Page 89 of Edge of Danger

He and Piper climbed into the dune buggy and headed out. He used a combination of side roads and cross-country jaunts to navigate to the municipal airport. On foot, they climbed a ridge overlooking one side of the facility. They laid side-by-side in the grit and gravel, scoping out the airfield as the sun climbed overhead, beating down on them mercilessly. The worst of the day’s heat rolled in fast. It had to be pushing 120 degrees out here.

“What is it with you and hot places?” she griped under her breath.

“Hot chicks. Hot weather. Guess I just like it hot.”

She rolled her eyes and plastered her ruddy, perspiring face to her sniper’s scope.

“See any white choppers with red stripes?” he muttered to her, staring through his own scope.

“They could have repainted it,” she replied.

“Nah. Aviation paint is tricky stuff. Expensive. You have to strip off the old layer first, for weight purposes. Plus, it can’t peel at high speed and has to be anti-corrosive.”

“Over there,” she announced.

He glanced away from his scope to look at her finger. He followed its trajectory outward to an asphalt parking area wavering behind massive heat distortion in the air. Sure enough, he spotted a white and red chopper. Using his scope, he took a closer look at it. “What’s that thing on the side of it?”

“I don’t know. It looks like metal steps up into the passenger compartment.”

“I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“Disabled access to a helicopter?” she mumbled. “That is strange.”

“It’s not getting any cooler out here. What say we hike on over there and take a closer look? The airport looks deserted at the moment.”

“I don’t relish sitting here baking all afternoon,” she said by way of reply.

They cut through the hurricane fence with a pair of big wire cutters Ian extracted from one of the go bags. He rolled under the fence first and held it up for Piper to follow him.

They hiked casually across a big field toward the airplanes as if they belonged there. Sometimes, it was best to hide in plain sight. With no cover whatsoever on the field, there was no way they would be able to approach the helicopter stealthily. Today, they just had to brazen it out.

They arrived at the row of small airplanes tied down to steel anchors sunk in the concrete. Dodging under wingsand stepping over tie-down ropes, they approached the PHP helicopter.

The first thing Ian noticed was that it seemed fairly hefty for a civilian bird. It turned out the strange metal steps were welded onto the left skid of the helo.

Up close, he saw that two more steps would fold down from the step assembly in flight, extending several feet below the skid. On the ground, of course, the steps couldn’t extend because they would run into the dirt.

“What do you make of this?” he asked Piper, partially unfolding the aluminum extension steps and then replacing them. They’d clearly been welded onto the bird recently.

“Never seen anything like it. Those could only be used in flight. But if you’re going to hover a few feet above the ground, why not just jump down…or go ahead and land the helicopter?”

He tested the back door latch above the weird steps. “Huh. Unlocked.”

“Rats. I was hoping to shoot out the lock,” she remarked dryly.

“Hah hah.” He ducked into the rear passenger seats and sat down in the far one to have a look around.

Piper plunked down in the seat beside him. “Any sign of a bomb?”

“Not at a glance. I’m going to have to check the exterior storage areas, but I don’t see anything like I found on your dad’s fixed wing plane.”

They spent the next half hour searching every nook and cranny of the helicopter to no avail. It was nothing but a one each helicopter replete with all the appropriate helicopter guts. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for those folding steps.

“Convinced it’s just a helicopter?” she asked as she hopped over the welded steps assembly to the ground.

“Yeah. I’m stumped?—“

“You’re also busted,” a pissed off male voice he recognized all too well announced out of the shadows.

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