Rebecca was holding herself on a tight rein, fearing that if she looked directly at Cooper she would start crying again, and surely she had done enough of that on this recent emotional roller coaster. The steady whistling sound of a jet aircraft approaching broke the silence. They both looked toward the door, neither really wanting to move. The plane circled once and touched down, taxying almost up to the house. It was quite a large plane, obviously designed as a work horse. Large cargo doors were built into the sides and within minutes these had been opened, and a team of men began to pile out and started unloading right there on the edge of the runway. Cooper looked at it with satisfaction and turned to Rebecca.
"We are flying back in with this plane on it's return to Toowoomba. It will take too long to repair my plane if indeed it can be done here, and I want you safe and on your way today. I'm sorry for the short notice Rebecca but it has to be this way. This is just no place for you, and I am so sorry that I brought you out here into this..." Here he swept his arms in a wide arc, "This run down eye-sore. I don't know what possessed me. I made an error, and hope you will forgive me." There was little else he could say. Rebecca was distraught, but she wouldn't say anything. She couldn't. She struggled not to show any expression on her face. She had fallen heavily for this man, for the first time since her earlier loss, she had let her guard down. She thought he had felt the same about her, he had certainly given all the signs. Now here he was sending her out of his life. He was being a gentleman and escorting her back to Brisbane, and for that she was thankful. She was quite capable of managing the trip herself, but it meant she could spend some more time with him. As hurt as she was, she was not willing to let go completely. She didn't understand his sudden change of heart, it had been nothing she had done herself, so she could at least spend the next few days until her departure from Brisbane International trying to discover what it was that had suddenly made him draw away back into himself. Rebecca had a vague idea floating around in her mind, but she didn't want to think that something as material as 'how things looked' could affect him so badly. It could be the reason for the sudden and unexpected flurry of building and repair work that was about to happen. Even now he was head to head with the leader of the repair team, and the aircraft people who had arrived on the plane. She could only admire his force of personality. Soon he was finished with them, and the plane was unloaded.
Rebecca was not unhappy to be leaving, her experiences here had not been exactly pleasant apart from the interludes with Cooper of course, but the rest of it... The rest of it she could have done without. She had already decided that this property was not a place where she wanted to spend much time. A holiday would be fine, if the house were liveable, for a few weeks. It was not an option on a permanent basis however, and she thought that Cooper had suddenly realised it as well.
It was time to get back to her real world, and leave these dreams behind. Rebecca picked up her bags and moved to the edge of the veranda. She stood looking about at the dry dustiness of the barren landscape. Apart from the few men working on shifting supplies nothing moved in the heat.
It was actually quite depressing.
The team of men had arrived in good time, and it seemed that Cooper would be able to take Rebecca back to Toowoomba in the aircraft that had arrived today, and from there to Brisbane tomorrow. The jet was soon unloaded, and the head of the repair team informed Cooper that the repair team would take at least two days to make his plane safe enough to fly back into Toowoomba. The jet was returning almost immediately, and if Cooper and Rebecca wanted a lift into Toowoomba, they should board now.
Cooper came over to Rebecca and spoke quietly.
"Rebecca, it's time to leave. I'm sorry your stay here has been so unpleasant. I'm really sorry. I have..." He paused and swallowed. "Come to think very highly of you. I had hoped that we may have had a happy time here, even though it was essentially a business trip. The surprise that lay in wait for us, then the sheer danger of being shot at, and lastly my own realisation that in it's present condition this property is barely fit for human habitation."
"Cooper, you can't be held responsible for the actions of those criminals. That could not possibly be your fault. As for this house and property, well, you have now seen it as I first saw it. But Cooper, you know I love you." She paused. "Yes, I do. For that reason, I would be happy anywhere where you are. Repairing and refurbishing a house is a simple task. You just never had any incentive I guess?" Rebecca wiped the back of her hand across her eyes.
"Cooper, what would I do here? I'm not a housewife. I'm a lawyer, just beginning a well planned career. Even if the house was a palatial mansion, I could not live here."
Cooper nodded, looking at his feet.
"I know this Rebecca. Truly, nobody realises it more than I.” He picked up Rebecca's case and held her hand as she stepped down the front steps and joined him walking out to the jet. He didn't let go of her hand.
He felt that there was nothing more to say. He knew he should be saying something though, he could feel it in his bones, but what? His steps slowed as he thought abut the dilemma. He wanted Rebecca to stay, but he wanted her to go for her own sake. He knew she wanted him, but he knew also that staying here was not an option for her. It was unresolvable, something that a chat over a cup of tea would never resolve. He shook his head in resignation as the options played over and over in his head for the hundredth time. Rebecca too seemed lost in her thoughts, her steps slowing to match Coopers. The whine of the jet engines starting did nothing to hurry them along. The pilot was watching them, and knew something was happening, so he took a great deal of care to ensure that the engines were just idling over, warming up in preparation for departure. Rebecca's heart ached at the prospect of losing Cooper but she could do nothing about it. She had a career to return to. People were relying on her, and if this was what love still held for her - more heartache, then she thought herself better off out of it. She was determined not to be hurt again and the sooner they got underway the better. She straightened her back and lifted her chin. She stepped out ahead of Cooper and almost marched to the steps leading up to the aircraft door. Cooper could only follow, now with surprise etched on his face at the sudden shift in Rebecca's demeanour. By the time he entered the cabin area, Rebecca was seated and belted in. She was in a single seat, so all he could do was take a seat across the wide aisle from her. The plane was essentially a workhorse, and not particularly designed for passenger comfort. They would be barely able to converse on the return journey, but Coopers glance at Rebecca's face told him that casual chat was probably out of the question anyway.
Cooper signalled the pilot, who then began the full take-off procedures and soon had them lifting into the cloudless sky and turning to make a direct line for far away Toowoomba. In this plane it would only be a short journey of around an hour, perhaps a little less with favourable winds. There was nothing to do but settle back and try to work out what had happened. The short and passionate interlude had seemed so full of promise, yet like a fire of hardwood coals with water poured over it, had hissed and sputtered into coolness in a very short space of time. As he mulled over the events of the last few days, he kept coming back to the involvement of the people from New World, and the involvement of the special services departments of both Australia and the UK, and the US it seemed. So item one. Cooper checked on his fingers. Rebecca was certainly a lot safer if she was no where near his property. These people were a clear and present danger to anyone on the place. Even though they had apparently fled south, and that had yet to be checked, it meant nothing in this day and age of instant communications. The Federal Police and military types who had turned up and tried to take him had also gone south in some haste, and not bothered to let him know where they had gone, or what they were doing. To be expected he supposed.
Cooper drew a small note book from his shirt pocket, and listed item one.
One. Rebecca’s safety. Paramount. Remove her from the property and his life.
With this one line written, he lapsed into a state of introspection. How could he remove her from his life? Dam it, he loved her. He was no school boy, and thought he recognised the signs of loving someone when he felt them. He turned to look at Rebecca, sitting some few feet away across the aisle - she may as well have been on the other side of the world so great did the distance of those few feet feel. The noise inside the body of the plane did not encourage conversation. There was very little in the way of lining or soundproofing. Only the pilot’s cabin and instrument area had been kept intact and soundproof in the interests of safety during flights. The two pilot’s seats, and a small space behind them for an engineer or navigator with his own desk and instrument panels. Cooper flung off his seat belt and stood up as best he could in the low ceilinged cabin. He beckoned to Rebecca to join him, and indicated the cabin where the pilot was. There was only the one on this short trip. No one else was in the flight deck cabin and the door was propped open.
Rebecca sat for a long moment just looking at Cooper. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but he chose not to say anything or indicate that he noticed. He looked forward again and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Rebecca was dabbing at her eyes with a small white handkerchief. He kept his gaze resolutely forward for a few more moments, then again held his hand out to Rebecca and said “Please Rebecca. I must talk to you.” His words were only half heard in the noise, but she could read his lips well enough and see the pleading in his eyes. She fumbled with her seat belt and struggled to her feet when it sprang free. Cooper moved forward, holding onto the seat backs and reaching out for Rebecca’s hand. She kept her hands to herself. She was not going to let him touch her again. She knew the damage that would do to her resolve. She was aching all over as though she had been in some sort of accident, but knew it was a form of mourning for what might have been. She knew the feeling well, and was determined that she would surmount it this time and move on. She just had to get her feet back on the ground, and put some distance between herself and Cooper. This time it would be her choice. The plane cruised through the thin air as though on ice. Not a bump or dip marred it’s course. The air outside was thin and cold, but cloudless as far as the eye could see. The browns and reds of the landscape below unchanged even as the sight disappeared over the far horizon. Rebecca turned her gaze back to Cooper, and her heart lurched. He looked to be so much a part of this land. She could see the blue of the vast sky in the blue of his eyes, the brown of the landscape in the changing browns of his hair and the sun shine in his tanned brown arms. He could as easily talk to the dark skinned people who inhabited the silent regions of his vast property as he could to her, a pale city dweller from one of the biggest cities in the world. She almost sobbed aloud as the injustice of life struck her almost like a blow to her body. She struggled to collect herself. She did not want him, Cooper, to see her insecurities in her eyes. She had to do this. They were not good for each other, that was plainly obvious. They would end up destroying each other if one was forced to concede to the other simply so they could be together. Life had set them on different paths, and they were neither of them capable of changing that course. Or so it seemed.
Rebecca preceded Cooper into the tiny cabin space, the pilot watching them as they tried to fit in. The biggest problem was Cooper. He just wasn’t built to fit in that cabin. Rebecca sat on the edge of the control console in the centre between the two pilot seats, in a spot that the pilot indicated to her. It was apparently a small surface used as a step - or in this case, a small uncomfortable seat. Cooper squeezed himself into the navigator seat, his knees almost touching Rebecca’s. The pilot adjusted his headphones making sure they were clamped on his head and looked forward, busying himself with a full aircraft instrument check. He knew when discretion was called for. Cooper closed the connecting door and immediately most of the sound stopped, leaving just a slight whooshing sound of the air rushing past the aircraft as it sped eastward. The engines were a long way back now, slung on either side almost under the tail. Both Rebecca and Cooper were looking at their knees, just millimetres apart. Cooper swallowed. He had never felt so helpless in his life as he struggled to find the right words to say to Rebecca, who sat there looking at him with her steady brown eyed gaze, clear now of tears and almost clear of any expression at all. She was not about to make it any easier for Cooper. If there was blame to apportion, she was going to blame Cooper for bringing her to this place. Leading her to trust him, to hold her, to protect her yes, but if she had never set foot on that dusty forsaken place she would never have needed protecting anyway. What hurt her the most though was that she had trusted him with her deepest feelings, with her very body, with her heart and her body. A heart that she had never opened to anyone, ever, for a very long time. She couldn’t raise her eyes to meet Cooper’s just yet.
She remained silent, the silence dragging out into minutes. The pilot kept himself busy scribbling notes in his log, and catching up on details he had forgotten he had to record. Finally, Cooper drew a breath and said to Rebecca.
“I had to get you out of that place. I’m sorry, but your safety is very important to me. You were in danger there.” He paused, and into the pause Rebecca fired back.
“In danger from you Cooper. From you. No one else.” Her eyes flashed and her chin came up. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. Her heart was thumping in her chest and she was beginning to feel foolish perched on the tiny step of the console. If Cooper wanted to make excuses for his sudden wish to be rid of her now that he had had his way, then at least he could be honest with her. He wanted her off the place and out of his house so he could get on with the renovations and rebuilding, no doubt for the benefit of some local girl he had in mind. Someone who wouldn’t mind living out there on a place that appeared to be less fertile than the surface of the moon.
“At least be honest with me Cooper.” Rebecca was short of breath she was that tense, and her words sounded less than pleasant, but she was beyond caring.
“You want me off the place and out of your house. Indeed, you want me on the other side of the world as far away as you can place me in as short a time as possible, and it’s nothing to do with New World, but everything to do with you and what you want.” Rebecca caught her breath in a sobbing hiccup as she tried to steady herself. She was on the verge of shouting. She felt like screaming at him in frustration and hurt.
“I… I…” Words failed her and she suddenly stood up and fought past him and out of the cabin, back to her seat where she strapped herself in and looked out of the window, not seeing a thing. Her chest was heaving as she tried to breath deeply to calm herself. She was as much shocked at her own feelings as anything else. She had not been so close to losing her self control ever. Not even when Jake - there. She had used his name. Not even when she had been told he had been killed in action. Then, that time, she had simply stood there looking at her father as though he had suddenly started speaking Chinese. His words after that first statement had simply flowed through her. Her mother’s tears had looked like stars glistening on her cheeks, but Rebecca had simply - withdrawn. She had surfaced some weeks later and got on with her life as though nothing had happened. People stepped around her, and no one mentioned her state of being ever.
In courtrooms her cool was legendary. Many of the grey haired older lawyers and the hot-shots up and coming had tried to break her cool and failed in their attempts. Now here she was trying to control herself because of this man. She looked at her hands, and her fingers were shaking. She clutched her hands in her lap.
Cooper sat immobilised in the small cabin. He wanted to tell her he loved her and that she could ask him to do anything at all in the world and he would make it his life’s mission to try to do it. He wanted to tell her he loved her beyond reason. He wanted to tell her he didn’t fully understand himself why he had made the sudden decision to get her off the property and essentially out of his life. He knew the house was a broken down relic of the grand home he had been born into thirty odd years before. The whole property in truth should have been abandoned years ago. He knew that now, but didn’t know how to explain to Rebecca that he now saw his own home as others must see it. He would spend what it took to fix it, and make it all new and grand again, but when he looked out to the far horizon, he realised with some shock that it would make no difference. None at all. Rebecca would not be there and he would be. Same empty shell of a man in the same empty shell of a house. Flies and thirsty cattle for company. He knew then what he had to do.
He looked back into the cabin to see Rebeca with her head resting on the headrest, her eyes shut and her head slightly turned to one side. She appeared to be sleeping.
Cooper reached over and tapped the pilots shoulder and indicated he would be climbing into the co-pilot seat. The pilot, Stephen, removed his headphones and lifted some charts off the seat so that Cooper could get into the seat.
“Stephen, can we get clearance to go direct to Brisbane Domestic Airport?” Cooper asked.
The pilot raised his eyebrows.
“Hmm. Maybe. I’m not sure Cooper. Our flight clearances are in and out of Toowoomba only.”
“Call them up, ask for the supervisor, and the Australian federal police supervisor to be ready when you call back.” Cooper set his jaw, and determined to make sure he got to Brisbane without delay.
“Tell them I have word on Agent Mitterrand and Captain Fielding.” He watched as the pilot Stephen called up Brisbane control and relayed the message. Cooper couldn’t believe it when Brisbane called back within minutes. The pilot put the speaker on, bypassing the headphones.
“Brisbane control to aircraft QA142 from …” The voice hesitated. “Central western Queensland. Please state your business.”
“Brisbane,” Cooper replied. “Do you have the AFP there, the Australian Federal Police? Or military?”
“Yes. Both.” Came the terse reply.
“Good. Brisbane, I’m requesting permission to come directly into Brisbane Domestic, bypassing Toowoomba. I have a passenger on board who has to be returned to the UK on the first available flight. We should be in Brisbane in about sixty minutes if permission is granted. If you have contact with either of the men previously mentioned, tell them that the delicate cargo that they encountered recently with the man Cooper is the … cargo… in question.” Cooper released the button and waited. The aeroplane whispered on into the gathering gloom below them. The day was drawing in down there. The early lights of Toowoomba could be seen in the haze away out on the horizon now.
Cooper picked up the mic again.
“Brisbane. We are approaching decision time.” Cooper didn’t want to give anything away on an open air channel. He was learning fast that the people of New World had resources beyond his comprehension, and as well the local Royal Australian Air Force base would be on their flight path if they proceeded to Brisbane. He didn’t want to overfly that place uninvited. Indeed, he was probably on their radar even now.
Brisbane would know what he meant. The minutes ticked away. Stephen looked across at him and pointed to the airspeed indicator and the fuel gauge.
“Brisbane is do-able Cooper. But there will be nothing spare for waiting up here. We go on or land in five minutes.”
Cooper nodded and watched the clock on the console. With one minute left and the red second hand looking like a dagger in the lights of the console, the radio crackled into life.
“QA142, cleared to land. Runway 4. Do not taxi. Land and hold. Acknowledge.” The speaker gave a squawk of static as though clearing its throat.
Cooper grabbed the mic. “Acknowledge Brisbane. Runway 4. Land and hold.” He let out a breath.
The speaker squawked into life again.
“QA142. Cargo is cleared for departure eleven fifty nine pm. Formalities handled this end.”
Cooper breathed a sigh of relief. Just in time. He nodded to Stephen and gave a grim smile.
“You ok to handle this Stephen?” He asked.
“No worries boss.” Said Stephen with a grin. “Do it every day.” Cooper very much doubted it. Within a few minutes the pilot was engrossed in checking his on board radar, answering the radio calls coming in, and the headphones now firmly back in place. He was entering the very busy airspace of a domestic airport, as well as it’s accompanying international air port, and the air force airbase now just to their right. His attention would be wholly on the job at hand.