“Uh, no,” I answer.
“Well, get it fixed. I’ll let you off with a warning this time. Have a good one.”
He leaves, and I wait, seething, for the cop car behind me to drive off. Then I press my foot to the gas pedal.
“How many minutes did I lose, Josh?” I ask, my voice hollow.
“Not more than ten,” he answers, trying to sound reassuring. “You still have plenty of time.”
Twenty minutes left, and I’m fifteen minutes away.
I’m sweating bullets right now. Even if I get to the airport in time, I have to get to the plane, convince the pilot not to leave, and—it all just feels impossible.
“Devil airplanes have cameras in them,” I choke out as I drive at full speed toward the airport.
“Oh? But… I don’t know if my acquaintance can…”
“I know she can’t. No one can get inside those things.”
“So then, why…”
I don’t know why I’m confiding in Josh, only that if Ikeep my thoughts to myself, I’m going to drive myself mad. “Subcontractors know that the worst thing you can do is fuck up a contract. If they’re bringing Piper to Devil Tower, that means that’s what the contract is. They’re not supposed to do anythingbutbring her to Devil Tower, and they’re going to follow the rules.”
“I see,” says Josh, sounding like he doesn’t see at all.
“No one can hurt her, in any way, until she gets to Devil Tower.”
“Oh.”
The words I’ve just spoken reassure me, but they seem to do the opposite to him. Maybe because he suddenly realizes everything thatcouldhappen to her.
Breathing hard, I at last head out onto the road that leads to the small airport. I pull up to the parking lot just as a small black plane cleaves the sky. I stare at my watch. I have five minutes.
I break into a sprint, reaching the main entrance with four minutes to spare.
“Hey!” I yell out, panting loudly. “I need to stop a flight! I need to fucking stop a flight!”
The woman at the main desk stares at me. “A flight, sir?”
“Yes.” I double over again, trying to shake off the migraine. “A seven a.m. flight. There’s a redheaded girl with glasses on it.”
“The… the passenger who was sleeping?” she questions.
They drugged her. Fuck.
“Yes… I guess,” I choke out. “I guess that’s her. Where is she, please?”
“She left about three minutes ago,” declares the woman. “It was requested that the flight be moved up.” She gestures to the black plane that’s now nothing but a black dot in the sky.
Fuck.
_
I drive for a full ten minutes before I think to call back Josh. Another minute to realize that the person I should actually be calling is Logan.
Not that I trust the asshole. But whatever his intentions are, they don’t, for whatever reason, involve killing Piper.
At least, not yet.