Chapter 5
Ron was stunned and took several seconds to clear his head. Ron looked to see if Cal was all right and saw that Cal had his back to the instrument panel and that his head was at an odd angle. Cal had not had time to refasten his seat belt after trying to help Carl. Ron put his fingers on Cal's neck and there wasn't a pulse. Ron could see that Cal's neck was broken and that his body had broken the windshield. The plane was floating but Ron knew that it would not float for long. Ron checked on Brenda and Carl. Carl was leaning forward in his belt and was not moving. Brenda had been dazed but had started to come around. Ron pushed Carl into a sitting position and saw that he was dead. He had probably been dead when the plane hit.
"My God," Brenda screamed, "They're dead."
Ron unbuckled himself and crawled over the top of the seats and got the raft. He kicked the rest of the windshield out and stuck his body out to inflate the raft. The raft inflated and Ron turned to Brenda. Brenda was reaching past him frantically trying to get the door open.
"Don't open the door or the plane will sink," Ron snapped, "crawl out the windshield and get into the raft. I've got to get you to shore."
Brenda crawled over the seat and shuddered when she saw Cal's neck. She crawled through the windshield and dropped into the raft. Ron had no idea how long the plane would stay above water so he decided to get Brenda safely to shore and come back and salvage what he could. Ron dropped into the raft and pulled the oar from its storage and started rowing to shore. The plane had come to rest about 100 feet from the shore of the lake. Ron saw a dead tree floating about 200 feet in front of the plane and knew that the outcome of the crash might have been different if they had hit the tree. Ron rowed as far onto the shore as he could and got into the water and pulled the raft onto the grassy shore. The woods started about 50 feet from the edge of the lake. Brenda got out of the raft and collapsed in a heap sobbing.
"Stay right here," Ron told her, "Don't go into the woods until I get back."
"Brenda looked shocked, "Where are you going."
Ron started toward the raft. If he was fast maybe he would be able to salvage most of the gear from the plane. He got in the raft and paddled to the plane.
More of the plane had sunk beneath the water and Ron figured that he had only about twenty minutes before the plane sunk. Ron stuck the oar down in the water as far as he could trying to find bottom. He shook his head. The lake was deeper than it looked. He was afraid the plane would sink below the water. He knew that if the plane was not visible it would be harder to find them. Bubbles around the edges of the plane showed that water was filling every cavity of the plane and it would slowly sink in the water.
Ron filled the raft with everything that he could and took it back to shore. He unloaded the gear and took the raft back to the plane. With the second trip he succeeded in getting everything that they had packed. Ron took extra care to ensure that the rifle and pistol were kept dry and that the ammunition was kept out of the water. He was almost sure that they would have to hunt until they were rescued. He rowed back to shore and unloaded the raft.
"I'm going back to the plane to see if I can figure what caused the control problems," he said to Brenda
She started to say something but he walked away and pushed the raft away from the shore. He rowed to the plane and headed toward the rudder. The plane was much lower in the water than when he made his second trip. When the water started coming in the windshield the cockpit filled with water and the plane started sinking faster. When Ron got to the rudder he saw that it was gone. It had probably come off just before they hit the water. He inspected the mountings and immediately found the culprit. Half of a threaded bolt was still in the hinge. Ron worked the bolt out of the hinge and stuck it in his pocket. He started to row back to shore.
"Where did you learn to fly?" Brenda snapped as he climbed out of the raft.
Apparently Brenda was feeling better. She was a bitchy as ever Ron thought to himself. Ron reached in his pocket and showed her the bolt.
"What's that mean?" she asked.
"Someone installed the wrong bolt in the rudder hinge and it snapped off," he explained, "With it being threaded all of the way, there is less metal so the bolt broke. The wind puts a lot of stress on that part and the mechanics should have known better."
"Are you going to get the bodies out of the plane?" she asked, "We can't just leave them there."
"If we bring them to shore and bury them the animals will get them," he answered, "when we get out of this mess, the bodies can be retrieved from the plane."
Ron looked toward the airplane. Only the tail was above water now. With the angle that the plane was tilted, Ron knew that the water had to be at least 25 feet deep where the plane was. This created a whole new set of problems. If the plane went below the water so that it could not be seen from the air, it would be almost impossible to find them. Ron knew that, because the plane had been so hard to control, that they were off course and that with the forest cover they would be invisible from the air. He explained this to Brenda.
"I'll be damned if you're going to walk through those woods," she snapped, "We'll wait here until we're rescued. If you attempt to walk out of these woods you're fired."
Ron smiled at her bravado, "How much survival training have you had? Have you ever camped out? I've camped out in the woods all of my life. If you feel like waiting to be rescued, I'll send someone after you when I reach help. Face it lady we are hard to find where we are. I doubt if anyone will even look in this area."
Brenda stomped her foot in exasperation. She knew that he was right. She walked down the shore to get away from him.
"Watch out for snakes," Ron hollered after her, trying to hid his grin.
Brenda turned and walked back toward him.
When Brenda got to him she sat down and said, "OK what now?"
Ron started talking to her calmly, "Brenda, I don't remember how we got off on the wrong foot, but lets call a truce until this is over. This is going to be a rough go until we reach help. I have had survival training and am pretty good in the woods. We have the basic gear that we need to make it out of here so we should be able to make it back. You can go back to being VP and I will be your employee when we get back."
Brenda snorted, "Sam Howell would never let you be my employee. You were assigned to my department, but I never saw you or knew what you were doing. You were always his fair-haired boy. Your engineering degree is just going to waste."
"Sam Howell and I go back a long way," Ron said, "Sam raised me after my father died. Sam was our next-door neighbor. I was working in the business when I was ten years old. I owe everything to Sam. He paid for my education and made sure that I learned the proper values. Besides, I do have an engineering degree, but I also have an MBA from Wharton. Now, how about that truce?"
Brenda Brenda's eyes widened and she nodded her head yes. This was really going to put a crimp in her plans. Her thoughts started drifting to Con-Oil and the things that Ron had just told her. She was quiet for several minutes and staring at where the plane had been.
"What's wrong?" Ron asked.
"Nothing," she said half-heartedly, "This is just going to set my plans back a bit."
"Con-Oil will still be there after we get back," Ron told her. "If they want you bad enough, they'll wait."
Brenda snapped her head around and looked at Ron, "How did you know about Con-Oil?"
Ron broke out in a big grin, "Sam knows all about the offer Con-Oil made to you. Con-Oil is a first class outfit. They asked Sam if they could approach you before they ever talked to you. Sam gave his Ok. Sam would never stand in your way."
Brenda turned to face the lake. Her feelings felt like they had been put in a blender. She suddenly found out that she didn't really know anything about the man she was stranded with and the company she was about to leave knew of her job offer before she did. She felt a little fear that they might never be found. She was disturbed that she was dependant on a man that she knew little about and had never liked.
"Damn," she thought to herself as she continued to study the lake,
"An MBA from Wharton. What's he doing at Howell?"