Flight to Freedom (Flight Trilogy, Book 3)
FLIGHT TO FREEDOM
A novel by
Mike Coe
The
FLIGHT TRILOGY
Flight Trilogy Trailer
BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO
BOOK THREE
Flight to Freedom
Please visit author’s website for current and future works.
DEDICATION
To David and Anna for their unyielding resolve to make good choices, pursue their purpose, and acknowledge God as THE source of all hope.
“Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
He’s the One who will keep you on track.”
Proverbs
3
:
6
(
MSG
)
CHAPTER 1
Southern
California
August
2003
Ryan paced the house like a caged zoo animal. The moving truck was late—thirty-four minutes late, to be exact.
David, fifteen, kept his five-year-old sister, Martha, busy in a game of hide-and-seek. Moving boxes and out-of-place furniture created the perfect landscape of mountains, caves, and tunnels for Martha to hide.
Ryan checked the digital clock on the microwave for the hundredth time—8:04 a.m.
“Where are they?” he said. “They told us seven-thirty.”
Keri put her hand on his shoulder. “Be patient. We’ve got all day.”
“They said we can count on seven to eight hours to pack the truck. That means we won’t get out of here until four o’clock…and that’s if they started five minutes ago. It’s three and a half hours to Yuma, not counting the delay on I-5 for rush-hour traffic and the bottleneck in San Diego. We’ll be lucky if we make it to El Centro…that’s two and a half.”
“Just remember, the kids will travel much better if they are tired.”
She
doesn’t
understand
.
“By the time we get out of here, rush-hour traffic on I-5 will be a mess.”
She wrapped him in a hug, looked him in the eyes, and said, “Relax, big boy. What’s a couple of extra hours…or even days going to matter? This is the beginning of a whole new life. Just think, as we drive into the night with the kids asleep, I can snuggle up to you and plan our wonderful future together. Now doesn’t that sound romantic?”
Ryan smiled, amazed at her ability to always live in the present, and her special way of calming his overactive mind.
He peeked behind her at the clock on the oven—8:07 a.m. “I’m not too sure about these guys. I guess you get what you pay for. I wouldn’t be surprised if they load up our stuff and head to Mexico.”
“Come on Ryan, don’t you think you’re overdoing it? They’re only thirty minutes late.” Keri looked around the den. “And do you really think anyone would want our twenty-year-old sofa?” She chuckled. “I don’t think we have much to worry about. I mean…anything the movers steal, break or damage is long overdue to be replaced or forgotten.”
“I guess you’re right.” Ryan turned up his coffee cup, finishing the last sip, and tossed it in a half-filled garbage bag on the floor.
Keri glanced in the den to check on the children, then said, “Do you think you’ll miss living in California?”
“I haven’t had time to think about it. I guess in some ways…maybe. But I know for certain it’s time to leave. Regardless of what lies ahead, it will be a welcomed change after what we’ve been through. The more miles we put between us and California, the better. We all need a fresh start.”
He loved the weather and the open, non-judgmental spirit of the people in the West, but at this time, his family needed the caring, warm friendliness of the Southern culture he remembered growing up.
The tragedy on May 29th had transmogrified their sense of normal. The children would most likely repress the horror, pushing it into some inaccessible corner of their unconscious mind, while he and Keri battled recurring nightmares for the rest of their lives. They all needed a new environment—a new life.
He and Keri agreed the hardships associated with quitting his good-paying job, uprooting their young family and moving cross-country was worth the risk. However, they were not so naïve as to believe it would be an easy transition—especially for the children. Martha would most likely have the least trouble due to her curious and outgoing nature, but as a deaf teenager, David had special needs—academically and socially.
The last two months had flown by in a flurry of activity. They coordinated a large garage sale, sold their house, sold their older car, secured a rental house in Georgia, and said good-byes to friends and neighbors. In addition, they had self-packed attempting to shave down the surprisingly high cost of the 2,000 mile cross-country move.
On the upside, Ryan’s new job did not require him to travel, but on the downside, it paid much less than his airline job. Keri planned to work part-time as a nurse in a walk-in clinic located in a nearby shopping center—hopefully, only temporarily. As desperately as they needed the extra money, the children also needed their mom.
Since leaving the airline, the financial pressures had been building. With no regular paycheck, their debt had grown into a mountain of gloom. Fortunately, because of the booming real estate market, their home sold at their asking price in less than a month, but the equity from the sale was quickly sucked into the bottomless pit of needs. The moving company siphoned the first five thousand off the top, then there was a one-month deposit on the rental in Georgia, the security deposit, the utility deposits, and what seemed like an endless stream of other assorted expenses. He calculated by the time they settled into their new life, they would have burned through every dime of their savings.
They prayed their car would be up for the challenge. The odometer—recently spinning past 150,000 miles—was like the ticker on a rolling time bomb. Each mile took them closer to another expensive mechanical problem. The tires had worn to the critical final few 32nds of an inch of their remaining tread depth. After arriving in Georgia, they would need to be replaced. The brakes were beginning to squeal; a sure sign the pads were wearing out.
Keri eased up beside him. “Ryan, you are so funny. You are like a little boy waiting on Christmas.”
While staring at the street, looking for the moving van, he said, “Keri, have you ever wondered what might have happened if we had made different choices? I mean, if you could live any part of your life over, what would you change?”
“You mean…like, jump in a time machine?”
“Yeah, your own personal time machine to take you to any place and time in your past. Where would you go and what would you do differently?”
“I’m not too sure I want to go back.”
“How can you say that? There must be
something
you would do differently.”
“Who knows…it might turn out worse instead of better. I think I’ll leave the past alone.”
“I can think of a couple of things I’d like to do over.”
“Well, Mr. Time Traveler, where…or when…is your first stop and what would you do differently?
He gave her a puzzled look. “Are you kidding? For starters, I would have never married Emily Anderson—‘the man eater’.”
“I never understood what you saw in that little golddigger. The first time I met her, it was obvious she was up to no good.” Keri slowly shook her head back and forth. “Men are so blind when it comes to what lies beneath the surface.”
“Yeah, I should have known better.”
He recalled that day on the beach in front of the Hotel Del Coronado when he first met the gorgeous Emily Anderson in her bikini. He was like a wounded wildebeest in a cage with a ravenous lioness. He had never met a woman so beautiful that had shown him that kind of attention. Her flirting techniques had obviously been honed by many years of practice. The way she used her voice, her body language, and her touchy-feely approach presented a hopeless situation due to his being hormone-charged and socially inexperienced.
If
I
could
only
go
back
knowing
what
I
know
now
.
“I like this game. What else would you change or do differently?”
“We should have never gone to your dad’s condo in New York. At that point in my life, my marriage to Emily was a disaster, and the last thing I needed was to be alone with you. Seeing you made me realize what a terrible mistake I had made.”
“I remember how I didn’t want that day to end.”
“If you had just told me about Rex…that you were engaged…and the wedding was in a week. If only you…”
She quickly interrupted, “What about Emily? Why didn’t you tell me you were having problems in your marriage? Why didn’t you just tell me you still loved me? If you had, I know for a fact I would have called off the wedding.”
“Really! You would have called off the wedding?”
“Absolutely! I didn’t tell you about Rex because, at the time, I was afraid it would spoil the few hours I had with you.”
“I wish you had told me…especially after I returned home and discovered Emily had left me.”
“Well…we found each other in the end…and that’s really all that matters.”
He smiled. “Thankfully. But if I had the chance to live that day over again, knowing what I know now, I would not have gone to the condo. That was wrong on so many levels.”
“I agree. We should have taken our lunch back to Central Park and had a picnic,” she said.
He continued gazing at the street, growing more anxious with each passing minute.
Keri said, “What if you could take your time machine back to the beginning…when we were in high school? How would that turn out?”
“I’m not so sure about that one.”
“What?” She scrunched her face into a pretend pout.
“If you remember, your mother had you under her spell. She’s the one who ‘encouraged’ you to dump me. Do you really think I could have convinced you to turn against the ‘puppet master’?”
“I hope you would have at
least
tried.”
“Well…I guess I could have charged into your house and whisked you up on my big, white steed and galloped away into the moonlight.”
Keri snuggled up under his arm. “Now
that’s
what I’m talking about. My prince. My knight. My Romeo.”
“Finally!” Ryan called out, “They’re here!”
CHAPTER 2
Atlanta
,
Georgia
One
year
later
—
August
2004
The Gulfstream G550 business jet navigated the darkened taxiway at the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport like a blind man finding his way, tapping his red-tipped cane on the ground in front of him. Low clouds and fog added a milky cataract-like veil to the night, obscuring the blue-edge lights and green centerline lights defining the asphalt taxiway. Freezing temperatures made the rain-soaked black surface a breeding ground for patches of invisible black ice.