Page 69 of Outback Secrets

Liam held his breath as he watched her scan the dual controls in front of her. Come on, Henri, you can do this.

* * *

Henri’s hands trembled as she took over as pilot, and she felt as clammy as Glenn looked. Flashes of her last flight invaded her head and tears welled in her eyes.

Could she actually do this?

With one deep breath, she summoned every ounce of training she’d ever had. In an emergency such as this, there were three things she needed to do: Aviate. Navigate. Communicate. One step at a time.

Ignoring her racing heart, she scanned the instruments in front of her—the aircraft had already started a slight shallow descent. The altitude showed they’d lost 700 feet. Breathe. She needed to bring them up again. The moment her hand closed around the control yoke and she pulled it back to reset, her tremors abated and positive adrenaline shot through her.

Thiswas what she was trained to do. This was who she was.

Power went hand in hand with altitude, so she looked to see what it had been set on the engine, reset it to 2200 RPM and put the altitude to nose on the horizon.

Yes. She could feel the force in the controls now and needed to trim it out. Her hand on the control column, she used the electric rocker switch to pull the nose up and balance out level flight.

Phew. Aviation taken care of, Henri allowed herself a quick glance over to see how Glenn was doing. He was still holding his chest and panting, but his colour seemed okay.

Either way, she couldn’t worry about Glenn. Her priority was getting them back to the mainland, which meant she needed to navigate—to work out exactly where they were. Out the window she could already see the coastline, and a look at the distance-messaging equipment showed they were 180 nautical miles from Perth on a northerly bearing. They could be on the ground in fifteen minutes.

She reached for the radio to communicate their whereabouts to Perth Centre, inform them she had a medical emergency on board and needed immediate radar vectors, air traffic control clearance and priority landing at Geraldton Airport.

‘What’s the aircraft’s call sign?’ she asked Glenn, hoping he was capable of replying. ‘I’ll have them organise an ambulance to meet us on landing.’

He took his hand off his chest. ‘Don’t think that’s necessary, sweetheart. No need to fuss.’

‘Fuss?’ A suspected heart attack wasn’t a fuss.

‘Think it was a false alarm anyway,’ he said with an awkward chuckle. ‘Breathing’s fine again. Damn indigestion. Never having another pie for lunch in my life.’

Henri stared at the man who, five minutes ago, she was worried might not make it to the ground alive.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ She thought about her dad’s heart attack—she hadn’t been anywhere near him when it happened, so she wasn’t in the position to save him, but she’d never forgive herself if she ignored the warning signs and Glenn deteriorated. ‘Better to be safe than sorry.’

‘I’m fine,’ he assured her. ‘I’ll go see my doctor as soon as we get back, but maybe you should take us to the ground, just in case?’

That didn’t sit right with Henri, and she looked to Liam for backup, but he was gazing casually out the window as if nothing had happened.

And that’s when it clicked.

‘Hang on … Did you really have a pie for lunch, Glenn?’

He gave her a sheepish grin. ‘Nope, they really do give me terrible indigestion and I’ve learnt my lesson. I stick to salad sandwiches on rye bread now.’

‘What the hell!’ She glanced back at Liam, who was now grinning from ear to ear, then back at Glenn, who looked as healthy as anything. ‘Did you two set me up?’

The older pilot snorted and then started laughing.

‘How about you just focus on landing the plane and we’ll talk about this when we’re back on the ground,’ Liam said calmly.

Part of Henri wanted to tell him to take a hike, but now that she was back at the controls, another part of her desperately wanted to see if she could finish what she’d started.

‘I’ll deal with you later,’ she told him before turning back to Glenn. ‘You’re sure you’re okay with me doing this?’

‘Course, love, and remember, I’ll be right beside you every step of the way,’ Glenn said.

And he was. As she flew them back to the airport it felt so good. Better than good. She soon started the descent, then not long after slammed on the brakes as they touched down on the runway. It just happened to be one of the smoothest landings Henri had ever done and she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. Glenn congratulated her.

Only when the engine was switched off did she turn back to glare at Liam.

‘I can’t believe you did that to me,’ she spat, her heart still racing from the excitement. ‘You’re lucky I don’t murder you with my bare hands right this very second!’

‘I’m proud of you, Henri,’ he said with a smile. ‘I knew you could do it.’

Warmth bloomed inside her as she grinned back at him. Murder was actually the furthest thing from her mind.

What she really wanted was to kiss him.