Flying Mile High Chapter 17
#7 of Flying Mile High
11:04pm, Sydney Time: As the neighbourhood slept peacefully, Gwen sat with her back behind Joe in the bathtub as her fiancé slowly massaged her shoulders. Joe stopped for a quick break as he reached for a piece of Chocolate on the table next to the tub.
"Say ahh"
Gwen closed her eyes and opened her mouth and Joe placed a piece of French chocolate in her mouth.
"Mmmmmm. This is amazing. Best day ever in my life, I've been waiting for 10 years to hear you say those words".
Joe planted a kiss on Gwen's forehead.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting; I was always scared of being rejected".
"We should go out tomorrow, spend some time at Circular Quay or something, just you and me". Suggested Gwen.
Joe sighed as he remembered the e-mail he received from flight-ops.
"Gwen, I'm really sorry but I received an e-mail while cruising over Canberra. I'm taking a Limey on a Gulfstream down to Cairns so we can't spend time together".
Gwen reached her arm back and caressed Joe's cheek.
"Take me with you. You can fly jump seat while I fly the plane, I want to act as captain in command tomorrow. Just remember to give me feedback after returning to Sydney. We can go have dinners at The Rocks after work".
"You sure about this baby? Is this what you really want?".
Gwen leaned back and rested her head on Joe's abs.
"You can call me Captain Miles, how does that sound?". Answered Gwen.
"Remember that kid named Kyle when we flew solo? He's scheduled as the First Officer tomorrow".
"I'll get that son of an ass". Smirked Gwen
******************************************
Two years ago...
"Janice, I have something important to tell you".
Janice looked nervously at Brian; she could see some indications of affection through the pupils of his eyes. Unsure of what he would say next, she took a step forward towards her guardian angel.
"Janice, I don't know how to say this but..." Brian started.
Janice felt his gentle touch on her hands, sending shivers down her spine. She was starting to feel nervous, as she had never seen him act this way before. Brian positioned his head right next to Janice's ears and whispered his message as quietly as he could.
"Je t'adore."
The words echoed through her brain for the first time, as she slowly began to understand the meaning. Janice felt herself go numb as she pulled the golden retriever onto her lips. She could taste it, the smell of his cigarettes and the scent of kerosene and sweat. She inhaled the air deeply as she felt him run his hands across her back, taking in more and more of his scent. Brian was startled at first by her reaction, but began to relax himself as he continued to bond with the girl he had saved.
****
23:30pm, present day.
A teardrop impacted on her paw as she relived that first time. She convinced herself that she would never find a true happiness again. Janice looked into the mirror on her bathroom wall; she smudged her eyeliner, as more tears began to follow freely. She clenched her hand into a fist and sobbed at how destroyed and disturbing her life was. The small insignificant fact, that she had finally cast her revenge on her rapist, should have supplied a small finger of relief into her distraught mindset. Her number one, known enemy was dead and gone, and she had got away with it...but it hadn't helped even a tiny little bit, but it had just added guilt into her self introspection, and melancholy to her thoughts.
She walked slowly into the living room naked, where she found the Swiss army knife she used for letter opening, lying on the table. She grabbed it, and tore at her sofa in a maelstrom of pent up fury. She envisioned her other attackers that night...the lackeys...the gang members that she hadn't taken notice of when the first pain of her disgusting lion attackers member had shut her brain down into a comforting numbness. She screamed in anger as she plunged multiple stabs into the surrounding furniture, picturing the fountaining stuffing and springs to be the blood and intestines of the absolute evil bastards who out the final nails into her sanity...
She pulled the blade out one last time, dragging some more of the stuffing out onto the floor. She positioned the knife to her chest and tried to drag up the last vestiges of her shattered psyche to extract the courage to end her own suffering amongst the sprawling wreckage of her life. She took a deep breath as her adrenal gland ramped up her brain to another level, starting to over-ride her conscious thoughts. She could hear every single pulsing thump of her heart, every breath that was being dragged into her lungs, every twitch of her tensing muscles...
She dropped the knife onto the carpeted floor and burst into tears, she just couldn't, even now, even after the latest disaster, and completion to one of her pitiful life threads. She couldn't fucking do it. Whenever she reached the required point where her courage could just, possibly override her self preserving instincts..., Her spectre, her guardian angel would envelop her in his arms, and in his love, taking her into his being like a limp rag doll and stroke her head until she cried herself to sleep.
****
She awoke, cold and stiff from the crumpled position she had let herself fold into on the carpet. The results of her destroying madness, scattered around her like like lumps of cream and grey candyfloss, stray threads still drifting in the disturbed air, reflecting fibres of spun gold in the beams of light that were penetrating the curtains.
She stood and observed the mess with a numbed mind...and dismissed it, another problem that she may or may not solve at a later date. She made a decision then. If her mind had come so close to allowing her muscles to tense in anticipation of the knifes final cleansing thrust...they would finally allow her the peace she so desired with the trigger of a gun secured in finger...
Janice glanced at the clock...she had four hours before she had to report for a private charter flight to Cairns. One passenger, a female from Pomme land. She snorted. That should be enough time, and no bitch would stop her after an eighteen hour flight...she would be sleeping offf the booze in the cabin..."Fucking rich cows don't know what they are born to...give her a shock to open her door and find my brains dripping from the lintel onto whatever snout she has..." she muttered to herself and went to pull on her the shabbiest clothes she could find, then donned a black lace veil that she had picked up in a foul mood one day.
She headed out the door into the blinding Sydney sun, walking down the block and withdrawing $1500 from her seldom used bank account, rolling it carefully into her inside pocket, then summoned a cab.
"Greystains please. Tip if you get me there quickly." She barked at the cabbie.
"Where in Greystains miss...and should you be alone?"
"I am after something that I can't get around here. My mate as beaten me, and the pigs aren't interested...Your fare will be doubled if you drop me somewhere I might find some persuasion..."
The cabbie tutted, but pulled away from the curb, heading towards one of the places he normally chose to avoid.
He pulled up outside a rundown pub called The Drunken Devil. A lewd sign of one of the natives from Tasmania, spittle drooling from his lips and taking a possum over a barrel, was swinging crooked in the wind above the door. Two of the windows were broken, held together with sticky tape, and graffiti covered the walls.
"That'll be $18 miss."
She handed him a fifty. "Wait around...I doubt I will get a cab around here to the airport when I'm finished here." She said darkly.
The cabbie hesitated, but nodded, and pulled off up the street, going around the block before parking up with a view to pubs entrance.
Janice took a deep breath and pushed the door open, walking into the dimly lit bar area, scrunching her nose up as the smell of stale beer and sweat hit her receptors. She walked over to the bar and took a stool, as the heavily scarred and battered Koala walked towards her from the till area.
"What the fuck is a pretty bitch like you doing in here at this time of the day...you won't find any punters willing to pay for your class of goods until at least nine tonight..."
She shot her hand out and slapped him. "Shut the fuck up, you disgusting piece of shit!...I am not here to sell my body...I am here to buy."
He tensed, but ignored the slap..."Well for that you can have my body for free..."
"Fuck off!...Where can a buy something to solve a persistent problem...a male problem... permanently." She growled at him.
He stepped back a bit, gripping a bat of gnarled myrtle from behind the bar. "Lift your veil...I can tell a cop when I see one..."
She lifted the veil and stared him down, the soulless pits of her pupils sucking him in, daring him to lift the bat in anger.
He carefully dropped the bat into its holder, and backed up to the phone. "Five minutes, and a phone call...you can pay?"
She nodded.
He picked up the receiver and dialled a number, speaking quietly into the mike and then hanging up. "You want a drink until he gets here?"
Janice shook her head. "Got work in two hours...will be odd if I smell of beer...you got a juice?"
The barkeep smiled, showing his broken teeth. "Do I look like I serve juice?"
She grinned a little in response. A loud exhaust sounded on the street outside, and a souped up Holden pulled up outside, backfiring as the engine was turned off. The door of the pub opened and a roo dressed from head to foot in studded leather, complete with knuckle dusters stepped in, allowing the light from outside to highlight the other patrons briefly, before closing again behind him.
The Koala gestured at Janice, and threw a key at the roo, who caught it in one fist and walked to a door at the end of the bar. "Follow!" he commanded her.
She stood and followed the roo into the side room, and stood as he locked the door behind her and turned with a menacing look on his face. "You had better not be taking the piss, or you will be carried out the alley behind in a fucking bag...after I have had my pleasure from you..."
Janice reached into her inside pocket and pulled the roll of notes out and threw it at him without a word. He caught it and thumbed through the amount. "This won't buy you my services..."
She laughed interrupting him. "I want a gun...untraceable with a full clip. 9mm minimum, single use, then in the river. I want the satisfaction of blowing his balls off, before at use the last bullets on his eyeballs."
The roo grunted, but then smiled. "Deal!" He barked and left the room, returning five minutes later with a black plastic bag, handing it to her. "You have ten rounds in the clip. Just pull the cocking handle and flick the safety. It's a world war two German Luger. He won't be waking up when you point it in the right direction."
Janice grunted, and pulled the gun from the bag, admiring it in the single bulbs dim illumination. She chucked the bag at him, and slipped it into her carry purse, then walked towards the door.
He stopped her with his hand..."Another $500 and you could be in a different city when it happens..."
She shook her head, and pushed his arm away, before strolling out into the light and waving to the cab. "Airport...crew entrance...the job is arranged." She barked and closed her eyes, as the cab pulled away into the city streets...