Free Ash by James Herbert Page B

buckled in.’
    ‘If you could help me up, I’ll go and see if I can do anything for them. We’ll be landing in a few minutes, but I think we’ve got time to settle their nerves with a large double of whatever’s their preference.’
    ‘Captain Roberts recommends we hit the bar once we’ve landed.’
    ‘Oh, I’d better get into the cockpit to report the situation back here.’
    ‘I don’t think you should try to walk just yet, Ginny. Look at your leg.’ Her right ankle was beginning to bloom into a watery swelling. The air stewardess groaned more in irritation than pain.
    ‘I don’t think it’s broken,’ Ash advised, ‘but you must have sprained it badly.’
    ‘Can you – can you help me up? I have to make some checks.’
    ‘Ginny, with that inflating bulge you won’t be checking anything for a while.’
    As he put his hands under her armpits and began lifting her on to the seats, Ginny wincing as she rose, the cockpit door opened behind him and First Officer Collins stepped out.
    ‘A little help here?’ Ash asked mid-lift.
    ‘Ginny, what damage?’ Collins’s voice was tense.
    Ash answered for her. ‘A nasty blow on the back of her head – no blood, though – and an even nastier sprained ankle. Nothing too serious as far as I can tell, no broken bones. Help me get her on facing seats, will you?’
    First Officer Collins hurriedly slid one arm around the stewardess’s shoulders and the other under her knees. Ash followed suit on the opposite side and between them they manoeuvred Ginny into a seat. Apart from some sharp intakes of breath, she seemed all right.
    Ash straightened and addressed Collins. ‘Are we okay now? D’you know what happened to the jet’s power?’
    ‘I could tell you we hit an air pocket, which caused the plane to drop, but I know you wouldn’t believe me.’ His voice was low, keeping the conversation strictly between Ash and himself. ‘In all my experience with different planes, I’ve never once gone through anything like that before. All power, all electrics, just packed up. We couldn’t even put out a Mayday. It’s a goddamn mystery to us. We can only pray it doesn’t happen again, although, with all power back on we’ve sent out a distress signal to Prestwick so they’ll be on full alert when we land. But look, I mean it: everything in the plane is functioning normally.’
    ‘I’ll take your word for it. Why don’t you look after Ginny here while I go back to give Dr Wyatt a hand? The girl with her is in a bad way, but as far as we can tell she hasn’t sustained any serious injury.’
    ‘Thank you, sir. Your help is appreciated. I’ll be along myself shortly.’
    The investigator retraced his steps down the cabin, taking a quick peek at the person Ash had heard called Twigg.
    The small man, in his oversized trench coat, sat in exactly the same position as before and, although his pale eyes were open, he didn’t bother to acknowledge Ash.
    The psychic investigator reached Dr Wyatt, who was dropping a syrette into a plastic bag. Petra lay still on the floor, an occasional twitch of her limbs suggesting she was not too deeply unconscious.
    Ash knelt down beside the doctor. ‘She going to be okay?’
    ‘Yes, I gave her a shot of lorazepam to relax her. It’s not usual, but works fast. To carry disposable syrettes isn’t strictly legal, but we work somewhat differently at Comraich.’
    It was a telling remark that Ash was to remember.
    ‘Each contains a single dose of tranquillizer. She’ll probably have to be helped off the plane when we land, though. She was already medicated before we boarded, so the combination of that with what I’ve just given her should put her into a peaceful sleep shortly.’
    Remaining on one knee, Ash examined the girl’s face. She flinched and Ash pulled back in surprise.
    ‘No problems,’ Dr Wyatt began to say. ‘She’ll—’
    The girl suddenly sat up so abruptly that Ash and the psychologist recoiled from her in