Missing in Flight

CHAPTER FIVE MAKAYLA

CHAPTER FIVE

M AKAYLA

As she nears the lavatories in the middle of the aircraft, Makayla feels like she’s moving outside of her own body. How could Liam be gone?

She slows, spotting the Friends episode playing in front of an empty seat. It’s where the old woman was struggling with the flight attendants earlier. She looks around. Rose is nowhere in sight. From what Makayla witnessed, the woman was in no shape to be helping with the search for Liam.

From the rear of the plane, Derek moves up the aisle toward Makayla, glancing side to side at each row. Makayla passes the lavatories and sees that one is occupied. She pushes open the door to the lavatory she used earlier, and the empty space fills her with an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

She crosses the exit row behind the lavatories, but the elderly woman isn’t in the rear cabin either. Makayla flags down the flight attendant.

“Yes?” Derek asks, closing the gap between them.

Makayla forces a breath from her lungs, straining to form words through the increasing pressure between her temples. “Have you seen the elderly woman? The one you were helping earlier. She was in row twenty-four. Rose ... I think that’s her name. One of the lavatories is occupied. And I’m wondering if she could’ve—” She brings a hand to her forehead. “Could’ve taken my son in her confusion.”

But Rose was in her seat when Makayla came out of the lavatory. And she didn’t have Liam. It doesn’t seem possible that she could’ve taken him and hidden him somewhere before Makayla came out of the bathroom. But it also doesn’t seem possible that Liam could be gone.

And why isn’t Liam making any noise from wherever he is? As terrifying possibilities swirl through her mind, her whole body trembles.

“Oh, yes. I saw her being helped into the lavatory a few minutes ago.” His expression hardens, wariness evident in his eyes. “But she didn’t have your baby.”

Makayla’s gaze skirts the back of the plane. “Have you checked the other lavatories?”

“We’re looking everywhere.”

“Then where’s my son ?”

Heads turn toward her.

“We’re doing everything we can to help you find him.”

The calm inflection in his voice makes Makayla want to scream. She turns and knocks on the door to the occupied lavatory.

“Hello? Rose?”

No response.

Makayla knocks harder. “I’m looking for my baby. Could you—”

Derek presses his hand on the lavatory door. “Your baby isn’t in there, ma’am. She’s already quite confused, so let’s wait until she comes out.”

Makayla gapes at him. “But what if he is?”

The attendant purses his lips. “Just give her a minute. If she doesn’t come out soon, I’ll get one of my female coworkers to open the door.”

Makayla leans her face toward the door. “Rose!”

Why isn’t she answering? What is she doing in there?

Makayla lifts her hand to bang on the door when she hears the toilet flush from inside. Seconds later, the door unlocks and wobbles back and forth as Rose attempts to open it. Makayla pushes on the door, her heart sticking in her throat as she braces herself for the best- and worst-case scenarios at the same time.

As the door flings open, Rose’s startled eyes meet Makayla’s. Her white hair sticks up in varying directions from the back of her head.

“Have you seen my baby?” Makayla asks as Rose pushes past her in the direction of her seat.

Rose turns. “No, dear. Have you seen Roger? Maybe he knows?”

“Let me help you back to your seat,” Makayla hears Derek say as she steps inside the lavatory, her lungs deflating as her eyes adjust to the dark, empty space.

The floor shakes before the plane lifts into the air, and Makayla puts a hand on the wall to steady herself.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re expecting a bit of rough air up ahead, and I’m turning that fasten seat belt sign back on. Please take your seats if you’re up, and make sure your seat belts are securely fastened.”

She retreats into the aisleway, aware of the flight attendant approaching as he looks around at the passengers beginning to take their seats. She’s hit with a wave of nausea as her panic intensifies.

Makayla covers her mouth with her hand and grabs Derek by the arm. “We haven’t found him yet. We can’t stop looking!”

“Right now, I need you to return to your seat. We’ll keep looking, but the plane’s already been searched.”

“Wait.” Makayla’s eyes lock on the door opposite the now empty lavatory as she realizes it isn’t another restroom. She brushes past Derek toward the door marked C REW O NLY . “What’s in here?”

“It’s the crew rest area.”

She twists the handle and pulls.

“Hey! You can’t go down there.”

Makayla starts down the narrow metal staircase. Derek’s heavy footsteps follow.

When she gets to the bottom, Makayla peers around at the three sets of empty bunk beds that line the walls before lifting each of their half-opened curtains. “Liam!”

Derek grabs her by the forearm. “Ma’am, I need you to return to the main cabin.”

“Let go of me!” She yanks her arm free. “Has this been searched?”

“Yes. Britt came down here a few minutes ago. This area is off limits to passengers. You can’t be down here.” He points to the stairs. “Let’s go.”

Makayla spins around, opening the storage compartments beneath one of the bunks, which contain two roller bags. She reaches to unzip the first bag, but Derek places his hand on top.

“This is the crew’s luggage. And that’s my bag. Your baby isn’t down here.”

She lifts her eyes to his, catching a whiff of expensive cologne. “Just let me check.”

His lips form a hard line as he shakes his head. “No. You’re not going through the crew’s bags. Britt already checked down here.”

“This is ridiculous!” she yells. “My son’s missing and you’re worried about what ? Me seeing your underwear? Or finding my son in your bag?”

Derek slowly lifts his hand off the bag while Makayla’s chest heaves with rage. Makayla unzips it in one swift motion to find it half full of neatly folded men’s clothes. She moves to the next bag, which is filled with women’s clothes and toiletries. She stands and opens two more compartments. The first is empty, and the second contains three more bags. This time, Derek helps her open them.

The floor dips as Makayla hopelessly assesses the bags’ contents, causing her to fall to the side. Derek grabs her by the arm, steadying her.

“Like I said, he’s not here. And now, you need to go back to your seat.”

She swallows the golf ball–size lump in her throat.

The door at the top of the stairs swings open. “Derek?” The blond flight attendant appears at the top of the staircase.

Derek turns to mount the stairs. “Yeah. We’re down here.”

Makayla follows.

The flight attendant frowns when she sees Makayla, then brushes her bangs away from her eye with the back of her hand. “I already checked down there.”

“I know,” Derek says when he gets to the top. “She insisted on having another look.”

Makayla steps into the aisle behind him, seeing the petite woman who recovered Liam’s pacifier earlier standing beside the attendant.

The attendant turns to Makayla with a somber expression. “No one has seen your baby. And we’ve run out of places to look. Can I have your full name so I can alert the pilots? That way, they can notify the appropriate ground authorities.”

Ground authorities. What on earth could they do? “So, you think he’s been kidnapped?” A cascade of horrific scenarios rips through her mind.

“We don’t know, ma’am. This is an unusual situation, and we need to be informed of the next steps.”

As the walls of the plane seem to move inward, Makayla puts a hand to her temple. “Is there an air marshal on board? Someone who could help us?”

The attendant shakes her head. “Sorry, no. Air marshals are mostly on flights in and out of DC.”

Makayla exhales, and her gaze falls to the woman’s name pin, Britt , which she recalls reading earlier. She squares her shoulders, hoping to add strength to her voice. She heard once that using someone’s name helps them take notice. Take you seriously. “Britt, I don’t understand. Where could he be?”

The floor shakes, and Makayla grabs on to a seat back to steady herself.

“We’re doing our best to help you. Can I have your name?” Britt repeats. “And then I need you to return to your seat until the seat belt sign turns off.”

Makayla inhales as much as her lungs allow. “It’s Makayla. Makayla Rossi. And my son is Liam. He’s only three months old.”

Her heart feels like it’s beating into her throat. She lifts a hand to her neck. The attendant’s grave expression only intensifies her fears. Her lip quivers.

“And how long has he been missing?”

“Um. I’m not sure.” She strains to make an estimation but can’t think about anything other than where Liam could be. And who took him. An image of his sweet little form stuffed inside someone’s suitcase leaps again into her mind.

An overhead bin shuts behind her, making her jump.

The petite dark-haired woman puts a hand on Makayla’s back. “I think it’s been about thirty minutes since you were first asking if any of us had seen your baby.”

Makayla nods, unable to form more of a response.

“Okay. Thank you.” The two flight attendants exchange a glance before making for the front of the plane.

“It’s okay; just take a deep breath.”

Makayla swallows as the woman holds her palm between Makayla’s shoulder blades.

“I’m Jemma, by the way.”

A tear slides down Makayla’s cheek.

“Your son can’t have gone far,” Jemma says. “He’s still on the plane. And he’ll be found.”

Makayla scours the faces of the seated passengers scattered around her. Many of them have returned their attention to their books and seat-back screens without the dread of their own child being missing.

A surge of anger flows through her like an electric current. Someone on this flight, possibly one of these very people, took Liam. She knows it now, as certain as she’s ever been. They know exactly where he is.