Free Blind Trust by Terri Blackstock Page A

right, I’ll stay with her.”
    Color rushed back into Madeline’s cheeks. “I’m not riding with you. I want to stay with Sherry. We’re not going to try anything.”
    “Of course you’re not,” Sam said. “You got it all out of your systems, and now you’re just as happy as a lark to go along with us. You’re staying where you are.”
    When Sam reached for her seat belt to hook her in, Madeline jerked it away from him and did it herself.
    As Clint took his seat beside Sherry, Sam began humming the tune to “Let It Be.”

    T he pilot began to pull down the small runway, and Sherry braced herself. She pulled her feet up onto the edge of her seat and wrapped her trembling arms around her knees. How long would they be in this plane? How far would it take them? She tried to calculate how long it might take for someone to realize she and Madeline were missing. Would Wes realize it today and call the police, or would it take several days? He was so busy with Laney and the kids these days, not to mention his demanding work schedule, that she feared her absence might take too long to notice. Would her father notice, or would he assume she was just busy or depressed, and leave her alone?
    But someone at Promised Land would surely notice that Madeline hadn’t shown up in the animation studio. Her managers—Andi or Justin—would surely report her disappearance. Wouldn’t they?
    Clint kept looking at her. Angry, she asked, “Why don’t you sit someplace else?”
    “There aren’t that many other places to sit.”
    “You could sit with the pilot.”
    “She doesn’t need my help,” he said. “She’s used to piloting a DC10. This one is a piece of cake.”
    “You could sit up there, anyway. I don’t want you near me.”
    “Too bad.”
    The plane began to pick up speed, bumping and jerking over potholes and rocks.
    “Brace yourselves, guys,” Erin called out. “It’s a rough runway.” Finally, they lifted off.
    Clint looked over at Sherry. “You okay?”
    “Depends. Can she really fly?”
    “Of course she can. She’s a commercial pilot.”
    “Among other things, apparently. Looks like you’ve picked up a lot of new friends since you left me. Has Erin been with you all this time?”
    “Only when I’ve needed a pilot.”
    She thought that over for a moment. “You must be making more money than you did as a youth minister.”
    “I’m not paying for this, Sherry.”
    “Then who is? Some drug lord?”
    He gaped at her, hurt. “You really think I’d be on the payroll of a drug lord? You really believe that?”
    “I’d believe anything about you, Clint. Nothing would surprise me anymore.”
    The admission stung him. Angry, he unhooked his belt and moved to the front seat next to Erin. Sherry said nothing as he settled in.
    For a while, she watched out the window, trying desperately to gauge where they were going. But all she could see were clouds and small squares of land, and miles and miles of trees. After a while, the clouds grew thicker, and she wasn’t able to see anything below them.
    Her eyes drifted back to Clint, sitting next to Erin, staring dismally into space. Some irrational part of her wished he hadn’t moved, that he had stayed here beside her. But that wish made her angry. Her memories tugged up tender feelings, but those memories had no basis in truth. Somehow, she had to keep remembering that.
    She was surprised when she felt the plane descending, and she looked out again, expecting to see an airport. All she saw, instead, was a forest of trees below them.
    They touched down, and she realized that they had landed on another airstrip out in the middle of nowhere. She closed her eyes and breathed a prayer that God would go with them and protect her from whatever Clint and his new friends had in store for them.
    The plane rolled to a stop, and she watched as he and Sam opened the door to the plane and got off. Sherry quickly unhooked her belt and leaned up to Madeline. Erin shifted