little warning system went off on her phone, alerting her of a speed trap up ahead, she grinned.
Boyington was going down.
She accelerated even more, and when she did, Boyington surged forward, moving through traffic behind her like a bloodhound on a hot trail. She was doing ninety, and he was gaining, when she activated the cloaking device on her Mercedes and shot past the cop and his radar gun, leaving Boyington to the cop and her home free.
About a quarter of a mile later, she deactivated the cloaking, took the next westbound exit and headed for the airport.
Charlie was there and waiting by the chopper when she sped through the gate and then parked her car in the hangar and grabbed her bag.
“Everything okay?” Charlie asked.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I changed clothes at the office. Traffic was weird. That’s all.”
He nodded. “Dallas traffic is always weird.”
“Mount up,” Wyrick said, and began her preflight checkup while Charlie climbed in.
He had already stowed his gear behind his seat, so he buckled in and waited for her to finish outside, then waited again as she went through a flight check inside, as well.
They put on headphones as she powered up. The rotors started spinning as every instrument on the dash lit up like the console on a Starfighter. And in another universe, Jade Wyrick would have been the Jedi manning it.
Wyrick glanced at her flight partner. He was grim-faced and staring out the windshield in front of him, and she knew he was already thinking about the case.
When the rotors reached full power, she lifted off—going up and then making a half circle before taking a heading of south by southwest to Big Bend National Park.
As soon as she had time to think about something besides flying, she mentioned Boyington again.
“Just so you know, Boyington was waiting in the parking lot and tailed me part of the way here. I lost him on the freeway.”
“What the hell?” Charlie said.
She could feel him staring at her.
“Did you feel threatened?” he asked.
She shrugged, keeping her gaze on her business. “I don’t know what I felt, but I wasn’t afraid, if that’s what you meant. However, it was creepy, and whatever he wants, I don’t think we need to be working with him.”
“Agreed,” Charlie said. “Let me know if he shows up again.”
She nodded. “No worries. The missing kid is far more important than whatever is on some frustrated man’s agenda. Did you see the map of the trail they took that I uploaded to your iPad?”
“Not yet.”
“You can read it now.”
He gave her a thumbs-up and powered it up.
“I also preregistered you for the hike they took. The permit is on your phone. You’ll have to show up with your ID, but they know you’re coming, and they know the family has hired you to aid in the search for their son.”
Charlie glanced at her then, marveling at her attention to detail.
“Remind me to give you that raise,” he said.
She snorted.
He grinned.
They both knew she could buy a whole country and have money left over. That constantly promised raise was a running joke between them.
After that, the two-hour-plus flight was mostly silent until they were five minutes out from their destination.
“Coming up on the lodge. I have permission to land nearby to unload you.”
“Let me know you make it back,” Charlie said.
“I will. You check in with me tonight when you can. I’m going to go back and do some more research on all three boys. Maybe I’ll have something more.”
Minutes later, she set down.
“Good hunting,” she said, right before Charlie took off his headset.
“Safe flight,” he said, and then grabbed his gear and started toward the lodge.
He turned to watch as she lifted off and waited until she was out of sight before going in. A park ranger was inside the door talking to a couple of hikers who’d just come down from one of the trails. They were asking about the searchers they’d seen, and if the missing hiker had been found. Charlie stopped, curious as to what the ranger would have to say.
“No, he’s still missing,” the ranger said.
“That’s tough,” one of the hikers said. “We saw a group of people down in one of the canyons yesterday. We wondered if they were searchers, but we didn’t see any today. Have they called off the search?”
“I think they’ve moved farther up the canyon. I don’t know where they’re at now,” the ranger said. “Thanks for checking in to let us know you’re