Gladioli in August by Clare Revell

please?”
    “No. If Danny wants us out, then we leave.”
    “It’s a ten-minute flight. You have time to wait for us to get there and back. They can go with Steve as well.”
    “I’ll drive you,” Kevin said.
    Micah shook his head. “You will not. I’ll take her, but we go now. Danny, you wait until we get back?”
    Danny nodded. “I’m still organizing the boats from Bantu to get the sick and injured away.”
    Jael wasn’t going to wait any longer. She turned and ran for the plane, Micah close behind her. “So what’s going on between you and Kevin?” she asked as they boarded.
    Micah shoved the headphones on, and started the engine. “Nothing.”
    “Nothing? Seriously?”
    “I don’t like the bloke. You have a problem with that?”
    She shook her head. They sat in silence the entire flight until Micah lined the plane up to land.
    He glanced at her. “Kevin’s a jerk, OK?”
    “That’s a Danny-ism.”
    “OK, he hits on every woman he sees.” Micah brought the plane down on the ground. “If they are attached or married, the harder he tries. You’re not the first woman to have rebuffed him. Or the first one he’s hurt for turning him down. You’re just the first to stand up to him and go to Danny, that’s all.”
    “Oh.”
    Micah nodded. “Let’s get these people outta here and carry on the conversation on the way back.”
    He opened the door just as the two adults and three children ran over to him. Once they were seated, he strapped himself in and turned the plane around. “Just be careful. Kevin doesn’t like to be told no.”
    “It makes no difference,” she said quietly. “I’ve resigned.”
    ****
    Micah jerked as if shot. “What?” he managed, glad he wasn’t actually accelerating down the field at that point. The devastation on her face rocked him to the core.
    “I can’t stay here. Not now. I made a formal complaint. If I don’t leave, the Red Cross will recall me, or the mission society will. Or Kevin will make life unbearable.”
    “He’ll finish what he started,” he told her grimly. He began his run down the field, accelerating quickly, wanting to get away as soon as possible.
    Another tremor hit, jerking the plane from side to side. A huge chasm opened up in the field in front of him.
    “Micah…”
    “I see it.”
    “Are we going fast enough?”
    “I don’t know.” Prayers filled his mind as he yanked back on the controls.
    Jael gasped beside him, her hands reaching up to grasp whatever she could hold on to.
    The nose of the plane covered the crack now. He had no idea if they were about to topple into the hole or not. Where were his wheels in relation to the crack?
    His heart pounded in his throat as he pulled back as hard as he could. “Come on, baby, fly…”
    The plane became airborne just in time.
    “Nice one.” Jael let out a deep breath.
    “Thank—”
    A huge jolt jerked the plane forward. Micah struggled for control as they began to dive. Behind him the children screamed, and the adults started to pray. He pulled back hard on the controls, desperately trying to gain height, alarms blaring in his ears.
    Pull up , pull up , screamed one of the alarms, echoing the words in his mind. Then the plane responded and he gained altitude, stabilizing the flight. He let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “What in the world was that?”
    Jael gasped. “Micah…”
    “What is it, honey?” he asked.
    She tugged at his sleeve. “Look…the mountain…”
    He turned his head, his stomach dropping and his heart stopping.
    They were out of time.
    Gunung Berapi spewed ash and fire high into the air.

9
    Terror flooded Jael, along with awe and wonder at the sight of the exploding mountain. Knowing how much her brother would want to see this, she pulled out her phone and started snapping a couple of photos for Kyle. “Are we safe up here?”
    “For now. If too much of that ash gets into the engines, we’ll go down.”
    She froze.