back where our cases are?”

  “He had it up front with him.”

  Lisa glanced down at her ripped yellow dress. “Can you throw my case down so I can change?”

  She could hear Mike rummaging around and straining, no doubt trying to free their cases from the wreckage. But a couple of minutes later, he appeared at the door and shook his head. “Sorry Lisa, the cases are jammed between the rear seat and the twisted metal. I can’t move them.”

  Lisa nodded. “It’s okay. If you’re sure there’s no bag full of drugs up there, come back down.”

  “At least you have flat shoes on if we have to hike our way out of here.”

  Lisa glanced down at her white canvas sneakers, pleased with herself for choosing practicality over style that morning. She looked back up at Mike. “Hurry. I can hear the branches under the plane cracking and splitting. I don’t think they are going to hold out much longer.”

  Mike maneuvered his way into a seated position and turned to lower himself down feet first. But as he shifted his weight over the door threshold, the branches cradling the plane
creaked and gave way and the plane rolled and slid from its perch.

  Mike fell backwards.

  The fuselage crashed to the ground on top of him.

  Lisa screamed. Only his head and shoulders were visible, and for a few seconds he lay still with his eyes closed.

  Fearing the worst, she held her breath and dropped to her knees next to him. But then he coughed and spluttered and opened his eyes.

  She breathed out. “Thank God, Mike, is it hurting anywhere?”

  Mike shook his head. “But I can’t move.”

  Lisa scanned each side of him. “The plane is resting on some fallen branches, which is why it hasn’t crushed you. If you pull your arms out I’ll drag you clear?”

  Mike strained and sighed. “Sorry, Lisa, but I can’t.”

  She stood up and looked around for anything that could help. Then she bent down and pulled out a long branch, about three inches thick, from near the tail of the plane. It had been snapped clean off. She dragged it over to Mike and slid one end under the fuselage next to him. Then she positioned herself with her shoulder under the far end.

  “Listen, Mike. The plane is resting on lots of branches. I should be able to lever it up an inch or so and I need you to scramble out, okay?”

  Mike nodded. “Go for it.”

  Lisa pushed up on the branch which moved, but the plane did not. Mike turned his head and seemed to study the end of the branch next to him. “You need to push it further under the body of the plane.”

  Lisa did as he said, causing her to crouch under her end of the branch. Then, after the count of three, she pushed up again, and the plane rolled back a few inches and settled, creating a small gap above Mike. She dropped the branch, kneeled down next to him, and checked under the plane’s body. “Okay, you are clear, you can crawl out now.”

  He didn’t move.

  “Mike, did you hear me?”

  He seemed to be trying to move his arms in order to push himself out on his back, but they appeared too weak. He glanced up at Lisa with fear in his eyes. “I can’t, Lisa. I have no strength in my arms and I can’t move my legs at all.”