Chapter 8
Cassie climbed out of the plane and when Dan saw her, he came to help her get down onto the ground. He was smiling. His shorts were in much better shape than her own, she thought. Hers could do with a bath. She could do with a bath.
"I wish there was a place where we could get cleaned up," she said. She was smiling, too, looking at him, liking him. He lit a cigarette and handed it to her. She took it from him and sucked the smoke deep into her lungs.
"There is a little pond," Dan said. "I found it a little while ago. Come along. I'll show you where it is." He took her hand and they followed a pathway and presently they emerged from the woods into a clearing and there was a small pond in its center. The sun was warm and the chill of the night was gone. She looked at Dan Roberts shyly and he grinned at her. She touched the surface of the water with her toe and it was much warmer than she had supposed it could be.
Dan watched her as she walked into the pond: She kept going until the waters were up to her chin. She undid her halter and rinsed it briskly.
She got out of her shorts and washed them too. She swam for a while with her clothes in her hands. She walked out of the pond and stood before Dan Roberts, naked and unashamed. He was staring at her breasts and her pubic region and she could see that he really liked what he was looking at. She stood still for a moment and when he walked close and took her into his arms, she sighed. He kissed her and she wriggled against him.
"I think I know how Carol feels," she said. "I am not so sure that I want to go back to the city again."
"You'd better be," he said. "I think I hear our guide thrashing around in the brush. We'd better go meet her."
She dressed quickly and then they went back to the battered fuselage and found that the girl Ruth had arrived. Carol and her new boyfriend were with her.
"We are all going back to town," Ruth said, smiling. "Your friend thinks she had better go with you. It makes it easier on everybody. Ronnie there is tired of Adam and his freaks, too."
Cassie smiled at Carol. "I'm so glad," she said. "I worried about you. I am so glad that you are going home."
Carol smiled at her. She moved closer to her handsome, blond boyfriend and she clutched at his arm.
"We've got a long hike ahead of us," Ruth said. "We'd better get going if we want to make the city by nightfall."
No one argued with her. Cassie looked around at all of them and she wondered what sort of reaction they would create when they arrived back in civilization in tattered shorts and halters and then she decided that things could have been worse. They could have had to go back naked.
The girl, Ruth, seemed to know what she was doing, and she led them onto a well-defined pathway that was pretty well concealed by surrounding underbrush. There were many rest periods and they walked for hours on end. Carol was silent, clinging to her boyfriend whenever it was possible and walking along beside him like a dutiful bride, which, in a way, Cassie supposed, she was.
The afternoon heat began to slow them down and they rested each time they came upon a spring or a grassy clearing. They found a small pond and went into it to wash the sweat away and to refresh their warm bodies. After that, the hike was not a chore anymore. It was late afternoon when they arrived at a small clearing and found the vehicles. There were several jeeps and automobiles of various types. Ruth led them to a big black sedan and she reached under the left front fender and got a key that was hidden there. Ruth checked the gas gauge and then she started the car. She smiled at Cassie and the others. "Come on," she said. "You can ride with me. Even if it is a hot car, I know how to get us out of here. So, come on."
They got into the car without further argument. Cassie slid into the front seat and Dan got in beside her. Carol and her boyfriend slid into the back seat and promptly lost interest in their surroundings. Carol was in the boy's arms and they were necking like children and no one cared.
There was a narrow dirt road that climbed high up into the mountains and because the road was filled with ruts and holes, it was a long, dangerous ride. There was a period when they crawled along a very narrow roadway that wound around a mountain and Cassie was sure that they were going to slide off of the roadway and go crashing down into the valleys below. Ruth was a good driver and when she finally turned the car onto a paved road, Cassie sighed with relief.
"We'll be in town in ten minutes," Ruth said. "Now what do we do?"
"I guess you'd better take us to the local police station," Cassie said. "You can come along with us. I'd like to see to it that you get the money I promised you."
Ruth shook her head and she grinned. Night had arrived and she had the car's lights on and Cassie could see the reckless look on the young face.
"No way," Ruth said. "You got any idea what they would do to me if I parked a hot car in front of the precinct? They'd have me in the coop in seconds. No thanks. I just quit one kind of prison. I don't want another."
"All right, Ruth," Cassie said. "You just drop us off and I'll take it from there. If you want your thousand dollars, you come and find me. I won't be too hard to find."
Ruth gave her a crooked grin. "All right," she said. "I'll look you up."
A few minutes later, Ruth pulled up and halted the car in front of a sheriffs station on the outskirts of a small city. Cassie and Carol and Dan and Cassie's friend, Ronnie, got out. They stood a moment on the sidewalk and then Ruth gunned the car's engine and she took off in a cloud of dust.
"Well," Cassie said soberly, "let's go inside and report that we have returned to the land of the living."
There was a young man on duty at the desk in the sheriffs station. He looked at them with a sour expression as they walked into his domain.
"We are not hippies," Cassie said. "I am Cassie Kimball, this is Dan Roberts, and the other girl is Carol Burke. We just got back from an airplane crash. I would like to use your telephone to make some calls, please."
"Sure you would," the young man said. He did not believe anything that she had said and she could not really blame him. They did not look like survivors of an airplane crash. The young deputy picked up his telephone and he spoke into it and several young men in uniform showed up from one of the rooms in the rear of the station.
A young man with horn-rimmed glasses smiled at Cassie. "I am so glad you are safe, Miss Kimball," he said. "We have been hoping you would make it. We've been searching for you but we didn't see anything."
"We crashed in a valley and it was full of religious nuts. They tried to keep us there with them, but they finally brought us out when they found that we simply would not convert. I'd like it very much if you would spare us the reporters. We will get back to our home base and then we can deal with them."
"All right, ma'am," the deputy said. "If you like, we will run you to the airport and one of our boys will fly you to where you want to go."
"Thank you," Cassie said.
The young man on the desk was looking at them with a pop-eyed stare. He simply could not believe that he was actually seeing Cassie Kimball, probably the world's richest girl, and Dan Roberts, the famous test pilot.
A young girl in uniform showed up with hot coffee and sandwiches and she offered to provide anything that could be needed. She was especially anxious to provide clothes if they wanted her to get them some.
Cassie shook her head. "It is all right," she said. "We've been in these things for so long now, we are used to them. If we can just get back to our own base, we will be fine."
It took nearly an hour to arrange everything. Then a car was ready to take them to a local airport from where a plane was going to fly them back to Consola.
"Can we break the story?" the deputy asked, as he helped them to get settled in the police car.
Cassie, filled with gratitude for the help they were being given, nodded. "Just let us get airborne and then you can tell the whole wide world."
The car moved off then and Dan was sitting beside her. He was very quiet and she wished that she could find his hand and hold it while they moved on into the night. Their driver was a deputy sheriff and he was eager to talk, to ask questions. Cassie smilingly asked him to concentrate on his driving and not their answers.
"Please," she said, "we told you everything there is. Now, just get us to a plane and we will be very grateful to you."
"All right," the young man said. A moment later he had some more questions but no one answered him.
There was a light plane warming up on the airport's runway. The young man who was flying them to Consola announced that he had already notified the people at her home base that she was safe and on her way back there. "They were very glad to know that you are safe," he said. "But, we'd better get airborne in a hurry. Look at that line of cars coming in here. They aren't looking for me, I know."
They hurried aboard the plane and then the pilot got them off the ground and on their way. Cassie glanced out of her window as the pilot banked and turned into the heading he would follow. She could see the pile up of cars down on the ground and she was glad that they had escaped the photographers and the newsmen.
When they were ready, she would have a press conference at Consola and then she and Dan could report their experiences. Carol, too, could enjoy her share of the attention, too. Cassie knew that there would be no reporters at Consola. That was all private property and no one could get there without permission to land or arrive inside the environs. Once she and the others were cleaned up and dressed presentably, she would let Bernie Potter call in the media and she would tell the whole world all about her ordeal in the jungles where she and her friends survived the crash of their ship.
Dan Roberts was sitting quite still, watching the pilot as he flew them toward Consola. She wondered what he was thinking. Her memory began to deal with the things that she had said to him and the things that she had done with him and she was suddenly mortified. She wished that she could get off the plane and walk into her little cottage at the base and not have to face anybody again.
She lit a cigarette and listened as the pilot made radio contact with Consola and began requesting landing instructions. She smiled as she heard the pilot trying to convince the people at Consola that he was actually bringing Cassie Kimball and Dan Roberts home again.
Finally the little plane set down like a bird, skipped along the runway, and swerved into an arc that let them climb out close to a ramp. Bernie Potter was waiting for her; she walked into his arms and then she wept. Carol let the terminal super embrace her, too. Bernie shook hands with Dan Roberts and Ronnie and then he and Cassie began walking off toward one of his little carts.
She was so busy telling Bernie about their experiences that she lost track of Dan Roberts. She had hoped that he would want to accompany her to her cottage and wait while she got into a shower and some clean things. Bernie took her to her little house and he told her that he would arrange a press conference for ten the following morning after they had a good night's sleep.
She asked Bernie to send her a good dinner and then she let him leave her at the doorway to the cottage. She went inside and the familiar rooms looked very good to her. She supposed that she had returned to Consola instead of going to her home in L.A., because of the protection that the terminal could offer to her. If she had gone to her home she would be at the mercy of the reporters and she would have to answer questions before she was ready.
She went into the bathroom and shed the shorts and halter that she had worn for too long. She showered and then walked around her soiled things as she began her grooming tasks. She was busy for a long while and then the dinner that she had ordered arrived and she sat and ate like a starving child. She was wearing a pair of tailored lounging pajamas and she wished that she had someone to talk to. She was hoping that Dan Roberts would call her but he did not.
She began watching television and it surprised her when a favorite program was interrupted by a news bulletin. The news flash concerned her rescue and the announcer was vague about things but it was definite that Miss Cassie Kimball and those who had been with her on her ill-fated flight were now safe and back at the airline company's terminal compound in Consola.
"A press conference has been set for ten tomorrow morning," the announcer said, "and it is expected that Miss Kimball will reveal the details of her crash and subsequent rescue by a religious group who make their home in the junglelike valley that was a haven to the heiress for some time."
That was it. The program went on again and Cassie began to doze. She finally got ready for bed and as soon as she got between the cool sheets, she slept. She was actually exhausted, she supposed.
Bernie Potter had breakfast with her in one of the restaurants close to where she was going to talk to the news people.
Bernie Potter had much to report and she was glad to be able to visit with him and talk about the things that were important to her. He reported that there were hundreds of phone calls waiting for her and a pile of telegrams, too, but she was not interested in business as usual just yet.
"Tom Drake is going to be all right," Bernie said. "The eye specialists think that he is responding to treatment and while he may not go back to being a pilot, he is not going to go blind, which was what we worried most about."
"I'm so glad," Cassie said. She glanced at her watch and saw that it was getting close to the time of her press interview. "I was hoping that Dan Roberts would have breakfast with me," she said. "I was thinking that he and Carol and I could all tell our little stories and then get on to other things."
Bernie gave her a probing look. "Dan Roberts flew a 707 back to L.A. early this morning. The girl Carol and her friend went along with him."
Cassie stared at him. "Now why would he do that? I thought that we would both talk to the news people."
"I guess he figured you could say it all. Dan is a funny guy. He likes to work."
"All right. You can stay with me while I talk to the news people."
Bernie shrugged. "I'll be glad to," he said.
They finished their breakfast leisurely and then Bernie gave her a ride in one of his carts through an arcade that led to the main offices in the administration building. The news people were waiting there and the television people, too. There were only a couple of cameras set up and Cassie supposed that the TV people would pool the shots they got.
The whole business was surprisingly easy. She told them of the crash, how Dan Roberts's skill as a pilot had kept them from crashing and getting killed. He kept the plane aloft as long as possible, she said, and thereby reduced speed until they finally stopped moving and then they crashed. She and Carol had both been knocked out but then they were found by a religious group who had their retreat nearby. They were well cared for and when it was possible, they were sent back to civilization with one of their converts who was leaving the valley in order to get supplies.
When the conference was ended and every one had gone, Cassie sat and smoked a cigarette while she smiled at Bernie Potter. "Bernie," she said, "I want a plane, one of our executive jets and I am going to L. A., too. Do you have an address for Dan Roberts in L. A.?"
He nodded. He took out a pen and a notebook. He wrote an address down and handed it to her. She looked at it, slipped it into the pocket of her slacks.
Bernie had the plane made ready for her and she talked with one of her secretaries at her office in L. A. and the girl agreed to keep on handling the business end of things.
When Cassie took off in the little jet, she knew exactly what she was doing and she didn't mind chasing a man after all. She was busy for a while after she got the jet off the ground and then she had a respite, a time when the little plane streaked through the sky and did it all without help from her. She had time to think and she wondered why Dan Roberts would run off. She was sure that was what he had done. And she wondered why.
She had time to think of the many people who had used her at the valley campgrounds and she knew that Dan Roberts had seen all that had been done to her. Perhaps he wouldn't want a girl who had been used by so many different people. She had to think about what she was doing, she realized. She flew over L.A. and had to wait while they dealt with some of the big jobs trying to slide in and land. She wasn't stacked for very long, mainly because she was Cassie Kimball and there would be news people waiting to talk to her on the ground.
She finally was allowed to land and ground control led her right into a prepared trap. They had her taxi to a roped off section where there was no traffic and a group of TV cameras and reporters were waiting to interview her and to take pictures. She didn't mind. They wanted to know about her ordeal in the mountains and some wanted to know why the others hadn't attended her news conference that had taken place that morning.
She explained that Dan Roberts had had to deliver a jet to the company's L.A. terminal so that it could be put into service. But, she explained, too, she was sure that Dan Roberts would be glad to talk with the news people. He had been a perfect hero as far as she was concerned and she was alive now because a man with his experience and know-how had been her pilot. No, she didn't really know too much about the religious sect that had kept them alive and well cared for until they were ready to return to civilization. She was very grateful to them but it was over now and she would like to forget all about it.
They let her go finally and she rented a car and drove to her house in Beverly Hills. There was a housekeeper and no one else and she was touched by the elderly woman's interest in her rescue and general well-being. She had some lunch and then began dealing with her calls. The afternoon went swiftly and she worked steadily, talking and doing the things that she did normally.
Her favorite stool pigeon, a girl in operations at the terminal, told her that Dan Roberts was off duty and would be off duty until the following afternoon when he was scheduled to take a commercial flight to New York and return with another of the new L1011s. He was set to wring that one out and certify it for commercial service.
She showered and had some dinner and then got into her cutest dress. She was going to do her best to seduce Dan Roberts and she was very careful with her makeup and her grooming. When she left the house and got into her little foreign car, it was nearly nine in the evening. She had called the rent-a-car people and they had recovered the car she had used to get home from the airport and now she was on her own with her own wheels.
She drove to Dan Robert's address and parked her car in front of the big apartment house. It was so like a lot of other apartments with the lanai and the pool and she was sure that Dan Roberts could afford something much nicer. Then she realized that he was very rarely at home. He was always in the sky.
She worried that he might not be home now. But he was. She rang his door bell and for a moment, she wished that he would not be in and she would be able to get away without being so embarrassingly eager. He opened the door and stood, staring at her. He was shocked, she saw, and that gave her an advantage.
"Can I come in?" she asked.
He nodded. He stepped back and she walked into the living room of the apartment. He had been sipping a drink. It was sitting on an end table beside his chair and the bubbles in it were very much alive.
"Would you like a drink?" he asked.
"Yes, please," she said. "I would very much like a drink."
He went out into his kitchen and she heard the water running and the clinking sounds of ice in a glass. He handed her a highball a moment later. He stood, looking at her and she was looking at him. She was trembling and that annoyed her. She sipped at the drink and she was glad that he had made it strong.
"I came to get laid," she said.
"All right," he said.
"I mean it," she said.
"So do I," he said.
He was looking at her and he didn't like her at all and all of the grand and splendid speeches she had rehearsed seemed stupid and ridiculous. She felt her lower lip quivering and then the sting of tears and one of the tears slid out and moved down her cheek and she knew then that she had made a horrible mistake. She wished for the strength to turn and run and never have to see Dan Roberts again.
He reached out and pulled her into his arms and then he kissed her tremulous mouth and a great sigh swept through her. He picked her up in his arms and all of the bright, brittle things she wanted to say to him ran off and left her and she had nothing to say. He carried her into his bedroom and then she was on his bed and she could feel his arms around her and he was kissing her and she wished that she could say something sensible and decent and brilliant.
"I love you," she said.
He kissed her again and she could hear the words he whispered against her lips. "I love you, too," he said.
Then they had nothing to say to each other for a while. She felt his hands on the softnesses of her breasts and that made her squirm and wriggle and trickle and she gave herself up to the bliss that was hers for the time being.
His hands were gentle as he dealt with her clothing. Then she felt the length and the warmth of him against her skin. She was deeply confined in his arms and when he penetrated her and began his pilgrimage to the very depths of her loins, she aided and abetted him as best she could.
This was the horror that she had shunned all of her life and now it was ecstasy and bliss and she simply could not understand why it should be so different with Dan Roberts. But it was. She supposed that they would talk and plan a future for themselves and she wanted him to know that she would do anything that he might ask of her.
She began to lose contact with reality and she could feel the wild surging sensations in her loins and her mind blacked out and she became a vibrant and excited organism thrilling and spilling copiously as the rigors of ecstasy and exquisite orgasms began in her. She was holding him to her tightly, her legs were wrapped around his waist and then she felt him spilling inside her and she was bursting too and for the first time in her busy pampered life, she felt the faint stirrings of an unimagined happiness. She felt him moving in her again and she thought, blissfully, that he might as well do that.
He was not ever going to get away from her. Not ever again.