Mac’s gaze was troubled but direct. “Kiddo, look. A city’s a pretty big target. The mine isn’t. And it’s surrounded by mountains, protecting it – so to hit it, you’d have to go fairly low. There’s a danger that you’d get caught up in the shockwave before you could fly far enough away to avoid it.”
I tried to laugh; a strangled sound came out. “Right,” I said. “So, yeah…pretty dangerous.”
Looking greatly conflicted, Mac reached over and squeezed my hand. “Amity…you know I wouldn’t ask you this if there was any other way.”
I took a breath and nodded. Then I glanced at Collie, the other pilot among us. “Tell me straight – if I agree, do you think I have a chance of surviving this?”
He hesitated. “Yeah, I do,” he said finally. “I won’t pretend that…that we wouldn’t have to ask you anyway. But you’re an excellent pilot. With luck, you can do this.”
Ingo wasn’t in our room when I got back to base. I called a woman named Fern, who was the next highest Tier One after me, and asked her to come over.
Then I quickly called a few of our friends’ rooms. Ingo wasn’t in any of them. He wasn’t in the hotel bar when I called down there either.
No, I thought, trying not to panic. I couldn’t go without seeing him. Yet I’d have to, if it came to that. We had no time to spare.
I flung a few things into a bag. When a knock came, my heart leaped – but of course he wouldn’t knock at his own door.
It was Fern. I sat her down and explained that I had to leave for a few days. She went ashen. “You’re putting me in charge?”
“Yes. You’re totally capable, Fern.”
She was a fearless flyer, yet she stared at me in shock. “But…that big attack is coming up from Pierce! Everyone says so.”
How well I knew it. It was the worst possible time for me to leave. “I know,” I said roughly. “You’ll be fine. Look, here are all my plans – all the paperwork you’ll need.”
We went quickly over them. I could see Fern gaining in confidence a little as she took things in, making a few suggestions. World United Corporate would wonder where the hell I’d gotten to. I planned to send them a telegram saying only that I’d been called away on an urgent family matter.
I’d probably be court-martialled, if I lived.
“All right,” Fern muttered finally, staring down at the documents. She shoved her dark hair back. “I think I’ve got it all.” She gave me a wry look. “You’re positive you can’t stay?”
“Believe me, if I could, I would.” I wished I could at least give a handover speech to my pilots. It was going to jar everyone terribly, having me just vanish. Yet there was no time. It was dark outside and they’d be scattered all over New Manhattan.
“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” ventured Fern, studying me.
I sighed. “Yeah. I wish I could tell you more.”
“Don’t worry; I know you wouldn’t do this lightly. Well…good luck with whatever it is, I guess.”
She stood up and gathered the papers. At that moment Ingo walked in and my shoulders slumped. He stopped short as he took in Fern, the paperwork, my half-packed bag.
“Good luck to you too,” I said in an undertone to Fern at the door. “Take care of my pilots.”
She squeezed my arm. “I will. So long, Amity.” She nodded at Ingo as she left.
The door closed. I rushed to Ingo and threw myself into his arms. He held me tightly. “Amity, what—”
“I have to leave soon,” I said thickly.
“Is this to do with Mac?”
I pulled away a little.
“I saw Harlan in the bar downstairs, looking like thunder – he told me what happened. I’ve been trying to find you.” Ingo sat me down on the sofa; our fingers interlocked. “Tell me.”
I did so as quickly as I could. His lips paled as I told him about the WU’s plans to bomb Calgary and Puget – to keep making more bombs as a “deterrent”.
“That can’t be true,” he said.
“It is. Mac’s checked it out.”
Ingo’s face was slack. He murmured something in Germanic and then barked out a short, bitter laugh. “Just when I think that the world’s turning sane again…all right. Go on.”
When I explained what Collie and Mac had proposed, he stared at me. “Mac actually asked you to do this?”
“He didn’t have a choice,” I whispered. “Neither do I.”
Ingo slowly let go of me. Elbows on his knees, he scraped his hands up his face and buried his fingers in his dark curls.
“No,” he said finally. “I can see that.”
He looked at me. From his expression, he’d never smiled in his life. “I’m going too.”
“You can’t.”
“The hell I can’t.”
Pain shot through me. My voice sharpened. “You can’t. New Manhattan’s about to get battered. We’re short of experienced pilots as it is!”
He gripped my arms. “Yes? And what exactly am I fighting for, if you die carrying out this insane plan? Tell me!”
“For your home. Your family. For…” I squeezed my hand hard over my eyes, struggling for control, thinking of all the hollow-sounding condolence letters I’d had to write – of the rumours we’d heard that the fiercest battle yet was coming.
“We’re going to need every fighter we’ve got here,” I said. “You’re the highest-ranking Tier Two. If Fern dies, you’re in charge.”
“And if I refuse?” Ingo said in a low voice.
I was still squadron leader until I left. I let my hand fall. I touched his face, gently tracing its familiar lines.
“I hope you do refuse,” I said. “Then I can have you arrested…and no matter what happens to me, I’ll know you’ll be safe.”
Two a.m. The airfield was almost empty at this hour. I stood near the outside fence with Ingo, my bag over my shoulder.
Neither of us spoke. He’d agreed that he would stay and fight – that with the upcoming battle there was little choice – but there was still tension between us and I hated it.
Finally a pair of shadows appeared: Mac and Collie. I glanced over my shoulder at the silence of the field and opened the gate to let them in. Collie had had to take a chance on slipping here through the night-time city streets. He had a bag over his shoulder too.
Mac and Ingo shook hands. “Good to see you, pal,” said Mac. “I just wish it was under better circumstances.”
“So do I,” said Ingo with a ghost of a smile. He looked at Collie. After a beat, he put his hand out. “Reed,” he said quietly.
Collie nodded, and they shook. “Manfred.”
Ingo looked wry, one corner of his mouth still up. “Do I congratulate you on your marriage?”
Collie winced. “I wish you wouldn’t,” he said.
I glanced at the ring on Collie’s hand again, wondering why he still wore it. It felt strange to think of the journey ahead of us – I’d hardly spoken to him alone in over a year.
The four of us headed across the field. The silence felt heavy.
Only a few of the spotlights were on. The plane waited near the runway, dark and ready. I’d asked two of the fitters to prepare the long-distance Merlin that Ingo and I had taken to Nova Scotia. They were friends of Hal’s; I knew they wouldn’t blab.
“I’ll get the chocks for you,” said Ingo.
“Give us a minute?” I said to Mac and Collie.
“Sure thing, kiddo,” said Mac softly. I saw from Collie’s expression that he knew I was with Ingo and wasn’t surprised. I supposed Mac must have told him.
“I’ll start her up,” he said.
Ingo and I stepped away into the shadows. I could just make out the long planes and angles of his face.
Suddenly I was struck with a terror that I’d never see him again – so strong it took my breath away.
We embraced tightly as the plane erupted into life behind us. “Be careful,” I whispered hoarsely against his neck. “Stay alive, damn you.”
“You’re saying that to me? Keep safe…please.” Ingo drew back and cradled my face.
“I think you know but I still have to say it,” he said, his voice almost angry. “That future together that we spoke to your mother about…I want it, Amity. I want it more than anything.”
“Me too,” I got out.
He let out a breath and kissed me. I was trembling. I pressed close as our lips moved together, wrapping my arms hard around his neck and trying not to think it was the last time.
The fear felt cold and certain.
“All right,” Ingo whispered fiercely, stroking my hair back with both hands. “All right. We both have something to live for. That’s got to help.”
I put one of my hands over his and tried to smile. “Maybe…maybe someday we won’t have to say ‘be careful’ every time we say goodbye.”
Five minutes later I was in the cockpit, trying to bury my feelings. Collie glanced at me uncertainly in the faint light of the control panel. “I’d offer to fly, but I haven’t piloted in over a year,” he said. “Night-flying probably isn’t a great way to get back into practice.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said curtly.
Collie had already done the prep, but I checked that the radiator shutter was fully open, and gave the primer pump a few extra strokes, glad of something to do. Down below, Ingo was grabbing up the chocks.
“Clear!” he called.
I started to taxi. I allowed myself a single glance at Ingo and Mac. Mac raised his hand to us. Ingo didn’t, but our eyes locked. We both have something to live for. That’s got to help.
The Merlin’s song trembled through my bones as we picked up speed. I eased back the throttle. We lifted from the earth and climbed into the darkness.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
For the first few hours, Collie and I didn’t speak much, apart from checking our coordinates or him sometimes offering me water from the canteen. He mostly stayed slumped in his seat, gazing out at the blackness as the Merlin droned around us.
I was relieved when the sky paled with dawn. Finally, I could take my eyes off the artificial horizon and look out the windscreen without that awful feeling of disorientation.
I felt disoriented enough already.
Collie straightened a little. “Want to put it on autopilot and we can swap places?”
I shrugged. “I’m okay.”
“You’re probably tired,” he said, then gave a small smile. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to sound like Rose.” My mother was notorious for insisting you were tired no matter whether you were or not.
Far below, the landscape was low, rolling hills, violet in the dawn. Though we were far from any known base of Pierce’s, I was keeping a wary eye out for enemy planes. Thinking that Collie might as well get some practice while things were quiet, I nodded and put the controls on autopilot. “All right, go ahead. Thanks.”
We swapped places.
By now I’d flown with Ingo more than with Collie. As he started to fly – glancing automatically at the dials and adjusting the oil pressure slightly, his fingers light on the stick – I was struck by how skilled he was. He hadn’t flown for over a year; you’d never have known it.
“We could have used you as a fighter pilot these last nine months,” I said after a pause.
The corner of his mouth twisted. “It might have blown my cover. I have a feeling Kay wouldn’t have liked it much.”
“What’s the deal with you and her, anyway?” I hadn’t meant to ask – the words just came out.
Collie gazed out the windscreen. His golden hair was shorter than the last time I’d seen it, his eyes dark blue in the faint light.
“I don’t really want to go into it,” he said.
A chill touched me. “Does that mean your marriage isn’t a sham?”
His glance was irritated. “I’m not asking you personal questions.”
“All right. Sorry.”
I fell silent, thinking that that sounded like a yes, and wondering how in the world that could be, given Kay Pierce’s actions and Collie’s presence here. It occurred to me to wonder whether he’d conned Mac and this was a trap. I didn’t seriously believe it. Something about Collie’s demeanour – a kind of distracted sadness – didn’t lend itself to it.
After a few minutes he looked back at me. “Any water?”
I twisted the top off the canteen and passed it to him. He took a swig and handed it back.
“Thanks,” he said, then gave a short laugh. “Too bad it’s not something stronger, with what we might be heading into.”
“Drinking and flying? Not a good mix.”
“Yeah. Probably not. Bad habit.”
“I thought you hadn’t flown in over a year.”
He cleared his throat. “No, I mean…just the drinking.”
I felt my eyebrows rise. The Collie I’d known hadn’t been big on admitting his faults.
“Really?” I said.
“Yeah.” A cumulus cloud grew as we neared it; he eased the stick back. We briefly entered scraps of mist and then came through it. “Not so much any more though,” he said finally. “So there’s that, I guess.”
He grimaced and rubbed one hand briskly on his trousers. “Hey, how are Rose and Hal?”
I’d been studying his familiar profile, frowning. I realized what he’d asked and hesitated. He looked quickly at me.
“What? Are they all right?”
I wished desperately that I’d told Mac about Hal after all – then he’d have told Collie and I wouldn’t be the one who had to.
“They’re fine,” I said. “They’re both in Nova Scotia.”
Collie’s forehead furrowed. He looked out the windscreen and then back at me. “Amity, what aren’t you telling me?”
He’d always known when I was lying – even if, apparently, I’d never been able to do the same with him. I sighed and told him about Hal, wishing I knew how to couch these things gently.
Collie’s face drained. “Oh no,” he whispered. “Oh shit…now I really do want a drink.” He glanced at me tensely. “How’s…how’s he coping?”
I fiddled with the canteen. “About as well as you’d expect, I guess.” From his letters, Hal was clearly still having highs and lows – though in his last one to me, he’d added Eye on the prize as a PS.
“He’ll be okay,” said Collie roughly. “He will, Amity. He’s a game kid.”
“Not so much a kid any more.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right…sixteen. But he’ll be fine.” Collie nodded, as if wanting to convince himself. “He’ll be fine,” he murmured.
I thought of Dwight’s death – of the silver ring that Hal still wore. The daylight was stronger now, touching the clouds below with pink and gold. Finally I said what I was thinking: “It’s really going to mean a lot to Hal to know for sure that you came through.”
Collie’s expression turned bittersweet. For several moments, the engine’s steady drone was the only sound.
“I’m sorry that you doubted me,” he said. “I mean, sorry I gave you so much cause. Not just this time, but…you know.”
I sighed. I definitely knew.
“I didn’t doubt you this time, really,” I said at last.
He glanced at me. I could see the surprise in his eyes. “You didn’t?”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t sure. But I didn’t see why you’d come to the tunnels for Hal, if you were really with Pierce.” Then I stopped, uncertain, looking at the gleam of gold on his finger. In some way he wouldn’t define, he was with Pierce.
Collie seemed to be thinking the same. He frowned slightly, banking the Merlin west as we followed the line of the mountains. The world tipped on its edge below us.
“Well, thanks, for what it’s worth,” he said.
The Merlin could fly for six hours, if you used the extra fuel tanks. Collie and I seemed to have used up all our available conversation long before that. As Can-Amer turned from mountains to plains below, I wondered anxious
ly if the promised air battle had started in New Manhattan yet.
Halfway through the second reserve tank, the sun was blazing strongly across the Merlin. “Maybe we should land and refuel,” said Collie. “There’s an airport close to here.” I was flying again by then, and he was checking the maps.
“Can we make it all the way to the Yukon in one more hop if we do that?” I said, and Collie did the calculations, working them out on a piece of paper with a pencil.
“Yeah, we’ll be okay.”
“All right. Maybe you’d better land. I’ll get in the back, where I won’t be seen.”
He took the controls. I crouched behind the passenger seats; they smelled of dust and canvas. I gazed tensely out a side window. As he angled in for the landing, a rustic airport rose up to greet us through swathes of trees. The Merlin bounced only once as we landed in Kay Pierce’s territory.
Collie clambered down from the wing and greeted the attendants who came jogging up. I didn’t hear what he said, but peeking out I was startled by how commanding he seemed – the Collis Reed I’d seen on so many newsreels, in the flesh.
The attendants got to work refuelling. Collie came back to the plane. “Come on, there’s a restroom,” he said softly, holding his hand out to me. “I’ve told them I have a high-profile prisoner and that this is all confidential.”
I rose slowly, rubbing my hands on my trousers. “Will they keep quiet?”
“Just keep your head down. And yeah, they will. No one would dare cross me in this place.” His tone was rueful, matter-of-fact.
I saw again Kay Pierce in Henderson Square Garden, with the fifty people she’d just ordered shot lying sprawled and motionless. Do you know what your wife is capable of? I wanted to say.
But of course he did.
I crossed the landing strip with Collie holding me by the arm, my wrists behind my back as if cuffed. The attendants kept their focus fixedly on their work. I couldn’t tell if they’d recognized me.
In the cracked-tile restroom, I relieved myself and then splashed cold water on my face. I emerged out into a corridor where Collie waited. The faint sound of a telio drifted out from an office, and I went still, listening.
“…and though the battle still rages, New Manhattan cannot hold out against Harmony for much longer. The near-total destruction of both major airports on the island has left the terrorists with nowhere to hide…”
Black Moon Page 39