Die for You

Chapter 39

"Fucking hell, Bec, I can't believe the big bad bodyguard is scared of flying."

"Shut up, Richie."

I gripped the edge of my seat as the engines of the huge plane revved up and we began to taxi out onto the runway in preparation for our flight. I was actually quite pleased that Richie was trying to wind me up. It made a nice distraction from the fear that had hold of my stomach with an iron fist, an iron fist that had spent the last few hours dipped in liquid nitrogen. 

Richie had been extremely amused to discover my little paranoia, my nerves betraying my attempts at staying cool. Still, I did have some teeth left in my head, and I was prepared to use them to defend myself; client or no client.

"Did you know that you're more likely to crash when you're taking off and landing than at any other point in your journey, Richie?" I said grimacing as the plane sped up and then stopped, waiting at the end of the runway like a rollercoaster preparing its victims for the big drop.

"What?" he said looking around at me, the smile dropping from his face.

"Oh yes, there are microbursts and downdraft and all sorts of things like that, not to mention the chance of collision. Each and every one of them are positively lethal at that point in the flight, there simply wouldn't be enough time for the pilot to save us. We could be dead in a second and there would be nothing we could do about it. It would be over too fast, we wouldn't stand a chance."

I got an irritated elbow from Becky, sat in the window seat next to me, as Richie turned back and pulled his seatbelt a little bit tighter. My colleague Tim, who had been assigned to shadow him, leaned around his seat on the aisle side and surreptitiously winked at me.

I heard Becky start to say something to me, but it was interrupted by the roar of the jet engines as the plane began to roll faster and faster down the runway. As I gripped even tighter on the armrest, I felt my right hand covered by Becky's left as she looked excitedly out of her window; the soft skin of her hand pressing down on mine, newly freed from the plaster cast that had frustrated her for weeks. 

Naturally, her doctor had insisted on a wrist brace. Even more naturally, Becky was refusing to wear it, despite my requests. Right now, I was glad of her obstinacy, the warmth of her tiny hand giving me something to concentrate on other than the fear of the takeoff.

"You ok?" she asked as I clenched my eyes tightly together. 

I couldn't reply, my mind was replaying the flight out of Bastion and the pain that the takeoff and landing caused my broken body, despite the medication. As the speed increased, I felt my heart racing in my chest its pace seemingly matching the aircrafts velocity, until, with a stomach churning lurch, we took off and headed for the skies. I put everything I had into the breathing exercises that Joanna had taught me, reaching out for my safe place with all my might. 

Happily it was made easy for me with Becky's close proximity, and I found it simpler than I'd imagined to immerse myself in that cool blue mental water and channel my mind away from the flight.

It wasn't long before my heart rate began to drop and the black dots that floated in front of my closed eyes began to fade. As I opened them once more, I felt Becky's hand pat mine and I looked across to see her staring at me. "Worst part over," she said confidently. I nodded in reply, not meaning it at all. Unfortunately, I knew for me, the worst was yet to come, at the other end of the journey.

"You ok now?" she said, finally smiling and making me feel better almost immediately.

"Getting there," I replied breathing in and out slowly. "Be ok in a minute."