Bob Jenkins said in a low, dry voice. He tried to speak louder so they would all hear him and found himself unable. "The drinks trolley was left out, remember? I think it must have rolled across - "
The plane took a dizzying rollercoaster leap, came down with a jarring smack, and the drinks trolley fell over with a bang. Glass shattered. Dinah screamed again.
"It's all right," Laurel said frantically. "Don't hold me so tight, Dinah, honey, it's okay - "
"Please, I don't want to die! I just don't want to die!"
"Normal turbulence, folks." Brian's voice, coming through the speakers, sounded calm... but Bob Jenkins thought he heard barely controlled terror in that voice. "Just be - "
Another rocketing, twisting bump. Another crash as more glasses and mini-bottles fell out of the overturned drinks trolley.
" - calm," Brian finished.
From across the aisle on Don Gaffney's left: rii-ip.
Gaffney turned in that direction. "Quit it right now, motherfucker, or I'll stuff what's left of that magazine right down your throat."
Craig looked at him blandly. "Try it, you old jackass."
The plane bumped up and down again. Albert leaned over Bethany toward the window. Her breasts pressed softly against his arm as he did, and for the first time in the last five years that sensation did not immediately drive everything else out of his mind. He stared out the window, desperately looking for a break in the clouds, trying to will a break in the clouds.
There was nothing but shades of dark gray.
2
"How low is the ceiling, mate?" Nick asked. Now that they were actually in the clouds, he seemed calmer.
"I don't know," Brian said. "Lower than I'd hoped, I can tell you that."
"What happens if you run out of room?"
"If my instruments are off even a little, we'll go into the drink," he said flatly. "I doubt if they are, though. If I get down to five hundred feet and there's still no joy, I'll take us up again and fly down to Portland."
"Maybe you ought to just head that way now."
Brian shook his head. "The weather there is almost always worse than the weather here."
"What about Presque Isle? Isn't there a long-range SAC base there?"
Brian had just a moment to think that this guy really did know much more than he should. "It's out of our reach. We'd crash in the woods."
"Then Boston is out of reach, too."
"You bet."
"This is starting to look like being a bad decision, matey."
The plane struck another invisible current of turbulence, and the 767 shivered like a dog with a bad chill. Brian heard faint screams from the main cabin even as he made the necessary corrections and wished he could tell them all that this was nothing, that the 767 could ride out turbulence twenty times this bad. The real problem was the ceiling.
"We're not struck out yet," he said. The altimeter stood at 2,200 feet.
"But we are running out of room."
"We - " Brian broke off. A wave of relief rushed over him like a cooling hand. "Here we are," he said. "Coming through."
Ahead of the 767's black nose, the clouds were rapidly thinning. For the first time since they had overflown Vermont, Brian saw a gauzy rip in the whitish-gray blanket. Through it he saw the leaden color of the Atlantic Ocean.
Into the cabin microphone, Brian said: "We've reached the ceiling, ladies and gentlemen. I expect this minor turbulence to ease off once we pass through. In a few minutes, you're going to hear a thump from below. That will be the landing gear descending and locking into place. I am continuing our descent into the Bangor area." He clicked off and turned briefly to the man in the navigator's seat. "Wish me luck, Nick." "Oh, I do, matey - I do."
3
Laurel looked out the window with her breath caught in her throat. The clouds were unravelling fast now. She saw the ocean in a series of brief winks: waves, whitecaps, then a large chunk of rock poking out of the water like the fang of a dead monster. She caught a glimpse of bright orange that might have been a buoy.
They passed over a small, tree-shrouded island, and by leaning and craning her neck, she could see the coast dead ahead. Thin wisps of smoky cloud obscured the view for an endless forty-five seconds. When they cleared, the 767 was over land again. They passed above a field; a patch of forest; what looked like a pond.