Missing in Flight

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE MAKAYLA

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

M AKAYLA

Makayla twists her wrists and tugs as hard as she can to free herself from the zip ties. But they’re too tight. All she’s managed to do is rub the skin raw beneath the plastic.

“Something to drink?”

Makayla turns to the twentysomething attendant standing behind the drink cart, her back to Makayla. After pouring Pink Headphones a Coke, she glances at the water bottle on Makayla’s lap. Without a word, she avoids Makayla’s stare and pulls the drink cart backward.

A spark of outrage ignites in her veins. They’re seriously offering a beverage right now? Instead of looking for Liam?

Makayla cranes her neck to look behind her at Jemma’s row, but the restraint tied to her armrest keeps her from being able to lean far enough to see. She puts her phone on camera mode and angles it like a mirror between her knees, hoping to get a glimpse of the pet carrier. But the plastic covering containing the life vest hanging under her seat blocks her view.

Liam is in that pet carrier. He has to be.

Makayla sits up tall and strains to see over her seat. She can’t see Jemma or her burly husband.

Makayla brings her hands to her face, but they’re stopped short by the seat belt cinched tight above her elbows. She checks her phone. Jack still hasn’t responded to her text about the pet carrier and the couple seated a few rows behind her.

She calls him with her arms pinned to their sides and puts the call on speaker, turning down the volume as not to alert everyone around her. She’s not going to passively sit here for the rest of the flight. It rings. And rings. She needs to speak to the FBI herself. They need to know she’s been restrained. And no one is looking for Liam.

Come on, Jack. Pick up the phone. Hopefully, he’s on the phone with the FBI right now, giving them the information about the pet carrier. Makayla lets it ring for over a minute before hanging up. Keeping her voice down, she sends him a voice message, asking him to call her back.

She has a new message from Cori. The CEO is making calls right now to get them to take off your restraints. In the meantime, Fletcher said you should act as calm as possible so they don’t have a reason to keep you restrained. Are you doing okay?

Makayla’s lower lip quivers as she types a response. I can’t think straight. I have a crushing headache. I don’t understand what’s happening. I’m going to lose my mind if I don’t find Liam soon. It’s starting to feel like I already am.

After a few seconds, Cori replies. You’re not losing your mind. This will all get sorted out. Didn’t you say you fell on a hike with your dad? Your headache could be from that. Fletcher said you can have memory loss with a concussion. You do remember bringing Liam on the plane, right? I mean, is it possible you could’ve left him at the gate? I know it seems like a stretch, but have they searched the airport?

Makayla feels a fresh flush of defensiveness at Cori’s accusation but then is reminded of the blow to the side of her head, after she tripped over a branch on the trail. A fresh wave of terror rips through her. All the research she did on transient global amnesia after her mother died, and she can’t even admit to herself that it’s possible.

Mild head injury is a major risk factor for developing the memory disorder. This must be why the FBI brought up her fall to Jack. She recalls the pain that radiated through her skull when she came down on the rock. And how she downplayed the throb in her head to her father for the rest of their hike.

People under forty were rarely affected by transient global amnesia—and she had no other symptoms of developing the disease—so she hadn’t let it worry her. But the pain in her head now is much more severe than what she experienced before.

Everyone who’d been around her mother the morning of her infamous TV interview, including her father, said the actress seemed completely fine. She showed no signs of memory loss until she went on live television and the amnesia struck in the blink of an eye.

She gets another text from Cori. Sorry, I didn’t mean to question you. I’m sure you brought Liam on the flight. And there has to be some reasonable explanation for where he is. XO

Makayla pauses before typing out a reply, stung by her friend’s accusations despite Cori’s apology. I don’t know what to think right now. I’m so scared, Cori.

“I just wanted to apologize.”

She looks up to see Jemma standing over her.

“I’m sorry about Chad helping them to restrain you.” Jemma gestures toward her seat. “He just didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

I wasn’t hurting anyone, Makayla thinks. At least, not on purpose. And what about my baby? Isn’t his safety important? But she doesn’t have the energy to argue.

“Just let me see inside your pet carrier,” she says.

“Folks, this is your captain from up in the flight deck. We’re passing by Buffalo, New York, and expecting some more turbulence as we make our descent into LaGuardia. We need all passengers to return to your seats and keep your seat belts fastened for the remainder of the flight. We’re expecting to be on the ground in a little under an hour.”

“I will—as soon as we land.” Jemma retreats toward her seat.

Makayla reaches out her arms to block the aisle, but her zip-tied wrists are stopped short by her seatbelt restraint. Instead, she grabs the hem of Jemma’s jacket. “Show me now.”

Aubrey emerges through the business class curtain, nearly bumping into Jemma from behind. Her nose is red, but the blood has been cleaned from her face. Makayla’s relieved to see she looks almost as she did at the beginning of the flight.

“Please return to your seat for our descent.”

Jemma stares down at Makayla, who makes no effort to loosen her grip on Jemma’s clothing.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Impatience permeates the flight attendant’s voice. “I need you to take your seat.”

“As soon as we land. I promise,” Jemma says. “This will all get sorted out.”

Sorted out? As if they are talking about some sort of clerical error—not a child abduction.

“Ma’am, you’re blocking the aisleway,” Aubrey adds, peering around Jemma to see what is holding her up.

Makayla lets go of Jemma’s jacket. Aubrey eyes her with a wary expression and downturned lips as she follows Jemma toward the rear of the plane.

Makayla’s gaze moves over her diaper bag before her attention settles on the empty bassinet attached to the bulkhead. Feeling the pinch from the zip tie, she looks down, twisting her arm to loosen the restraint, and spots the circular stain on the sleeve of her sweatshirt. She stares at Liam’s dried spit-up, distinctly remembering the moment it happened.

It was when they were walking down the jetway to board the flight. She dropped her phone while trying to slip it into her pocket and bent down to pick it up. Liam spit up as she reached for her phone. Makayla could hear a roller bag coming behind her. Instead of stopping to dig a burp cloth out of her diaper bag, she wiped her sleeve dry with her hand.

I haven’t lost my memory. Liam was here.

She twists in her seat, craning her neck to see behind her. If she’s right, he’s been only a few rows back this whole time.