by JJ Aughe
“Whew!” Jim returned, aghast at the damage. “If all that damage happened in the air I gotta ask; How in the world did you manage to land without crashing? According to the books the apparent damage to the tail section alone is enough to put you into a deadly downward spiral you couldn’t possibly have pulled out of!”
Glancing at Jessie and hugging her, Bailey returned, “Jim. All I can say is that I had a fantastic co-pilot in Jessie Melano here!”
By Jessie’s calm exterior Jim Cannus would never have guessed how nervous she was at that moment or how her heart raced at Bailey’s quick hug. She still remembered the helpless feeling in her gut as Bailey fought for control and they plunged toward certain death. She had determined to keep all those feelings under wraps though and appear calm and collected.
Hearing Bailey’s praise, her determination fled. Her voice quaking she shouted, “Bailey! I have never been so close to death in my life! You know I was terrified and could barely see because of all the tears streaming from my eyes!”
“Yeah,” he returned, his voice conveying his confidence in her. “I know, Jessie. But, even then, you didn’t hesitate to do what I had instructed before the flight. Your voice even sounded calm when you read off the May Day. Oh, I heard when it started breaking up, all right. But Jessie, if you hadn’t been strong enough to get yourself under control when you did I truly believe we would have crashed!”
Jim Cannus spoke up. “Bailey is right, Miss Melano. Under the circumstances, I don’t think you should underestimate the value of what you did or how you acted.” Reaching out to shake her hand he continued, “I listened to the tapes on the way here. The first thought I had was that I was listening to a seasoned pilot. Then you admitted you didn’t have a clue. But you kept the tower informed and that alone, I believe, was why Bailey was able to pull out of that dive. If he had lost concentration for a second we wouldn’t be talking right now. There would be a massive air and ground search on for your wreckage.”
Jessie cringed at his last words then turned in Bailey’s arm, took him by the cheeks and unabashedly placed a wet kiss on his lips. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Jim Cannus started to turn away but Bailey stopped him with, “It’s all right, Jim. This woman deserves to do anything she wants and more if she’s of a mind to.”
A big grin came to Jim’s lips before he asked, “When’s the big day?”
Jessie turned back to face this man who, if not a friend, was evidently a close acquaintance of Bailey’s. “No set date yet,” she smiled. “He has to court me first! I won’t have it any other way!”
Sobering, she asked, “What happens now?”
While they had been talking the other two members of the investigative team had been going over the plane, taking photos of the damage and the area where the bomb had exploded. One of the men kneeling beside the small bomb crater picked something up and quickly motioned for Jim Cannus to come over.
As Cannus strode away Joe Mahr, who had been standing back, stepped in front of Jessie and Bailey, grabbed Bailey’s hand, giving it a hearty shake. Looking Jessie in the eye he remarked, “I was listening to those tapes too, Miss. Bailey and Cannus are both right. Not putting Bailey’s piloting down at all, I’d say, under the circumstances, even as terrified as you must have been you showed your mettle by overcoming your terror and doing the things that needed to be done. It saved both your lives! You did a wonderful job!”
“Hey!” Bailey joshed. “I wish you guys would quit giving her so much praise! It’s liable to come back to bite me later!” To keep Jessie from making any comments he took her by the hand, forcing her to follow as he walked toward his ruined plane.
They were close to the pilot’s side when Bailey released her hand, stepping away to speak to Cannus who had waved him over. Left to her own devices Jessie reached up to open the cockpit door to make sure she hadn’t left anything inside she might need later.
“STOP!” one of the men at the small crater in the sand yelled. She jerked around giving him an irritated expression. The serious expression creasing the man’s dark brow softened as his eyes focused on Jessie’s startled face. He gave her a stiff grin as he quickly paced over to her then finished in a more amicable voice. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you Miss. But, please don’t touch anything! As a matter of fact, I want you to get away from the plane now. As of right now this is a crime scene and we’re not through in the cockpit yet.”
Jessie had watched enough police dramas on TV to know she should have asked before trying to enter the cockpit of the plane. “Sorry!” she meekly apologized as she strode toward Bailey. “I wasn’t thinking!”
Bailey immediately took her hand, pulled it to his lips and kissed her fingers. “Jim wants us to go over near Joe’s plane to wait. Or would you prefer to get into the shade somewhere?”
He grimaced when she hesitated and didn’t wait for her answer. He placed a hand at the center of her back, escorted her down the beach to a shady spot where an old cedar log, half buried in the sand, lay in the shade of a giant Cedar tree.
Jessie heard the worry in his voice and, suspecting something was amiss, went willingly. When they were seated on the log she caught Bailey’s eye. Infusing her voice with as much forcefulness as she could muster, she stated, “We are in this together, Bailey. There is something wrong and I think I deserve to know what it is.”
When he didn’t answer quickly enough, her temper flared, her emerald eyes shooting green fire. “What is it? Your eyes tell me there’s something bad you don’t want to tell me because you don’t think I’ll be able to handle it. Well, I’m going to tell you something, Mister! I single handedly run one of the foremost computer gaming software companies in the Puget Sound, if not the world! I’ve handled piracy, sabotage and even an attempt on the life of one of my execs! I am pretty sure I can handle whatever it is you’re keeping from me!”
“Whoa! Whoa, Jessie!” Her intuitive question and following fiery outburst had taken him completely by surprise. “I wasn’t keeping anything from you! I was just trying to figure out how I was going to tell you what Mac, Olson and Cannus were examining in the sand back there.”
“Okay?” she queried, the fire leaving her eyes. “I know it has to be something bad. What is it?”
Summoning all of his will power and professionalism he hesitantly answered, “Mac and Olson, . . .” He hesitated again, decided he had to say what needed to be said and started again. “Well, Jessie. Here’s the thing. They found what they believe is the trigger mechanism for the bomb, err, the explosive.”
The fire came back into Jessie’s eyes at his hesitant reply, spread to her voice as she sternly said, “Bailey!”
“Okay! Okay!” Bailey resignedly cried and quickly finished. “The device they found is almost too similar to ones used in IED’s, or Improvised Explosive Devices, commonly referred to as roadside bombs, by terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan!”
“Jessie,” he admitted. “I have unwittingly put you in danger! I believe, as does Jim and Joe that I have stumbled onto something bigger here than just a piece of land someone wants for an exclusive resort.”
Not picking up on the reference to the Mid-East, Jessie queried, “You mean your friends out there think someone wants to use this property for something illegal, drugs or something like that?”
Bailey took a deep breath, let it out before answering. “They think it is worse, Jessie. Because that device is so sophisticated and because of some other instances that have happened to me and other people over the last few weeks or so, they are almost sure there is a cell of Middle Eastern terrorists based very close by.”
Instantly wary, Jessie stood and looked down on him. “Come on, Bailey. Tell me the rest. What are the ‘other instances’ you just mentioned?”
“Jessie,” he responded, looking up into her strikingly beautiful emerald green, worry clouded eyes. She is right! I have to tell her! She has a vested interest and needs to know. “I am going to tel
l you everything, Jessie. Really, I am.” Patting the log, he pleaded, “Please. Sit down. It’ll make this a lot easier for me if we’re on the same level and I can watch your eyes for your reactions.”
Fearing the worst possible scenario, Jessie nodded and again sat beside him. Taking her small, soft hands in his large, calloused ones Bailey began. “Jessie, I know your companies do extensive classified work for the government so I know you personally have a top secret security clearance. But, it’s on a need to know basis. That said, Cannus and I believe this situation might be something that is endangering the United States and so is, or soon will be, classified top secret! I believe you have a need to know and Cannus agrees. So I want your sacred oath that you will not repeat what I tell you to anyone! Not even to a Priest! It could be that top secret Jessie.”
Jessie just nodded her head. Then, seeing his sober look, she vowed, “If what happened to us is connected in some way to something that could harm our nation I will take it to the grave with me, Bailey!”
“Okay,” he replied. “I had a feeling you would say something of the sort!” After a pause for effect, he finished with, “Now, before I tell you what you want and need to know, I have something else I want to clear up.”
Before she could ask, he began to apologize. “Jessie Melano, I am sorry beyond words that I have inadvertently put you in danger. Yet, I am so thankful you are here with me. Not for the reason you might think, either! And it’s not because if you hadn’t been with me in the plane I probably would not have survived!” Taking a deep breath, Bailey forged on. “Jessie, the main reason I am glad you are here with me is because you have forced my brain to think rationally! Something I haven’t been able to do since I returned from Afghanistan.”
“From now on,” he continued. “No matter what, I will try very hard to make friends and not be an urban hermit! What I am so inadequately trying to say is,” Bailey shook his head before finishing. “Jessie, I am going to court you! And, and, . . . Oh, blast! Why do I go brain dead when I’m trying to say something like this to you?”
Finally getting his thoughts in order he hurried on. “What I am so inadequately trying to say is that I have come to the conclusion that I can’t live without you. So if you are still in love with me and still want marriage, as soon as whatever this is that is happening is taken care of, I am going to marry you!”
After a second or two of searching her eyes for any sign she had been giving him a line earlier he decided she had been being square with him and hurried on. “Having bared my heart and soul, I think it is time I let you in on what Jim, the FAA, Homeland Security and I believe is happening here.”
“Jessie,” he instructed. “I want you to just listen. Don’t ask questions or anything until I am finished.”
Again fearing the worst, Jessie nodded. “I promise.”
Her promise reassuring him, Bailey began a story that at once lifted Jessie beyond any passion she had ever dreamed possible and at the same time frightened her to her very soul!
Chapter 5: Curious Events
Bailey first told her what had happened to him in the weeks before meeting her.
The morning after Bailey first landed at the lake he called the Pierce County Auditor’s Office in Tacoma and discovered he would have to go there to secure any information on the property around the lake. Preparing to stop at the first intersection for the red light he tapped the brake pedal once to slow down. The pedal seemed spongy so he stepped on it again, but it went clear to the floor, the car not slowing at all and he nearly broadsided a Metro bus. His mechanic later told him that one of the brake lines had evidently been rubbing on the frame and had worn through, causing the loss of brake fluid.
The brake line turned out to be a part that the mechanic would have to order from the manufacturer and would take at least a week to arrive. That forced Bailey to order a rental car.
Later that day when he returned to his apartment he found it ransacked, his new, unused laptop, some diamond stud tie tacks he seldom wore and his new stereo equipment had been stolen. The detective who investigated told him there had been a rash of daylight burglaries in the area recently and they had stepped up patrols in hopes of catching the culprits.
Things went well for a couple of days. Bailey was able to contact the owner of the property, secure a signed promissory note giving him first option to buy the property, and have an aerial survey completed. But the following week he was on his way to Kenmore at the north end of Lake Washington where the hanger and pier for his plane were located. He was only a matter of minutes from his apartment when a car suddenly, and for no apparent reason, cut him off. He tried to avoid a collision but the car hit his left front fender, causing his car to skid sharply to the right. Trying to stay on the roadway Bailey hit the gas and steered into the skid. There wasn’t enough shoulder at that section of roadway and his car clipped a tree and landed on its side in the ditch. If his car had traveled another thirty feet without hitting the tree it would have wound up in a very deep section of Lake Washington. The other car sped away. It was later found abandoned about six miles away. It had been stolen that morning.
The night before met Jessie he had been almost hit head-on by a car that was being driven without its headlights on.
These incidences happening so close together seemed odd to Bailey. Not being of a suspicious sort, he assumed they were mere coincidences. He had almost forgotten them. Now, with today’s attacks, he had a growing suspicion all of these events were in fact connected in some way. Jim Cannus was someone Bailey admired and trusted. When he arrived as head of the FAA investigation team Bailey went to him with his suspicions.
Jim didn’t hesitate. He told Bailey he had run a security check on both Jessie and him and had been surprised to find both of them had Top Secret Security Clearances. He went on to say that everything he told Bailey was in strict confidence because, if what they suspected, this situation might turn out to be top-secret information.
Getting that formality out of the way he went on to say that in the last three weeks there had been strange events in the area just to the west, south and east of the lake. First, just east of the lake a hiker had reported being roughed up by a number of apparently foreign, burly men wearing an assortment of mixed military camouflage fatigues and civilian clothes. A few days after that incident a hiker west of the lake had returned to his car to find it had been broken into. He reported the only thing missing had been his registration. The next day the man’s wife found him dead in his car. The County Coroner ruled his death an apparent suicide by Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
Just two days before the attack on Bailey and Jessie a female hiker had been sexually assaulted, beaten senseless and left for dead just a mile and a half south of the lake. She only survived because she had been hiking with another woman who had taken a different trail a half an hour before the attack. When the victim didn’t meet her at their agreed time and place, the woman became worried and went looking for her companion. When she came across the victim she called 911 on her cell phone to report the attack and request help.
The victim survived but, still in the hospital because of her injuries, was in protective custody. When she had regained consciousness she had reported that the attacker had taken her backpack containing all her personal I D, credit cards and ATM card. The Forest Ranger who took the initial report had been the same one who had responded to the hiker’s car being prowled. The Ranger remembered that incident had ended in an apparent suicide. He also remembered the incident had taken place only a couple of miles from the scene of the woman’s assault. He put two and two together, came up with a reasonable solution and called his commanding officer. His C.O. had immediately notified The Department of Homeland Security.
The mid-air attack on Bailey’s plane and subsequent attempt to blow it to pieces coupled with the things that had happened to Bailey in the past weeks were the clincher for Jim Cannus and he made a quick call to the regional head of the Homeland Security D
epartment.
The Federal Aviation Administration and Homeland Security immediately joined forces, uniting in an effort to solve these ‘terrorist’ type acts. Their information so far was slim to none, but all concerned were certain the situation would come to a head real soon.
That small piece of triggering mechanism had confirmed the former suspicions of Jim Cannus and the HSD. When Bailey examined the device he recognized the sophistication of the design and immediately knew exactly who had been involved in building it. The triggering devise, the way the explosive had been packaged and the explosive itself had the fingerprint of Abdul Ahmed Amusel Almed, chief terrorist cell organizer and terrorist trainer for Al Quida and the Taliban. A terrorist Bailey had been unfortunate enough to have previous indirect, but traumatic and deadly contact with while deployed in Afghanistan.
As Bailey requested, Jessie sat in silence until he suddenly stopped talking, let go of her hands and gazed off across the lake as if he were seeing something that only he could see. The stern, determined expression on his face, the grief and sudden, vehement fire in his eyes told her all she needed to know. Someone he had either felt close to or felt responsible for had died a horrible death at the hands of this same terrorist. The knowledge didn’t do a thing for her sense of well being, or her fear. But it did bring forth her compassionate side. She felt his pain and, if there were any way at all to accomplish it, she wanted to ease that pain.
She took a deep breath, got to her feet, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Straightening, her voice soft, she whispered, “Bailey. Oh Bailey!” She grabbed his hands, forcefully pulling him to his feet.
Looking into his troubled face she locked eyes with him. Again seeing the pain and grief he was enduring she was determined to try to assuage the grief he was feeling. Though it would dredge up terrible memories for herself, she knew she had to tell him her story and how she had dealt with it.