Chapter 1

The storm caught them unawares, at least it did Mike. Maybe the pilots had a warning. Mike would never know. One minute, the small turbo-prop was flying through bright tropical light, the next, the plane was bobbing about like a paper airplane in a tornado.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going to divert to avoid this little blow," the pilot said as the plane banked steeply. Mike kept waiting for the bouncing to stop. A few minutes later, the plane again banked steeply, trying to find clear air. Mike was getting worried now. The storm had the plane now, tossing it around, forcing it to and fro. The six passengers could see the pilots wrestling with the controls fighting to keep the plane on course but not succeeding. Time seemed to stop for the passengers as they watched the pilot and co-pilot; everything was happening too quickly.

A giant crack and flash lighted the whole world like a million flash bulbs going off at the same moment, followed immediately by a crashing boom as lightning hit the left wing. The plane shuddered as if it had been hit with a giant hammer. Mike saw a three foot outboard panel blown off. The plane yawed violently in that direction. Then the engine on that side quit.

That's when he prayed. Mike prayed to Buddha, Allah, Yahweh, Christ, Odin, and Ishtar. Mike prayed to all of them. It was apparent to the passengers that the plane was losing altitude with only one engine running in this maelstrom. More lightning flashed around the plane but none hit. Another strike and they would be goners. The adults in front of Mike looked back at the three girls who sat next to and behind him. The father tried to smile to reassure the girls. They were all dressed in matching muumuus, obviously all on a wonderful vacation in paradise which suddenly had gone very wrong.

This hell dragged on as the plane kept losing altitude and the pilots hung on for dear life. They continued to be tossed about in the storm. The pilots tired to flee before the storm seeking clear air.

Mike looked up to the cockpit to see the co-pilot was frantically pointing at something and the pilot nodded. The two of them fought the plane into a bank. "Prepare for a crash landing..." the pilot screamed before he was cut off.

The couple in front were panicked beyond action. The three girls who sat beside and behind looked even more frightened. Mike could tell they were headed down and that worried him. He watched the pilots fighting the plane and could see they were trying to do something, land he prayed. Maybe they had seen an island with a runway.

The growling sea was coming up below; black and angry, waves boiling up as the wind lashed the tops, breaking them into spray. Then, giant waves breaking on rocks flashed below; suddenly the water was much calmer. The plane banked hard right and a strip of sand was running parallel to the plane. The engine powered down and the aircraft settled. The pilots were going to try and put down in this lagoon, inside the reef where the water was relatively calm.

The passengers felt the first bounce as the plane skimmed the water, then another bounce. They were slowing and the pilots were doing a masterful job slowing the craft like a rock skipping on water. They were going to make it ... The plane settled onto the water, then all hell broke loose. A loud grinding crash ripped through the plane as the plane tumbled and shuddered. A horrible tearing and shrieking, like the death knell of the plane, tore through the air as the plane was ripped apart. Mike knew in a moment he was going to die.

Then quiet, except the noise of the storm which seemed tame compared to the moments before. Mike opened his eyes and looked out into the storm. The front half of the aircraft was gone. Stunned, he looked around and realized that the plane had been torn in twain. The front half of the plane was gone. The tail was intact. He could see the three girls lifting their heads and staring ahead at a gaping black hole that used to be where the rest of the fuselage had been along with their parents.

A blast of rain hit him, waking him to action. He unbuckled his belt and looked out. The tail was resting on the front half of the plane completely turned around. The crash had torn the fuselage in half and the tail had twisted free to rest on top of the front, pointing in the opposite direction. That was why they were out of the water. He looked and saw the beach maybe thirty yards away. The water inside the reef wasn't calm but it wasn't bad either.

He turned to the girls. "Can you swim?" screaming over the howling storm.

They nodded. "Come on! Hurry!" Mike grabbed the first girl and pulled her up. He saw that the girls were all wearing matching muumuus. No way could they swim in those. "Take off your dress."

The girl looked at him like he was nuts.

"Do you want to drown? We have to swim for the shore." He pointed. "See?"

She nodded but didn't move, probably in shock. He did the only thing he could think of in the panic to get them out of the doomed craft. He grabbed her and turned her around, unzipping her dress. The shock in the sister's faces was apparent as he pulled the dress off the first girl's shoulders. She stood there in just panties and a bra. He pointed her to the beach. "Swim!"

She looked back, then turned and dove cleanly into the water. She was a swimmer.

Mike turned back and grabbed the next girl. "Hurry you two before we drown." The example of their older sister was enough as they quickly shed their dresses and dove in. Mike followed them into the water, glad to be out of the potential death trap of the wreckage before something worse, like fire, hit. The first girl had struck out fast and was already at the beach. He watched for a moment to be sure the girls were going to make it to the beach, then turned back to the wreckage.

There were four people still there. Mike dove down below the tail. It was dark and he swam by feel but the gaping hole in the front half was easy to find. His hand found billowing hair and followed it to the woman. He pulled her belt loose, dragging her to the surface. He was able to stand waist deep in the churning water on top of the wing and dragged her up. She wasn't breathing. He put her over his shoulder so her face was down and applied pressure to her abdomen. She vomited up water and coughed.

Her body must have shut down when her lungs filled. It is an instinctive reaction to being under water. There are cases of kids being under water for twenty minutes and being revived. Mike pushed again and she vomited up more water and groaned. She was incoherent but the groan meant she was breathing again, so he put her in a carry position and swam to the beach. The girls saw him coming and ran into the surf to drag their mother up on the beach.

He headed back to the wreck. This time he came in from the front looking to see if he could get the crew. He found out what had happened. The front of the plane had hit a rock just under the water and was stove in like it had been hit with a hammer. Those two pilots had no chance.

He swam frantically around to the back knowing that each second was the enemy as he headed down into the cabin. He found the man and pulled him loose, dragging him up on the wing and tried to get him to expel the water but nothing happened. Time was running out. Mike pulled him to the beach where the girls helped him drag the man up on the beach.

He tried all the techniques he knew to get water out. They worked a little but nothing brought him back. After a half hour Mike gave up, exhausted and despondent. The oldest girl had been watching every move intently. "You can't stop!"

She started pushing on the man's ribs as she had seen Mike do. He let her as it wouldn't make any difference. Her sisters were crying. She kept trying until she was exhausted. "Daddy," she cried out. "You can't be dead."

It was the saddest sound Mike had ever heard. Mike took her in his arms. "Let's get your mom under some cover."

That broke the spell as they switched attention to their unconscious mom. In a panic, they dragged and carried her up under the trees. He followed. The storm raged around, rain and lightning. The forlorn and shocked group fell asleep under the trees, drained by the near death experience and the death of their father.

Mike woke to bright light and a gentle breeze. The storm had blown by. He stood and looked at the girls. They were all breathing peacefully. Their mother was still unconscious, not a good sign.

He looked at the beach; it was empty. There was no evidence that a man had laid on the beach. The water had come just high enough that some larger waves had claimed his body for the sea. Mike looked over the lagoon, dreading seeing him floating in the clear aqua water, but there was nothing.

The tail of the plane was perched above the water but he had no idea how long it might be before the wind or a wave would send it into the water. He stripped down to his briefs and swam out to the plane, managing to climb in and looked around. The tail section had a storage area all the way to the rear. Inside were emergency supplies including a raft and tools and even some fresh water and food sealed in plastic. They carried whatever the regulations required for over water flights: one standard issue emergency kit. Mike thanked the gods for whoever had written that regulation because it would, in fact, be a lifesaver. He pulled the raft out and yanked the emergency cord filling it with air. He quickly loaded everything into it, not trusting the tail sections stability, and paddled back to shore.

This booty would keep them alive for a while; hopefully long enough for the rescue searchers to find them. He dragged the raft up on the beach. The noise woke the oldest sister. She rubbed her eyes then looked around. The panic was coming back.

"Good morning," Mike said cheerily.

"What?"

"Good morning," he repeated. He had met the family as they boarded and heard the girls names, not that he could remember them now. The oldest girl realized she was in just her panties and bra and sort of curled up with her arms over her chest. "How is your mom?" Mike asked.

She looked over at the unconscious woman. "I don't know."

There was a blanket in the kit. Mike spread it over her mother. There also was a medical kit: bandages, tape, scissors, aspirin; none of that was going to help. He broke out the provisions: water, flash dried provisions. Hmm, not all that tantalizing without a fire. Glancing around, he saw several coconut palms and a breadfruit tree. The coconut would be quickest way to get some food. Once again the magic box provided the answer: a machete.

He chopped off a bunch of coconuts from a palm which leaned precipitously, allowing him to climb it fairly easily, and carried the nuts back to the girls. They had all awakened. Obvious to Mike, the girls were all a little rattled. They had watched their father die, their mother was unconscious, they had been in a plane wreck, and they were sitting around in their underwear with a strange man.