Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
They were late.
Olivia stared at the setting sun, cursing the increasing stretch of indigo streaking across the sky.
There was ten, maybe fifteen minutes left before any lingering light vanished, along with the hopes of Gibson and Ethan arriving unharmed.
Sure, there was an outside chance they’d simply been delayed.
Taken longer to refuel. Or that they’d run into some mechanical difficulties.
She didn’t believe that. Not with Gibson along.
The man had an annoying habit of being an expert at everything—even if he’d never tried it before.
Because she was pretty damn sure he hadn’t spent much time on a snowmobile.
Not when most of his assignments over the past ten years had involved sun and deserts.
And she’d bet her arse there wasn’t a vehicle he couldn’t fix with spit and a few paper clips.
Footsteps crunched along the snow behind her a moment before Bishop stopped at her side, his gaze sweeping the open plateau just as she’d been doing since she’d finished the last of her runs an hour, ago. “Still no sign of them?”
She bit back the sarcastic reply, aware Bishop was simply being polite. Trying to broach the subject without coming across as anxious. “Even with a few delays, they should have been here thirty minutes ago.”
Bishop nodded, the twitch of the corner of his mouth the only indication he was at all alarmed. “Mountain passes can be challenging. I’m sure they’re just playing it safe. Taking their time.”
She snorted before she could hold it in, giving Bishop an apologetic smile.
“Sorry, it’s just… The word safe and Gibson Miller do not belong in the same sentence.
If any given mission doesn’t have about ten different ways he might get killed, it’s not worth his time.
I’ve started to think he’s immortal. Some kind of hybrid vampire or something. And Ethan…”
Bishop chuckled. “Cannon told me the kid has a few…demons.”
Only now, she had a glimpse at what they were. How he’d spent the first half of his life fighting just to survive. Guess, the second half hadn’t changed, just shifted targets.
She sighed. “He’s intense. And not one to quit without being dead.” She searched the horizon one more time. “I think I’ll go have a look.”
Bishop snagged her elbow when she turned to go.
“It’s going to be dark in ten minutes. And the mountains are notorious for changing weather.
Hidden up and down drafts. I know you’re experienced, but…
Are you sure it’s wise? This won’t be a straight flight to the airport and back.
You’ll have to get low to see anything. There are a lot of ridges out there that seem to pop up out of nowhere.
And you won’t be flying a military spec helicopter. ”
She smiled. Flying, she could handle. “That ride you scored me is pretty sweet. Not counting the fact I have ANVIS-9 approved night vision goggles, the cockpit is loaded. It’s got graphical flight planning capabilities with touchscreen waypoint entries.
High-resolution terrain mapping, with an internal TAWS-B.
Integrated FLIR. Advanced geo-referenced charting… ”
She took a breath before she sounded like a complete geek.
But she’d almost squealed when she’d first sat down in her seat.
Terrain alert warning system. Forward looking infrared.
Everything touch capable. The helicopter was state-of-the-art, and she’d had a moment of wishing she could spend the foreseeable future flying missions for Rourke Kincaid’s company.
Bishop stared at her, brow furrowed. “You said that like I have any idea what you’re talking about.”
She chuckled. “In short, it warns me if I’m getting too close to the ground.
Maps everything out in infrared and high-resolution imaging.
Allows easy access to any kind of geographical information…
” She sighed. “I’m rambling, again. Let’s go with it’s damn near as nice as any of the machines I flew in the SRR.
Better than some, actually. And I’m feeling pretty lucky I scored this mission. ”
“That’s only because people haven’t started shooting at you, yet. Give it time.”
Another smile and another glance at the horizon—the still empty horizon. “It wouldn’t be a mission with Miller if bullets didn’t fly. Speaking of which, those boys are past due. And if I leave it any later, I might not be able to help them if they’re in some serious trouble.”
She headed for the landing pad, pausing to look back at Bishop. “You’re welcome to join me, if you’d like.”
He waved her off. “I’ll ready the infirmary, just in case. Let our newly acquired doctor know he might have some patients. Just…be careful.”
“Not much fun in that.”
She smiled when he paled slightly, quickly walking over to the helicopter. Thankfully, she hadn’t rolled it into the makeshift hanger for the night and having only finished flying in the last of the equipment, it hadn’t iced up, yet.
Which meant she could jump inside—run through her checks.
Two minutes later, she had the engines at idle, all the instruments in the green.
A general call out to any possible traffic, and she was airborne.
Skimming over the ground then gaining just enough altitude to give her a margin of safety if anything went wrong.
Not that having all of four seconds to make an emergency landing was safe, but she wouldn’t be able to see Gibson or Ethan if she went too high.
Not with the clarity she wanted. There was also the moot point where an incoming frontal system had lowered her useable ceiling to just under five hundred feet.
Capping the height she’d be able to fly at while still maintaining visual reference to the ground.
Olivia angled right, doing a quick recon of the immediate area.
Nothing but snow and mountain peaks to the north.
A fairly dense forest snaked around to the east, continuing south until it disappeared into the darkened horizon.
The west gave a stunning view of the lowlands in the distance.
Well, it would have if she could have seen that far.
Now, it was nothing but shadows amidst pockets of utter blackness. No lights. No signs of life.
That’s the direction they should be coming from.
Around a jutting ridge that separated the trees from the plateau.
She’d flown the route earlier, when she’d slung in some fuel barrels for them.
But, just because that was the way they’d intended to travel didn’t mean they hadn’t needed to alter their route. Avoid a dangerous area, or...
It was the “or” that scared her. That they’d gotten caught in an avalanche. Made a wrong turn and driven off a ridge. That they’d been waylaid by some of Smyth’s men.
She wasn’t sure how Smyth would have known to send a wet squad after Ethan all the way out here. Especially when taking the snowmobiles had been so last minute. But she hated that it made sense. Fit the puzzle as to why they weren’t having a beer with Bishop, right now.
All the more reason to continue her search.
Focus on where they should be before widening it and scanning areas they wouldn’t likely reach.
Not that she wouldn’t scour every square inch of the snow-covered ground for a hundred-mile radius if needed.
Two hundred if she couldn’t find them. Her helicopter could fly for over four hours without refueling. She just hoped it wasn’t necessary.
Damn, she should have gotten airborne as soon as they’d missed their arrival time instead of standing there, willing them to crest the far hill.
She could have been halfway back to Blackpine, by now, with a large portion of the terrain already searched.
And it would have been before the sun had set.
Unlike now, goggles illuminating the ground in an eerie green glow.
Nothing remotely warm showing up on the infrared.
Bishop was right. Flying mountainous terrain at night generally involved a very specific route.
One she’d personally chosen based on the criteria of the mission and any hazardous obstacles in her intended path.
Cruising around in a region she wasn’t overly familiar with wasn’t her wisest course of action.
Typical mission involving Miller. Guy was probably sitting with Ethan a few miles off, having their own beers, just to see if she’d come looking. Make her work a bit harder because he thought it was fun.
She smiled to herself. Bastard knew her far too well, because flying was never a chore. Never a disappointment, and the one area where she truly excelled—other than that crash. But, she’d done the best she could, and Ethan had lived. That, alone, was a shining victory.
The thought had her edging a bit closer to the ground. It cut down her emergency response time, but she didn’t care. Would chance plowing into the snow if it meant spotting them.
Ten minutes, and she’d finished a grid of the first zone.
Was systematically heading onto the next square when a spot of light cut through the night up on her left.
A single beam appearing and disappearing amidst the darkness.
She marked a waypoint of where she was positioned in her search pattern, then banked over, keeping the light out her side window.
A flyby would help her get a better idea what she was up against. If she’d have to chance landing out in the middle of the plateau.
In the daylight, it wasn’t that bad, but at night. ..
Even with all the equipment, there was a high chance of breaking through the upper layer of snow—tipping the machine to one side. Which would result in the helicopter literally beating itself to death. And if she rolled the wrong way...