Free Spirit Warrior by S. E. Smith

him. He knew she was hurting. Yet, there had also been the sound of acceptance, along with a touch of defiance, in her voice.
    “Perhaps what you need, Allie, is a new place to start over,” Jacob muttered as he looked down into the empty mug. “A place that is as wild and untamed as you.”

Chapter 8
    Allie refused to look at Jacob the next morning. She knew she was being childish. After all, pretending like he didn’t exist and last night never happened wasn’t exactly the most mature thing to do.
    Hell, I feel like I’m back in high school, she thought in disgust as she pulled up in front of the hanger.
    “I need to do a flight check,” she mumbled as she pulled the truck up next to the large, metal building. “You guys stay here.”
    She opened the door and slid out as Allen, the Whitewater Ranch’s head mechanic, stepped out of the building. She had called him early this morning and asked him to do a maintenance check as well.
    “Morning, Allen,” Allie said with a nod as she passed him. “Did you get a chance to go over the plane?”
    “Mornin’, Allie,” the old mechanic replied. “Yep, everything is good. I left what I did on the seat for you.”
    “Thanks,” Allie replied, not stopping.
    They had a long flight ahead of them and she wanted to get up in the air as soon as possible. She stepped into the bright hanger and walked over to the Cessna Turbostation. Walking around the outside of the plane, she did the outside check before climbing on board. She slowly ran down the checklist and reviewed the maintenance Allen had done earlier.
    When it came to flying, Allie was almost paranoid. Several years back, a buyer from Kentucky had flown out to their ranch to take a look at some of the mares they had. He never made it home.
    While crashes happened, his had occurred because he hadn’t done the required pre-flight check. If he had, he would’ve found the cracked oil cap. She double checked the flight plan she’d recorded and turned on the controls to make sure everything came up. Satisfied, she slid out again and pulled the chocks out from around the wheels. Walking over, she hung them on the hooks by the office door.
    Stepping up to the control for the hanger door, she pressed the button to lift it. She stuck her head out the side door to call for Jacob and Jonathan. In the distance, she could see Allen’s old blue truck as he drove away. He’d come back and close everything up when he was done with whatever task he needed to complete.
    “You guys ready to go?” Allie called out over the rumble of the door. “The plane is ready and my flight plans are filed. We’re wasting daylight.”
    *.*.*
    Jacob started when the large metal wall began to move. His curse blended with Jonathan’s. He drew in a deep breath and released it as he saw a strange metal wagon sitting inside the building. He looked suspiciously at it. Ever since Sam had mentioned ‘flying’, a sense of unease had gripped him.
    He and Jonathan had been talking about the journey to Los Angeles. Sam told them that a law man named Trey would be meeting them at the airport at noon. How Sam thought they would get from Wyoming to California in a matter of hours was beyond him. It would take weeks of hard riding and a change of horses to make it. Even with the hard topped roads and Allie’s metal machine, he didn’t think they would make it all the way to California in the time frame Sam was talking about.
    Jacob watched as he stared at the long, narrow metal machine. This one was different from the ones he had seen so far. It had things that looked suspiciously like… wings.
    He and Jonathan started forward, staring with a wary gaze at it. Maybe the long sides helped to steady it. It looked like it would fall over without them. Even the wheels were smaller than the ones on Allie’s truck and it only had three of them. Feeling a touch better about his analysis of the ‘airplane’, he decided it was called that because it could