Launch

by Richard Perth

  It was a bit hard for Claire to believe, but he sounded like he was telling the truth. She concentrated on her dinner, and they ate quietly for a few minutes before she asked, “Where did you get your Master’s?”

  “UCLA, mostly part time and online.”

  “Getting your Master’s and working full time must have been hard. Did you have time for fun? A social life?”

  “No, but that’s okay,” he said with a slight grin. “I’m saving myself for Miss Right.”

  She responded with her own mischievous grin. “And how would you describe Ms. Right?”

  With a deadpan expression, he said, “She has the heart of a tiger and the touch of a feather. Her voice is an enchanting melody. Her laugh makes my heart sing with joy. Her smiles pull her Cupid’s bow and shoot arrows of love into my heart.”

  Claire laughed at his hyperbole. “She sounds absolutely magical. What does she look like?”

  He leaned forward, looked into her eyes, and said in a compelling voice, “Magical is appropriate to describe her gorgeous grey eyes. Auburn is the color of her hair, and you are far and away the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.”

  She could not tear her eyes away from his or think of anything to say to that. After a pause that was far too long, she asked, “Isn’t it time to go back to the airport?”

  David glanced at his watch. “It’s a little early. Would you like to see some Las Vegas sights on the way back?”

  That sounded safe enough.

  ▼

  The lights of Las Vegas were blazing against a clear night sky when they came out of the restaurant.

  He took her on a tour of original art in the Bellagio Hotel conservatory, then out to the manmade lake in front. She saw thousands of nozzles and lights just under the surface and gave him a questioning look.

  “Wait,” he said.

  People crowded around them to watch the show, and she could smell his aftershave as he put his arm around her waist protectively. Claire was acutely aware of his strong body touching hers as the Fountains of Bellagio rose above the water and danced with light to the music of a romantic aria. Romance and beauty melted her heart, brought tears to her eyes, and ended a million years too soon.

  ▼

  On the way back to the airport in a taxi, David asked, “Do you play tennis?”

  “Yes.”

  “A friend of mine has his own courts,” he said. “Would you like to play tomorrow?”

  She smiled. “I would love it.”

  David punched a speed-dial number into his cellphone and put it in speakerphone mode. A man answered and David said, “Hey Michael, s’up?”

  “In a power-off glide between gigs,” Michael answered. “S’up with you?”

  “I’m in Vegas on a canyon charter. I’d like to borrow one of your courts tomorrow with a friend.”

  Michael said, “Joanne and I were thinking about tennis. Maybe we could make it a foursome with lunch and a swim, get us off our lazy butts.”

  “Sounds good,” David said. “What time?”

  “Ten?” Michael asked.

  David asked Claire, “A foursome at ten with lunch and a swim after?”

  She nodded and smiled. “Sure.”

  “See you at ten, Michael.”

  David closed his cellphone and slipped it back into his pocket.

  “What a great voice,” she said. “He sounds like a movie star.”

  David nodded. “Yes, he does.”

  ▼

  Claire waited in the copilot seat while the Japanese passengers boarded. David closed and locked the door to the plane, checked the passengers’ seatbelts, entered the cockpit, and closed the door to the passenger cabin. It had been open during the other two flights. He noticed her questioning look. “Passengers will be taking flash pictures after we takeoff, and it will be like a lightning storm back there. A blinded pilot can be detrimental to flight safety.”

  Claire thought the lights of Las Vegas were spectacular, but they soon vanished behind the plane. Time seemed to disappear with the light as they flew into the almost pitch-black night over the desert. It did not seem to be long before David reduced thrust. Altimeter hands revolved counterclockwise indicating loss of altitude as Claire felt the plane descend into a vast black hole, a dimension of nothingness. She had to trust him: that he knew where the ground was, that they would not crash. Then ahead in the distance, a glow appeared. It became a brilliant carpet of lights extending as far as she could see when the jet flew from Cajon Pass into the Los Angeles Basin. David banked to the right, and Claire enjoyed the fantastic light show as they flew to Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.

  ▼

  After they left the plane, the Japanese passengers smiled broadly and took pictures of Claire, David, and one another with the plane in the background. Each made a discreet bow of respect to Claire before departing with another tour guide.

  “That was a happy group,” David said. “They liked you a lot.”

  “They did seem to enjoy the trip,” she said.

  Claire waited while David retrieved his flight case and secured the airplane. He walked with her in the dimly lit parking lot to her old car. It had been a top of the line compact when her mother had bought it new. Out of long habit, she caressed it as she opened the door, and then turned to him. “I had a great time today, David. Thank you.”

  He smiled. “Me, too.”

  ▼

  Claire’s father had been killed in a car accident when she was one-year old. She had grown up as the only child of a single mother in a community of Air Force families. For as long as she could remember, there was nothing she wanted more than to be part of a loving family.

  Aware that her desire for a family could affect her judgment in relationships, she tried to not let that happen. Marriage proposals from men she liked and respected had tempted her, but she did not think she loved them and tried to be kind when refusing. Sometimes she wondered if she might be making a mistake, but time passed with no regrets.

  She reminded herself to be careful with David, too. Then, just as she recalled the Archer amendment and smiled, her car’s engine died.

  Chapter 3

  The airport perimeter fence was on the left side of the road. The right side had been cleared for airport expansion, and streetlights had been removed. Nothing was left but piles of rubble on the shoulder, dimly lit by light spilling over from the airport and the splay of her headlights. Claire bumped over debris she could not avoid as her car coasted to a stop.

  ▼

  On one of Claire’s instrument training flights at night, with no moon over a solid layer of clouds, her plane’s electrical system failed. The engine kept running smoothly as it had two magnetos, each of which fired one of two spark plugs in each cylinder. But the sky and the cockpit were completely dark. The strobe light and the navigation lights on the wingtips and tail also went out, which made plane virtually invisible.

  She tried to turn a flashlight on, but it did not work. She tried a second flashlight. It briefly gave off a weak light and then went out.

  Claire was a 17 year-old private pilot training for an instrument rating. Her mother was her instrument-flight instructor, and she was in the right seat. Without a word, Kathryn reached behind and under her seat for her purse, took out a third flashlight, and gave it to Claire. That one worked.

  The first thing Claire checked was the instrument panel. The artificial horizon, directional gyroscope, and all radios and navigation aids were electrical, and none worked. The pneumatic instruments and the magnetic compass worked. They told her that the plane was flying straight and level, as it had been trimmed to do. Claire next checked the circuit breakers. All were good. She checked the instrument panel and the magnetic compass again and made slight corrections to her heading and altitude.

  Her mother had taught Claire to be self-reliant. She tried to think of a way to get down through a solid undercast in the mountains at night with no navigation or radio aids. The situation wa
s an aviation emergency with potentially fatal consequences.

  A glow appeared on the clouds ahead. It turned out to be a hole in the clouds made by rising heat from a large motel sign. Claire stood the plane on its left wingtip, spiraled down through the hole, and broke out of the clouds a few hundred feet above the ground. She saw an airport rotating beacon and turned toward it. Several minutes later, she landed on a lighted runway at an unknown airport and taxied to the control tower.

  Claire and her mother secured the airplane and walked toward the tower. Her mother spoke for the first time since before the plane’s electrical system had failed. “You should have checked the flashlights during preflight inspection.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  After that incident, Claire never flew or drove anywhere at night without at least three working flashlights.

  ▼

  Claire took one of her flashlights and used it to look under her car’s hood, hoping to find something she could fix.

  A pickup truck stopped behind her car with a blinding headlight shining down the left side. The truck’s lights went out. A door creaked and then slammed shut. The weak light from the airport revealed a man, several inches taller than six feet, walking toward her.

  “Go sit in the truck, girlie,” he said. “I’ll take care of this for you.”

  His breath was awful. “No thank you, sir. I’ve already called a tow truck. They’ll be here any second.”

  As he reached for her, he said, “Get in the truck, bitch!”

  She ran away from him as fast as she could, and his hand closed on nothing. He ran after her on long legs. After a minute, she risked looking back. He was gaining on her, and another car’s headlights were coming.

  The old sports car with the top and windows down matched her pace. David said, “Hop on!” She jumped onto the car’s old-fashioned running board and grabbed the windshield frame. He accelerated gently while she stepped over the low-cut car door and sat down in the passenger seat.

  Between deep breaths she said, “Thank you.”

  He said, “You’re welcome” and then continued talking into a cellphone headset. She heard him mention the word “assault” as she put on her seat belt.

  Over her shoulder, Claire could see the tall man walking back to his truck and her car. “David! We have to go back! I need my keys and wallet. He’ll steal them. He could get into my apartment.”

  He shook his head. “Too dangerous. You can replace the things in your wallet and change the locks. The police will be along soon.”

  “But I need them tonight!”

  He just shook his head and faced straight ahead.

  “David, please. He could get my address from my driver’s license.”

  He was frowning when he glanced at her. Then he did something with the car’s controls that was too fast for her to follow. It spun around on the road and began accelerating in the opposite direction.

  Claire blinked and then looked at him. His face seemed to be set in stone. “Thank you,” she said, but his expression did not change.

  The tall man started running after the car when they passed him. David stopped just before her car door and said, “Quickly!”

  She jumped out of his car and ran to hers. She had to open her car door and partially sit on the driver’s seat to get her keys out of the ignition. They did not come out. She turned the steering wheel and jiggled the shift lever to try to release them.

  Claire’s assailant was getting close, and David got out of his car.

  The guy swung a large fist as he charged. David stepped inside the punch and used the thug’s weight and momentum against him with a judo hip throw. He landed on his back with an “oooff” and a “thwack” as his head hit the pavement.

  David took three strides farther behind his car and turned. Claire got her keys and purse and got out of her car in time to see the big man stagger to his feet and charge David again. He stepped to the side and knocked the guy off balance as he charged past. After a few staggering steps, he fell with his right shoulder and cheek sliding along the road.

  David said, “Don’t you ever brush your teeth, Stink?”

  She was terrified to see the thug get up roaring in pain and anger. Just then, flashing red and blue lights appeared from behind her, and Stink started running away. The police car pursued and pulled over in front of him. A cop opened his door with a baton in his hand. There was a scuffle with flashing batons, and the police soon had their prisoner wearing handcuffs in the back seat of their patrol car.

  David told Claire to drop her purse and keys on his car seat and raise her hands. He raised his hands with his fingers apart as the police car stopped in front of them. A corporal got out of the driver’s seat and asked, “Are you the complainants?”

  David nodded. “He assaulted her. I’m a witness.”

  “May I see your ID?”

  “Yes, sir,” he said and slowly took his wallet out of his pocket. He removed his Air Force ID card and handed it to the corporal.

  “Major David Archer. What’re you doing in this neck of the woods?”

  “Graduate school at UCLA and flying charter part time.”

  “Oh, yeah. You were on the news. Didn’t you shoot down a bunch of enemy planes in Africa and get the Medal of Honor?”

  David said, “No, sir. It was the Air Force Cross.”

  “That’s good enough for me. Can you vouch for the lady?”

  David nodded, “Yes, sir.”

  The second cop opened the door to the police car and stood up. “He’s Petey Wilson, wanted for rape and murder.”

  Claire stiffened and looked at David.

  The corporal handed David’s ID card back to him. “Okay, Major. Thanks to you, a life may have been saved tonight. Another patrol car and a tow truck will be along in a minute.”

  The other cop shined his big flashlight on David’s car. “What’s that?”

  The corporal walked back to his car. “That’s an antique, Josh. A 1954 MG-TF, probably worth more than both of us put together.”

  The police car left, and David came around his car to Claire. She was shaking.

  “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I will be. I was afraid you’d be hurt by that . . . monster.”

  ▼

  Claire was quiet as David drove to her apartment. She thought about her mom’s car, in a dark parking lot somewhere. It was the last tangible, everyday connection she had to her mother.

  David pulled over and stopped. “He’s locked up, and he’ll probably be locked up for a long time. He can’t hurt you.”

  She looked at him. “What?”

  “You have tears in your eyes.”

  “It’s not about him. I’m worried about the car. I don’t know if I can get it fixed.”

  “Is that all?”

  She was offended. “It means something to me, Major Archer. It was my mom’s. And I don’t appreciate your attitude.”

  He raised a hand between them, palm forward, a gesture of peace. “Don’t get all formal on me. I’m just relieved that the problem is only a car.”

  “Is that such a trivial problem for a macho hero?”

  He leaned toward her slightly and said, “I’ve been Air Force since I was eighteen years old. You’re Air Force all the way down to your diapers. I helped rebuild this car. We will fix your mom’s car if I have to rebuild it myself, piece by piece. Me and the United States Air Force will make damn sure it is not a problem!”

  His fierce tone so contrasted with what he was saying that she almost laughed. When she felt she could trust her voice, she said, “Thank you.”

  He turned his attention back to driving, and they continued to her apartment. It was an uncomfortably quiet drive, and Claire made an effort to break the chilly mood. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

  “I learned judo at the Academy. I kept up with it for recreation and exercise.” After a minute he asked, “What did you do?”

  He’s an Air Force Ac
ademy graduate, too. Out loud, she said, “Tennis and mountain climbing.”

  “Were you on the women’s tennis team?”

  “Yes.”

  After a pause, David asked, “Why mountain climbing?”

  “Except when I was flying, I was afraid of heights.”

  ▼

  Claire unlocked her front door, wondering if she had ruined any chance of a relationship with David, and then she turned to say goodnight. He had stepped back down to the sidewalk and turned to face her. His hands were behind his back, and he had a serious expression on his face. “For the record, Lieutenant: red light or green light?”

  She smiled. “Green light, Major.”

  Claire thought he was pleased and relieved when he returned her smile and said, “I’ll be here at zero nine thirty. Have a good night.”

  She almost said, “Yes, sir,” but stopped herself. “Good night.”

  Looking forward to seeing Buni again, Claire was smiling as she went into her apartment.

  Chapter 4

  When David turned onto Claire’s street the next morning, all the parking spaces were taken. Cars, vans with media logos, and TV news trucks with antennas on the roof lined the street. People carrying cameras, microphones, and recorders were crowded around the front of Claire’s apartment. Two were knocking insistently on her door.

  David parked around the corner, out of sight, and called her cellphone. “I’m your local U.S. Air Force pest control officer, ma’am. May I be of service?”

  “David?”

  “Yes.”

  “I guess you saw those awful pictures.”

  “Me and half the people on the planet. Do you have back door access to your driveway?

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll arrange to distract the reporters,” he said. “You run down the driveway to my car. Okay?”

  “Great!” she said.

  “It may take twenty minutes or so to set up. I’ll call back.”