Dusk (Dangerous Web #1) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,38

judging eyes.

When she didn’t respond again, I asked, “What do you want to know? What beginning?”

Reid

“I had to get out of the house,” I said into the microphone as the Montana landscape was laid out below us like a green and brown blanket, interrupted by blue streams and rivers and surrounded by deep purple mountains and white snow-capped peaks.

“I can use your help.” Mason’s voice came through the earphones though he was sitting beside me in the pilot’s seat. This plane had two seats, pilot and copilot. There was a jump seat in the back, but not one of us could or would want to fit.

“Sparrow came up with me this morning,” Mason continued, “and we made a few observations. My opinion is skewed so I decided to get yours.”

I could have given my opinion as I usually did, from behind a screen or two or five. I could have pulled up the real-time satellite images I’d successfully hacked. And while under normal circumstances that was sufficient, being here in Mason’s plane high above the ground, I understood the deficiencies in my normal. The satellite imagery paled in comparison to the reality of flying a little over five thousand feet in the air.

“When’s the last time you flew in something this small—an airplane, not a helicopter,” Mason asked.

I shook my head as I looked at the array of gauges, levers, and switches on the control panel before us. “I don’t remember,” I answered honestly. “If you want me to take the controls, I hope you have parachutes.”

Mason scoffed as we banked toward the west.

“Helicopters and the Sparrow fleet,” I went on, “are my main modes of air travel.”

“I miss piloting,” he said. “Small planes were always my thing. Sparrow and Patrick had an affinity for helicopters. I didn’t care for the restriction. While I wouldn’t take this baby out in a lightning storm, it’s more predictable in wind than a chopper.”

His statement made me think. “How was the weather Thursday?”

Mason turned; his gaze came to me as he grinned. “See how getting up here helps?” He inhaled and looked out the front windshield. “Clears your mind.”

It had been two days since the women were taken. In the last forty-eight hours we’d made headway. We knew the kidnappers arrived via helicopter. It wasn’t as large as Mason had feared, based on the landing skid length. I had been able to utilize cameras on Mason’s land to determine that the chopper came from the west and also returned west. With the help of satellite as well as survey maps from the state of Montana, we located possible hideouts. The capos who arrived from Chicago were mobile and checking out all large and small leads.

While progress had been made, no contact had been attempted to negotiate their release.

With each passing minute, hour, day, my nerves were stretched to their limits. I wasn’t alone. I knew that. The man flying the plane beside me was also rightfully on edge.

After a few more minutes, Mason hit a button on the side of his headset. As he did, my headset went completely silent. Such as the effect of noise-canceling headphones, there was nothing—a soundless void. When I looked at my brother-in-law, he removed his headphones and placed them on his lap.

Following his lead, I did the same.

Immediately, sound was back, no longer a hum but a roar. The engine and spinning propeller keeping us airborne rumbled with vigor, making the use of headphones seem obvious. I wasn’t one who rode a motorcycle, but it could be equated to the same phenomenon. Imagine the rush of air as a motorcycle cruises at sixty to seventy miles an hour. Imagine no helmet, the wind whisking past your ears, and the person in front of you speaks.

That was the impression as Mason yelled above the roars. “I’m going to contact the Order.”

I knew why he’d brought me up here. It was the one place, without the headphones, where we could speak in complete privacy. “I thought you’d cut all ties.”

“I did. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have means.” He weighed his words. “Before those ties were severed, we figured out Top’s identity.”

My jaw clenched as the scenery below lost its luster. “The last time you tried to contact the Order,” I yelled at the man less than three feet away, “you had all of us backing you up.”

“The last time was for my freedom. This time it’s for Lorna’s and Arnaeae’s. Do you think Sparrow can keep a