Page 41 of Final Approach

My attention turned to Danny lying listlessly on his back with his eyes staring into the sky. “How are you feeling, Danny?” I asked. “May I check your bandages?”

Hollow eyes stared at me, and only the slightest nod of his head gave me any indication he had heard me at all. I carefully examined the gauze wrapped around his deep thigh wound. The bandage remained dry and clean, and I didn’t want to risk exposing the severed skin to the organism-filled air, so a spot check was all I needed until the wound could scab.

Aileron should have us rescued long before then. There were larger forces at play here—ignoring an ELT would incite an international incident. Even my crooked company wasn’t that negligent. They would come.

I put a dry hand to Danny’s clammy forehead. The worsening fever was a bad sign. His tan skin was four shades lighter, even under the glow of the sun. I’d need to check on him regularly.

Retracing my steps to the ration pile, I pulled out the ibuprofen tabs from the plane’s emergency kit. It had antiseptic wipes and a tube of antibiotic cream—which I’d already dipped into for both of our injured men—a burn cream, a few iodine wipes, and ten tabs of extra-strength ibuprofen, well under the compliance requirements, but better than nothing. Grabbing another small bottle of water, I took the medication back to Danny and encouraged him to take it.

“Gracias,” he muttered softly before he placed the tab on his tongue and washed it down with a small sip of the tepid drink. He slumped back down in his seat and closed his eyes, ignoring my presence entirely.

The lack of fight in him made me even more nervous. Ambrose had already proven he was a survivor. He’d fight his way through the pain until rescue out of sheer spite. Danny appeared to be giving up.

I offered a small smile to the emotionless man before turning to stoke the coals. A bonfire under hot sun was normally tempting fate, but the dry riverbed was as protective as it could be from an unintended forest fire. After last night, we needed whatever advantage we could get from predators, even during the daylight hours.

“Good morning, Captain.” Tessa’s voice carried over the crackling sparks. Vanessa was awake beside her, blank eyes staring into the embers as if in a trance. The numbness in her stare worried me. Vanessa had been consciously catatonic since she’d left the plane.

She and Danny were the most at risk. When the mind gave up, the body went along with it.

“Good morning, Tessa.” I replied in English. “Please call me Marley. Good morning, everyone.”

I addressed our tiny group, all of whom were rousing. Their faces reflected similar frowns of uncertainty, and I knew it was on me to direct the energy of the day.

“Aileron will likely have tracked our location by now, but we need to protect ourselves until they get here. In the meantime, our order of business today will be rationing food and water, and creating some temporary shelter from the sun.”

I swiveled my head to make eye contact with each of them. “The plane is now a feeding ground for predators.” I swallowed the boulder in my throat. “Like the jaguar that attacked Ambrose last night.”

Tessa clapped her hands over her mouth, and Brooks turned a sickly shade of puce. My own belly roiled at the declaration. Madman’s offer to go in the plane had saved me from the visual, but my imagination was devastating enough.

“We have the option of returning for a supply run, but not unless we really need to.”

I’d volunteer for that run later. A supply run explained why we’d ever consider returning. There were still too many unanswered questions, too many clues left to find. My copilot was still missing.

Nikki and I exchanged a meaningful glance. Jamie was our friend. Did he believe in his innocence, or did he think he had betrayed us?

Drugs on the plane, a disappearing act—was there even a possibility his hands were clean?

I thought of the man who’d taken me under his wing when I’d moved to Brazil not knowing a single soul. The jolly Australian giant had helped me move when my apartment building was infested with yellow scorpions. He’d held me when I’d cried on the anniversary of my father’s death, even when he hadn’t known the reason. He’d taught me so much about how to be an expert pilot and showed me how to be an even better friend.

This was the Jamie I knew. The person I would fight for. And the only person who knew what actually happened in the cockpit that day.

We’d be in hearings for weeks to determine the cause of the crash, our licenses on the line. Hell, charges—real prison time—could be a possibility if we were found negligent.

Without my memories, I was a sitting duck. Jamie was the only one who could prove my innocence.

If I was innocent. My stomach soured at the static white space in my brain where those memories should be. I had to find him. I refused to let my friend die out here.

But it wasn’t a problem I could solve with eight people expectantly staring at me.

Brooks tentatively raised their hand. “I, uh, can make shelter,” they said in halting English. “Braids, er, ropes?” They made a weaving motion with their hands. “With”—they searched for the word—“palms?”

“That’s great, Brooks.” I smiled encouragingly. “Could you teach Ambrose and Danny? That’s a good task to do on the ground, if we have leaf collectors. Madman, could you and Brooks collect the fronds from along the riverbed this morning?”

Madman’s penetrating blue eyes bore through me, as if he had an ownership stake in my soul. “Yes, Captain. I am at your command.” The reverence in his tone, paired with the inappropriate endearment, sent heat blazing across my neck and cheeks.

I was still wearing his shirt smelling faintly of floral shampoo and spicy deodorant. Him.

I cleared my throat. “Thank you!” I exclaimed brightly, eager to move on. “Nikki, can you take Detective Diaz along the river bed to gather wood? We’ll need four-foot limbs at a minimum to hold the shelters in place.” I gestured to the pile. “There’s a hatchet you can use in the emergency supply kit. See if you can find 15-20 in the next hour. We’ll want to get these up as quickly as possible.”