Page 59 of Gryphon

After looking both ways for passing jets, he rose carefully. “Let’s go talk to Miranda.”

“But—”

“We’re on her team, Holly. Try to remember that.”

44

Miranda forced herself to listen. Even with diagrams that Mike drew on the white board in the small room at Storuman Air Base that served as dining hall and conference room, she didn’t understand how the pieces connected. Or perhaps she could understand them if she wanted to. But then why wouldn’t she want to? They made it sound terribly important. She made a note that there had to be a difference, but she didn’t understand that either.

The NATO general listened very carefully as if hanging on every word. How did one hang on a word? It didn’t strike her as either a metaphor or a simile. She made a note to ask about that later as well.

Jeremy was actively nodding his head, asking only occasional questions.

When Mike was done and the silence stretched long enough that it was clear no one else had anything to ask, she sought the only clarification she could think of.

“Is there a plane crash in Georgia I need to know about? If so, I shouldn’t go unless the GAA specifically requests my help. The NTSB rarely travels outside the US except by explicit invitation of the country’s investigating Aviation Authority.”

“No, Miranda, there’s no plane crash there.”

“Then I don’t understand what you’re asking.”

Mike didn’t look to Holly as he so often did when he was thinking.

“There’s nothing else we can learn from the Gripen,” Miranda pointed out, “until they retrieve the rest of the airframe in the spring. And the SHK is far more qualified than I am to complete a review of that hardware.”

Tad came in, tucking away his phone. “I was just calling home. What did I miss?”

Miranda did not want to look at him. Each time she did, she expected to see Andi; he was bigger than two Andis put into one body. He embodied the rotorcraft specialist role, except by doing so, he only served to remind her that much more frequently that Andi was gone.

Miranda turned away. “If there’s nothing else, we can return to the ISASI conference by this evening. There’s another day of lectures tomorrow. And I can return in time to present my own talk regarding the remote analysis methodology I applied during the Osprey crash last spring.”

“And mine is two before that,” Jeremy spoke up. “I’m speaking on advanced Black Box data recovery techniques. I forgot all about that.”

The only other person in the room was the NATO two-star general. Other than giving his name, Sandor Kurbanov, and a side mention of Prague, he hadn’t offered a word. But he hadn’t missed any of the exchange.

Miranda didn’t know what to say to Tad. Why would she tell people where to go? Her only criteria were whose specialties she needed for an investigation. To the conference? Surely Mike and Holly could judge whether the ISASI conference versus the confusing line of reasoning that advocated their journeying to Georgia was the correct choice.

“Jeremy and I will return to the conference.”

“I think that’s a good idea, Miranda, but Holly and I think we need to go make sure what is happening. Tad?” Mike asked.

“Hey, I’m along for the ride. Where we goin’?”

Mike turned back to face her. “One more request. Do you mind taking a commercial flight? It would help if we could take your jet to speed this along. Time is short.”

“How is time ever short? Or long? The theory of General Relativity states that when moving at a sufficient percentage of the speed of light, time’s passage changes duration in the relative time frame. But time has no dimension of length. Could you please explain that?”

Mike smiled for the first time since… She’d never tracked that, but it seemed like it had been a very long time. That was unusual for him. The ends of his mouth typically curved upward, but even that disappeared quickly into Neutral Face—she hoped that meant he was Okay. “Some other time, Miranda. Right now, we need to get moving. Is it okay to take the jet?”

She wished he’d be more specific, as they’d both be taking jets. He and Holly on the Citation M2, she herself on a LuftSvenska Airbus returning to Iceland. But, having phrased the question in her head, she now understood what he meant and nodded.

45

It wasn’t until they’d dropped Miranda and Jeremy at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport and he’d asked for tower clearance to depart that it struck him.

Mike had never flown alone in the M2. And now he was planning on doing it across the entire width of Europe. At night. They’d left the snowstorm before reaching Stockholm, but they’d also left behind the sun and he wouldn’t be catching up with it again on this flight.

“Tad,” he called back into the cabin. “Come give me a hand?”

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