High Impact

by Kim Baldwin

  Emery sighed. “I don’t suppose we can make it happen on the trip, can we?”

  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Pasha smiled. “We’ve got free time built in, and you’ll have a two-person tent alone.”

  Emery got to her feet. “Then let’s get going,” she said, offering her hand. “The sooner we get there, the sooner I can seduce you.”

  Pasha put her hand in Emery’s and nearly wept with joy at the strong current that soared between them as Emery’s aura blazed gold.

  They held hands all the way back, and just before they reached the final curve before town, Pasha pulled Emery to her and kissed her again, a short but passionate cementing of their intention to follow wherever this took them.

  The bliss that had kept Pasha’s head in the clouds dissipated when they reached the runway and she spotted the Cessna in the distance. Her feeling of unease returned, even more powerful now.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  For the first time since her accident, Emery felt like her old self. No, even better—conscious of none of the numerous pins, rods, screws, and other artificial implants that cobbled her body together and with so much energy she could scale Mount McKinley, the one Alaskan adventure she’d considered but finally rejected as beyond her capabilities.

  Most amazing, though, a serene exhilaration calmed her lifelong restlessness. Even once she’d started seeing the world as she wanted, she’d experienced an underlying expectancy that remained unfulfilled. But right now, she felt absolutely content and happy.

  She followed Pasha into the hangar to help carry gear as the green-and-white Cessna taxied down the runway toward them. Toni, Ruth, and Dita already stood there, and to Emery’s surprise, so did Karla, off to one side. She obviously didn’t intend to see them off, because her medical bag and a large first-aid kit lay at her feet and she looked serious.

  As they neared, Pasha asked, “What’s going on?”

  “I’m hitching a ride,” Karla said. “I have an emergency up in Kaktovik, a little girl with a high fever. Your put-in spot’s right on the way and Skeeter’s got room.”

  “Oh, I hope she’s okay.” Pasha glanced over at the others, who had already grabbed armfuls of gear from the pile by the door. “I’m getting a kind of…odd sensation, like something’s wrong,” she told Emery and Karla in a low voice. “Maybe that’s why.”

  “If you’re sensing it’s serious, let’s get going.” Karla grabbed her kit and bag. “I’ll come back to help you load the rest.”

  “Save me the seat beside you,” Pasha told Emery as they started toward the plane carrying supplies.

  “With pleasure,” she replied. Once they’d stacked all the gear by the plane, Emery settled into the left-side seat behind Skeeter’s. Toni and Ruth sat behind her, and Karla climbed into the co-pilot’s seat. While they’d moved the gear, Skeeter had removed a second row of seats farther back to accommodate it.

  Emery glanced out the window, anxious to get underway. Skeeter stood sucking on a cigarette as he looked over the plane’s exterior, and Pasha hugged Dita good-bye. Pasha certainly had a round, well-proportioned ass and lean legs. When Pasha turned toward the plane, she caught Emery staring and smiled, but her smile was forced; she seemed worried.

  Karla seemed troubled, too. She stared straight ahead out the windshield, her jaw firmly set and her brow furrowed. Toni and Ruth chatted, laughing about something and unaware of the apparent severity of Karla’s medical mission.

  Pasha climbed in beside her, and as Dita secured the passenger door, Skeeter took his seat in the cockpit.

  “Welcome aboard, ladies. Make sure your seat belt’s securely fastened, please.” He turned in his seat. “You know where the doors are: the two in the rear and these two to the cockpit seats. We won’t be flying high enough to need oxygen, and yes, you can use your seat cushion as a floatation device in the unlikely event we have to ditch in water. In addition to your cargo, I have a survival duffel in the back and a fire extinguisher under my seat. Questions?”

  “How far to the drop-off point?” Toni asked.

  “Roughly two hundred miles. It’ll take us about ninety minutes.” Skeeter stretched the headset over his black wool cap and started the engine. “The wind’s picked up this morning, by the way, so we might go through some turbulence. I’ll try to steer clear of it.” After completing his preflight checklist, he turned the Cessna toward the runway and radioed the FAA station.

  Emery was looking out the forward windshield over Skeeter’s shoulder as they took off, so she jumped when Pasha suddenly grasped her hand, sending a jolt through her.

  Pasha’s expression had darkened further. She was obviously finding it difficult to conceal her concern.

  Leaning over so the others wouldn’t hear, Emery asked in a low voice, “Everything all right?”

  “I don’t know,” Pasha whispered. “I don’t like what I’m feeling.”

  “Is it the sick girl or something else?”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t want to alarm the others, but I usually don’t get these kinds of feelings of danger or dread unless they affect me personally. And they’re getting stronger by the minute.”

  “Do you think you should say something?” Emery whispered.

  “What? That my stomach’s in knots and I don’t know why? I can’t jeopardize the trip without good reason.”

  Emery glanced forward. They gained elevation as they neared the Brooks Range, and the plane shook as it soared through a level of rough air, but within seconds things smoothed out. She heard the click of shutters behind her. Toni and Ruth busily took pictures through the windows while pointing out objects of interest below to each other. Karla and Skeeter were calculating when she would arrive in Kaktovik.

  “And now?” Emery asked Pasha.

  Pasha shrugged. She still looked worried and didn’t stop squeezing Emery’s hand, but she stared out her window and said nothing more.

  In no time they flew above the snow-cloaked peaks, following a wide green river valley far below. Nothing but spectacular mountains as far as she could see. Another burst of turbulence shook the plane and they dropped several feet. Pasha inhaled sharply and Ruth gasped.

  Emery’s pulse quickened. Given the perfectly clear sky, the threat’s invisibility made it even more unnerving. Skeeter gained altitude to put greater separation between the plane and the mountains, but they remained in rough air for several more minutes before finally leveling out.

  “Sorry about that,” Skeeter called back. “Everyone doing okay?”

  “Beginning to wish I hadn’t had that reindeer stew,” Ruth said. “Really feeling kind of queasy.”

  “You’ll find airsick bags in the pocket behind my seat, Emery. Will you pass one back?” Skeeter asked.

  She let go of Pasha’s hand to fish one out for Ruth.

  “Anything I’d give you now probably won’t help much.” Karla unhooked her seat belt and turned around in her seat. “We’d be getting there about the time it started working.”

  “I’ll be okay as long as we don’t go through much more of that,” Ruth replied.

  Karla stared out one of the left rear windows with a puzzled expression. “Skeeter, what’s going on behind us?” Emery followed her gaze, as did Toni and Skeeter.

  A plume of smoky haze covered a wide swath of the sky behind them, rolling toward them fairly fast. Skeeter cursed under his breath and flipped on the radio. As he spoke, he increased the throttle and the propeller roared louder. “E1329D Cessna to BTT. BTT, come back?” He listened for several seconds, then repeated the call.

  As he dialed in a new frequency, Karla asked, “No one there?”

  “Jim only subs for me at the FAA station when a flight’s due in. He doesn’t hang out there otherwise like I do. I’ll try listening in on some other frequencies, see if I can locate some chatter.” He went quiet and turned the dial a couple more times before he apparently hit a significant channel.

  No one said anything. Emer
y glanced back at the haze, which seemed to be gaining on them despite their increased speed. As she straightened, the plane began to descend sharply toward the valley far below.

  “That’s volcanic ash,” Skeeter told them. He tried to appear confident and collected, but Emery could hear the tension in his voice. “Mount Wrangell erupted just about the time we took off. Everything’s grounded between there and here, and we’ve got to set down as fast as we can.”

  She looked at Pasha, who trembled all over, her face pasty white. Emery took her hand. The usual calm serenity she felt when touching Pasha had become a distraught uncertainty. Her own mouth dried.

  “Are we in trouble?” Karla asked, undisguised fear in her voice as she refastened her seat belt.

  Ruth retched, then vomited into her airsick bag. Emery tried to take shallow breaths as her own stomach recoiled in response to the sudden stench.

  “God, sorry, everybody.” Ruth moaned.

  They hit the same layer of turbulence that had made her sick in the first place, and Emery gripped the edge of her seat with her free hand as the plane vibrated and bounced. Fearful of what she’d see, she reluctantly looked back again as they neared the tops of the highest mountains.

  The ash, swept along by the turbulence they flew in, had almost caught them. Emery’s heart began to jackhammer. “It’s getting very close,” she said.

  “I know,” Skeeter replied. “Ladies, I’ll do my best to put down somewhere safely. I’ve landed in the backcountry hundreds of times. I just need a few hundred feet of solid, flat ground. As we get closer, you can all help me find a good prospect.”

  The plane dropped again, at least twenty feet this time. Karla awkwardly fumbled for one of the airsick bags, managing to open it just in time. The stench in the plane became almost unbearable, and Emery got out her own bag in readiness.

  “Pass a couple more back, will you?” Toni asked. Pasha reached for one, too.

  They had just descended below the highest peaks when the propeller began to labor. Skeeter cursed and adjusted his controls, but the sputtering continued for several more seconds before the engine quit completely.

  The sudden dead silence filled Emery with terror. No one spoke as the rate of their descent increased.

  “Mayday. Mayday. This is E1329D Cessna out of BTT.” Skeeter read their current GPS location off his instruments as he tried to restart the engine. “My engine’s quit because of the volcanic ash. Trying to restart, going in for a forced landing. I have six souls on board.” He listened for a response before repeating the call.

  The plane continued to drop. Pasha’s grip on Emery’s hand nearly cut off her circulation. Toni quietly prayed, and Karla stared forward in horror, gripping her overhead strap.

  Emery looked over Skeeter’s shoulder. He held the controls firmly with both hands, wrestling to keep the plane centered in the valley, but something was sweeping them left, toward the sheer rock cliff face of an enormous mountain.

  “Son of a bitch,” he said under his breath. Groaning from the strain, he took one hand off the controls long enough to try unsuccessfully to restart the engine. Their sideways momentum increased, buffeting the plane.

  The ground seemed to rise toward them at alarming speed. Emery could make out more features in the landscape below, and what she saw didn’t comfort her. The area looked like an enormous swamp with a river running through it, a river devoid of the sandbars she and Bryson had landed on. The waterway here was too straight and the current too strong. The banks didn’t look any better.

  The haze had reached and overtaken them. Emery found it harder to see; the plume muted the sun and cast a thin veil around the plane that partially obscured some of the surrounding landscape below and behind.

  Skeeter tried again to restart the engine, but still failed. He called back, “I don’t have much choice where to set down. I won’t be able to see anything in a couple minutes. Prepare for an emergency landing. Remove any sharp objects on your body, and when I say so, put your head down and lace your fingers behind your neck. Try to relax. I know it’s a tall order.”

  They seemed to almost level off for several seconds, as the plane caught a current of air and Skeeter worked to keep them away from the mountain. He tried repeatedly to restart the engine as they covered another mile or two and the landscape changed. In the gaps between the haze, dense forest replaced much of the swampland below on their side of the river. And the lower mountain now to their left had gentler slopes, though at this altitude, a thick layer of snow still cloaked everything.

  “I’m going to try there,” Skeeter pointed ahead at a fairly flat expanse of snow on a long ridge well above the tree line. “Best option we got. Hang on, everybody.”

  Toni’s recitation of the Lord’s Prayer accelerated, and Ruth joined in.

  Emery looked at Pasha as she gripped her hand tighter. Pasha’s eyes were wide in shock, and pure, stark horror emanated from her.

  They would all die, Emery thought. Pasha sensed it. Even without that confirmation, she wasn’t entirely surprised. She’d been luckier than anyone could expect in cheating death so far, and during her long recovery, she’d accepted that perhaps she would die prematurely. That realization had helped her overcome her fears and take the risks she had the last few months.

  But she was afraid now, and angry. She hadn’t yet done a fraction of what she wanted to, and it seemed so damn unfair to have her life snuffed out just as she’d met the most intriguing, compelling woman of her life. Most of all, she was angry that when fate came to claim her, it so often took the lives of those closest to her.

  Dear God, if it’s my time, so be it. But please don’t take Pasha and the others.

  “I’m sorry we never got the chance…” Pasha said in a shaky voice.

  She held Pasha’s hand between both of hers. “I know. Me, too.”

  “Heads down!” Skeeter commanded. “Brace for impact.” He lowered the flaps and the plane slowed dramatically.

  Emery risked a quick glance ahead before she got into the position. They hurtled toward a wall of white and were, at best, mere seconds from crashing.

  She put her head between her legs, laced her fingers together behind her neck, and closed her eyes. Her heart pounded so hard it threatened to burst through her chest. Our Father, who art—

  Emery catapulted forward against Skeeter’s seat back when they hit, then the plane somersaulted and she flew head over heels, still strapped to her seat. Time slowed, and her senses sharpened. She tasted blood as cold air rushed in and a sharp stabbing pain as something pierced her side. Screams and curses blended with the sound of tearing metal. Then all went quiet.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “Anything?” Megan stopped pacing long enough to ask.

  Dita shook her head and frowned as she set down the satellite phone. “Nothing’s working. I can’t reach anyone. Just static.” She got up and looked out the window. Volcanic ash obliterated the sun, making it like dusk. But it hadn’t fallen heavily onto the village, yet. The wind, strong and in their favor, carried the bulk of the plume high and farther west. Still, with particles visible, everyone was staying indoors with the windows shut. Not that she planned to go anywhere anytime soon. She’d remain near the phone until she heard from everyone. She worried mainly about Skeeter’s flight and Bryson’s. Both pilots had been airborne when the volcano erupted, on long flights in the plume’s path.

  No one had communications in the surrounding area, she imagined. She’d received a handful of calls in the early stages, after Grizz phoned about a breaking news report. She’d immediately turned on the office TV and watched raw footage from the scene. The news anchor reported that the initial blast from the Mount Wrangell eruption had calmed somewhat, but the volcano continued to spew ash into a strong, fast air column from the south. A graphic replaced the video, showing the ash plume’s estimated path hour by hour, Bettles located at the danger zone’s edge. She hurriedly called the other Eidson offices, telling them t
o immediately ground all flights and warn any guides out in the field.

  Despite repeated tries, Dita hadn’t been able to reach Bryson on a charter freight run between Fairbanks and Anaktuvuk Pass, or Skeeter, and though she’d contacted Chaz, the connection had failed before she said three words. Since that time, she’d heard only static from the world outside. No Internet or satellite TV, either. She’d never felt more isolated and powerless.

  Dita had faith that Chaz and her group of clients would fare all right, as long as the ash didn’t bury them and planes could fly before too long. They had nearly half the ten-day trip supplies, and Chaz had abundant experience outdoors.

  No one was better attuned to environmental changes or a better pilot in emergencies than Bryson. No doubt she’d set down somewhere to ride out the weather, well equipped with survival gear and outdoor savvy.

  She worried most about the Cessna 208. Possibly Skeeter had stayed ahead of the plume and landed safely at the drop-off spot, but from the projected speed and path of the plume, she thought it unlikely. The Cessna couldn’t fly at top speed with its heavy load, so the forward edge of the plume had probably intersected the plane’s flight about halfway.

  Studying the topographical map of the region didn’t reassure her. The area where the ash cloud had likely overtaken Skeeter consisted of high mountains, swamps, a few patches of forest, and not much else for miles in every direction. A few tiny cabins dotted the map, likely old trappers’ huts or seasonal hunting or fishing retreats. Few people occupied places up here year-round.

  The region didn’t look ideal for a forced landing, especially since the Cessna’s tundra tires limited the surfaces Skeeter could put down on. Also, Skeeter didn’t know this particular area nearly as well as Bryson. Bryson called the area between Fairbanks and the North Slope “my territory.” Skeeter had a lot fewer years in interior Alaska and tended to stick to commercial charters that took him between the more-developed airstrips at villages. Oh, he’d racked up a lot of flights in the backcountry, too, but never in this particular area. In fact, Chaz had ridden along on the first flight because she’d been there before and excelled at reading a topo map. Skeeter’s GPS would get them fairly close, but the readings up here were never ideal.