Page 45 of Touchdown

I doubted it.

“Here's my problem,” I said slowly. “Mitchell was supposed to track me. By now, he's had plenty of time to send in the cavalry. So I don't know if he doesn't know where we are, or he's still holding back until we make contact with somebody more important than these bozos.” I gestured out the window of the chopper.

A pink line was appearing on the horizon. That must be east. And dawn.

“So we're bait.” Noah cupped his chin in his hand.

How was that even legal, using a college kid for bait? Especially a star quarterback?

You volunteered. You agreed to do this. For Noah.

But also because I was manipulated.

How did I know there were any good guys in this story at all? Noah was the only one I could trust. The only one who'd really proven himself.

“Well, if we're bait, they're waiting for bigger fish than the front line kidnappers,” Noah was saying.

“Yeah.”

“But if we go to them, if we take the offensive...”

“And how do we do that?” As if I didn't already know.

It was still drizzling, but most of the lightning had moved away. A sudden crack startled me, even though it was fairly far off. In the ensuing silence, Noah reached over to adjust my seat harness. The sound of the thunderbolt seemed to echo in my head.

He handed me a pair of headphones but didn't let go of them. I closed my hand around them but didn't pull away. We looked at each other.

“I'm afraid to ask how much time you spent on that flight simulator,” I said.

“That's fair. I'm afraid to answer.”

We were silent for a while. He went through his pre-flight checks. Even made it look like he knew what he was doing. I checked my headphones and seat restraints again.

He got back in the air, turning the bird to follow the storm.

“Um, not to question your strategy,” I said, “but...”

“That's the programmed destination,” Noah said. “I could override it but...”

“You want to see where it leads.” I knew what he was doing, but I had to hear him say it.

“Kind of? Not fly all the way in but maybe enough to get an idea...?”

“It would certainly be nice to know what's going on.”

“Or even what continent it's going on.”

I laughed. My heart swelled. My feelings were all over the place. “Let's do this.”

Chapter 32

Noah's plan was simple. Follow the programmed destination as long as we dared. Get close. Get some clues.

Get out.

It sounded suspiciously easy. Too easy? I rubbed my forehead. My head was fuzzy from too little sleep.

Despite the noise-canceling headphones, the chopper was noisy. And it rattled. Were they supposed to rattle this much even with the storm clearing off?

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