Page 47 of Touchdown

“If we didn't steal this helicopter, we could have been lost for a very long time,” I said.

“We didn't steal it. We commandeered it because of an emergency.” He was getting silly from lack of sleep too.

“I'm pretty sure that word doesn't mean what you think it means. We don't have the authority to commandeer anything.”

“We had the moral authority. We were kidnap victims.”

Did it work that way? It sounded good when Noah said it, but I still wasn't sure.

A bell chimed.

“What's that about?” I asked.

“Low on fuel.”

I wish I hadn't asked.

“We have to be getting close. They wouldn't send a helicopter out just to drop us in an ocean.” Noah didn't sound sure. Shouldn't we already be seeing something?

I squinted. Squeezed his leg for good luck. Sat up straight. “That's gotta be it. On the horizon.”

“Mmm, I guess.”

“What?”

“It's not land.”

“What?” I blinked.

“It's a ship of some kind.”

Just what we needed. An aircraft carrier. Somebody's nervous Navy ready to shoot us down.

No. Doesn't make sense. We're still flying the programmed track.

That ship is what we're looking for. It's gotta be theirs.

So much for the cool plan to check the place out, then land somewhere else. There wasn't anywhere else.

The low fuel chime sounded again.

Chapter 33

“Failure is not an option.” I took a deep restorative breath. Snoozing on and off in a helicopter wasn't quality sleep, but it was better than no sleep. “Vince Lombardi said it, and I believe it.”

“That NASA guy said it.” Noah's voice was intimate in the headphones. Intimate in my head.

I shook the fuzzy head in question. Wake up. “What now? What NASA guy?”

“That quote about failure. It was some guy at NASA. It wasn't a football quote. It was about one of the moon missions. Apollo 13.”

What was Noah talking about? We were both drunk on sleeplessness, but he'd done a good job of hiding it before now.

“For fuck sake,” I said. “Where's Wikipedia when you need it?”

Failure might not be one of our options, but the two options we had were just as big and ugly. With no land anywhere in sight, and our helicopter running out of fuel, we could surrender by touching down on the enemy's ship or we could ditch in the drink.

The cool plan to fly into the nearest police station wasn't happening today.

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