Dana Mentink - Turbulence

He scrambled to his knees, sliding against the slick surface as she helped him to his feet. They moved to the shelter of a copse of fir trees.

Maddie made sure he was not going into shock before she turned away. “I’m going back. Stay here.”

Wrigley stiffened as if he wasn’t used to taking orders. “Going back in there? The plane is on fire. We need to stay away before it blows.”

The flames were visible now, dancing through the shattered windows.

“Not until I know about the survivors and I get my father’s heart.”

He didn’t raise a hand to stop her, and she moved quickly toward the burning wreck.

The smoke was thicker now, as she approached the threshold. An overnight bag flew out the opening, almost knocking her over.

Another followed.

“Hey,” she managed.

Tai Jaden appeared in the opening. He gaped at her.

“You made it.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe anybody did. The plane is shredded.”

“Dr. Wrigley is alive.” She watched him pull out blankets and toss them onto the snow. “What are you doing?”

“We’ve gotta get any warm clothes and supplies out of here before it goes up in flames.”

“I need the Berlin Heart.”

His eyes glittered in the dim light. “I’ll get it.”

“Where’s Paul? Have you seen him?”

“The tall guy who was with Dr. Wrigley?”

“Yes.”

Jaden looked around, prowling between the piles of loosened seats. “He’s not in here. Could have been thrown out when the plane cracked apart. Some of the seats are just plain gone, from what I can see. The rear is hard to get to, but maybe I can access it from the tail end. I’ll look for the box, and then we’ll find him.” Jaden disappeared back inside.

Maddie’s mind raced. Then Paul might be lying somewhere in the snow, covered by wreckage. Had she passed right by him and not known? She felt a surge of anger. He shouldn’t have even been on the plane. He had no reason to be a part of her life anymore.

Still, she strained her eyes through the smoke and the curtain of snow that had begun to fall. He’d been right behind her, or so she’d thought, but it was clear he was not in the wreckage now. The side they’d sat on was crushed against the ground. Had he been thrown clear? The only way to get a good look was to move around to the other side of the plane. Floundering in deep pockets of snow, she traced the perimeter of the tail end, though the rudder appeared to have been sheared off. The smoke nearly blinded her, and she kept her head down to avoid breathing the toxic fumes.

The crackle of flames grew louder, along with the sound of Jaden throwing bags off the plane. He would find the Berlin Heart; and if he didn’t she would get it herself, after she found Paul. She tried to move faster, but the snow seemed to pull her down. The glint of glass shone in the sunlight, and Maddie arrived at the cockpit.

The pilots.

She realized with a start that she hadn’t given a thought to their fate.

Teeth clenched, she peered in.

The glass was veined with cracks, the far door twisted off, allowing cold air to find its way in. There was no one inside.

More missing people, she thought.

A sound caught her attention, a half shout that died away abruptly. It came from the bottom of a small, snow-covered hill. She didn’t wait to hear more. Trying to run, Maddie slipped and skidded until she crested the hill and looked down to find two men, one prone, one on his knees.

Terror filled her, thick and weighty, as she tumbled toward them.

Paul looked up from his examination of the pilot, and felt a relief so profound he thought it might drown him. For a moment, he couldn’t get the words out. “Maddie. I looked everywhere to find you. I thought…”

Maddie closed her eyes for a moment and wrapped her arms around herself. He thought he saw tears glistening on her face, but decided it must be the dazzle of sun and snow.

She was alive. Alive. He wanted to grab hold and crush her in his arms, but instead he continued to monitor the pilot’s breathing, his hands suddenly shaking. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay. Jaden is, too. Wrigley’s hurt, but alive. What about you?”

He felt buoyed by the thought that the four of them had miraculously survived. “Couple of cracked ribs, I think. I was looking for you and I found the pilot wandering. The copilot is dead. I saw him under a chunk of wreckage, but I couldn’t move it.”

The pilot’s face was ashen, and his lips moved.

Paul bent low. “I’m here, buddy. Right here. You’re going to be okay.”

His lips moved several times before the words came out. “I think…coffee was drugged.”

Paul looked at Maddie, whose face showed shock and disbelief.

“Did he say…?” Maddie started.

Paul gently lifted the man’s eyelids. “His pupils are dilated. It could be from a narcotic or a concussion.” Drugged? He didn’t have time to think more about it as the pilot’s breathing died and his heartbeat fluttered to a halt. The man was in cardiac arrest. Paul immediately began chest compressions.

Maddie knelt next to him and gave the man two breaths.

They kept up a full cycle of CPR before Maddie felt for a pulse. “Nothing.”

Paul continued, feeling guilty that he was so happy to see Maddie while a man lay in cardiac arrest before him. He couldn’t stop himself from thinking it. Thank You, God, for sparing her life. Above all things, he did not want to find her dead or dying in the wreckage. And now she knelt next to him, cheeks pink, breath making puffs in the cold air.

Maddie was alive. When he brought the pilot back, there would be only one fatality from the horrific crash. They’d wait for rescue. They would all survive.

He was so lost in the feeling, he didn’t hear her at first.

“Still no heartbeat.”

Paul blinked. “What?”

Maddie gestured to the pilot. “No heartbeat, Paul. Nothing.”

Jaden joined them. “Took me a while to find you. What can I do?”

Paul waited to answer until Maddie was giving the rescue breaths. “Do you have any medical training?”

“No, I’m just a Heartline rep.”

Paul nodded. “Can you find a tarp or piece of plastic? Anything we can use to get him off this snow?”

Jaden hesitated a moment before he disappeared over the rise.

Maddie touched Paul’s arm. “Paul, I don’t think you’re going to save him.”

Paul shook his head. “Hasn’t been down that long. I can get him started.” Though his arms were aching with fatigue, and each movement aggravated his ribs and made the wounds on his back sting, Paul kept on. “One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand,” he counted with each thrust of his hands on the man’s chest.

Maddie gave the next set of breaths, though the urgency seemed to have gone out of her. Didn’t matter. She wasn’t a doctor. She didn’t know the wildly persistent quality of human life. He’d seen people in comas suddenly wake up when doctors said there was no hope. He’d known small children to survive inhuman conditions with smiles on their faces.

A part of him filled in the rest.

And you’ve also seen plenty of people you couldn’t save with any amount of effort.

Not this time.

The pilot’s name was N. Fisher. The man thought he had been drugged, if he’d heard right, yet somehow the guy had managed to get them down alive. Paul recalled the scuffle he’d heard in the cabin and wondered about the copilot’s part in the crash. He steeled his arms and did the compressions more aggressively.

The next time he looked up, Jaden was there, and Dr. Wrigley.

Dr. Wrigley looked at him from behind glasses that sat slightly cockeyed on his face. “Dr. Ford, your patient is gone. You need to call it.”