“Help me get to the bottom of this situation, and maybe the three of us can celebrate afterwards.” Her voice was just a whisper, but it echoed in Holden’s head.
She caught Vaughn’s lips in a heated kiss, and Holden didn’t know where to look or how to erase what he witnessed from his memory. Suddenly, Sabrina’s enormous office seemed no bigger than the glove compartment in his Camaro. He couldn’t breathe.
He had to get out.
Get out fast.
Now.
Somehow the doorknob was against his palm, and fresh air from the corridor yanked him out of the panic attack. Holden was vaguely aware of Vaughn shuffling out of Sabrina’s office behind him, edging him along the corridor, shoving him into the elevator.
“That went better than expected.” Vaughn whistled and ran a hand through his short hair.
“Speak for yourself,” Holden managed as the floor numbers lit up in descending order toward the parking garage.
“Are you crazy, Hold?” Vaughn shook him by the shoulders, which didn’t help the headache forming in his skull. “She believes we heard something, wants to work together on solving the mystery, and buy us dinner. Plus the added bonuses of a raise and a sweet ménage a trois. This night is turning into a dream come true.”
Holden rubbed his eyes. “Or a nightmare.”
****
Sabrina stared at the door Vaughn had closed after leaving her office. Having Holden captive in her lair had felt good even if it was only for a short time. Too bad he hadn’t come to see her on his own. Why was Vaughn always around? If Holden allowed himself a single taste of her, he’d be begging for more. Men always were. Men like Vaughn. He wanted her so bad it was pathetic. True, he was attractive with his hazel eyes, short, sandy blond hair, and oversized frame, but he lacked…something. Something Holden had in abundance. Something that made Sabrina’s insides tighten whenever she looked at Holden. Maybe it was purely the fact that Holden didn’t want her that made her want him. He was an unconquered battlefield.
Sabrina was used to winning all her battles. Holden Lancaster should have been no different, but now she had to deal with this? She held up the invoice Vaughn had given her.
“Careless.” The word was a growl as she crinkled the sheet in her palm. Was she the only competent businessperson these days? Why was she constantly managing idiots and cleaning up their mistakes?
She picked up her cell phone and dialed. “Aaron. Come back to work.”
“Why? What is it, Sabrina?” Aaron’s whiny, lispy voice grated on her nerves.
“I need to discuss a few details with you.”
“About what?” Aaron yawned noisily.
“Just get in here. There isn’t much time.” She hung up the phone confident her assistant would do as he was told.
Everyone did what Sabrina Donovan told him or her to do. Everyone. There could be no exceptions.
****
“I should have your business cards and T-shirts ready for mailing on Thursday.” Johanna listened as her client gushed thanks and admiration. “You willing to write all that down, Deidre? Would make a lovely testimonial I could use on my website.” Being a small businesswoman meant taking every opportunity to promote her work so someday she could be a small, rich businesswoman.
“Great. Email it to me, and I’ll stick it up at WareTeez.com. Thanks.” Johanna walked by the big front window in the living room. Kam and Miles ran around outside as Ted threw a frisbee to them. The sun was out in full force making the grass greener, the sky bluer, the awful racket overhead louder.
What the hell is that?
“Deidre, I’m going to have to let you go. It sounds like an alien spacecraft is landing on my roof outside. I can barely hear you.”
Deidre mumbled a response Johanna couldn’t make out so she hung up and went outside. By the time she got to Kam and Ted, the noise had reached thunder-level status. The ground under her sandals vibrated with the sound.
“Mom, look!”
Johanna’s gaze followed along Kam’s outstretched arm until she had to shade her eyes against the sun with her hand. Out of nowhere, the belly of a small plane screamed directly over them, a river of black smoke trailing from the right side of it.
“Holy shit!” Ted shouted, but the horrible roar of the plane as it nose-dived toward the back field drowned out his voice. Miles went wild with barking as the underside of the plane filled Johanna’s vision.
It took a moment for her brain to put the pieces together as the plane skimmed the treetops. “It’s going to crash!”
“Call 911!” Ted pushed Kam toward the house, and the boy took off, Miles galloping behind him.
Johanna ran toward the plane, toward the black smoke filling the sky, toward the screech of scraping metal. Planes flew over her farmhouse and fields all the time. She was in a flight path and had long since tuned out the drone of passing airplanes. When Kam was little, he sometimes awoke from his naps when a plane flew by. Never had Johanna expected one to crash on her property.
But this one was about to.
When she reached the back field, the plane was taking down trees as its nose plowed through the woods. Johanna ran faster, but stopped and screamed when the small white and black aircraft slammed into the ground with a metallic crunch. The left wing dug up chunks of earth, while the underside created a sizable trench across the field. A plume of black smoke blurred her vision for a moment, then Johanna slapped her hands over her ears as a deafening explosion sent up fiery shards of…of plane parts.
Ted was suddenly beside her, his hand grabbing her arm and jarring her out of her shock. “Stay here, Johanna. We don’t know if that thing is done exploding. Fire and rescue should be here shortly.”
“Somebody’s got to be in the cockpit, Ted. They may not have time to wait for fire and rescue.”
Before Ted could stop her, Johanna dashed toward the crumpled plane. She coughed as the smoke surrounded her, and she tore off her sweatshirt. Using it to shield her face, she acted on instinct alone and made her way toward the front end of the plane.
Something popped at the rear of the wreckage, and Johanna crouched down, her arms going over her head. Fire raged from the right wing, but the left wing, aside from being firmly embedded in the ground, appeared safe to stand on. Johanna climbed on top of it and leaned toward the cockpit. Using her sweatshirt to wipe dirt and soot from the window, she peered inside.
“Oh, God…”
Two men slumped in the pilots’ seats. They both were motionless, and Johanna looked up to the sky, ready to say a prayer though she’d stopped saying prayers a long time ago. She didn’t know these two men, but surely a beautiful, sunny day like this was not meant to be their last.
The first hot tears for these strangers slipped down Johanna’s cheeks. She’d never be able to come to this field again without picturing this plane, these bodies. Good thing Ted had sent Kam to the house. No child should see this. She wished she hadn’t either.
Johanna prepared to jump off the wing and go back to the house to wait for the rescue folks, but a thud on the cockpit window made her snap her head up.
A palm pressed to the glass. Just behind it, a set of turquoise blue eyes pleaded with her from beneath dark lashes. Those eyes fluttered open and shut, open and shut. Blood trickled down his forehead, matted his coppery brown hair.
“You’re not dead.” That realization propelled Johanna into action. Careful to stay away from the smoldering right side of the plane, she found a hatch and searched for a way to open it.
“You’ll probably need this.” Ted’s T-shirt was damp with perspiration, and his face was flushed. He held a crowbar up to Johanna. “You’re a nut. You know that, right? This thing could blow up at any second.”
“Then stop yapping and give me that crowbar.” Johanna reached down and took the tool. “At least one of them is alive in there.”
Ted climbed onto the wing beside Johanna and helped her pry the hatch open. Heat rushed out, nearly
knocking them both to the ground.
“Stay out here,” Johanna said. “I’ll drag them out if I can and pass them to you.”
Ted nodded, coughing a little on the fumes.
Johanna knew this was crazy. She should definitely wait for the rescue team. She had a young son who needed her. She couldn’t afford to risk her own life like this for a couple strangers.
And yet, that pilot’s eyes had called to her. She couldn’t leave him there, stranger or not. She had to get him out.
Shielding her face with her sweatshirt again, Johanna ran to the forward section of the craft. The door to the cockpit was off its hinges, and she tossed it aside. She stifled a scream when she looked at the pilot to her right, the one who hadn’t banged his fist on the window. The one who would never bang a fist on anything ever again.
That pilot’s body had slid under the instrumental panel, and the crash had sent the panel into his thighs like a metal jaw nearly severing off his legs. Blood still flowed from his wounds, and Johanna somehow found the strength to push two fingers against the man’s neck.
Nothing.
She focused her attention on the pilot to her left. His face was still turned toward the window, and Johanna got a good view of the gash in his head. It oozed fresh blood, and suddenly the smell of burning was replaced with the metallic aroma of human blood. Lots of it.
Swallowing around the lump in her throat, Johanna turned the man’s face to her. His eyes opened as he let out a groan. He blinked and finally managed to focus his gaze on her. Those Caribbean-blue eyes pleaded with her again, captured her. His mouth opened, and a few stray mumbles emanated, but nothing Johanna could understand.
“I’m going to get you out of here, okay?” Johanna glanced at the rest of the pilot. He didn’t appear to be bleeding from anywhere else besides his head, but that wound was significant.
The pilot grunted, and Johanna took that to mean he wanted out of the cockpit as much as she did. “This may hurt, but we’ll get you some help on the outside.”
After unhooking his seatbelt, she slid her left arm behind the pilot and hooked her hand under his arm. With a gentle tug, she moved his torso so it rested against her chest. Slipping her right arm under his right arm, Johanna pulled the man from his seat. His body lay in one long line as she dragged him through the cockpit door and down the aisle of the cabin. He didn’t say a word, and Johanna began to think he couldn’t. His eyes were still open, and his muscles tightened as he tried to help her move him along, but all he uttered were incomprehensible murmurs.
How bad is this head wound? Johanna risked a glance to the wound and wished she hadn’t. It was right there at her chin. In fact, some of the pilot’s blood must have been on her chin, because she could feel a slickness on her skin. She willed her mind not to think about it as she neared the still open hatch.
“Ease him out, but quickly,” Ted said. “The smell of gasoline is awful out here. If it lights, we’re all toast.”
“What was that you said the other day about this field being big enough to land a space shuttle in?” Awkwardly, Johanna passed the pilot to Ted who then waited for her on the wing. Together they got the man to the ground and about twenty yards away from the crash site.
“I had meant that figuratively. Hate when things get literal.” Ted looked back at the plane and shook his head.
“The other one’s dead.” Johanna sat in the grass with this pilot’s head in her lap while Ted stood over them both. Sirens grew louder back near the house.
“This one looks like he’s dead too.”
“He’s not. His eyes were open on the plane. He helped me pull him out.”
Ted was right though. The pilot in her lap did look very much dead at the moment. A shadow of a beard surrounded purpling lips, and his skin was gray except for the places where blood had smeared. His dark hair was thick, but matted down and his eyes were closed.
“C’mon. Show me those beautiful eyes again, mister.”
He didn’t open his eyes, but his body stiffened then relaxed against her. The muscles in his face—a wonderful face with solid cheekbones, a square jaw, and a devilish arch to his eyebrows—smoothed as if he had found some contentment in her lap.
Johanna glanced at the rest of the body in her hold. Long legs stretched into the tall grass ending in a pair of black workboots. The white polo shirt he wore appeared to hide a fit torso. Well, the shirt had been white at some point. Now it was covered in sooty black streaks and spattered with blood. The only other color on the shirt was at the stitched logo.
Leaning forward and angling her head, Johanna peered closer at the logo. “Hey, he’s from Donovan Electronics.”
“How do you know?” Ted asked as he waved his hands at the firefighters and EMTs headed toward them.
“I designed this logo.”
****
“I just want to know if he’s okay? Is he awake?” Johanna stomped across her living room floor, Miles following her back and forth. She’d given her name and phone number to the rescue workers, but because she wasn’t direct family to the injured pilot, they wouldn’t allow her to ride in the ambulance with him. She’d driven to the hospital in her own car, leaving Kam with Ted, but the same deal held for visiting there—no relation, no entry.
That’d been two days ago, but something about that pilot being all alone when he woke up in the hospital bothered her. If he woke up. God, that bothered her even more. All she had was a name. One the EMT found in the pilot’s wallet. Holden Lancaster. It sounded like a soap opera character name. Sexy, a little mysterious.
“I understand I’m not his family, but can you tell me something? One little kernel that would put my mind at ease. It’s not everyday a man falls from the sky in the middle of a Nebraskan field. My field.” Thank God.
She let out an aggravated grumble when the nurse answered with a firm, “I can’t tell you anything.”
“Well, thanks for nothing.”
Johanna wished she wasn’t on a cordless phone so she could slam the receiver down like they did in the old days. Instead she tossed the phone onto the couch where it bounced silently on the cushions. So not the same effect.
She threw herself onto the couch beside the phone as Kam came into the living room. He sat beside Johanna and snuggled up next to her, making her feel better as only Kam could simply with his presence. She slid her arms around her son and squeezed.
Was the pilot’s mother wondering where her son was? Did she expect Holden back at a certain time? Would she worry when he didn’t call her to check in?
Did Holden have a wife? God, were there little Lancasters waiting for him?
“Is he okay, Mom?” Kam raised his head to look at Johanna, then let Miles lick his bare toes.
“I don’t know, honey. No one will tell me anything.” She dropped a kiss on Kam’s head and gave him another squeeze.
“What about his company? Pep said you designed the logo on his shirt.”
Johanna snapped her fingers and pointed to Kam. “This is why I keep you around, my little genius.”
She picked up the phone and pulled Kam toward her office. Miles barked after them, but didn’t vacate his position on the living room floor.
After waking her laptop, Johanna searched for the contact information for Donovan Electronics. She had worked directly with the CEO when designing DE’s logo. Staring at the name now, Sabrina Donovan, the long meetings and three—yes, that’s right, three—trips out to Texas for in-person meetings all came back to Johanna. She had admired Sabrina’s ambition, but the bitchiness…well, that she could have done without. Even so, scoring that account was a big achievement. She’d been able to put new windows on the house, pay the airfare for the three trips to Fort Worth, repair her barn, and save for Kam’s college tuition with that single paycheck.
Kam sat on Johanna’s filing cabinet, his bare heels thudding against the metal. The image of some little boy or girl, maybe both, sitting around a house in Texas waiting for their pi
lot daddy to come home twisted Johanna’s heart. Nothing worse than expecting family members to come home…and then they don’t.
Blinking back tears and tickling one of Kam’s feet until he giggled, Johanna dialed Sabrina’s number.
“Sabrina Donovan’s office. Aaron speaking. How may I help you?” a lispy, male voice answered.
“Hello. This is Johanna Ware. I worked for Ms. Donovan on the company’s logo a few years back. Is she available?”
“Is this in regards to the logo? I don’t think we need any updating just yet.”
“No.” Johanna cleared her throat. How did one deliver this news? Your pilots crashed your corporate plane in my field. One is dead and the other might be seriously injured. “I wanted to speak to her about her corporate pilots.”
“Please hold.”
A short commercial explaining the innovation at Donovan Electronics filled Johanna’s ear as she waited. The ad’s music was techno-ish with hisses, beeps, and other electronic noises keeping the beat. Johanna pulled up the company’s logo on her laptop. The design was one of her best. The subtle shading on the globe made it look 3D, and the lettering was blocky and futuristic. The little zig-zags of electricity shooting out from the black antennae atop the globe added some power, some zap to the entire design.
It wasn’t a logo that should have blood on it.
“Hello, Ms. Ware.” Sabrina’s voice held all the silk Johanna remembered. “Nice to hear from you. I hope business is going well.”
“Yes, it is. Thank you.”
“What can I do for you? Aaron said something about my corporate pilots.”
“There’s no easy way to say this. Your pilots crashed in my field in Nebraska. I’m afraid one didn’t survive the crash, and the other is in the hospital.”
“Oh, dear.” Sabrina gasped. “Zachary and Robert were such wonderful pilots.”
Johanna paused. Zachary and Robert? She didn’t know the name of the deceased pilot, but at least one of those names should have been Holden.
“Zachary and Robert?” Johanna asked. “The man in the hospital is named Holden Lancaster as far as I know.” Perhaps Zachary or Robert was Holden’s middle name. Maybe he didn’t go by Holden. That’d be a shame. She rather liked the unique sound of Holden.
Kisses to Remember Page 4