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DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between reality and the characters in this story, any air carrier or private corporation described by this story, or actual behavior of individuals is entirely coincidental.
The Pilot part 11
Leo Ward's relocation to Miami was entirely uneventful. He had rented the guest house in Coconut Grove that was owned by one of Fuller Dixon's clients, Hernando Noriega. The guest house was already furnished and Leo had decided that it wasn't really necessary to move the sparse furnishings he had in Columbus. Most of it he was able to sell on Craigslist. This left his personal possessions like clothes and items of sentimental value, along with some household items that he couldn't imagine parting with.
Everything fit into a hitch trailer that he attached to the back of his SUV. Leo bid farewell to Columbus and made the two day trip to Miami without incident... or excitement. Hernando had given him a full set of keys to both the guest house and the main house. There was also a remote control which opened the main gate on to the property. So far, everything was going according to plan, and Leo arrived in Coconut Grove four hours ahead of schedule.
Leo texted Gene as he began his trip across Florida's famous Alligator Alley; a stretch of highway that connected the west coast of Florida to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. Gene would be leaving the next day for an overnight trip to Las Vegas, but he offered to help Leo move his things into the guest house.
"About 2 hours away. Ahead of schedule," Leo texted
"I can come over around 6PM. Still need help?" Gene immediately replied.
"Sure. If I'm moved in before you get here, we can swim."
"Perf," replied Gene.
Once Leo reached I-95 and headed toward Miami, the traffic became crazy. Cars braided back and forth down the highway in the afternoon rush. It wasn't far from the end of the highway into The Grove, and Leo followed the direction of his GPS carefully, being mindful that he had a trailer hitched to the back of his car. As he arrived at the house, he hit the big button on the remote and the gate swung inward. Once passing through the main gate, he followed a paved driveway that wound sharply to the right and away from the main house. It curved around the property and Leo could see the barrel tile roof of the guest house. There was a covered parking pad at the read of the property just next to the guest house.
It was exciting to Leo to finally arrive and end what seemed like months of upheaval to the regimented life he had been living as an airline pilot. He thought back to that night at the Marriott three months ago. A simple conversation over a drink at the bar had changed everything about his life. Now, here he was, outside a mansion in Coconut Grove, working for a law firm and flying a Challenger 650. The airplane wouldn't change from day to day, or flight to flight. He had met and formed a brotherhood with his fellow pilots; something he never felt working for the airline. No more dismal winters in Ohio. He looked up into the swaying palm trees and toward the main house and thought to himself, "Holy fuck! What just happened?"
Leo's first flight for Fuller Dixon had finally arrived. The day before the flight, Leo's phone blew up with a constant string of emails from Carlos, the flight dispatcher. There were weather forcasts, load sheets, a routing, a copy of the IFR flight plan, a provision list, passenger manifest.. everything Leo would need for the round trip to Chicago. As Second in Command, it would be Leo's responsibility to ensure provisions were onboard prior to the passengers arriving. This was something that he was NOT accustomed to doing. He would also be expected to be cartain that the passenger cabin met the very strict first-class standards expected by Tyler and Fuller Dixon. Again, these were details that he had never worried about as an airline pilot. Carlos has also informed Leo that his Electronic Flight Board would be on the aircraft when he arrived. The EFB would also contain all of the relevant information pre-loaded into software called ForeFlight.
The flight was scheduled to depart at 10:30AM. Leo would need to be at the plane around 8:30 to load all provisions and ensure the plane was ready for passenger boarding. This meant that he also needed to stop at a caterer that Fuller Dixon used to pick up the items on the provision list that Carlos had sent to him.
Leo left the guest house at 7:00AM. The caterer wasn't far from Opa Locka airport and he arrived there at 7:30. There were two boxes that contained canned beverages and water, another large box that had been refrigerated and contained an assortment of fruit platters, two more that had lunch items such as sandwiches, bagels with cream cheese and lox. The final box held fresh tomatos that had been pre-sliced and 5 plastic containers of salad. With the help of one of the catering staff, Leo loaded everything into his SUV and headed for the airport.
When he arrived, the aircraft was still in the hangar. A ramp agent who worked for Signature Flight Support saw Leo enter the hangar and called over to him, "Hey! You the new guy for Fuller Dixon?"
Leo jogged over to the ramp agent. "Yes, I'm Leo Ward." He held out his hand and the two men shook. "I'm a little early. Sorry about that. Can I still get inside and load provisions?"
"Yeah, sure. Or, you can wait until I pull the plane out and hook up a GPU and air."
Leo decided to wait. He found a dolly and pushed it to his SUV so that he could load the caterers boxes. While he was busy doing that, he heard the tug start up. It didn't take the ramp agent long to attach the tug to the nosewheel of the Challenger. Minutes later, the plane was moved onto the tarmac and a Ground Power Unit was attached so that the battery wouldn't be drained while Leo worked inside.
He got everything stowed in the small forward galley. There was a short refrigerator unit that needed time to cool, but it wouldn't take long. Everything else seemed to have a place in various drawers that were paneled in burlwood maple. Once all the food was aboard, Leo checked throught the cabin with a handheld vac making sure that the interior was pristine. He also checked the lavatory in the aft of the aircraft to be certain it was clean and stocked for the flight. By 9:00AM, everything on Leo's checklist had been completed and checked.
In the cockpit, laying on his seat on the right, he found his new EFB. It was all pre-loaded and even personalized with his name and information. He was able to do another check of the weather. There was a cold front that had just moved south of Minnesota, but otherwise, nothing really serious to note. They would have a pretty strong left quartering headwind on the way to Chicago, though. The forecasted winds at 35,000 ft. showed that the winds would be 50 knots from the left.
At about 9:25, Leo saw a car pull up next to the Challenger off of the right wing. It was another SUV. The passenger door opened and Leo saw Rob climb out and walk around to the driver's side. There was a woman sitting in the driver's seat and she and Rob chatted for a few seconds. Then, Rob leaned in and kissed her. He stood back from the SUV and waved as it drove off on the tarmac. Then he saw Rob walking over to the ramp agent. The two men chatted briefly and Rob came toward the plane.
Once inside the aircarft, Rob did a quick walk through of the cabin. He even checked inside the lavatory. He also opened a second door beyond that lavatory that lead to the baggage compartment. There was an exterior door on the port side of the plane where luggage could be loaded from outside.
"Looks good, buddy! You get all the eats stowed? How about coffee? Do we have coffee yet?" said Rob cheerfully as he climbed into the cockpit.
"No coffee, yet. I was going to wait until closer to passenger time so it wouldn't get bitter," answered Leo. He was still puzzled about the woman driving the car that had dropped Rob off at the plane. He had sucked Rob off the night that he and Gene met in the bar and Leo just assumed that Rob was gay. "So, who was that dropping you off?"
"That was Karen, my wife," Rob answered casually. "You can meet her when we get back. She's always waiting when the plane gets back." Rob looked over at Leo. He saw that Leo was making a peculiar face.
"But... I thought you..." Leo started to say.
"What, that I was gay?" Rob laughed. "Well, I'm not exactly straight, but I am married. Don't worry, she knows all about it. She's actually fine with me playing with guys. Other women.. now that's a different story!"
In a way, Leo was shocked. Of all the pilots he had met, it seemed like everyone acknowleged that Rob was gay.
The two pilots ran through their preliminary checklists. Rob was clearly a seasoned pro and shared a few tips with Leo on their particular plane. "No autothrottle like you line guys have, and this plane reacts really fast, so all power changes need to be a little slower than you are probably used to. Let's keep it at Mach .82 in cruise. I already gave Darren the fuel load. He should be loading up in about 10 minutes. I'll fly the flight up, and you can do the return. How does that sound?"
"Great. Does that mean I do cabin service on the way?" Leo asked.
"Yep. Although these guys are all in-house and they know their way around the plane. They'll mostly do everything themselves. Generally, I only duck into the cabin if they call. Flight time shows two hours forty three minutes, so they should be fine without much assistance. Tyler will give us a heads up when the car is on the way."
Leo was impressed by how professional and efficient Rob was. He hadn't expected this from all of their prior encounters. He figured Rob to be a life-of-the-party kind of guy and a bit distracted. But, so far, Rob had been all business and clearly had his act together.
At 9:45, Rob got a text from Tyler telling him that the van with their passengers had just left the Fuller Dixon building. They should be arriving at Opa Locka in about forty minutes.
"Go ahead and do the walk around while I load the FMS. We'll be on APU when the car pulls up. Then, all we need to do is get them buckled in. I don't want a late start. And.. you can start the coffee now," Rob grinned.
Right on schedule, the van pulled up next to the plane and three men and two women climbed out. Rob had positioned Leo near the left wing tip. His job would be to take luggage and line it up in front of the wing. Then, when the last passenger climbed the stairs into the plane, Leo was to assist Darren on the ramp to load the bags into the compartment at the rear of the plane. Rob had already instructed Leo to keep the baggage as far forward as possible, but not to block the door from the baggage compartment into the lav. The entire boarding process didn't take long, but it appeared that they were already slightly behind their estimated 10:30 departure time.
With all of the bags stowed and the baggage compartment door closed, Leo climbed the stairs into the plane and secured the main cabin door. He passed quickly through the cabin to make sure everyone was in a seat with a belt around their lap. When he got to the rear of the cabin, Leo was surprised to look and see the paralegal Jordan sitting on the banquet. He hadn't noticed him board the plane with the others. Jordan looked up as Leo came towards him and almost smiled, then caught himself and held his deadpan expression.
"Hello again!" said Leo.
"Hi Leo. I see you are working today. All settled in?" asked Jordan. He almost looked like he was hoping Leo needed him.
"Yeah, found a great place down in the Grove. All set to go," Leo answered. He didn't really have time to make small talk. "Maybe I'll tell you about it while we are on the way. I gotta... you know," said Leo as he motioned with his thumb toward the cockpit.
Once back up front, Leo buckled his harness and set to work with his engine start flows. Rob was ready to go and handed Leo the laminated checklist. As Leo began to read each item, Rob responded almost before Leo had finished each item. They had a good start on both engines and were ready to taxi; the plane's chronometer showed that they were eight minutes behind schedule.
It didn't take long for the Challenger to reach their cruise altitude of 38,000 feet. Leo was still getting used to the feel of the actual aircraft and its outstanding performance. The initial climb speeds of over 4,000 ft. per minute seemed incredible after spending so many years in a commercial aircraft that normal climbed at 2,000 ft. per minute.
"Okay, should be a smooth one from here. You wanna go check the passengers and see if everything back there is cool?" ask Rob. "Just introduce yourself and see if anyone needs anything. Don't take too long, though."
Three of the lawyers were sitting in the front section of the cabin. Jordan and another attorney were seated on the banquet at the rear.
"Good morning, folks. I'm Leo. We've reached our cruise altitude, so can get you anything from the galley? We have an assortment of fruit, lox and bagels, salad, some sandwiches, and of course coffee or spring water." Everyone up front seemed interested in fruit plates and a salad. Leo asked the same of Jordan and the man he was sitting with in the rear of the plane. As he stood in front of them, his crotch was at their eye level. Jordan seemed transfixed and didn't lift his eyes from the bulge in Leo's khaki pants. The attorney with Jordan actually leaned back slightly and spread his legs a bit as he looked directly into Leo's eyes.
"I don't know, I'm starving. I think I need meat. You got any meat up there?" said the attorney next to Jordan.
Leo smiled and said, "I think I can take care of that." He winked and walked back to the front of the plane and prepared three fruit plates and salads, then a platter with a sandwich assortment. He served the salada and fruit plates first, then carried a small tray to the rear of the plane. He set the platter of sandwiches down on one of the reclining seats across from the banquet and bent to open a table that was folded into the fuselage wall of the cabin. As he bent, he realized that his ass was directly in front of the two men across from him. He took his time setting up the table and sandwiches and felt a little thrill as he knew they were staring at his butt.
"There you are, gentlemen. I believe there is roast beef, a turkey BLT and a curried chicken salad. You may be more comfortable on this side of the plane, but I'll let you serve yourselves."
"Nice," said the attorney. He stood up and was only inches away from Leo. He whispered into Leo's ear, "I love a man who knows how to handle my need for meat." Leo simply returned a smile and went back up the cabin aisle to the cockpit.
"Wow.. I just got hit on by one of the attorney's!" Leo said as he climbed into his seat.
"Which one?" asked Rob. "Must have been Nate Barnstable. He's hot. I did him last month in Cleveland. Total bottom." Rob massaged the lump in his pants. "We may need to text him later this evening. Find out if he wants to play." Rob grinned over at Leo as he continued to work a growing hardon. "We're coming up on Volunteer. Time and Fuel check."
Leo knew things were about to get busy as they would be starting their approach into Chicago. But in the back of his mind, he was thinking about an evening with Rob and the attorney, Nate.
...to be continued.