It was amazing. The interior was sleek and modern, all white and grays and blacks, lots of clean lines. And it was spacious, too—as roomy as a commercial plane. There was a bar, an entertainment center, a small kitchen, and a hallway that led even farther down.
“There are three bedrooms,” said Jason. “And anything you need should be here. The flight’s only about seven hours, so we’ll be touching down before you get too stir-crazy.”
I shook my head, still in disbelief about what I was seeing.
“I thought a three-bedroom apartment in the city was impressive, let alone a plane.”
Jason flashed me a smile as he slid behind a nearby desk and took out his laptop. “Well, enjoy yourself. Things are getting crazy with work, so I can’t guarantee when the next time we’ll be able to take it out for a spin will be.”
Things getting crazy at work.It snapped into my mind what was going on, that he was likely referring to what Michael had told me about Jason wanting to move things faster at his company.
There was a timeframe, and I couldn’t afford to let a fancy plane distract me from that. My life, and the life of my brother, was on the line.
“April!” said Willa, plopping down onto the couch. “You want to watch nature shows with me? There’s this guy named, um, Richard…Richard Atten…” She trailed off, trying to think of the name.
“Richard Attenborough,” said Jason, his eyes flicking up from his computer.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” said Willa. “He does all the best ones. He did this show on ants that looks really cool. Ants are kind of gross, but they’re neat at the same time, you know?”
I chuckled as I sat down next to her. “Neat and gross—I get it.”
The plane began moving down the runway, and before too long we were in the air.
“It’s so cool,” said Willa as she turned to look out the window, the city of New York spread out into forever, looking more like a model set than a city of millions.
“It really is.”
The two of us said nothing as we watched the city fade into the distance.
A strange, melancholy feeling washed over me. I remembered when I’d first come to the city—though it’d been by bus rather than by plane. I’d had such big hopes and dreams for New York, crazy ideas about kicking butt, making a name for myself, maybe even doing some good along the way.
But now I was as far from that as possible. There I was, seated in some fancy private plane with a family I was on the verge of betraying. My brother was in danger, and there was a chance I’d get pulled down right along with him.
“Hey,” said Willa, tugging my sleeve. “Are you OK?”
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Jason glance up at Willa’s words. I checked myself, realizing that I was likely wearing my feelings on my face. I put on a smile, pushing my thoughts out of my mind.
“I’m great. Just thinking about what we’re going to do in London.”
“Oh, me too! We can talk about it while we’re flying, OK? Let’s watch some TV right now, though.”
“Yeah. TV sounds good.”
Willa grabbed the remote Velcroed onto the coffee table. She turned the TV on and flipped it to one nature channel or another, a pair of lions skulking across the savannah on the screen. A pleasant British voice narrated the events.
“This is the guy I’m talking about. I bet this one’s going to be really good.”
“I bet it will be, too.”
Willa tucked her head into my side, and I put my arm around her. Together, we watched the documentary, which ended up being about gazelles in Africa. And as I sat with Willa, her voice chiming in every now and then with her commentary, I felt…I don’t know. It was strange, but I felt peaceful.
The show ended, and I noticed Willa’s comments had died down. Her chest rose and fell against me, only the sounds of Jason’s fingers on his keyboard breaking the silence.
“She out?” he asked.
“I think she just might be.”
He chuckled. “Same story with every flight. She gets all amped up but falls asleep before we’re even an hour into it.”