Page 25 of Vanishing Legacy

“C-C-C-Carl.”

“Okay, that’s good, Carl. You’re doing good.” Carl’s pupils were blown out. He was as high as the hot air balloon, which made him dangerous. “I’d like you to let go of the girl. Can’t you see you’re scaring her?” Alana reached for Penny.

Carl tensed and raised the syringe. Penny screamed.

“Are you deaf, lady? I said stay back.”

“Okay, easy. But look around. There’s nowhere to go. If I move any farther back I’ll be flying.” The instant the words were out of her mouth she wanted to snatch them back. She didn’t need to give him any ideas about throwing her overboard.

Carl turned Penny to face him. “I’m sorry, okay?”

He lowered the syringe. Oh, thank goodness. He’d come to his senses and?—

Carl stabbed the needle into Penny’s stomach and pushed the plunger.

Penny shrieked.

“No!” Alana lunged and snatched Penny out of his grasp. She pushed Penny behind her back, shielding her from Carl. Penny clung to Alana’s waist and buried her screams into Alana’s shirt. “What did you give her?”

Penny continued to scream.

“Tell me, Carl! Tell me what you gave her!”

A blank expression had come over his face. Something was wrong. He stared over the side, scratching his neck with dirty fingernails. In one languid motion, Carl tossed the syringe out into the inky blackness. It sailed to the ground.

“No!” Alana grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. “Hey, look at me!” She snapped her fingers in his face. “What was in the needle, Carl? Tell me!”

“I don’t…I don’t know.” His hands clutched the edge of the basket. He leaned backward, staring at the ground over his shoulder.

She needed to know what he’d given Penny, but they weren’t in a good place. His furtive glances and jittery movements were telltale signs he was coming down from his high. She had to keep him calm.

“Okay, look. There’s nowhere to go, so we may as well work together to get this thing on the ground.”

Penny’s screams settled into sobs.

“No way.” His expression darkened. “We’re taking this thing as far as it will go.”

Alana’s stomach dropped. This man had some sort of death wish. “Do you know how to fly this thing, cuz I sure don’t.”

He lifted himself and sat on the edge of the basket, hands clutching the suspension cables. His hair fluttered in the wind. “We’ll fly to Mexico. Think this thing can go to Mexico? Or Fiji! I always wanted to go to Fiji.”

“We’re not going to Fiji. We’re gonna end up crashing into something, and then where will we be?”

Carl shrugged. “What do I care? I’m dead already.”

It happened in slow motion. Carl leaned backward and released his grip. His thin body dropped out of the basket and plummeted to the ground below.

Alana whirled away. Eyes squeezed shut, she knelt and held Penny tight. “It’s okay.”

Tears pricked her eyes, but she wouldn’t let herself cry. Lord, please say Penny hadn’t seen what had happened. Let the injection, whatever it was, not harm her.

“Hurt,” Penny whimpered.

“Oh, baby girl.” She thumbed Penny’s soft cheeks and studied her face for symptoms from the injection.

Penny’s eyes were red, and her pulse raced, but then, so did Alana’s. “It’s okay, honey. We’re okay.”

At least, they would be as soon as she figured out what to do. She rubbed Penny’s back and blew out a shaky breath. “All we have to do is figure out how to land this thing.”

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