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Priest Vito led them through the Albatross seaplane inch by inch, outside then in. When they arrived in the cockpit, he had them sit in the command seats; Melissa was deeply thankful that Richie was sent to the pilot’s seat this time. The plane was poised to look out over rolling lawn and a big highway exchange with an overpass. From up here in the cockpit, the land looked far below, as if they were flying already.
The seats were heavy gray steel and the instruments looked primitive in comparison to the Beech Baron that had been their first plane this night. But once she got past the foreignness, it wasn’t that different. The engine controls might be mounted in the ceiling above the windshield, but they were still pitch, throttle, and fuel mixture. The control yokes looked more like a
