Chapter 38

Emily helped Elizabeth buckle the boys into the car. Jake was sound asleep and Cameron was giving Elizabeth the silent treatment because she would not let him bring Spencer to Italy. "I know I am biased because he is my brother but we both know that he would much rather be with you and the boys." Emily voices as she closed the car door.

"I know, it just caught me off guard and I freaked out. You know how I get when I am pregnant." Elizabeth whined as she leaned against the car door.

Max was already sitting in the driver's seat and did not seem happy that he got assigned to Elizabeth and the boys rather travel with Jason to Miami.

"Are you going to be ok?" Emily genuinely asked.

Elizabeth nodded, "I am just very tired and need to relax. Hopefully the boys sleep for a large part of the flight so I can too."

"Has he called you?"

Elizabeth shook her head, "He sent me a text but I think he is scared that I wont answer the phone if he calls. Besides, he is probably in the air by now… it's been a few hours."

"I'm sorry that you have this long flight but I think you will be fine and I know that Jason will be there as soon as he can."

"I know, I know… I'm just a tired, hormonal wreck right now."

Emily laughed, "You are the tired one and I had the kids last night… I don't want to know."

"Thank you again for watching them."

"Well I know that you both had a lot to do to get ready for the trip." Emily cleared her throat and giggled.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "I'll call you when we land."

Max looked like his head was about to explode, or jump out of the plane… either one would put him out of his misery. They had been in the air for four hours and Jake had been crying for the last three hours. His hands kept moving to his ears so she could only figure that his ears were bothering him from the cabin pressure and altitude. Just after Jake started crying, Cameron threw another fit managing to break the TV. So now there was nothing to entertain Cameron which was never a good thing with a five year old and another four plus hours left in the flight.

Elizabeth cast Max her fifth apologetic look of the past ten minutes. He shook his head as if to say 'don't worry about it' but she knew better. Max was a single man with no children, she was sure this was pure torture.

"Cameron, you sit down and stop that!" Elizabeth yelled. Cameron was standing in front of her mocking Jake's cry in an annoying high pitched screech.

"But mama, Jakey is so loud and annoying."

"And you aren't helping young man." Elizabeth said shifting Jake in her arms. She reached into the bag and dug out another bottle. He seemed to calm down a little when he was sucking on a bottle. It seemed to help his ears so she was relieved that he took the bottle and held it in his mouth. He was completely tired and so was Elizabeth. She looked over at Max who let out a sigh of relief that there was a few moments of silence. "You know Cameron, by the time we land it is going to be daytime in Italy. If you take a nap now then you wont be sleepy and can stay up when we get there."

"I can't sleep with Jakey screaming." He said with a pout.

"Well Jake is calm for now so why don't you lay back and rest your eyes, try for me."

Cameron rolled his eyes, as best as a five year old could, then snuggled up on the chair. Elizabeth breathed in the silence and finally closed her eyes.

Jason's dialed his phone again and the call went right to voice mail. His thumb pushed the end button on his phone and he looked at the time again. His mind calculated the time and he knew that the plane should have landed over an hour ago. He had received a text message from Elizabeth when she arrived on the plane that read 'I know youre sorry, so am i. just got on the plane, will call when we land… I love u'. Her text message was delivered to his phone over ten hours ago. Barring any runway delays, she should have landed at the latest, an hour ago.

He flipped his phone open and dialed again. "Ciao"

"Mario, it's Jason. Has the flight arrived yet?"

He spoke with a thick Italian accent, "No, not yet."

"Has the flight been delayed."

Mario glanced around the hangar, "I spoke with Max shortly before the plane took off and everything was ok but you know how it could be sometimes."

"Will you call me as soon as the plane lands?" Jason asked. He was feeling more uneasy by the second.

"Yes sir." Mario said before ending the call.

Jason quickly dialed the next number.

"How may the grasshopper be of assistance?"

"Spinelli, I need you to track Elizabeth's flight." Jason ordered. "Now!" he added.

"May I ask if there is a problem?" he asked as he stood from the couch he had been laying on. Georgie was sound asleep beside him, having fallen asleep while watching a movie and she rolled over to stretch across the entire width of the couch.

"Just find the plane and report back to me as soon as you do. They should have landed by now. Something's wrong." Jason could hear Spinelli frantically typing on the other end of the line. "Call me when you know." Before Spinelli could reply, Jason ended the call.

The feeling in the pit of Jason's stomach only grew tighter by the second while he paced and waited for Spinelli to call him back. Milo tried not to watching him and repeatedly told him that he was overreacting but Jason just ignored him.

"What did you find?" Jason said into his phone. It barely made a sound when he opened it to answer the call.

"Stonecold, according to the airport records…. The plane landed approximately ninety minutes ago."

"But that is impossible. Mario has been waiting at the hangar and the plane has not arrived." Jason voiced then closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "See what else you can find." He said, ended the call and dialed Mario again.

"Nothing yet." Mario said in his thick accent before Jason could even speak.

"Mario, according to airport records the plane landed an hour and a half ago. Are you sure you are at the correct hangar?"

"Yes." Mario answered. "I spoke to the pilot and received all the plans before the flight. Is there something going on that gives you reason for alarm?"

"There has been a few issues lately but…"

Mario cut him off, "I have a friend that works in air traffic control. I call him and call you back."

For a long five minutes, Jason again paced, constantly staring down at his phone, waiting for it to ring and the caller ID to show her name, but it didn't. When it finally rang the display showed 'Unavailable' and it was Mario.

"Ok, here is what I know. The plane landed two hours ago but once on the ground the pilot informed the tower that they'd be arriving at an alternate private hangar on the opposite side of the airport. I am on my way there now but it is a privately owned area and do not have access."

Jason was now completely losing his mind, "So you mean they landed two hours ago and we have not heard from them yet. The pilot… you spoke to Marty before the flight."

"No, Marty was supposed to be flying the jet that you chartered. I spoke to Steven."

Jason stopped pacing at that second, "We don't have a Steven working for us."