Page 65 of Operation Rescue
“What?” came Erin’s voice in his ear, almost startling him, he’d been so focused on being in the air again.
“Just thinking at least we’ve got something the size of a car to look for. Could have been a motorcycle or bicycle.”
“He wants a motorcycle.”
He gave her a brief glance before going back to scanning, aware from the radio traffic he’d heard that there was a local agency police helicopter aloft to the north. “He does? How’d you feel about that?” he asked, although he guessed he already knew the answer.
“I told him no way.”
“How’d that go over?”
He thought he heard her sigh, although it was hard to tell. “Like anything I tell him since…”
She didn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t have to. He knew she meant since they’d split. He smothered a sigh of his own. He’d reach out to touch her, reassure her that they’d work it out somehow, but there was that pesky detail of needing hands and feet on the controls. He smothered the urge and kept flying.
He had the feel of the Airbus now, and pushed the speed up to as fast as he thought safe. Maybe a bit beyond. But as was long ingrained habit, he never lost track of where they were, and never stopped scanning the ground.
Just in case.
“We’re not there yet,” Erin’s voice came in his ear. “What are you looking for?”
“Likely spots, if we have to set down in a hurry.” He’d said it almost absently, but when she stiffened he glanced at her. “It’s second nature, like watching the fuel gauge and the compass. Like you check for cross traffic at an intersection in a car. That’s all.”
“Oh.”
When they neared the park area he slowed. He’d already planned out a search grid for the park, but before they started he flew along the few paved areas, road and parking, and the main campground areas to check for any sign of the maroon sedan. Nothing.
He was about to begin the grid search they’d worked out when he saw a rhythmic flash of light from just ahead and to their right side, along the northern boundary of the park.
“There’s Rafe,” he said.
“That flash…it was a signal?”
He nodded.
“Let me guess,” she said, her tone a little dry, “that’s another thing you two didn’t have to discuss because it’s just habit?”
He glanced at her to see if she was upset for some reason. But she was almost smiling, so he just said, “Once a Marine…”
The Foxworth phone signaled. Erin lifted it to her head. He pulled the right side of the headset off his ear so he could hear. When she saw that, she turned on the speaker.
“You could have used this and foregone the semaphore,” she said, and he could imagine Rafe’s grin.
“Saves time,” Rafe said, sounding unoffended. Then, briskly, “Air’s clear at the moment.”
“And no sign of the car in any of the campground areas, or parking areas,” Blaine said.
“There are a few off-road tracks on this side they might know about. Or have caused,” Rafe said. “It would definitely put them off the beaten track. I’ll check those with Cutter while you do the area scan. Let me know when you’re changing sectors and we’ll shift position.”
“Copy. Starting section one now.”
They’d divided the map of the park into sections of about a hundred acres. They were able to eliminate the more frequently used areas that held visitors even now in the off-season, which narrowed it a bit. But eight thousand acres was a lot of ground to cover, and it was going to be a long day. And would likely require a return to the airfield for refueling before they were done, if they had to cover the whole thing.
They’d decided to start on the outer edges, the less visited areas, on the assumption the kids would think it a better place to hide. Then they’d work their way toward the middle. Those areas, with campgrounds and hiking trails and overlooks, would take longer, but they would get it done.
Erin was as intent on the task as he’d expected she’d be. More than once she went for the high-power binoculars Mr. Russell had loaned them. They were truly needed because of the promise they’d had to make that they would stay as high as possible, to avoid spooking all the wildlife that called this place home. He knew only the Foxworth name had gotten them permission to make this search at all, and he was once more in awe of this place Rafe had landed.
But every time Erin raised them, she eventually lowered the binoculars with a shake of her head. He flew on, fiercely intent, as if he were hunting armed insurgents who would slaughter his fellow troops on the ground. Because to him it had become even more important. This was Ethan they were searching for, that precious boy who meant more than any other human being to him—except for the woman beside him, who was searching just as intently.
