Chute Roll

Chapter Sixteen

The next morning, I got to the flight school early. I went into the office and checked to see when Sabella was scheduled to jump. She had booked a flight at ten o'clock with Smitty.

Smitty was a good guy and a good pilot. He was in his thirties. He was tall and skinny and was always smiling.

I knew which plane Smitty would be taking. That helped. I had a little under two hours to get ready.

**

When Sabella stepped into the back of the airplane, I was waiting for her.

"Jeff," she said. "What's this? I had booked the flight just for myself."

"We need to talk," I told her. I strapped myself in the seat beside her.

Smitty, in the front, fired up the airplane engines.

"If you're here to talk, why are you in your jump suit?" she asked. "Why do you have your chute?"

"That's part of what we have to talk about."

Smitty had a headset on and was talking to the radar crew as he taxied the airplane onto the runway. Smitty couldn't hear us, so I raised my voice above the noise of the engines.

"Aren't you worried that someone might try to kill you again?" I asked.

"It's none of your business," she said. Her dark eyes became darker with anger.

"Yes it is," I told her. "There's a guy who works for your Dad. A guy with a gold tooth."

"How do you know?" She looked a little frightened.

"Last night he told me he would get rid of me. That's why this is my business."

She stared at me. The airplane began to pick up speed.

"I'm sorry," she said. I didn't really hear her, though. I was reading her lips because the airplane was loud and shaking.

I moved my head closer to her. Neither of us had on our helmets yet, so we were able to shout in each other's ears.

"I know your father is part of the mob," I told her. "The mob knows he's talked to the FBI. The mob wants to get rid of you for it."

I explained everything to her. The airplane reached 5,000 feet by the time I finished.

I was surprised she didn't look scared. I had just told her that she was going to be murdered. Today.

"Jeff," she said a few minutes later. "All of this is a risk my father and I discussed. He hates what he does. He wants out. He was getting ready for us to leave the country and live under different names. The only way the FBI would help was if he gave them some information first."

She shook her head sadly. "Ronnie? The guy with the gold tooth? He's been like part of the family for years. I would have never guessed that he would do this to us. What a pity."

We were now at 7,000 feet. The desert was open and wide below us.

I turned sideways in my seat and shook her shoulders. "Sabella. Hellooooo. What do you mean, a pity? They want to kill you. When you jump."

"Yeah," she said. "You already told me."

"And?"

"We're marked now. No one escapes once the mob puts the word out for a hit." she said. Sadness filled her face. "And we were only a week away from leaving the country ."

"You're just giving up," I said.

She turned to face me. "You want to know why I jump? Freedom. I can't help what my father did with the mob. With all that money, we're both like birds in a cage. I can't leave him, though. He's my father. I love him. With my mother dead a long time ago, he needs me. In the sky is the only place I feel free."

"What does that have to do with giving up," I said.

"If I jump, I'm not giving up. If I have to die, I'm going to do it my way. Not running and hiding like some mouse in a dark room."

"You're sure you want to jump?" I said.

"You're not stopping me," she said.

"Alright then," I told her. "But I'm jumping with you. Free fall."