Falling(49)

“You guys done with compliance?” Jo asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Daddy said on the other end of the line.

“And you’re all briefed?”

Daddy confirmed that they were. “And you owe me five dollars.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Who?”

“The couple in row thirteen. Look in the aisle.”

Jo turned around and stifled a laugh. Sure enough, a middle-aged couple stood in the aisle, struggling to remove their inflated life vests.

“Oh, bless their hearts,” Jo said, and laughed, not actually that surprised.

The plane dipped slightly. It made the threat feel imminent.

“Okay,” Jo said. “Put your masks on first, then direct the passengers to. Then I want you and Kellie in the back, in your jump seats, ready for landing. Got it?”

“But—”

“This landing could be rough,” she said, cutting him off. “Last thing we need is you two flailing about. And we don’t need you up here. I’ve got my ABPs and we’ll handle it. But you two know this plane and you know what to do in an emergency. The passengers are going to need you alive for this. Understood?”

Daddy sighed. “Understood. But for the record, I don’t like you up there alone with that guy.”

Jo looked over to Josip. She didn’t like it either. He had nearly two feet on her.

“I won’t be alone,” Jo said, trying to sound more convinced than she was. “If he tries something I got a whole plane full of backup. The mob is with us, remember?”

Daddy mumbled his agreement. He was clearly not convinced, and neither was she. But they both knew they didn’t have another option.

After hanging up, Jo opened the first overhead bin, aircraft left, and unbracketed her portable oxygen bottle. She pulled the strap over her head, the bottle crossing her body at a diagonal. Taking the yellow mask out of the pouch, she twisted the valve counterclockwise until the number “4” appeared in the little window at the bottle’s neck. Placing a finger inside the cup, she felt for a flow of air before sniffing it. It was odorless. Donning the mask, she pulled the loose straps tight, the plastic cup cutting into the bridge of her nose. Then she swung the bottle around until it came to rest awkwardly across her back. With a glance aft, she saw Kellie and Daddy finishing the same maneuvers.

Walking through first class, she helped her volunteers into their masks and pulled down the tubes to start the flow of oxygen. It was a calm and even intimate exercise. But when she resumed her place at the front of the plane and turned back to look at them, the mood shifted.

It was the eyes.

The masks covered the passenger’s faces. Jo couldn’t tell if someone was smiling or frowning. If they were wrinkling their nose or sticking out their tongue. Asking a question or yelling at her to watch out. Every action, every intention, every emotion was channeled through the eyes.

Jo started a final compliance check. A nod here, a thumbs-up there. Her cabin was ready to go and Kellie and Big Daddy were almost finished in the main cabin. Jo nodded to Big Daddy halfway across the cabin. He tipped his head in response, retreating to the aft galley to assume his post. Jo turned around at the bulkhead. Something caught her attention.

It was light, reflecting off a pair of shiny plastic pilot wings. The little boy who had visited Bill and Ben in the cockpit before the flight sat in the first row of the main cabin.

His father grasped the child’s hand in a protective gesture. The boy’s feet dangled off the edge of his seat, small shoes punctuating the ends of short legs; it would be many years before they’d be long enough to reach the floor. His intense green eyes were positively glowing, overpowering the mask that dwarfed and marred his cherub face.

The boy’s father checked his seat belt, probably for the tenth time. She could see the man mentally preparing their evacuation. Unbuckling their seat belts and grabbing the boy in his arms as they moved toward the exit, clutching him to his body as they slid to safety. The man was living in the future but the boy was not with him.

The boy was still in the plane, still in the here and now. He looked around at the swaying masks and the sparkling lights. Jo could imagine his angelic mouth under the mask, parted in awe. The boy wasn’t full of fear. He was overcome with wonder.

Witnessing that, Jo found that the weight of the moment was still painfully heavy, but she didn’t need to suffer while carrying it.

A high-low chime rang through the cabin with a green light. Jo glanced to the back of the plane as she walked to the phone, wondering why Big Daddy was calling again.

“Everything okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Big Daddy answered.

She waited for him to say something else.

“Y’all good on your oxygen?” she said after he didn’t speak. She adjusted her tank, the awkward bulk shifting across her back.

“Yes, ma’am. We strapped them over one shoulder, diagonal across our backs. You?”

“Same,” Jo said, watching Kellie in the back of the plane tightening the strap on her tank, Big Daddy beside her on the phone. “Anyway,” Jo said, turning the cabin lights one shade brighter, “I think we’re ready.” Glancing at Josip, she dropped her voice. “Nothing new to report from up here.”

Again, she waited for Big Daddy to say something. But he didn’t say anything else. Jo needed to focus.