A Pale Paradise

by Carol Anne Vick

  Chapter VII

  "Just hear me out, Phyl." Thad opened the door to their hotel, and they quickly crossed the lobby, and entered the elevator, feeling they could speak openly for the first time in hours. "Jonathan had been on the run because he doesn't trust any official of any department on the islands, so we can't either. Think about it. He would have gone straight to the police or the embassy if he had. Jonathan's not stupid. Sullivan's aware that he has something on him, and the man's willing to murder to stop that information from getting out. Jonathan also told us that there is evidence against Sullivan in a safe place, so he needs to tell the lawyer where that information is located. He didn't get a chance to tell us."

  "If we only knew where his proof was, we could tell Scott and Leah." Phyl rubbed her forehead and eyes, as the elevator reached their floor. The doors opened, and they headed to their room, and Thad pulled out the key and unlocked the door.

  "It might be that Jonathan will change his mind and tell the police at the hospital, when he's alert." Thad pushed open the door and she entered their room. Thad locked the door behind him, and they stared at each other, both very uneasy.

  "We don't have much to pack." Phyl sighed. "We have fifteen minutes to get back out front and head to the airport by eight-thirty." She glanced at her watch, noticing that Thad was pulling off his bloody shirt and khakis, and looking around for a place to put them. "Put them in that bag over there, and we can toss them."

  "Good idea. Where did you put my clothes?" He stood at the bathroom door, hands on his hips, as she gathered up their toiletries.

  "In the closet."

  Thad opened the louvered door and pulled out the hanger holding his navy blue Bermuda shorts and a tan polo shirt. As she carried her shoulder bag from the bathroom, she quickly changed into a loose red blouse and black capris. She rolled up and stuffed her discarded clothes in the shoulder bag, and they were ready to go. She couldn't believe they hadn't slept since the day before. What day was this again?

  "Are you ready?" Thad held the door open for her and they left their hotel room, energized about the prospect of finally heading for the safety of their home.

  ******

  "Thank you." Thad shook the officer's hand as Phyl stood by the door of the blue, unmarked police car. He turned and grabbed her hand and they headed into the airport, knowing that they were cutting it close with this flight to Nassau. They spied their airline's ticket counter and hurried toward the pleasant-looking ticket agent. They leaned their arms on the counter and Phyl gave him the information.

  "I'm sorry, but that flight has departed."

  "What?" Phyl stared in disbelief at the young man behind the counter, then over at Thad, who seemed equally stunned. "That's impossible." She quickly began searching in her bag for the old tickets and notations. "Here they are." Phyl passed them over to the agent. He quickly scanned her written notes.

  "I'm very sorry, but your flight has left, as I said." The agent looked at them apologetically. "There must have been some mis-communication." His soft voice, tinged with the British accent was sincere.

  "What do we do now?" Phyl put her elbow on the counter and looked up at her husband, who she knew was as utterly exhausted as she was. They needed to make their connecting flight from Nassau to Vermont by two in the afternoon.

  "What do you suggest we do? When is the next flight out?" Thad leaned his arm on the counter as he eyed the agent.

  "Not for several hours, unfortunately, but you may be able to catch a small island-hopper." The clerk looked up at him, then past him toward the front door. "Hey, Matt!" he called out. "Sorry, but there is one of the pilots right there. Matt!" he called out again.

  "I guess we have no other choice." Thad sighed as he looked down at her, and they waited for the pilot to make his way over to them. They both turned to see a blond-headed young man sauntering towards them.

  "What's up, Neal?" He smiled at the trio as he neared the desk.

  "This couple needs to get to Nassau right away and their flight has already left." The clerk handed the tickets back to Phyl. "Can you take them?"

  "Hmm..mm." The pilot paused for a moment, eyeing them, one hand in the pocket of his khaki shorts, lightly tapping an envelope against his leg with the other. "All right. Meet me outside that red door at the end of the hall in fifteen minutes." He used the envelope to point to his left. He turned and walked slowly in that direction.

  "Well then, you're all set." The clerk accepted their payment, stamped a set of tickets and handed them over the counter to Phyl. She quickly stuffed them into her bag, and they thanked the agent and headed toward the red door.

  "That was fortuitous." Thad commented dryly.

  "I'll say."

  Thad stopped and grabbed her arm. "Hey, let's grab something to eat before we head out." He looked around them.

  "Thad, I could have sworn that I wrote down the correct time."

  "They could have given you the wrong time, you know." He pointed to a food kiosk in the opposite direction. "Do you want to try that place?"

  "Okay, that's fine." She felt him take her elbow and they turned toward the kiosk. She was sure she'd gotten it right. "Oh well, what can we do." She clasped his hand and looked up at him. "At least we'll be back in Nassau in time to pack and catch the flight home. I hope I got that flight correct."

  "I'm telling you, Phyl, I don't think it was your fault." He looked up at the list of food items as they approached the kiosk. "What looks good to you?"

  "I think I'll just have that sweet roll and black coffee."

  Thad ordered for her and ordered a couple of doughnuts and coffee for himself, handing over the bills to the pleasant clerk. They gathered their items and sat down on a nearby bench, eating their breakfast in silence as they watched the travelers walk past them.

  "I'm glad we had clothes to change into." Thad took a swig of the steaming coffee from the small styrofoam cup. "Damn, what a night."

  "Me too." She chewed her sweet roll. "I'm glad that you are all right, that Jonathan made it through surgery. I'm glad his parents could get a flight so quickly and are with him." She glanced over at him. "I just feel this sense of nervousness - like I'm looking over my shoulder all the time."

  "I know, but we'll be home before midnight tonight, and can relax in our own home. Paradise is certainly overrated, in my opinion." Thad exhaled, and wiped his mouth with the small, white paper napkin. "Well, I'm done, how about you?" Phyl nodded and took a last sip of the coffee, and they stood and discarded their items before heading toward the red door.

  "Let's get the hell out of this place." Thad tried to laugh, but they were both so exhausted. The agent waved to them as they passed the counter and they nodded back.

  As soon as Thad had pushed open the red door, they both started searching for their sunglasses. After finding them and putting them on, they peered around the tarmac.

  "There he is." Thad pointed to the pilot, who was waving to them as he stood in front of a small white plane with dramatic red stripes down each wing.

  "No luggage?" Matt inquired amiably as he opened the door behind the wing for them to climb aboard.

  "No, we traveled light." Phyl looked to her left and saw two seats on either side of the narrow cabin and beyond that, the cockpit. She looked to her right and saw two more sets of seat. She turned to her right and looked back over her shoulder as Thad was ducking his tall frame to get into the plane. "This okay with you?" She pointed to the back seats. She didn't really want to sit that close to the pilot and have him hear their conversation.

  "That's fine."

  They strapped themselves into the two back seats, and peered out of their respective oval windows. She felt Thad's warm hand as he reached over the narrow aisle and rubbed her arm.

  "Are you okay?"

  She nodded, smiling at him and they both watched as Matt climbed in, shut the cabin door, and situated himself in the pilot's seat. She deposited their sunglasses in her shoulder bag.

/>   "We'll be in Nassau in a little over an hour." He called back to them, immediately donning and adjusting his headphones. They could hear him conversing with someone at the tower, then he started the twin engine Cessna 414, and they taxied to the runway. Within a couple of minutes, they had taxied, and the plane lifted, then banked, turning south toward New Providence Island. One flight closer to home.

  Phyl leaned her head back on the headrest and gazed over at her husband. They were just too tired to carry on much of a conversation, and with the plane noises, and slight bumpiness, they both hoped the next hour would pass quickly. Matt occasionally called back a question about the islands and their opinion of the hotels and restaurants, and one of them would answer out of politeness. After a few minutes, he stopped calling back to them, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Phyl glanced at her watch and saw that they had been in the air for a little over fifteen minutes. Not too much longer, she sighed. Looking over at Thad, she noticed that he had closed his eyes for a brief rest.

  She leaned her head back against the headrest and glanced out of the window to her left, seeing the bright blue water below them with thin strips of white foam here and there. She saw one of the many islands come into view ahead of them, wondering absently which one it might be. At the same time, she felt a series of sharp bumps and held the armrests, turning to see that Thad had opened his eyes and was leaning in her direction, his brows lowered, a slightly concerned look on his face. She hadn't flown in too many small planes, but that seemed a little severe in her opinion.

  "Thad, do you think everything is all right?" She reached over and held his hand, and he leaned his arm as far as he could over the aisle to rest on her shoulder. Before he could answer, they heard Matt yell something unintelligible from the cockpit.

  "Damn it." This time Matt's words were unmistakable. The plane shuddered, and banked.

  Thad yelled to Matt, who didn't answer him, but continued to curse as the small plane shuddered, dropped again, banking even further to the left.

  "Phyl!" Thad held onto her as the plane shook violently.

  She couldn't believe this was happening. She watched in horror and disbelief as the beautiful island, with the waves washing up on the white sand, the mass of trees beyond the beach, came hurtling up toward them with increasing speed, and yet, everything seemed to be in slow-motion. They both leaned forward and covered their heads as the plane leveled for a moment, and the last sounds they heard were the ear-splitting horrific whining of the engines and splintering branches as the plane crashed into the trees.