Of all the words in the world that someone who is deathly afraid of flying can hear in the air, “Shut up, Im busy are the four you least want to hear, ranking right down there one notch above “Oh shit. He didnt shut up, although he did try to remain calm. He gulped, trying to get his heart out of his throat and back down in his chest where it belonged. “Wy, whats wrong?

“The throttle cable broke when I put on power to go around, she said. She seemed very calm, lips pressed together in a prim line, face set. She was wearing sunglasses, so he couldnt see her eyes.

It had finally happened, his worst fear: the plane had broken while they were in the air. “I love you, Wy, he said, and bravely prepared to meet his death.

“Give it a rest, Campbell, she said, irritated. “All I have to do is fly the plane. Well be fine. She glanced at him and saw the fear writ large upon his countenance for all to see, but it was only her in the cockpit with him, and only she could get him down in one piece. He needed reassurance, but she didnt have time to give him any.

Maybe she could talk him down.

She began to speak, keeping her voice steady, her tone casual. “I felt the cable go when I went full ahead to get altitude for the go-around. Its stuck in the full-throttle position, all the juice, full-ahead go. We need low power to land, not full power.

The planes engine seemed louder and fiercer at this moment than any Liam had heard before. The Cessna was at a hundred feet and in a shallow right turn, Nenevok Creek, the tops of the spruce and birch and a small but rugged outcropping of rock passing in rapid succession beneath the right wheel. The single wheel of the landing gear visible to him was shuddering beneath the vibrations of the RPMs, and to Liams fascinated eye looked as if it were ready to launch out on its own.

Over the headset Wys voice came, unruffled, no hint of panic, a throttle cable could have broken in flight every day of her flying career for all the emotion she put into the words. “Im going to pull the carb heat, that will slow us down some. Her hands moved to another control. “Now Im going to trim the nose down, to keep from climbing. That will slow us down some more.

It did seem like they were slowing down. It took a long time to get on the other side of that rock outcropping, which seemed more threatening the longer Liam looked at it. “I love you, Wy, he repeated.

“Now Im going to lean the mixture. That cuts the gas going into the engine, slows it down even more.