“You come back when you can stay longer,” he said.
Stone shook her hand, too. “You find yourself a good broker and invest that money conservatively,” he said to her. Her answer was drowned out by an engine starting. He helped her into the airplane, got her seat belt fastened, and closed the rear door.
Libby held up the Federal Express envelope and gave him a thumbs up, then she stuck it back into her handbag. The airplane began to move, and Stone stepped out of its way.
Thomas turned toward the car. “Let’s go,” he said; “I want to get back to work.”
“Hang on just a minute, will you, Thomas?” Stone replied, watching the airplane. “I just want to be absolutely sure she’s really gone.”
Thomas laughed. “Glad to have her off the island, huh?”
“I can’t tell you how glad.” He pointed at the airplane. “Look, Chester must really be in a hurry; he’s not even doing his runup check.” The little twin was already rolling down the runway.
The two men stood and watched as Chester roared off the runway and got the landing gear up. The airplane turned north toward Antigua, visible in the distance across the channel separating the two islands. The early morning sun glinted on the water.
“There goes a happy woman,” Stone said, waving. “Good-bye, Libby!” He turned toward the car. As he did, he noticed a change in the sound of the engines, and he looked back at the airplane. “What was that?” he asked.
Thomas looked at the airplane, now out over t
he water. “He’s just reducing power after takeoff. It’s only a few minutes’ flight, and he has to start slowing down if he wants to make Antigua on the first pass.” Thomas frowned. “What’s that?” he asked, pointing. Smoke was trailing from the airplane’s left engine.
“Looks like Chester’s got a problem,” Stone said. “He must have already shut down the engine.”
“I see flames,” Thomas said.
Stone shielded his eyes from the morning sun. “So do I,” he said. The airplane began a rapid descent toward the water.
“Why doesn’t he return here?” Thomas asked.
“He’s trying to blow out the fire,” Stone said. “When I was training for my license, that’s what I was taught to do with an engine fire, a power-on descent, to blow it out.” The airplane seemed to be headed straight down into the sea, and then it leveled off. “The fire isn’t out,” Stone said. “He’s going to ditch in the water.”
“Jesus help him,” Thomas said.
“If the engine doesn’t blow and he can get the airplane down, they’ve got a good chance.” He looked at the wind sock; it was standing straight out. “There’s going to be a chop on the surface, though. Put her into the wind, Chester.”
The airplane was flying level, just off the surface of the water now.
“Why doesn’t he put her down?” Thomas asked. “He’s still flying.”
“He’s bleeding off air speed; he’d built up a lot on the descent. He wants to touch down right at stall speed, as slowly as it will still fly. Look, he’s raising the nose now; he’ll be down in a second.”
“I hope he’s got a raft,” Thomas said. “It’s going to take a while to get to him.”
“Surely he has; he’d have to. Here comes touchdown; don’t stall the thing, Chester!”
The nose came up some more and the airplane headed toward landing. Then a wing dropped, touched the water, and the airplane cartwheeled, breaking into pieces.
“Oh, shit,” Stone said, watching as the wreckage scattered over the water.
“Come on,” Thomas called, running for the car. “I know a man with a boat.”
Stone jumped into the car and Thomas, driving like a madman, headed out of the airport and along the coast road. “There’s a little fishing settlement along the coast, right near where Chester went down,” he said.
“Thomas,” Stone said, “nobody on that airplane is alive; don’t kill us in the bargain.”
Thomas slowed a little. “Somebody might have made it,” he said.
“They might have if he’d gotten the thing down in one piece,” Stone said quietly. “But when it broke up, that ended it. Anybody alive would be unconscious, and anybody unconscious would have drowned by now.”