Authors: Dominick Fencer,Baibin Nighthawk
68
Brad Foster was looking out the window when Mark entered the room.
"Hello Brad, what's the score?"
"Zero, and that’s no lie. I feel much better, and my sexual urges are down to mental fantasies with one woman. This time mature, she’s an experienced woman, but I don’t punch the clown. Moreover, I don’t feel agitated and I’ve started reading a book. My head is much less confused, doctor."
"That’s great. If you go on like this, in three days we can begin to gradually decrease the dosage of the drugs. Relax now, so that we can begin our hypnosis session."
Two hours later, Mark was having lunch with Marshall and they discussed the Alan Cox case.
"He doesn’t have hypnagogic hallucinations and no longer believes that he is dead. Mark, I think you were right, I find that he’s getting better and more clear-headed. Did he say anything peculiar during his hypnosis sessions in relation to his trauma?"
"Nothing special,” replied Mark. “It’s very likely that the heavy work load and job stress caused the chain of reactions that eventually led to the Cotard syndrome and the violent panic attacks. Always traveling, usually with a bodyguard in tow, it must be very hard to negotiate with the various military regimes about permits, contracts and oil supplies. Cox is often in Africa, which says something."
"If this keeps up, when do you think you will release him?"
"In three weeks, if all goes well."
"So tell me, Davis said to me that you are an experienced pilot. I'd like to fly..." Marshall let his voice trail off, But Mark was happy to pick up on the idea:
"Great, I would be happy to take you up, I really miss flying. Let’s organize a flying day. Where can I rent a light sport aircraft around here?"
"My cousin Paul is a member of Air Park, the runway there is longer than 3000 feet, so it's very easy. They have aircraft rental services with several aircrafts available, especially STOLs."
"And so you are an expert! Do you fly with him from time to time?"
"Unfortunately only rarely. Paul is a surgeon and he has very little free time. If you like, we can go tomorrow."
"I'll pick you up at 12:00 at home?" suggested Mark.
"Okay perfect. I can imagine you tonight sitting in front of the computer preparing the flight plan!"
"It’ll be just like that. See you tomorrow David. Have a good evening! I’m going to the lab with the residents for a couple of hours, then I'm going home."
That evening Mark prepared couscous with chicken and vegetables and a chocolate mousse that he had learned to prepare in London from a French chef. Then he went to check the weather forecast and the TAF for the next day, and finally he chose the air route.
At midnight he set the sat nav up on his tablet and then he went to sleep as the fighting expression in the eyes of Anaïs Degann accompanied him from slumber to sleep.
Mark could not find his father, he must warn him of the impending danger, the tip was reliable, it came from sources inside the CIA.
The situation in Mogadishu had worsened and the city was sinking into chaos. Turner C. Cooper had to leave Somalia as soon as possible. They were lying in ambush for him.
All of a sudden, a few dozen yards away, a U.S. helicopter crashed to the ground hit by an anti-tank rocket, raising a huge cloud of dust. Mark could only hear the cries of the people and the screams of the soldiers imprisoned in the wreckage.
Mark woke up in apnea. He was dripping with sweat, and when he realized that it was a nightmare, he got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face. He drank a glass of milk and went back to bed, trying to fall asleep again.
69
"Damn, made me jump!" Anaïs said, turning the alarm off awkwardly.
‘Ah! I'm at Biosketch Technologies Inc., as a result of being in a different place every day, each time I have to think really hard to realize where I am when I wake up each morning. According to Jago they should bring me my breakfast in bed, and I should find the aircraft fully equipped and ready for take-off on the runway, with a nurse on board…’
“Hello?” Her smartphone had started to ring. It was Jago Green.
"Are you attractive now, or do you still look like Dracula?"
"A good beginning makes a good ending, so you win your first ‘fuck you’ of the day. For your information, since you seem to care so much, I still look like Dracula, downright disgusting; but today, I think I can mask it all with make-up. What’s up?"
"I'm coming up with your breakfast for the briefing, so put your clothes on and don't play the same trick on me as last time."
"What a prig you are! Bring me a pair of boots too, these boots are for a pussy and it is best that I use them in the city and not when I am in camouflage and in action."
"Ok, you have ten minutes, then I'll be with you."
After about ten minutes Jago C. Green knocked on Skylinep92’s door, he was carrying a tray and a plastic bag containing the combat boots.
"Hello Green! Bravo! Yes, these are pretty cool!"
As Jago put the tray on the desk, she tried her boots on.
"Anaïs, you look way better, would you like a French kiss?"
"I already have pancake in my mouth, you moron, and frankly I prefer it much more, no thanks,” replied Skylinep92 calmly.
"You will find a male nurse on board, and with him you will collect three men from Oklahoma. They have had transplants but apparently something didn’t work properly, a microorganism is causing an infection, so they need to be examined and treated in our medical facilities. You will take them back to Oklahoma in two days."
"Where exactly?"
"Alva Regional Airport. Three ambulances will bring them to the airport and then they will come back to pick them up on your return. They are all residents of the state and are being treated at the Alva hospital that is accredited for "Transtem 1.1"."
"What condition are they in?" asked Skylinep92.
"They have been sedated to avoid causing them pain and discomfort, they won’t communicate."
"Is one male nurse enough?"
"For the outward flight, certainly; on the return flight you will have a specialist in anesthesia and resuscitation and the physician who is caring for them on board."
"Why?"
"They will have to perform another surgical intervention on them."
"Ok, I have seen the METAR and the forecasts, during the outward flight everything will be fine, but as for the return flight the weather will be changeable, transitory precipitations are expected from time to time, intense but short-lived."
"But you have to come back here."
"Of course, Green! Let's see how it goes, certainly I’ll not take any risks since I have passengers with me, but in case of need I'll land and wait till the weather improves."
"Are you ready?"
"Let me finish the pancakes and the coffee, I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to eat later on."
"I'll be waiting for you on the runway, Skylinep92. In the meantime I’ll check on the aircraft and the passengers, then I'll check back with you. When the three men are on board, use the detector as a precaution, I want to avoid any bad surprises. We have engaged you, not a professional pilot, to avoid problems with the press as we don’t want them spreading bad news and unnecessary alarmism."
"It seems over the top to me as this is a public project, but I’ll do it. I know the Colonel very well, and I want to avoid being reprimanded. He cannot wait to do that," said Anaïs.
"Yeah, I got one just yesterday. I'll wait for you outside, bye."
Anaïs finished her coffee, took her tablet onto which she had installed a satellite navigation system, set all the parameters and walked to the runway.
The passengers were already on board, and Jago C. Green was completing the checklist.
Skylinep92 began the external routine check of the twin-engine Otter then she climbed aboard and set the controls. She began the takeoff procedure, she said hello to her host without presenting herself for safety reasons, she made a gesture with her hand towards Green and left the parking lot.
70
Anaïs landed at Alva Regional Airport on schedule, the trip had been quiet and the male nurse had fallen asleep.
When she turned off the engines, two ambulances approached the plane, but Anaïs did not authorize anyone to leave until she had returned from the bar, having quickly drunk a cup of coffee.
The operations lasted forty minutes and she verified that there were no bugs or geo-positional locator devices on the material or the people onboard; meanwhile, the male nurse took care of the patients who were placed in the special seats that had been specially prepared by Biosketch Technologies Inc. for patient transport.
Once all the necessary checks had been carried out, SkylineP92 glanced at the METAR and SIGMET, which had been issued a half-hour before and grimaced with disappointment: the cold front had moved faster than expected, and therefore she would have to anticipate a possible landing during the trip.
Having three sedated patients as passengers that might need immediate treatment, she traced out an alternative route. She entered the airfields suitable for landing or transit into the GPS navigator, and then she began the routine checks.
71
"David, I fear that the day is going to change for the worse,” said Mark, “if you agree, we can go immediately to the Dallas Air Park, grab a bite at the airport and in the meantime I’ll choose the plane."
"Sounds good to me," replied David Marshall with a smile.
"I checked the forecast and SIGMET again, we’re comfortable up to about 3:30 pm, afterwards we need to understand how the front will move and whether it makes sense to resume flying."
Mark and David arrived at the Dallas Air-Park around 1:00 pm and went straight to reception to book the plane; there wasn't a lot of traffic in fact and Mark wanted to see what was available for rental. Next time he would reserve the aircraft directly by phone.
One of the receptionists led them to the hangar reserved for rentals: Mark noticed that they even had some Cessna T206 Turbo Stationairs and twin-engine turboprops for rent, in addition to light sports aircraft, and he wondered who the regular customers for the planes that could carry more than two passengers were.
When he saw the yellow Savage, Mark turned to David.
"I didn’t expect to find this STOL here, but it’s a great little plane, real fun. It was designed a decade ago in Italy, and now a new company in the Czech Republic produces it. This plane gives me a lot of happy memories! When I was finishing my PhD, I spent three weeks one summer in Italy. I was on Elba. I used to go to the airport at Marina di Campo and I always rented a yellow Savage, just like this one here. I used to fly for a couple of hours over the islands and the Argentario and then I’d fly back to Elba.
“I used to take off in the morning, go for a ride over Umbria and fly back in the evening. The landscape was very picturesque; Lara sometimes flew with me as second pilot. She used to spend her summer holidays on the island, while she was living in Florence and attending her last year at the city university."
"And how was she?" asked David.
"Definitely interesting, from every point of view…too bad she got married six months later and went to live in Amsterdam. OK, let's eat a sandwich and then we'll fly with our yellow friend."
Half an hour later Mark had completed the checks and was ready to taxi the STOL on to the runway. David was smiling and talkative, he obviously wanted to see the world from another perspective for a while, one that was not down to earth, a perspective not caged in and lost in the labyrinths of mental illness.
As usual, leaving the ground sent a shiver of pleasure down the former British agent’s spine; finally he felt light and free again after the recent events that had upset his life once more, with great satisfaction he steered the Savage away from the ground and felt like he was sliding along the track of the horizon.
After days with no time to breathe and with a life that had become very precarious, he felt very good; flying a plane allowed him to go over his deepest thoughts, and as the landscape expanded in front of him, his vision of the present was changing and taking a much clearer and more transparent shape.
He wasn’t afraid of what might happen to him in the future; he only feared being imprisoned in Dallas forever, having to settle down in Texas and remain a prisoner of his monsters and at the mercy of events.
He was aware that the Colonel wouldn’t leave him in peace, and the first thing he had to do was to wait for the storm at the agency and for the rumors about him to die down. Afterwards he would have to find the Colonel’s Achilles heel and use it to gain his rehabilitation. A burned agent had a life expectancy of no more than one year, unless he was able to maintain the strictest secrecy.
Secrecy meant moving in a very narrow niche, leading a measured and repetitive life so as not to arouse suspicion, and that modus operandi, although necessary, wasn’t suited to Mark.
When Savannah felt that the flight had become too bumpy because of the sudden gusts of wind, forcing him to work the stick and rudder more to keep the Savage’s attitude steady, he decided that it was better to return to the airfield because the front was making its entry into that area early.
"David, I believe that there will be a thunderstorm soon, look at those storm cells, they’re getting thicker and advancing rapidly. I’m turning back to the airport."
In the final approach, Mark felt the right wing of the plane stress under the gusts of wind that were getting stronger and stronger. He approached with less flaps and higher landing speed, taking into account the warning of the tower of possible low level wind shear. As he was quickly working on the stick, rudder and power in the brief final approach, he thought that the noise of the wind gusting was quite disturbing.
Just as heavy rain started to fall, the Savage was secured inside the hangar and the two doctors were at the bar for coffee while waiting for the thunderstorm to pass.
"Let's see, if within half an hour the sky clears, we can take off again. The Savage wasn’t booked out at all today." Mark said to David.
"I'd love to fly again later,” replied David. “In the meantime how about a game of chess?"
"Virtual or real?"
David walked up to the counter, from which he took a chessboard.
"Real, real, no computers today!"
Shortly afterwards, they were at the table and started to play.