Kevin looked at his watch too. "Yeah." he said quietly. "I'll call the airport."

"You know, y'all are probably over-reacting." Brian chimed in. "Look at the sky out there. Over where he was leaving from the sky has been almost pitch black for the last hour or so, and it's moving this way." He looked at AJ and then over at Kevin, who was looking up the phone number of the airport information line. "Do you honestly think Nick would get on a, as he calls it, toy plane in this weather? He hates big planes, and little planes don't rate much higher as far as he's concerned."

Howie came in from the sound booth. "Isn't Nick here yet? It's not like him to not call if he's going to be late." AJ and Brian stared at him.

"And which Nick would you be referring to?" AJ asked, sarcastically.

"Okay, you're right. But you think he would call and let us know what's going on, especially with that storm out there. The flight was probably cancelled."

As Kevin went to hang up the phone, the reciever slipped from his grasp and clattered onto the table. "No, it wasn't cancelled. The flight left as scheduled and they lost contact with it. They think it went down in the storm on one of the smaller islands. Kevin turned white and sat down suddenly. "They want us to come to the airport. As soon as the storm lifts, helicopters will be sent out to search and the coast guard will search the water."

"Oh my God." AJ sat beside Kevin and ran his hands through his hair.

"They think the plane crashed?" Howie asked.

"They said hopefully they were able to land but the fact that they have had no contact is not a good sign." Kevin covered his face with his hands.

"Were there others on board?" AJ asked.

"Just Nick and the pilot." Kevin replied.

The four men sat silently, each not quite sure what to say.

Brian broke the silence. "Someone needs to call his family. They should know."

The four men looked at each other. How do you call someone and tell them they needed to come to the islands because their son might have been in a plane crash?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pilot stirred in the cockpit. He opened his eyes, looked around and realized he wasn't in the cockpit at all.

"Damn, don't know how I made it through that one."

He stared at his plane. When they crashed they had struck a range of trees and the plane had basically disintegrated upon impact. The cockpit was about the only part of the plane that had stayed whole, although the roof had been crushed down considerably.

"Must have been tossed out the window."

He looked up to the sky.

"I owe you one."

He checked himself over for injuries.

"Broken arm, cuts, bruises, hell of a headache, not too shabby!"

He grinned to himself and then frowned as he remembered his passenger.

"Buddy, where are you?"

He searched the ground around the plane where he had been thrown and found nothing.

"Oh no, don't tell me..."

He approached the cockpit and stared inside. It was too dark for him to see anything clearly.

"Shit!"

He searched frantically through the wreckage for the tool box and the first aid kit. After what seemed like an eternity, he swore again.

"Damn thing must have been tossed a mile."

He started pulling loose pieces of metal from the cockpit, trying to feel inside. His arm hurt like hell, but he continued his attempt to reach the inside.

"Boy, can you hear me?" he called out and cocked his ear for a response. "Damn, damn, damn!" he cursed.

He broke the remaining part of the window away and cleared the rim with his shirt. Climbing up, he reached into the cockpit and felt around, still nothing. He leaned in the window, resting his stomach on the rim and used both hands to feel around. Just as he was about to give up, his broken arm came in contact with Nicks body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin returned to the waiting area that the police had led them to.

"When will they be here?" Brian asked him.

"They're catching the next plane, but won't be able to get here until the storm lifts."

The island they were on was situated a few miles off the main island. All traffic to it was by planes like the one Nick had been on. This what had made the group pick it as being perfect for recording. No fans, no press. They could relax and get their work done, having fun at the same time.

"Did she blame us?" AJ looked at Kevin, not needing to explain who "she" was.

"Of course, it's our fault for making him come here. She was screaming at me." Kevin turned and faced the wall. "I'm more worried about how Aaron will take it than her though. It will kill him lose his big brother." Kevin took a big breath and tears rolled down his cheeks.

Howie came over and sat beside him. "Kevin, we don't know what happened yet. Don't think like that."

Kevin rubbed his face and turned to Howie. I've flown those planes. Have you seen the terrain of most of these little islands? If they were lucky they hit a rocky area and exploded on impact, not knowing what happened to them. If they were unlucky they hit the trees and are dying slowly as we sit here. There's no way a plane like that could have made it!" His voice had risen with each word and Brian moved over to him, rubbing his back.

"Take it easy, Kev, we don't know. Don't talk like that. I know you know better than any of us about the plane, but there is a chance they could have landed safely and for some reason can't contact us. Isn't there?" Brians eyes searched Kevins face for reassurance that his friend could have survived.

"Yeah, there's a chance." Kevin turned back away from Brian. "Not a big one, but there's a chance."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After surveying, by touch, how much room was in the smashed cockpit, the pilot had wiggled in to see if he could help Nick.

"Buddy?"

He ran his hands along and felt for Nicks pulse on his arm. It was there, weak, but it was there. It was so dark, he couldn't see anything, couldn't even tell what postion Nick was in. He rubbed Nicks arm. It felt cold and clammy.

"Hey buddy, I don't know if you can hear me, but we're gonna get you out of here, okay? You might have to wait til morning, but we'll get you out."

He climbed out of the cockpit and looked at his hands in the weak moonlight. They were covered in blood.

"Oh God."

The pilot moved over to the stand of trees and threw up, heaving until his stomach was empty. He collapsed to the ground and curled up.

"We'll get you out in the morning." he promised again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the cockpit, Nick tried to move and couldn't. He moaned softly as he felt a sharp pain in his midsection. Someone was talking to him, he was sure of it. He tried to move again and gave up. It was too painful, it wasn't worth it. He let himself slide back into unconsciousness.