Page 27 of Shared By the Pilots

“This is correct.”

I followed him inside, where he checked in with a smiling woman behind an information desk. The private terminal was much nicer than the five public terminals, with high ceilings and a clean white floor. There were also far fewer passengers here, which definitely added to the exclusive feel.

“Your flight is on time, Captain Dricksen,” the woman told him.

“Thanks, Connie,” he replied.

“Captain Dricksen?” I asked.

“Just a pseudonym so the flight logs don’t raise any red flags. Got plenty of those already.” He winked at me. “It’s my last name, but with the syllables swapped. Hen-dricks. Dricks-hen.”

“That would be clever if you were a teenage boy trying to sneak into a secret club,” I teased.

Luke laughed. “Actually, Ididcome up with that when I was a teenager. Kuel Dricksen was the fake name I used to book hotel rooms under when my friends wanted to throw a party without our parents knowing.”

“Scandalous,” I replied.

He scanned his badge at a door labeled “Private Lounge.” The interior was spacious, with a dozen little sitting areas, a buffet of food along one wall, and a fully-stocked bar. A few pilots and flight attendants were scattered around the room, waiting for their flights.

There was one man who looked totally out of place in the private lounge. He was wearing khaki pants and trail running shoes, and had long gray hair. I immediately dismissed him from my mind… until Luke led me over to his table.

“This is the woman I was telling you about,” Luke said. “Veronica, meet Bernard Langston.”

“Please, call me Bernie,” he replied with a warm smile as he rose to shake my hand.

“Bernie owns the fleet of private jets we use,” Luke explained.

I did my best to cover my surprise.Thisman owned a bunch of aircraft? He looked like the kind of person who spent most of his time walking around in the woods. After taking mushrooms.

“You’re probably thinking that I don’t look like someone rich enough to own a fleet of jets,” he said with a knowing grin.

“I was actually just thinking about…” I searched for an excuse. “Okay, you got me. I was thinking exactly that.”

“Everyone does. I like being inconspicuous. Please, sit. Can I get you anything?”

Why is he offering to get me something, and not the other way around?“I’ve got a coffee, thanks,” I said. I gave Luke a questioning look:why am I here?

“My business is fairly simple,” Bernie explained. “I own a fleet of six private jets, which I lease out to corporations and individuals. But there is plenty of down time between those leases where my aircraft are not being used. So we supplement these with regular routes throughout the Caribbean. Mainly to Cancun, Cabo San Lucas, and Oyster Bay in Jamaica.”

“There’s a lot of rich oil and gas executives who want to fly down to Cancun to play a round of golf, then fly back the same day,” Luke said with a chuckle.

“I won’t bore you with any more details. We’re a private airline with limited routes.” Bernie beamed at me. “And we’re always in need of flight attendants with a certain level of discipline.”

Wait a minute. Is this a job interview?Suddenly I felt woefully under-dressed in my yoga pants and loose-fitting top.

“I already work for Gulf Airlines, and they have a clause in my employment contract about working for other airlines.”

“Which is what I meant when I said a certain level of discipline,” Bernie replied smoothly. He sounded like he’d had this exact conversation a hundred times before, and was well-practiced with coercion. “Everything is under the table, off the books. Those rules in your employment contracts are pointless, anyway. Why should Gulf Airlines care if you work one or two flights a week with us? As long as it doesn’t interfere with your flight schedule, which I can promise you it won’t. We work with our flight attendants and pilots to ensure there’s no conflict.”

I glanced at Luke. “I don’t know…”

“A perfectly reasonable response.” Bernie handed me a folder. “There’s some information in there if you want to think about it some more. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re interested, we would love to have you work for us.”

I thanked him and said goodbye, and then Luke led me out of the lounge. “It would have been nice to know I was interviewing for ajobbefore I came here.”

Luke winced and said, “I didn’t know he would give you the pitch. He usually has too many flight attendants on the books and not enough pilots. I only brought you in there to prove what I was doing. To eliminate as many red flags as possible, you might say. Hopefully this explains why I left suddenly the other night. Another pilot backed out and I had to fill in.”

All of a sudden I felt very silly for suspecting worse from Luke. “This is an adequate explanation, yes.”

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