The Pleasures of Winter (3 page)

Jack ran through every swear word he knew, and then stopped bothering while he battled the forces of gravity. His eyes watered from staring through the blanket of white, trying to pick out what was below them.

There was no doubt they were going to crash. The only question was, would it be a crash they could walk away from?

Without warning, the white gave way to green. Between
one blink and the next, they were out of the cloud and flying directly above the canopy of the rainforest. Jack wrestled the controls, trying to keep the plane level until he could spot somewhere to land.

The trees were directly underneath, so close that he swore a couple of them scraped the bottom of the plane. There was no way he could land. He checked his airspeed. Two hundred miles per hour. They were going to be mincemeat soon.

To the right, something caught his eye. A gap in the green. He banked the plane, hoping it might be a river. If that pilot could land a plane on the Hudson, he could do it too. God, this was even better than a river. It was a tiny airstrip, undoubtedly cleared by drug runners. He sucked in a breath; he might be able to land the plane.

He banked further, giving himself a bit of airspace before he began his descent. ‘Buckle up and brace yourselves,’ he yelled into the cabin. ‘We’re going down and it’s going to be a rough landing.’

He ignored the others as they shouted back at him in alarm. The pilot was a deadweight pressing into his arm as he straightened their flight path for the landing. Jack pressed his shoulder against the man, trying to get at the controls. He eased back on the throttle to reduce the speed, and tried to line up with the airstrip. It was so small it was like threading a needle.

The ground rushed up at him, faster than he expected. He cursed, trying to keep the nose up.
Wheels are good, deploy the landing gear. Lower flaps, reduce speed, what else?
Too late, he saw that the landing strip had been sabotaged. There was a massive trench across it, guaranteed to crash
any plane that tried to land. Frantically, he hauled on the steering column, forcing the plane away from the wheel-trapping trench and into the forest.

They were still carrying too much speed. Jack slammed on the brakes, but not before they smashed into the wall of green. All he could do was try to steer so that they didn’t collide head-on with one of the giant trees that stretched up to cloud level.

The jerk of a wing hitting a small tree almost knocked him over, especially when it was followed soon after by another.
So, we’re not flying out of here, then.
He was nearly blinded by the vegetation rushing at the cockpit window.

They were lucky they hadn’t crashed into anything solid enough to pulverize them. Their speed was dropping and Jack began to hope they might get out of this alive.

The plane tipped forward, knocking him off his feet and crashing his head into the control panel. Only years of physical training kept him from tumbling straight into the window, which was now the lowest point of the cockpit. From the cabin he heard screams and a yell of pain.

When Jack got back to his feet, he saw that they had tipped into a gully of some sort. They were near the top of it, and only one broken wing caught on a tree had saved them from plummeting to the bottom.

Sweating, and ignoring the trickle of blood he could feel down his neck, he forced his way back into the cabin. The floor was tilted at a dangerous angle, but by grabbing the seat backs, he could make his way along.

Abbie and Kev were buckled into the seats, both white-faced and panting, but safe. Zeke Bryan was on the ground, clutching his arm and whimpering. His seat belt
was unfastened. The dickhead hadn’t done what he had told him.

‘Zeke? How badly are you hurt?’ he asked, as he tried to assess his injuries.

The older man glared at him. ‘I broke my arm, you moron.’ He held one arm tenderly with the other. ‘What the hell were you playing at up there? Did you crash the plane?’

‘The pilot had a heart attack,’ Jack said shortly. He didn’t have time for explanations. ‘We need to get out of here now.’

‘I’m not moving. Can’t you see I’m injured?’ Zeke sounded more like a petulant child than Hollywood’s leading agent.

Jack’s vision was fuzzy around the edges and his head hurt like hell. ‘Fine, stay here and when the plane falls, you can fall with it.’

‘Falls? What are you talking about?’

‘We’re at the top of a gully with a fair drop below us. If that wing goes, we’ll fall to the bottom. I’m guessing it’s a flood culvert and next time it rains, we’ll be flotsam. It’s time to get out of here.’

Jack made his way over to the door. By bracing himself with one foot on the floor and one on the wall, he was able to open it. He assessed their situation. They’d have to climb down from the plane, drop on to the ground and then scramble up the side of the gully to the relative safety of the forest floor. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

‘How is everyone holding up?’ he asked. The last thing he needed was a hysterical female on his hands, but it was
Zeke who was hyperventilating and changing colour. ‘The hard part is over, now we just have to get out of here and we’ll be safe,’ he lied, knowing that the hard part would be staying alive.

Before he could say anything else, Zeke broke in. ‘No, I’m not all right. I’m injured. I have a broken arm. I need to go to a hospital.’

‘We’ll get you to one as soon as possible. First we need to get out of here.’ He gestured to Abbie. ‘Ladies first.’

‘Forget that,’ Zeke told him. ‘I’m injured. She’s not. I need to get down out of here and find a doctor ASAP.’

Abbie shrugged. ‘Fine by me.’

Abbie watched as Jack lowered himself carefully from the plane and dropped the last couple of feet. He skidded further down the muddy sides of the small ravine and had to climb back up. Anchoring himself on a couple of prominent roots sticking through the mud, he called up, ‘OK, Zeke, come down and I’ll catch you.’

Even with Kev lowering him and Jack guiding his feet, getting the agent out of the plane was a nightmare. He yelped and complained non-stop, occasionally screaming with pain. Jack caught him around the waist and lowered him to his feet before he helped him struggle up the few feet to the top of the gully. Zeke collapsed in a heap at the top, moaning piteously.

Jack then changed his mind about the order of exit. ‘Kev, could you come down now and bring the first-aid kit with you?’

Whatever happened to women and children first? If
the plane moved again, she was going with it.
Tragedy as journalist survives plane crash, only to drown in river.

‘Sure thing.’ Kev threw a small bag down to Jack, who tossed it up on to the bank. Then he guided Kev to a safe landing.

‘Now you, Abbie.’

She took one last look around the cabin and patted her rucksack. Her laptop was safe, but where was her recorder?

‘Just a moment, I have to get a few things.’

As she moved down the cabin, the plane shuddered.

‘Now, Abbie,’ Jack roared.

‘In a minute,’ she called. She dropped to her knees in front of the seat where she had been sitting. It had to be here. A shout from overhead startled her.

‘What the hell are you doing? Get out of here now.’ Jack had climbed back into the plane and was glaring down into her open rucksack.

‘I’m trying to find my recorder,’ she snapped. ‘There’s some stuff on it I really need.’

She watched as his jaw clenched and unclenched. ‘We have crash-landed in the fucking jungle. It’s a miracle we’re not spaghetti sauce right now, and you are worrying about a bit of plastic? Forget the fucking recorder. Forget the laptop and leave your other stuff behind. We can’t carry it.’

Abbie winced. Jack Winter in a temper was pretty terrifying, but she needed her notes. She opened her mouth to argue but he cut her off.

‘You’re leaving this plane now. Tell me what you need and I’ll get it for you.’

‘My recorder.’ The plane lurched again, and she yelped.

‘You have thirty seconds while I get some supplies. Then you are going out that door on your ass.’

Next thing, emergency parachutes and blankets were flying past as Jack tossed them through the open door. She saw him stuff his pockets with packets of nuts and miniature bottles of spirits and then filling a bag with bottles of water and pre-packaged meals.

She touched the digital recorder wedged under the seat, pulled it out and shoved it into her pocket. She could hear Jack moving in the cockpit. There must be something she could do to help him.

She was horrified when she saw the pilot’s distorted body and the front of the plane so badly smashed up. For the first time since they landed, she wanted to be sick. She didn’t know how Jack Winter had landed the plane safely. Her annoyance turned to admiration.

The pilot was twisted into an awkward position in the mangled cockpit. Jack braced himself with his feet on the control panel and tried to pull him out. The pilot was stuck. He winced as a piece of mangled plastic dug into his side.

Don’t be such a girl, Marshall. Help him
. She grasped the plastic and moved it out of his way, stifling a cry as she sliced her palm on the sharp edge.

‘I don’t think that we can move him,’ Jack said.

Abbie stared at the man wedged under the instrument panel. It could be any one of them. ‘We can’t just leave him here. We have to bury him.’

‘Abbie.’ Jack’s tone was sharp. ‘I need you to hold him up while I try the radio.’

The pilot’s body was still warm. Abbie tried not to look
at his face while Jack tried the radio, but it was as dead as the pilot. There was no help coming. They were stuck.

The plane shifted again.

‘We’re leaving here, right now,’ he said.

Abbie couldn’t move. Frozen to the spot, she could feel the plane shudder as it moved beneath her feet. Then Jack was grabbing her shoulders, urging her back into the main cabin. He paused long enough to rifle through the pilot’s locker, removing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, before pushing her to the door.

Jack yelled at Kev to be ready. He threw down the bag of supplies and then lowered her down. Even in this situation, she couldn’t help noticing Jack’s distinctive scent, musk and man, something that was uniquely him. Her breasts brushed his chest and she blushed at the intimate contact.

As he jumped down to the side of the gully behind her, the plane shifted again. With a creak of metal, the wing holding it in place twisted and the crippled aircraft toppled down. Jack gripped a root, desperately trying to prevent them being pulled down with it.

‘It’s OK. I’ve got you,’ he said.

The crash as the plane hit was shockingly loud. The cacophony of sound grew louder still as every animal and bird in the area screamed in response. Anyone nearby would be bound to hear it. She clung to him for a long moment. Being held by Jack was like being in the eye of a storm. She had never felt so safe.

‘Abbie.’ Jack’s voice took on a teasing tone. ‘Much as I’m enjoying this, I think we’d better get out of here.’

Her eyes shot open. What was she thinking? She was
clinging to Jack Winter like a baby monkey. Abbie pushed away from him quickly, straightening her wrinkled clothes to cover her confusion.
I am not attracted to him. I am not attracted to him. I just banged my head
. Once she felt composed, she raised her eyes to his.

The sardonic expression was gone, replaced with a glint of amusement and something she couldn’t fathom.

‘What happens now? I guess we stay near the plane and wait to be rescued?’

Jack closed his eyes. ‘Abbie.’ His voice was strained, as if he were trying to keep it under control. ‘What rescue? We are in the middle of the jungle. Miles from civilization. Our priority is survival.’

Survival? No. No way. This was not turning into one of those ridiculous programmes on TV where everyone ended up spending all day looking for something dry to burn and eating rats.

‘They’ll find us soon,’ she said with more confidence than she felt. ‘The pilot sent a Mayday and they’ll –’

‘There was no Mayday. There wasn’t time.’

Her stomach flipped. ‘Transponder?’ she asked hopefully.

Jack ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I don’t know. You saw the front of the plane. It was pretty smashed up.’

Abbie took a deep breath. No one knew they were here.
Don’t panic. Do not panic.

‘Come on, Kev has a medical kit. You can patch up that hand.’

Abbie battled shock as she sat at the top of the ravine while Kevin examined her hand. Keeping her head in a crisis went with the territory – an easily spooked journalist was useless – but she had just been in a plane crash. Now she was in the middle of the Honduran jungle with three men she didn’t know, and all she could think about was what a great story it would be.
Forget the celebrity interview, look at the story I’ve got.

She was savouring the brief moment of calm when Jack turned round and stared sharply at her and Kevin.

‘I didn’t realize this was a dating service,’ he said.

‘You think –’

She spluttered to a halt, lost for words. It was beyond ridiculous. On the plane she had been so overwhelmed by Jack Winter that she had allowed his attitude to slide. But now they were going to be stuck in the wilderness for who knew how long. She shuddered. She couldn’t think about that – and she was just going to have to toughen up around him. Just because he was hotter than hell didn’t mean he wasn’t a jerk. And she knew how to put jerks in their place.

Kevin finished cleaning up her hand. He grinned at his friend and put his arm around her. ‘Don’t mind Jack. He likes to push people. Now me, I like to stroke them.’ And he rubbed her back in a way that felt suspiciously like a caress. No – she was imagining things.

Jack scowled. ‘Kev, we don’t have time for you to chase pussy.’

Abbie felt like he had stung her and she jumped away from Kevin.

‘How dare you? What century do you think you are living in? What sort of crude, distasteful, chauvinistic thing is that to say to anyone?’

She would have continued, but Jack cut in. ‘And we don’t have time for a lecture in feminism either. We’ve got to focus on survival here.’