Crashed into Love: Boxed Set (7 page)

“The electronics are out. The wheels won’t go down,
so we’ll be landing on the undercarriage of the plane. Captain Anderson and
Liam sound confident, but just in case, they’ve arranged for ambulances and
fire trucks to be our welcoming committee.” I straightened. “We have to stay
calm and collected for the passengers’ sake, and make sure you tighten your
harnesses as tight as they’ll go. Any questions? We need to buckle up. We’re
almost there.”

Joslyn sniffed and I ignored the twisting in my
belly. Holding a pilot’s license didn’t make this any easier. In fact, it made
it worse as I knew how bad it could be. Any squall of wind or quiver of
turbulence, and the pilots might not be strong enough to stay in the clouds.
The huge tonnage of aircraft could sink from the heights of atmosphere to the
depths of the ocean.

“I’m glad you’re keeping a straight head, Nina. I
signed up for fun and travel. I’m not so good in stressful situations,” Sam
admitted. She patted me on the back and headed to her seat.

Joslyn gave me a wry look. “If we survive this,
we’re
so
going to drink tonight.”

I laughed. The thought of a drink after flying with
death filled me with hope.

Joslyn and I sat in our chairs and strapped ourselves
in. I pulled the harness across my chest tighter than any corset.

The plane’s nose dipped, and we picked up speed as
we descended into the Pacific Islands. The only thing visible from the portal
window were fluffy cotton-candy clouds and blue horizon. In that moment, I
wished we could float up here forever. Not worry about gravity or landing with
no tires. There would be no smooth transition from sky to earth, not on
crunching metal.

My breath caught as a judder bar of turbulence
jostled us. Passengers flinched, crying out.

We inched lower and lower to the sparkling teal
ocean. I had no doubt the pilots would be drenched in sweat, muscles bulging,
fighting to keep the jumbo-beast weightless. Every inch we dropped, every
centimetre we slowed, the plane would grow heavier and heavier. I wished I
could be up there—helping.

Captain Anderson came over the intercom. “Ladies and
Gentlemen, we are about to touch down in Samoa. We request you ensure your seat
belts are securely fastened and you assume the brace position as marked on your
inflight manual in your seat pocket. Please place your arms above your head and
lean against the seat in front of you. There is no cause for alarm, but we will
be performing this arrival with no landing gear. It will be a little rough, but
nothing we can’t handle. Thank you for your compliance. We shall see you when
we’re on solid ground.”

Passengers’ voices rose with terror, but most did as
instructed, tucking their neck down, protecting their head with their arms. I
wished I could do that. Facing backward, with nothing to grab, was eerily
lonely.

Palm trees suddenly replaced the sweeping ocean as
we glided from aqua to soil. The green fronds grew closer, speeding faster and
faster as we ate up the last few meters of air.

The split moment before we touched down, I took a
deep breath and held it. Gripping my harness over my breasts, I closed my eyes.
Please let us survive.

The plane kissed tarmac with a teeth-clenching
metallic screech. We jack-knifed into the sky again, jarring my neck; ripping
screams from adults and children alike.

The engines screeched into reverse as the pilots
fought to brake. A hot, agonising slice rippled down my spine from whiplash as
we kangarooed into the air again. A fraction of a moment later we collided with
runway and stayed.

My vision danced with stars and flecks of light from
the pain in my back, and my hands fell from my harness like limp, uncooked
dough. For a glimmer of time, everything was eerily suspended in empty
blackness as if I was paralysed, but then sound and awareness fast-forwarded me
back to the realm of sensation, and I gasped.

We were a rocket. A cannonball on a deadly
trajectory.

Our speed didn’t diminish as we shot forward,
fishtailing, and shrieking. The plane moaned and groaned, rivets popped from
panels, metal buckled and warped. Without the aid of brakes, all the pilots had
to use were flaps, engine, and ailerons. Wind roared and howled as the aircraft
tried to stop. How long was the runway? Would we careen off the end?

We hurtled toward a bank of ambulances and fire
trucks. Blurred uniformed staff huddled as they watched us blast past.

Glowing fireworks and sparks rained around us from
metal on asphalt and inch by agonising inch speed relinquished its hold. With a
sound of a dying bull, the plane lurched to a stop, and we balanced
precariously on its belly, before slamming to the left and resting on a wing
tip.

My breath whooshed from my lungs. They did it! We
were safe. Liam. I wanted to throw my arms around his neck and kiss him. To thank
him for saving my life and a hundred others. If anyone deserved my promise to
be open with someone, it was him. Not only did he fly like me, he saved my life
with his talent. Sure, Captain Anderson had a lot to do with it… but, my body
didn’t tingle around him.

Samantha and Joslyn looked at me with grey faces,
before breaking into glowing grins.

“Well, we didn’t die.” Joslyn chortled.

My body was an over-cooked noodle—rubbery and weak
from adrenaline, but I was the happiest I’d ever been. Nothing like almost
dying to put things in perspective.

The entire plane erupted into claps and cheers.

My skin broke into goose bumps at the sheer wondrous
knowledge we’d all been through a catastrophe and survived.

I unfastened my harness, groaning. My neck was a twisted
cord of contusion and pain. It took a few moments to unkink my spine enough to
stand. Wobbling, I sat again and gingerly wrenched off my heels so I wouldn’t
be unbalanced by the slope of resting on the wing.

The more I moved, the more lubrication my spine
received, and the agonising hot flashes receded to a dull ache.

I checked outside the window for flames or other
debris, before picking up the intercom and calling the pilots.

Captain Anderson answered. He breathed heavily, but
there was a satisfied smile in his voice. “Everything okay back there, Nina?”

“Yes, sir. Everyone’s intact and giving you
applause.”

W
e were gonna die.

As much as I didn’t want to be an over-dramatic
asshole, I knew landing with no landing gear wasn’t exactly advised in the
pilot’s handbook.

Shit, Joslyn. I hoped she was okay. And Nina… how
did she suffer under pressure? 

“You alright there, Mikin?”Anderson gruffed, sweat
dripped off his nose from battling the airplane.

The control column jerked forward as the aircraft
fought—wanting to meteorite to earth, hating us for stopping its suicide.

I reached forward, gathering more strength from my
depleted muscles to keep the plane stable. “I’m good.”

I thanked my flying roster Anderson was my partner.
He was capable, unflappable, and his confidence kept me level-headed.

“Call ahead. You’re in command of radio,” he clipped
as he pulled a huge ring binder from the middle console and flicked to some
fine print that might have the answer of how to fix our predicament.

Hands shaking, I pressed my radio button. “This is
KA93, Charlie, Romeo, Zulu, requesting aid due to an electronic malfunction.
Mayday Mayday.”

The nose dipped even further, leaving me with a
birds-eye view of the shimmering turquoise ocean, interspersed with tiny palm
tree-groaning islands. Hell, I didn’t want to land face first into water. It
would be hard as concrete and just as deadly.

“Go ahead KA93, we hear you.”

Ignoring my racing heart, I stated calmly.
“Requesting emergency clearance for the nearest runway. Over.”

There was a crackle and pause. “Nearest runway is
Faleolo International Airport, Samoa. I can arrange emergency clearance. State
distance please.”

Was there nothing closer? Would we make it?
Could
we make it?

Anderson threw the ring binder into the back; it
slammed against the cockpit door. “There’s nothing in there that can help us.”
Manually changing the flap angle, he grabbed his controls, muttering, “We’re
going to pull together. Real hard. Got it? We’ll make it to Samoa.”

My eyes flew to all the gauges in front of me, so
used to reading them to work out distance and time. They were useless.
Everything electronic was dead. Fucking fantastic. We were eight thousand feet
in the air with no instruments. We had been a lot higher, but that was before
our plummet with death.

My heart escaped up my throat as the plane ignored
our attempts to keep it level and tried to nosedive again.
Oh shit!

Shrill beeping filled the cockpit with warnings that
whatever we were doing wasn’t kosher. No shit, we were free falling.

I had no intention of being shark food.
Ah,
runway
. The slither of tarmac beckoned us in the distance.

Anderson’s face sheened with sweat as he wrenched
with all his might on the controls. I joined him, heaving and puffing,
wrangling the plane into submission.

Gulping back my disbelief, I made my last call. Or I
hoped it wasn’t my last call. Hell, I didn’t want to die. I had so much to live
for. I hated that I hadn’t had the guts to say what I really wanted to Nina.
Goddammit, this wasn’t right.

My voice was sharp with nerves.“KA93 coming in hot.
ETA six minutes at current velocity.”

Anderson added, “Require ambulance and fire engine
escort. Over.”

Immediately, a male voice said, “Roger. We’ll
organise your request. God speed, gentlemen. Over.”

My palms sweated around my control column; I looked
at Anderson.

“We need to get the nose up for preparation. On the
count of three.” He raised an eyebrow. “One… two… three!”

A groan wrenched from my lungs as I heaved. Biceps
trembled, abs rippled with tension as we both fought an aircraft that
outweighed us a thousand to one.
Come on, you bitch. I’m not ready to die.

“That’s it. Keep pulling!” Anderson shouted.

Incredibly, with screaming engines and whistling
air, we inched the nose higher, ready to land.

A bright grin split Anderson’s lips, hidden under
his moustache. “Good work, Mikin. Now all we need to do is hold her.”

An eerie calm filled the cockpit. Both of us
absorbed with thoughts. Would they be our final thoughts or would we get
through this safely? All I could think of was Nina. When I spoke to her after
the first nosedive, she’d been quiet, and the thread of fear was unmistakable
in her voice, but she was also calm. And so switched on. Her intelligence was
one of the first things that drew me to her almost a year ago.

The fact she wasn’t broken and bruised kept me
fighting hard. So far, Anderson and I had done well by the passengers, and I
wasn’t about to stop as we descended way too fast.

 I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t make it—I’d
wasted so many months waiting for a perfect opportunity to ask Nina out on a
date, and it never came. As I waited, I learned. And the more I learned, the
more I cared. I had a rather large secret where Nina was concerned and my
feelings were a little tangled.

Trying to keep my thoughts on the present, I asked
Anderson, “What do you think happened?”

He shrugged. Excellent pilots we were when we
couldn’t answer such a simple question. “Don’t know. Whatever it was, it was
dangerous enough to leave us a bird with no electronics.” Anderson frowned. “I
don’t get why we lost control. The engines are firing. We shouldn’t have to
fight so hard to keep her airborne.”

I shifted, rolling my aching shoulders. Shit, our
time was up. Two minutes to touch down by the speed we hurtled. “Guess the CAA
will have to investigate. When we’re on the ground.” I liked the sound of that:
on the ground. Safe. 

Anderson wiped his face from drips of sweat and
turned on the intercom, telling the passengers to get ready. He performed his
speech well with a calmness I doubted I’d be able to pull off. After finishing,
he said, “You can do the honours. Call the girls. Tell them to prepare.”

This was happening too fast. I wanted to be on the
ground, but I didn’t like how our journey would go to get there. Nina answered
the phone. Where was Samantha? Wasn’t she in charge of the cabin?

“Yes?”

Not worrying about who was in charge, I said, “Get
everyone secured and make sure everything is locked down. Okay?”

She whispered, “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t
gonna be a simple touch down?”

Captain Anderson joined the conversation. “Nina, all
our electronics are down. Do you understand what I mean?”

Almost immediately, she answered, “The landing gear
won’t come down.” God, she was bright. And stunning. And amazing.

“Correct. And for some reason it’s jammed, and we
can’t activate it manually. We’re going to land on our belly. It’s going to be
bumpy, loud, and might end in flames. But we’ve already called for fire engines
and paramedics to be on the runaway in Samoa.” He paused before adding, “Just
remember your training and everything will be fine.”

“Will do, Captain. I look forward to seeing you on
the ground.”

“Me too, Nina. Me too,” Captain Anderson replied.

I butted in before he terminated the connection.
“Make sure your harness is on extra tight. Do you hear me?” If my stomach
wasn’t a knotted ball of stress already it would be, knowing she was back there
dealing with hysterical passengers.

“I’ll cinch it as tight as it will go. Liam?”

Hopefully her harness would keep her from injury.
Joslyn better have the common sense to do the same. “Yes?”

“Stay safe up there. I know you’ll bring us to the
airport in one piece.”

Her concern ripped me to shreds. Even though she
didn’t know me and believed in the false rumours, she still cared. That was who
she was. A caring, sharing, giving person who thought she hid her emotions so
well. Didn’t she know I was like her?

Of course, she didn’t.

I never had the guts to talk to her before. Instead,
I learned about her from the shadows. Prying information from Joslyn and Theo,
revelling in learning more about the girl who fought so hard for what she
wanted and didn’t share her dreams. We were so similar it was scary.

I tried to chuckle light-heartedly. “That’s the
plan. Right, I gotta go.”

The moment I hung up, air traffic control warbled in
my ear. “Your escort is waiting. Standing by. We see you on the horizon. Over.”

Anderson breathed hard as the plane increased its
effort to plummet. “Roger.”

His eyes flashed to mine. “Ready?”

I nodded, looking out the window at the swaying palm
trees and picture perfect island. I didn’t want to think how messy this was
gonna get. “Yep.”

Engines squealed louder as we soared the last few
feet. I tensed, pulling with everything I had as we paused in the last pillow
of air before touch down.

Time suspended. I froze. Then everything restarted
and eye-watering speed was the only factor

Oh… shiitt.

The first jolt exploded as if the plane was being
devoured by metal-eating beasts. The shrieking and ear-piercing bedlam
shuddered through the plane.

Anderson yelled commands, but I couldn’t hear him
over the metal-buckling noise.

I reached to the middle console and slammed the
engines into reverse. Anderson yanked the flaps to increase drag. The noise of
the jet screaming and air yowling filled me with dread. 

We bounced and one of the buckles of my harness
unlocked. I slammed forward to connect with my steering column. White light
flashed as intense pain rippled through my head. Fuck, that hurt.

Anderson yelped but I didn’t see what happened. I
hoped he wasn’t too hurt.

We skidded and slipped, every centimetre heralded
doom as the runway grew shorter and shorter. A bank of jungle welcomed us,
waiting for our carnage.

Unbelievably, the engines managed to twist air to
force our speed to slow. The flaps were our lifesavers as we slowly stopped our
Formula One speed and came to a leaning halt on a wing tip.

My head thundered in time with my heart. Pressure
built full of amazement that we survived.

The phone rang in my headset and Anderson answered,
breathing heavily. He shot me a weary grin. “Everything okay back there, Nina?”

“Yes, sir. Everyone’s intact and giving you applause.”

We couldn’t hear the applause, but relief knowing
she was okay helped sooth my racing pulse, giving me a pocket of calm. My brain
crashed against my skull with every surge of my over worked heart. Every tidal
wave of pain brought with it newer maladies, adding to the lingering thud.
Hell, that was a nightmare of a landing.

Anderson groused, “I never want to go through that
again.” He rested his head against his captain’s chair.

I totally agreed. I didn’t sign up to be a crash
pilot. I’d never been so terrified in my life. Not just for my well-being, but
for the hundreds of others we were responsible for.

Shifting in my chair, my headphones choked me as
they fell off my ears, dangling around my neck. I cursed as my head thickened
with more pain. Damn my harness for failing me. 

I reached up and touched my hairline. I was a sweaty
mess like I’d run a hundred kilometres on my treadmill, and a slippery warmth
had my heart coughing.

Peering at my bright blood, I frowned. There was a
lot more blood than there should be for a nasty knock. Sure, it hurt like the
devil, but I swore it wasn’t as bad as the crimson on my fingers said.

I stood gingerly and every bone in my body ached. My
back muscles, my arms, my abdominals—they all snarled. It was flipping hard
work keeping a Boeing in the sky. It made sense—all that metal, rivets, and
heavy engines. I never knew how much I loved auto pilot until today.

I had to find Joslyn, make sure she was okay. My dad
and step mom would never forgive me if I didn’t swoop in like a dashing knight
and check she was uninjured. Then again, I was part of the reason why she
survived a crash landing. What the hell caused the bang? I needed answers. I
hated being in the dark; hated being at the mercy of a failing piece of machinery. 

My thoughts tripped spastically for a moment before
I allowed myself to focus on Nina. I’d hoped to break the ice between us by
offering to take her flying, but that hadn’t gone nearly as well as I hoped. No
hug of gratitude, no real smile or thawing. My teeth ground as I recalled
Joslyn interrupting us. I swear she liked to make my life a constant annoyance.
Especially if I was interested in a girl. Meddling little brat.

Maybe now, after a near death experience, Nina would
be more open to having me as a friend. I snorted.
Friend.
Yes, because
that’s what I wanted to be.

Stumbling toward the door, I struggled with double
vision. “Are you going to be alright, Anderson?”