Crutch shook his head. “I’ve been in this hospital before. Well, in the children’s wing. Doernbecher’s. When I was 5. And off and on until I was 12.”
Jahnni stared at him for a few seconds before she said, “Can I ask why?”
After pausing to choose his words he just blurted it out. “I had cancer.”
Tears began to flow from Jahnni’s eyes and trickle down her cheeks. She pulled him closer into a tighter hug. “Are you okay now? Are you... in remission?”
Crutch looked up and smiled. “So far. It can come back, but they think they got it all. I’ve been here a few times, but the last treatment was new. I was in a study. They call me the miracle boy cuz I almost died.”
“Oh, my God, Crutch! I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine my life, if I never had the opportunity to meet you,” Jahnni whispered. Then she changed the subject suddenly. “You need to call your parents! They are probably frantic, worried about you! Let me call my supervisor and tell her where we are and what’s going on.”
Jahnni patted all her pockets. Not finding a phone she asked Delaram if she could borrow hers.
Carlton heard her and said, “Here Jahn, use mine.”
She walked out of the waiting area and into an alcove to call Carolyn, her supervisor at the airport. She filled her in on the basics of where they were, but told her she couldn’t talk about what has been happening before they made it back to the airport, but promised she would as soon as the FBI agent said she could. They talked for several minutes before she ended the call.
Jahnni walked over to Crutch and handed him the phone. Your parents are worried sick. Carolyn gave me the number to contact them. Here.” She handed him the slip of paper.
“I don’t need that. I have everyone’s phone number memorized. Everyone I have ever met.” Crutch took the phone and dialed his dad. He stood next to Jahnni because she told him that they may need to talk to her.
Agent Pahlavi had already told him he couldn’t talk about the day yet, until they all make their statements and had their interviews. She’d told them when they arrived at the hospital not to even talk to each other about the day. Crutch assured his parents that he was ‘exactly perfect.’ A saying that his mom always said to him. He handed the phone to Jahnni and she gave his dad the basic information but confirmed what Crutch had said to him, that they couldn’t talk about it yet, but Crutch was completely fine.
Samantha finally spoke up. “I’m not sure I want to work at the airport anymore, Jahn. I like adventure and all, but this has been, like a ‘thousand miles an hour’ adventure. Maybe I can put in my notice when we get things worked out.”
“I understand,” Jahnni said. “But it isn’t like this will probably happen again... EVER. What are the chances? I don’t want you to leave, Sam. But, I know you should do what you feel is right. Hey... if you don’t work with us anymore, how are you ever going to find out if the kismet pilot is meant for you?”
Samantha’s eyes lit up at the mention of him. “Ya, maybe you are right. I mean, it was so weird. When we met, we talked and talked and it felt like we had known each other for a long time. He even asked me if he could kiss me good night. I’m used to guys just plunging their lips over mine like a hoover and having to push them off. He was different. And his accent. OMG. His French accent is hypnotic.”
“Better be careful. It isn’t like you have a good track record picking out the right guys,” Jahnni said. They both laughed at the memories of Sam’s dating adventures.
“But he was different. It was like... like that saying from the movie Sleepless in Seattle. When he kissed me goodnight, ‘it was like coming home. But not like any home I had ever known,’” Sam dreamily quoted, inserting herself into the line.
Jahnni thought about the song, Nights in White Satin again. It made her feel, like she was coming home after a long time of not feeling. “You know Sam, before you quit, before you turn in your notice, look for him. Don’t wait to run into him. Look for him. I shouldn’t tell you to do this, but by golly I am. When we get back to work, pull up the crew schedules for all our flights every day that you work and see if he is listed as the captain. Or call Crew Scheduling to see if they can help you. Find him. Go for it. I mean, don’t make a fool of yourself girl! But... talk to him. Ask HIM out. Coffee, a drink, a walk. Even sit by the fountain, that is if it’s still there... and figure it out. But whatever you do, DON’T just wait and see. Take action! He might be the one.”
Sam was almost speechless. “Wow, that is quite a speech coming from your usual excuses of, ‘No, I have to give the cat a bath tonight,’ Or ‘No, I have to pre-treat my laundry.’ What has gotten into you Jahnni? You are acting like, I don’t know, like you are a ‘grab the bull by the horns’ kind of girl suddenly.”
Jahnni smiled. “Maybe I am. Someone said something to me today that made me ask myself some questions.” She looked over at Pahlavi and smiled. Pahlavi smiled back then shrugged one shoulder.
After three hours, the surgeon came walking towards them, pulling his surgery mask down. He looked at everyone in the room, studied them all then looked right at Jahnni. “You must be Jahnni.”
Fear rushed to her face. He wasn’t smiling. And he knew her name for some reason. She stood and walked closer. Breathlessly she answered, “Yes. I am.”
“I thought so. We were able to stabilize Mr. Harleyman and he insisted on communicating before we put him under anesthesia. He was awake, barely of course, but right before he went under, he described you to a tee, from the top of your hair to the bottom of your shoes. He mumbled, as he was losing consciousness that I was to remind you that you two have a boating date.”
Chapter 42
The Calm
They took turns visiting Beau’s room at first, but soon Jahnni realized that as some came in, some didn’t leave. The room was too crowded and soon the nurses would kick them out. They had been very lenient with visitors and Jahnni knew any moment they would get booted. Besides, Beau needed to rest.
Delaram told Jahnni, “I have to bring you all in for questioning, so you can give your formal statements. Considering the type of situation we find ourselves in, I will break it up over two days. We’ll discuss it when we leave.”
Mr. T bent down and kissed Beau on the forehead, lovingly brushing the strands of hair off his forehead. Zale gently touched his hand, then slipped his fingers across Beau’s palm, careful not to touch his IV that was stuck in his hand. He gave him a gentle squeeze goodbye and smiled as he released his hand. He backed away, bowed his head to Jahnni and left the room. Carlton winked at Beau when he looked up, then they both smiled as Beau tried to nod although it was done in slow motion and his smile was so crooked that only one dimple popped up. Sam held Crutch’s hand as they came back in the room to say goodbye.
“I don’t know if I will see you again, Beau,” Crutch said, teary eyed as he talked. His lips quivered as he stood by the hospital bed holding the rail with both hands. As a tear trickled down his cheek he added, “I guess the airport will be open tomorrow and they scheduled a flight for me. If everything goes okay, Jahnni gets to fly home with me. Sam was supposed to go too, but she says she can’t go. My parents asked Jahnni to stay overnight, but she said she has some important things to do when she gets home.”
Crutch looked at Jahnni then back at Beau. He turned again to Jahnni and said with a knowing smile, “Oh, I think I get it.”
“Ah, buddy,” Beau whispered roughly, “I’m so glad you’re okay. And I’m so happy that I’ve met you. Stay in touch man, okay? When I see you again, we’ll go get those BK Whoppers.” It was difficult to talk much because of the pain, and the pain-killers made his voice sound like his tongue was double the size.
Delaram patted his foot through the blanket. “I’ll turn in the paperwork. You’ll need to make another statement when you feel better. Just to be sure your head is clearer,” she laughed.
Beau tried to laugh, but it hurt his stomach. He took a breath and sai
d, “Ya... I don’t know what hurts more, taking a bullet, or getting carved up to get it out. But, for now, the morphine drip is my friend.” Then his eyes slowly turned to Jahnni. “Will you be back?”
“Yes. I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow. I’ll fly Crutch home in the late morning, then I’ll be back tomorrow night. Get some rest.” She paused as he was closing his eyes then added, “I haven’t had the chance to tell you, but thank you. Thank you for saving my life. I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
Beau started to smile, squeezed Jahnni’s hand, and pulled her down closer to him. She realized he wanted to say something, so she leaned close to listen.
“I... I want to tell you,” he said in a weak breathy voice. “It was worth it. I lo...” but his eyes closed and his head fell softly to the side. His eyelashes flitted and his brows slightly raised up like he was trying to stay awake, but he quickly fell asleep because of the morphine.
Jahnni slowly raised up without taking her eyes off his face. He what? Lost something? Looked for something? Loaned something? She touched his cheek and fixed his pillow so his neck was supported then slowly let the back of her hand glide gently down the side of his face as she finished standing back up. She paused to memorize the peacefulness as he lay there, pain momentarily washed away.
They left his room, each sharing their gratefulness that their new friend was going to be okay. Jahnni stopped and looked back at the sliding glass door to his room, I owe you everything. Thank you.
Before they left the floor, Mr. T told Jahnni that he wanted to stay behind to be with Beau as he healed in the hospital. “Agent Pahlavi tell me she got permission for me to stay with my Beau. When we first plan to fly, he was taking me home and help me with my house in San Francisco. It need some small repairs I cannot do anymore. My good Beau. He grow to be a good man, but when I see him in hospital bed, all I see is my baby Beau. I stay until he can leave hospital.”
The car ride back to the airport was calmer than the ride to the hospital. The agent that helped drive them to OHSU, came back and took Carlton and Zale to Carlton’s home. Before they left the hospital, Jahnni heard Delaram remind them that they couldn’t talk about this to anyone. But she would secure their formal interviews right away so they can get them over with.
On the drive, Delaram spoke up, “I told my superiors the basic location of all the things Carlton and Zale told me when I did our brief interviews. They need to secure the airport.”
“I imagine that there are already some fisherman camping overnight on Government Island not too far from the entrance to his underground home,” Jahnni assumed out loud.
“Well, the airport is secure and the maintenance room is under 24/7 guard for now,” Delaram assured her.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to be talking to each other about all this?” Jahnni asked her before Sam got dropped off.
“Oh, we aren’t talking about what happened all day,” Delaram explained. “I am telling you about the plans so far... for the secret. So, you’ll know that it is going to be taken care of and you won’t worry about a security breach. And, except for the FBI, at least for now, you can’t talk about today with anyone else yet. Or about the secret. That’s what I mean by NTK. If anyone asks you anything, just say, ‘The FBI says that I can’t talk about anything yet.”
Jahnni got out and hugged Samantha as Delaram dropped her at the employee parking lot at the airport. She held her a little longer than normal, then said, “I’ll call you tomorrow. Are you sure you can drive home? Because I can’t keep my eyes open so Delaram is taking me home. I’ll get my car when I get back from San Fran tomorrow night.”
“I’m fine. Tired, but fine. At least we have the day off tomorrow. There is no way I want to go near the airport. I’m sorry you have to take Crutch by yourself.”
“No worries. I am happy to,” Jahnni said convincingly, even though she herself had just a slight bit of trepidation after the day they had. “I want to. I want to hand deliver him to his parents. It’s the least I can do. I told Carolyn that I insisted.”
Jahnni got back in the car, waving to Samantha as they drove towards the employee parking lot exit. “It’s a wonder my ID badge still works after the big swim,” she said, as she watched the security arm raise up so they could drive back out. “I don’t know about the airport itself, but they must have released employee access to the lot at least. Hundreds of employees were stuck because you can’t get the exit arms to raise unless you swipe your badge. Carolyn said the lot had been locked.”
Delaram handed her phone to Jahnni as she drove away from the lot. “Put your address in just in case you fall asleep on the way.” Then she headed towards Jahnni’s home so she could grab a change of clothes and personal items to take to the hotel by the airport. A male and a female employee had to stay with Crutch in the room since he was stuck overnight in Portland.
“I hope whoever Carolyn sends is not a chatter box,” Jahnni said as she climbed out when they pulled into her driveway. “Just wait here. I’ll only be a couple minutes gathering up a few things.”
After she came back out to the car she opened the back door and set an overnight case on the floorboard. She then closed the door and hopped into the front seat. She turned to Crutch and mentioned, “I hope you like the clothes that the other agent is bringing for you. They won’t be fancy, but they will be better than the funky jumpsuits we have been stuck in all day!”
“Ahhh, and I was just getting used to these seventy’s threads too,” Crutch teased as they all laughed.
Agent Pahlavi dropped them at the front of the Embassy Suites. Jahnni and Crutch checked in, dragged their bodies to their rooms and plopped on the beds. The other agent, Lonnie, was already in the room. The last thing Jahnni remembered was listening to Lonnie read them their itinerary, then Lonnie was waking her up a few hours later so she could shower and get ready for their flight. Crutch was already up, showered and dressed.
“Do you know you snore Jahnni?” Crutch said, teasing her.
“Yep, that’s what I’ve been told,” she replied as she stretched.
Lonnie said, “Hey, I’ll take Crutch down for breakfast so you can get ready. We’ll be back in about 45 minutes, okay?”
“Perfect.” Jahnni replied as she gathered her bag and headed to the shower.
Before she shut the door, she added, “Oh ya, bring me a bagel, crème cheese, and a black coffee.”
The morning went by fast and they found themselves back at the airport. Avoiding the baggage carousel floor, Jahnni and Crutch went to the ticket counter, checked in, got their boarding passes and headed straight through security. She blocked everything from her mind and focused only on Crutch; Partly because that was her job, and partly because she just had to... to get through the day.
“I can’t wait to sit back and cruise at 35,000 feet away from everything. Maybe I can catch a catnap,” she told Crutch. “You should too.”
Chapter 43
...Before the Storm
At 11:50 a.m., Jahnni and Crutch boarded their flight for San Francisco.
“This is going to be the best flight ever! I can’t believe how relaxed I feel. Don’t you feel better?” She was trying to stay upbeat for Crutch.
“Yep,” Crutch answered her. He turned to Jahnni and just smiled at her, holding her gaze a little longer than normal. “Can we be friends forever, Jahnni?”
“Of course, Crutch. We are friends forever. Your mom and dad pretty much told me that I am family now! So, I guess that makes me... your sister.”
They both laughed and waited for the plane door to close.
Jahnni and Crutch sat in first-class, a gift from Carolyn and First Class Air. It was almost a full flight, although with the events of the day before, it could have been an overbooked flight. First Class Air brought in a plane from SLC and threw an extra segment in to SFO later that day to accommodate all the passengers from the previous day’s fiasco because they had the regular passengers that had rese
rvations on today’s flights. Carolyn worried that Crutch needed extra of attention to keep him busy, yet calm, since the events of the day before were so volatile. Jahnni wasn’t so sure. He seemed fine.
The flight attendant crew had fawned over him when he came onboard. Carolyn had given him the backpack full of items from the First Class Air’s gift shop that she hurriedly gathered first thing in the morning. Pins shaped like airplane wings, mugs, water bottles, mouse pads, pens, t-shirts, hoodies, snacks. It was crammed with so many goodies. The pilots heard who was going to be on their flight, and one of them even presented him with a model of their newest airplane after he opened his backpack full of gifts.
“Hey Thanks! This is the Boeing 737-900ER! I love this plane! I’ve actually flo...”
The flight attendant asked him, “What? You’ve flown on this plane before? This our newest plane. Just went into service last month!”
“Uh... ya. I have,” Crutch said. “It cruises so smooth and the flight panel is... I mean... it’s a great plane. I’m glad they got the tail tip issue worked out.”
“How do you know about the tail tip issue?” the FA asked him.
“Oh, I just like planes. I’ve flown a lot of them,” Crutch answered him.
“You must travel often. That’s great!” he said.
They watched out the window as the plane was being pushed back by the tug.
“Out on time. Perfect since this plane was a STAR flight this morning. This plane has already left and came back today,” she told Crutch. “Usually all the RON’s are on time in the morning since they came in the night before. They remained overnight. That’s why they are called RON’s. They are ready first thing because we don’t have to wait for it arrive from another city. And the first flight is called a STAR flight because if it starts the airline right first thing in the morning, it sets the pace for the rest of the day... providing no other surprises.”
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