ONE
The flight was scheduled to take off from Heathrow Airport at eight o’clock that July morning. It had been pouring with rain for quite a few days in London and the temperature had dropped to an unseasonably low fifties Fahrenheit.
When the passengers were settled, and the huge Boeing 777-300 had been towed away from the walkway and positioned for take-off, members of the cabin crew started to move through the aircraft, handing out newspapers and magazines, and ensuring that everyone was comfortable. Once that was complete, a steward described the safety measures that should be taken in the event of an emergency.
With a surge of power that thrust the passengers back in their seats, the Boeing left the ground, immediately creating the illusion that it had lost speed.
Once it had reached optimum altitude and the seat-belt warning light had been extinguished, the cabin crew explained how the in-flight movie could be accessed and enquired what else the passengers may need to sustain them for the long flight to Miami.
‘Good morning.’ The smiling man seated in the first-class section of the aircraft was in his late thirties, good-looking and a frequent traveller to Miami, where he had business interests. ‘It’s nice to see you again …’ He paused while making a pretence of reading the stewardess’s name badge. ‘Sharon.’
‘Good morning, sir.’ The stewardess’s name was Sharon Gregory. She was twenty-six years of age and a petite honey blonde. She returned the man’s smile. ‘Would you care for coffee, sir?’
‘Thank you. That would be most welcome, Sharon.’
‘Breakfast will be served shortly, sir.’
‘I look forward to it. You’re very kind,’ said the man.
‘We aim to please, sir.’
‘And you do. I’ve always found your service to be impeccable, Sharon,’ said the man, with a knowing look.
‘Will you be staying in Miami long, sir?’ Although it sounded like the normal trite enquiry that cabin crew staff made, there was more to it than that. The passenger and the stewardess were not strangers to each other; in fact, they enjoyed an intimate relationship, and one that was a closely guarded secret from the airline for which Sharon worked. At least, by Sharon. But he was far from being the only man in her life.
‘Just for twenty-four hours. I have business meetings all afternoon.’
‘Oh!’ Sharon struggled to keep the disappointment from her voice. ‘That doesn’t leave you very much time for pleasure, then.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that,’ said the man, and smiled again. ‘You never know what might happen in Miami,’ he added in a whisper.
Nine hours later, the huge aircraft touched down at Miami International, taxied to the walkway and the passengers began to alight.
‘Enjoy your stay, sir,’ said Sharon to the man from first class. She was standing at the exit, a fixed smile on her face, bidding farewell to the disembarking passengers. ‘I hope we’ll see you again soon.’
‘I’m sure you will,’ said the man, his mouth twitching into a smile that hinted of the promise of things to come.
Once the enormous airliner was empty, the crew gathered their suitcases and left the aircraft, making their way to customs, and thence to the crew bus that awaited them at the airport terminal.
An army of cleaners descended on the Boeing and began the routine task of clearing up after the largely untidy passengers who had just left; the sooner the cleaners finished, the sooner they would be off duty.
A tractor moved the aircraft away from the walkway to its stand and the task of refuelling began.
Arriving at the Shannon Hotel, Sharon Gregory stepped through the automatic doors into the cool, tiled lobby and checked in. A bellhop immediately seized her suitcase and took the key to her room from the receptionist before leading the way to the elevator.
In contrast to London, the temperature in Florida was up in the nineties and the humidity had hit eighty-four, not that Sharon Gregory understood or cared about humidity percentages. She did, however, know that it was damned hot, but being the United States her room was cool and spacious, the air conditioning blasting out at full power. All of which made her grateful that the airline for which she worked always put their crews into this particular luxury hotel for stopovers. It was twelve noon Miami time and she now had eighteen hours in which to relax and enjoy the sun. And anything else that might take her fancy.
The bellhop put her suitcase on the luggage rack. ‘I won’t open the balcony doors, Ms Gregory,’ he said, ‘otherwise the room will get hot and stuffy pretty soon.’
‘Thank you.’ Sharon handed the young man a few dollar bills.