Chapter 4

As Skyhook sped north through the dark, a little more of the story was told. It turned out that sheer luck or, as the man in the co-pilot's seat would have said, the will of God, had been involved in a big way. Jon and Tanisha found out that this cowboy-looking guy was a master sergeant in the Air Force, well ahead of the average rank for his time in service, which gave some indication of his competency. He was the Public Information NCO at Keesler Air Force Base, and with the public information officer off base, the work of dealing with the press had fallen on him. From the moment he'd heard Jennlynn's name over the emergency radio channel he'd realized the shit was flying at high speed directly for the fan.

Well before Will managed to intervene to bring the press conference to a close he'd realized the need to get Jennlynn out of reach of the press. He hadn't been the one to call Mike Hanneman since he wasn't sure Mike would have remembered him, but he managed to talk the base commander into doing it on a "general-to-general" basis. He'd also figured he needed to get Jennlynn hidden off base as soon as possible before some higher-up in the Air Force public information system overruled him. Fortunately, Will had only recently come across a restaurant owned by a couple of women who had worked with Jennlynn for his grandmother. Will had driven Jennlynn, the missionary pilot Jeff Waldemer, and Mallory Fox, another former prostitute and ex-colleague of Jennlyn who had actually led the charge on the cockpit to retake the airplane from the hijackers. They'd spent the night with Claudia and Cindy at their home. Mallory was still there -- the plan was for her to stay there a couple days, then leave town in a rental car when the press realized Jennlynn had left the area.

Fortunately, Claudia's minivan hadn't drawn any attention as far as they could tell, so with a little bit of luck things were on track for the moment. "So, now what?" Jon asked.

"Good question," Jennlynn replied. "We're still working on it."

"I still think I had the best idea," Will said. "Let's just leave these two and Jeff off in Chicago and not even get off the plane. Then, we can have Mike get hold of Colonel Brockway and have him meet us in Flagstaff or somewheres with the 310. We can take that and fly it home, and no one will be the wiser."

"I'm still tempted to do it," Jennlynn sighed, "But I don't want to cave in on my responsibilities to the company, either. Jon is taking as big a risk in his own way as I am in going to Chicago. I still would like to give it a try, but if it doesn't work, then you're right, we ought to go home."

"I'm not so sure that's such a bright idea," Tanisha said. "The press is sure to have your condo staked out pretty well. Maybe not national press, but they'll be there as soon as someone spots you in Phoenix."

"No, not there," Jennlynn smiled. "We're not talking about my condo. Will means our home, which is a cabin out on the north part of the ranch where his folks live. There's a dry lake bed there that's solid enough to take the 310, even this time of year."

"Your home?" Jon said. "The two of you?"

"Will gave it to me for Christmas last year," Jennlynn explained. "Well, he gave it to us. Anymore, my place in Phoenix is only where I stay, not my home."

Holy shit, Jon thought, sure that Tanisha's thoughts were mirroring his exactly. This is serious between the two of them, it's been going on for a long time, and there's never been a hint of it that we've heard! Who would ever have dreamed...

"It's nothing special, really," Will said modestly. "Just a little cabin, but in a place that's kinda special to the both of us. It's where Miz Swift and I can go to be together and not have to give one goddamn what anyone else thinks but us. I think if we can just sit it out there for a couple weeks that the worst of this will blow over. Some publicity-hungry Hollywood starlet will flash her twat to the press or something, and no one will give a lusty crap about what happened yesterday."

"Will, there's nothing more I would like than to spend a couple weeks there with you. Maybe we could even have your folks run a couple horses out to us in a horse trailer so we could explore up in the hills a little or something. But at the same time, I don't want to think I have to live in fear of the press. That's why I told Stan I at least want to put in an appearance at the show. It ought to be pretty safe; it's a closed convention, after all. He told me to do what I wanted to do. I think I can go to the show, talk engineering, and just clam up and call security if any press shows up and starts getting obnoxious."

They talked it around for a little while, essentially getting nowhere, but in the course of the discussion Jon and Tanisha picked up a few more hints about Will and Jennlynn. From what they could put together, the two of them didn't see each other much but managed to get together once in a while for a few days to a few weeks, and the time spent together was pretty intense -- not so much the sex, but the sharing of each other. The wonder was that until now Jon and Tanisha had never had even a hint of what their friend had going on, and they doubted that Stan or anyone else did, either!

"OK, how about this?" Tanisha asked finally. "If the four of us can get off the plane in Chicago without getting noticed..."

"Five of us, we have to make arrangements for Jeff, too," Will pointed out.

"OK, the five of us," Tanisha said, and then pressed on with her idea. "If we can get off the plane into a rental car without being noticed, Mike can take off for Phoenix like he had the two of you aboard, and that'll keep Skyhook from being around to draw attention. The two of you can get a room under the names of Mr. and Mrs. Will Hoffman, and hide out there for a day or two. As far as that goes, Jon and I could get the room and the rental car in our names and with our credit cards. We can sort the bills out later. Jon and I will go ahead and do the show. It strikes me that if the press is going to look for you at the Lambdatron booth it will be today or maybe tomorrow. When they don't find you anywhere after a day or two, then you can show up at the booth."

"Might work," Will conceded. "Miz Swift and I could drop Jeff wherever he needs to go. But what happens if we get found out?"

"If you're lying low and not going near the show, you're not going to get found out for a day or two at a minimum," Jon said, liking his wife's idea, mostly because he had been thinking pretty much along the same lines. "In that time you could have Joe fly the 310 in here. That's not going to draw press attention like Skyhook. Mike was saying earlier that he wished he could have used the 310 rather than this thing. It's a lot more covert, but he didn't have the time. You could have Joe just hang around, or fly back commercial, however it works out. If it turns out we get through the show all right, then we can all fly back in the 310 and not have to deal with the airlines at all. If they're still pestering the people at Lambdatron, you can drop us at Flagstaff, and we could have someone drive us down to Phoenix, while the two of you go on to your little place out in the desert."

"I have to admit, that sounds like about the best of both worlds," Jennlynn said. "What do you think, Will?"

"Cain't see no holes in it right off," Will said after thinking it over for a moment. "A hotel room in Chicago ain't quite the same thing as our cabin in the desert, but it might work out all right if you feel you got to do that show at least a little."

"All right," Jennlynn smiled. "Let's give it a try." They talked about how to handle a few other details for a few minutes, then Jennlynn got up and went to the cockpit to coordinate things with Mike and make a few phone calls.

Soon, Jeff, the missionary, came back to take Jennlynn's place. "I realize we left in kind of a hurry," Will said, all trace of his Nevada cowboy accent and demeanor gone, his clothes the only indication remaining. "And I'm very sorry we didn't get the chance for introductions. Jeff, this is Jon and Tanisha Chladek. They work at Lambdatron with Miz Swift in Phoenix. Jon, Tanisha, this is Jeff Waldemer; he's a missionary bush pilot in Bolivia, and he was in the right seat of the Airbus when he and Jennlynn landed it yesterday."

"We heard your name mentioned," Tanisha said. "The two of you did a great job."

"It was Jennlynn who did the great job," Jeff told them. "I may be a pretty good bush pilot, but I was so far out of my league in the cockpit of that thing that I barely recognized it as being an airplane. She was the thorough professional pilot, and she landed that thing like she'd been doing it all her life. She is one cool customer, isn't she?"

"That she is," Jon agreed. "We've known her for years, and until a few minutes ago I thought we knew her about as well as anyone did. It turns out we were wrong about that, but it's not the first time we've guessed wrong about someone."

"It's all too easy to do, especially with someone like Miz Swift, who tends to be pretty private," Will nodded. "Did the two of you see the press conference yesterday?"

"No, we didn't," Jon admitted. "We got sidetracked with something else. I'm real sorry we missed it. From what we've been told, you really put some people in their places."

"Jeff here did one of the greatest jobs of facing down the press and making them feel about as low as a rattler's belly as I've ever seen," Will told them, showing that not all the Nevada cowboy was gone out of him. "If it weren't for the fact that I'm sure he's found his calling I'd say he missed it."

"I just said what I felt the Lord led me to say," Jeff replied modestly. "If there was any power there, it was God's, not mine."

"I thought it really put things into perspective," Will explained. "I haven't had a chance to watch much of the news, but I caught a few clips from the news conference so it's gotten at least some airing. It's probably not going to turn the tide, but it should temper things a little bit." He shook his head and continued, "I'm just not sure how things are going to work out in the long run, but I am sure this is something Miz Swift didn't want in her life. I'm just sure it's going to change it more than either of us wants it to."

Eventually Jennlynn came back to the cabin and asked Will to go up front with Mike for a few minutes. "All right, I think we've got it worked out," she announced as she sat in the seat he'd left. "We're going into Midway. Mike thinks there'll be less chance of someone looking for us there at this hour. Jon, you and Tanisha are going to be renting the car. The rest of us will just stay on the plane till you get it. We already have a suite reserved in your name in a hotel just up the street from the convention, so you're going to have to check us in. Don't scream when you see the charge, either. Even I think it's gouging, but we'll straighten it out later."