Page 23 of Jake

Oro Province

Papua New Guinea

“How are you doing, Son?”

Father sat in a chair at the table with a mattress fixed in place on the tabletop to act as a makeshift bed for the trip home. Barry was in another chair, keeping an eye on me, making sure I was coping. Which I was… barely.

“The sooner we get back, the better. I fucking hurt everywhere.”

Barry wrapped his hand around my right wrist, checking my pulse… again. I was so fucking over him, checking I was alive every five minutes.

Dad patted my shoulder. “That’s why I came back, Logan said we’ll be landing in fifteen minutes and he wants you strapped down.”

Long black straps had been used on take-off, one across my chest and one across my hips, and needed to be used again for landing. Dad and Barry lay them across me before threading both beneath the table and tying each off to one side. They were loose enough now, but when the plane bounced, and the movement of my body caused them to tighten, they hurt like a motherfucker. I was second-guessing my decision to leave the hospital early.

Once I was secured, my father placed a kiss on my forehead and made his way back into the cabin. Barry said he would stay with me until Logan ordered everyone seated. Then, he would move to a seat at the rear of the aircraft, where he’d be nearby in case he was needed. It was a repeat of what he’d done on take-off.

Logan’s voice came over the intercom a few minutes later, telling everyone to return to their seats and prepare for landing.

Barry, who I was beginning to realise was more of a mother hen than my mother, stood. “Shout out if you’re in trouble and I’ll come straight away.”

“For fuck’s sake, I’ll be fine. Not like you can do anything.”

Once he was gone, I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable bounce and sway as the plane descended. When it came, it was worse than I’d expected, and I wondered if we were headed into a storm. When there was a sudden drop, causing me to bounce hard against the straps, it was all I could do not to shout out and bring Barry running. I bit down on my lip; tears welled in my eyes. I’d thought I was tough, and here I was, almost crying over a little pain!

By the time the plane had touched down on the runway, I was a ball of pain, and my heart was thumping hard in my chest. Barry reappeared with Quinn by his side as we taxied to the hangar where the aircraft was stored,.

“You okay? You look like shit, Jake.” Trust Quinn not to mince words.

Barry stepped close and took hold of my wrist. I felt too fucking ill to wrench it away. After studying his watch for a minute, he frowned.

“Your heart is racing and you’re very pale.”

“How the fuck can you tell if I’m pale with all the bruises and cuts on my face?” They’d faded considerably but remained vivid enough to distort the natural colour of my skin.

“Trust me, a doctor can tell these things. Pain?”

“About a fucking fifty, thanks to Logan and Daly bouncing us around like a cork in a swimming pool, but I’ll be fine. Just get me home.”

I knew I was allowing my temper to get out of control. It was unlike me, but I felt like shit, and all I wanted was to crawl into my own bed and sleep the pain away.

Dad and Connor appeared in the doorway while Barry and Quinn seemed to be trying to figure something out while in the process of removing the two straps.

“How the fuck are we gonna get him off the plane and into the car, it’s not like he can walk off, and we sure as hell can’t carry him like we would one of the women?”

Quinn had a point. As I said earlier, I was a big man at six feet seven inches and weighed in at around one hundred and ten kilos. In Rabaul, one of Herias’ men, who made me look small, had carried me on board.

Barry dragged his fingers over his balding head. “I think… Connor, Quinn, you’re gonna have to take one end each and carry him from the plane. It’s not ideal, but there’s no other way.”

My brothers, also big men, would have no trouble lifting me together, but I cringed at the thought of how much it was gonna hurt. Thank fuck, Dad came to my rescue.

“Give him sedation, Barry. I want him to have as little pain as possible.”

Barry agreed, set his bag on the makeshift bed, and readied an injection. He separated the bandage to access the muscle at the top of my arm, and not long after the needle was plunged in, I drifted off.

***

I woke or came to, sitting in bed, propped up against pillows. Mum watched me from where she sat in a chair nearby.