Page 78 of Shared By the Pilots

I couldn’t bear to respond to him.

“We wereso close,” I said when Taylor and I were in the air.

Even though we were sitting two feet apart, his voice came through the headset I was wearing rather than through the air. “He’s probably going to be extra cautious now, and more than likely lay low for months.”

“Or he’ll stop trafficking animals altogether.”

“Nah, probably not that,” Taylor said. “If the money is as good as you say it is, they’ll find another way eventually. Maybe we can catch them, then.”

I pulled up a news article that I had loaded before we took off. “Thousands of dollars per turtle. And they aren’t just smuggled one-way. Some are brought into the United States, but other breeds are smuggled into Mexico before being sent along to China. I guess that explains why some of the suitcases goingtoMexico were full.”

“There’s a silver lining here,” Taylor said. “Animal trafficking is bad, but at least they weren’t moving drugs, or humans.”

“I guess so. I’m still bummed out.”

“Yeah,” Taylor agreed. “Me too. It would’ve balanced out my karma to catch them.”

“Don’t think like that. Your karma doesn’t need balancing. And even if it does, you have plenty of time to find another way to make things right.”

“Maybe,” he said, but it didn’t sound like he believed me.

“There’s one good thing that came from this trip,” I said, changing strategies.

“And what’s that?”

“You and I hooked up for the first time.”

Taylor grinned over at me. “I guess it’s not a total loss.” His smile faded. “Unless this is just a fling. Veronica, I have to tell you, I don’t know if I—”

“It’s not just a fling,” I told him. I didn’t know how I felt until that exact moment, but the words rang true as I said them. “I want to see you again. And again.”

He stared out the cockpit glass, his smile returning. “Well, now isn’t that something?”

I was in a sour mood by the time we made our descent into Houston. But then I was greeted by something totally unexpected: there were dozens of police cruisers waiting at the private terminal, with lights flashing.

As we landed, I recognized Luke and Adam standing outside one of the Excelsior planes. Their jet aircraft was faster than Taylor’s old prop plane, and they had beaten us home.

“Oh no!” I said in anguish. “What are they doing?”

“Looks like a drug bust,” Taylor said. “Shit.”

“There’s no evidence!” I said. “They unloaded the plane in Cabo! No!”

Taylor taxied over to the private terminal area, and then we got out of the plane and ran to Luke and Adam. Both of them were smiling, which took me by surprise.

“What’s happening right now?” I demanded. “They didn’t bring the turtles with them. We don’t have anyevidence.”

“Is this for the tequila?” Taylor asked. “Because that’s small potatoes. Low level tax crimes. Probably won’t do any jail time.”

“It’s not for the tequila,” Adam said, smiling wider.

“Wedohave evidence,” Luke explained. “Before they loaded the bags onto the plane, Adam here distracted Broussard, which allowed me to take a few photographs.” He held out his phone, showing me a picture of the turtles encased in ice. “I sent those to a few contacts of mine, who passed them along to the authorities.”

“Apparently, animal trafficking is ahugedeal. Especially when the animals are an endangered species,” Adam said.

“Oh snap!” I said.

“Is that a turtle joke?” Luke asked.

---