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again.
    "Where?"
    "South end. Right side."
    Luke spoke into his radio.
    "Coast Guard twenty-two, this is CF191. We're taking one last pass of Darwin Sound to check out something white on shore, then we're going to set her down for a while."
    "Don't blame you," crackled the Coast Guard pilot. "We're about to pack in the whole operation until the wind dies down. Environment Canada has just issued a storm warning for the whole area. We're in for it!"
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 4

     
    Luke throttled back and the seaplane seemed to hang motionless, kept in flight by the fierce wind funneling through the narrow point of the passage. Laurie concentrated on lining up the binoculars on the shore.
    "Yes! The wing of the plane—I saw the black stripe on it. A man on the rocks waving his arms!"
    Luke pulled back on the stick and Laurie felt the sudden weight of her body pressed hard against the seat as they swept up, away from the water. The sky had changed to a black, threatening wall in front of them.
    "Coast Guard 22, this is CF191. Wreckage confirmed on Shuttle Island in Darwin Sound. At least one person alive and signaling. I don't know if you can get near them in this wind. Let me know if you want me here."
    "Roger, Luke. Standby"
    Ten seconds silence, Coast Guard 22 announced, "We're on our way, ETA ten minutes. We're going to attempt lowering a paramedic in a basket with first aid and survival gear."
    "Too rough for that, Walt. Location is in the narrowest part of the passage. You might try lowering a radio and some gear, but I don't think you'll get a man down there till the wind drops. We're running for cover now. It's getting pretty wild out here. I'll find a hole and set her down until things calm down."
    "CF191, Coast Guard 22. Thanks for the help, Luke. My co-pilot confirms your appraisal. He says that's one of the worst spots around in a southeaster. We'll try your suggestion and drop a radio and some medical supplies. Check in with us when you're safe on the ground."
    "Roger. CF191 clear."
    The wild winds buffeted the small plane mercilessly and the Beaver roared and fought the storm until, suddenly, the bottom dropped out of the world.
    Laurie closed her eyes as they plummeted. She recognized the sickening sensation... that other crash, the impact, the horrible terrifying awakening that followed.
    Something caught at the plane and they jolted into a sickening climb, a wild ride on a turbulent updraft. It seemed a momentary postponement of the inevitable crash when they dropped again.
    She relived the past... the storm and the sickening impact. The terrible, tragic awakening. Luke's hand gripping her thigh seemed to her a part of that other nightmare.
    Her eyes flew open, fleeing memories.
    Luke's was staring intently into the black sky outside, but he must have sensed her panic because squeezed her thigh gently and said, "Five minutes and we'll be on the ground. Try to relax—it's easier if you do. Breathe slow and deep."
    She took a shaky breath and realized she hadn't been breathing at all. She forced herself to at least a physical calm, dragging in air, practicing the control she had learned over her fear when she was trying to learn to fly again without terror.
    His touch helped, gentle and reassuring on her thigh, but most of all his intent focus on the horrific view through the windscreen helped more.
    The Beaver was fighting the gale to stay in the air. Luke's other hand on the stick. When he took his hand from her leg his eyes were glued to the angry, black world outside. They had lost most of their visibility. The ocean passage below was obscured and the mountains that rose out of the water on either side made only a dark shadow through the stormy rain.
    As a new wave of storm hit them, the plane tipped crazily, wing pointing to the water, then lurched back to something far from level flight.
    Luke's face was grim, but free of panic. Laurie saw that other tragic flight, Shane's face panicking as he fought the