plane to rip his heart out and the heart of every fucking one in his family. Is that clear?” Jazz screamed into her cell phone.
“Calm down, sis, I’ll light a fire, go have some of that red soup stuff and make nice with the Russians, we’ll let you know.
“Antonio, there is no making nice with the Russians, they want their money, I want them to have their money. Don’t let Julio screw us over, I’m ready to come home.” Jasmine's long athletic frame was only slightly less agitated then before the conversation.
“You can handle the Russian end on the next buy, I’m going on a nice normal vacation somewhere warm.”
“Feel better?” Antonio asked.
“Fuck you, no, I don’t feel any better, this isn’t about feelings. This is about money, get it fucking done, today, or none of us will have any fucking feelings,” Jazz slammed the cell phone down on the elegant gold leaf edged table.
* * *
It did not take long at all after Rocky waved goodbye to Canada. Past the Columbia River Gorge and at Kennewick Washington in over two hours and Rocky was not stopping for a break here.
She revised the goal to Bend Oregon for the night. That would be a four-hour last leg, but she thought they could do it, with one pit stop along the way.
The large rugged mountain range was behind them and they were flying above the rolling hills. The brown dry grass hills of the high desert areas of the West. It had a beauty of its own. This part of eastern Washington and Oregon was very much like where Rocky grew up in California. She was feeling that she was flying in home airspace.
There would be plenty of air traffic to keep her on her toes, but nothing like a major metro area until she came into the Sacramento area.
Rocky could barely see Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood off to her right as they flew south down the interior valleys.
They were still going strong,making good time. Rocky decided to put down at a small strip, get some gas, a soda pop and take a walk. She clipped the dogs onto the bulkhead and the plane made a stunning landing on the tar and gravel strip. Rocky awarded herself a nine point one out of the possible ten for the landing.
Opening the cockpit door was not stunning. Oh God, it was like being slugged in the chest with a fire ball. The temperature was at 95F and that was like being at the gates of Hell when you are used to the high temperature of coastal Anchorage of 70F.
Once Rocky caught her breath, she lifted the dogs down onto the hot parking apron and they ran to the weeds for relief.
Aviation fuel was outrageously expensive here, she got fifteen gallons, two sodas and bottled water for the dogs and they were back in the air again to cool off. As Rocky waited for the fueling to be done, she called her sister in law and brother, Margie and Dev. The phone rang and finally it rolled into voice mail. Rocky advised them to expect her between eight thirty and nine thirty that night.
Thunder clouds were beginning to form as the heat from the land forced itself up, and they would definitely be getting thunderstorms in the afternoon. Rocky was going as far as she could, but she was not fooling around with thunderstorms even with two engines on her plane.
“When I get back in the air I’ll give a try calling Jen in Anchorage,” Rocky told the dogs as she snapped their safety belts together.
Everything was moving like silk, Rocky connected with Jen on the phone at her shop. Rocky filled her in on the trip and her plan for pushing on for home. It was good to hear Jen’s voice.
Below them was the airport at Bend. Rocky received clearance and they are down in no time at all. The price of av gas was more reasonable for a fill up than the last stop.
Parking in a temporary spot on the ramp and after paying the landing and parking fees, they went off the ramp and played Frisbee on the airport lawn. It was so hot that the sweat evaporated off of them before they knew they sweated.
The city of Bend had grown
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