Taylors's POV - Saturday
"Fuck, that fucking idiot is going up towards, oh… Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! They've hit. Fuck!"
My heart is plummeting with the glider, off to the side I can see the plane crash and burn and I couldn't care less at this point, that idiot has most likely just killed The Boss and his most amazing fiancée and no-one but Gail, Ray and I know about their engagement, this should be the happiest day of their lives and now I will have to both retrieve their bodies and let everyone know what has happened.
"Fuck I wish we could see, he's not on fire and he seems to be getting it under control," screams Joey who has been swearing next to me. The Boss has saved this young man on several occasions although no-one but he, his father and I know about it and I know he looks up to the Boss like very few others, credits him for being the only reason that he is alive and he looks as shattered as I feel.
I hope he's right, I strain my eyes, knowing the Boss, he's doing everything in his power to retrieve that glider, it's broken wing though means he must be fighting like hell and with this rapidly dropping darkness, it's hard to see as we run towards the control centre. It is obvious they have been watching too and have been dialling the emergency services as the drama has unfolded because I can already hear the sirens.
The glider which had amazingly started evening out suddenly drops from view and everyone is swearing around us, it has gone down in the Sound and the light has just completely closed over, if all our normal safety procedures have been followed, there should be an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon) on board plus the normal trackers on both their phones but if they are submerged, we have to find them really quickly because the strapping on those seats will make it hard for them to release themselves if they are injured.
Joey comes with me and we tear down to the closest marina, Christian has a launch there and we are in it and following the tracking device as fast as we can. As Joey navigates, I am on the phone with Welch, then the publicity department to warn them, then an increasingly distraught Gail to prepare for the family to come over, then the last one, the one that has me choking on my words, the phone call to Grace and Carrick.
Unfortunately Carrick isn't there and I have to speak to Grace, implying that we have the rescue and recovery in hand but that neither the wreckage or Christian or Ana have yet been found, I tell her we have a location and we are headed there as fast as we can, extra resources from both the rescue departments and our own resources are on the way. I also suggest that if they can gather the family and head to Escala, it will be easier to keep the press away and have information going to just one place.
My respect for Grace already high, climbs through the roof as she holds it together and agrees and thanks me with a shaking voice, asking me to please let them know as soon as I can and my heart breaks that finally she has been able to actually have a relationship with her son and now it could all have been cruelly ripped away from her.
And then I realise there is a harder caller than Grace that I have to make and that is to call Ray and my hand falters, how am I going to tell him? Welch comes through and says he'll make the call to Ray and get him to Escala as well and I grunt in appreciation and inform him that we are approaching the site the tracker says he went down but we can't see anything yet, having to slow down in case they are in the water, the last thing we want to do is hit them.
"Fuuuuck… there's bits everywhere," Joey says, his voice laced with despair, as he cuts the engine and shines the spotlights around the scene, there's a helicopter coming in and it must have following the EPIRB and in the distance I can hear a police launch, hopefully there will be police divers in that one.
The only positive thing I can think is that the water isn't deep, it seems that the Boss has put the glider down as close as he could to a beach and therefore while there is damage and the machine is submerged it isn't deep, if we can get to it, we should be able to get them out if they aren't already.
Having donned the dive tanks as we approached, I am prepared to go I am over the edge as soon as our lights pick up the actual body of the glider and reach the wreck within seconds and am amazed at what I see.
Gail's POV - Saturday
I can't believe it, I can't stop the tears pouring down my face as I listen to Jason's urgent voice, I've never heard him so upset either and it tells me what his controlled words don't, he thinks they're dead and that he will be the one that has to tell the family.
The family that will all be coming here so that we can protect them from the media, the media that is already reporting that "The billionaire Christian Grey appears to have crashed his glider into Puget Sound and is missing presumed dead, we don't know yet if anyone else was in the glider with him," oh why can't those vultures stay away, Welch already has men at the door to stop them harassing the family as they come in.
Welch calls to tell me that Ray is being brought in too and my heart drops further, that poor man, Jason has told me the whole story about Ana, Carla and Ray and just watching him over the last two months, there is no doubt that he is the one person that has always been there for Ana. Earlier Jason told me how Ray had given his blessing for their marriage and how happy he had been, I shudder to think how he is feeling and I am glad that Welch has someone bringing him in. I have made up one of the spare rooms for him for tonight and as long as he needs it, my heart breaks for him because if tonight is the night that he loses Ana having almost already lost her once in the last few months, I wonder what will be his reason to keep on living.
Organising food and rooms finally calms me down so that when Sawyer brings in Elliot and Kate, I am able to gently welcome them in, a more subdued Elliot I've never seen but it is lovely to see that he has a nurturing side, obviously hidden by his usual buffoonery. Elliot is practically holding Kate up and who, despite the Caribbean suntan, looks as white as a ghost and I remember she is actually Ana's best friend and this must be taking a terrible toll on her. She looks at me and says "Was Ana definitely in the glider with him?" and I can only nod as I watch her face crumple.
"This is all my fault, if I'd never sent her to that interview, she'd never have had the accident, she'd never have met Christian and she would still be alive," and she sobs into her hands. To his credit Elliot looks at me with despair and then gathers her up in his arms and shushes her, he says something that elicits some sort of giggle sob and then she rests her head on his shoulder and he lovingly curls around her on the sofa and doesn't move until his parents enter the room.
As soon as Grace, Carrick and Mia walk into the apartment, the energy changes again, Carrick has a controlled mask on his face although his eyes are tortured and Sawyer shows him straight into the security room where Welch is holding fort and co-ordinating the rescue and recovery. Mia on the other hand is openly sobbing and runs to Elliot who holds her tight until she too calms down.
Grace has a lost look on her face and she turns to thank me for looking after them and I break all the rules and simply open my arms and she hugs me. I feel her tears against my cheek and rub her back gently until just a moment later, she pulls away and then wipes her eyes with the tissues I offer her and says, "Oh my, I'm sorry, I do hope they are ok. Ana is a beautiful angel and what she has done for Christian and us in such a short time is nothing short of a miracle. I don't know what we'll do if we lose both of them or worse, either of them without the other."
She turns towards the great room and Elliot is over to her and taking her in another hug and holding her tight saying "It's Christian Mom, he'll have gotten it down safely and gotten them out, he's resourceful, it will be ok." I hope he's right and am grateful for his positive outlook because I see Grace straighten her back and take some courage from his words.
Kate too seems to gather some strength from him and her journalistic instincts start to kick in and she starts searching through all the various media outlets trying to gather information, the information she is relaying though isn't making me feel any better so I head back to the kitchen to gather the drinks and prepare some nibbles to keep me occupied.
The next arrival is Ethan Kavanagh, Kate's brother who has come both as a support for his sister and because he was a friend of Ana's and I watch intrigued as Mia locks eyes on him and something seismic shifts in the room. On his introduction, Mia practically attaches herself to him and while he looks surprised, his obvious distress at the news allows him to sympathise with her and enter a heated discussion with Kate over the sources of information and information being provided. He doesn't even seem to notice that he has Mia's hand in his and her body moulded against his, her face upturned towards his, absorbing his every word. I wonder idly for a second what Mr Grey would think given his distinct distrust of Kate.
Just as I bring in some nibbles into the room, knowing that no-one will actually feel like eating but in case they want to do some mindless eating, I hear the collective gasp as the pictures come up on the television and my hands shake as I see the pieces of the glider all over the water, I can also see the GEH launch there and hope against hope that Jason has found them alive, even if they are injured and I shudder as I think of Ana's past injuries, what will a hard impact have done to her?
It is right at this time that Ray enters the apartment, his eyes drawn to the screen and his hand flies to his mouth and he is unable to say anything, he just nods to me and turns as if to leave again and Welch comes out to pull him into the control room. We are all left looking at each other, any positive energy is sucked out of the room and I can't stand it, and make my way back to the kitchen, praying like I've never prayed before.
It feels like it has been at least two hours since the accident but I have lost track of time and suddenly there is a movement at the door of the security room and it is Carrick, wiping his hand across his brow, "Taylor" and he nods towards me, including me in the conversation, "Taylor and the police divers have been over the glider carefully and there is no sign of anyone in there, the pilot seat is intact, the passenger seat is missing, there are no bodies within the wreckage, or caught anywhere around it, it appears that both life jackets are missing and so," he pauses as we all breathe a sigh of relief that they appear to have survived the crash itself.
"And so it is believed that they have survived the crash and it is now a case of finding where they are, they weren't too far from a beach but the currents in the channels in that area are very strong. They have been searching the water and surrounding areas to see if they can find them, the darkness and lack of signals in the area are hampering them. Neither Christian or Ana's cell phones are working or able to be tracked at the moment, so it looks like a physical search is required and more resources are being allocated, more lights are being brought in and Stephen, Christian's helicopter pilot has brought extra infra-red equipment, hopefully they will be found soon."