Page 268 of The Black Trilogy

“In what way?”

“One of their own pilots tried to defect. Stole a plane and tried to make it to Saudi Arabia. The Syrians chased him and shot him down over Jordan. By the looks of this memo, the Jordanians are furious. They say the Syrians should have asked permission before flying into their airspace.”

“Where did the plane originate? Does it say?”

“No. The interceptor took off from just over the border with Jordan. Oh, wait, now the Israelis have joined in. They seem disappointed they didn’t manage to blow up both of the planes.”

In an instant, Mack was on her feet, leaning over Luke’s shoulder. “Find out where that plane came from and where it ended up.”

“Why? Do you think it might be important?”

“Emmy’s a seriously good pilot.”

“The emails are talking about a fighter jet. Do you really reckon she could fly that?”

“If it’s got wings and an engine, she’d have a good chance.”

They couldn’t find the plane’s exact origin, but they did manage to find an approximate location for the crash site. Jed woke up one of his buddies at the CIA and wheedled, cajoled, and threatened until they promised to have a satellite take photos of the area at first light.

After this new development, the rescue mission, which had been due to depart that morning, was put on hold for a few hours until they were able to get a look at the plane’s final resting place. The images started coming in just before lunchtime. Mack stared in dismay at the charred, twisted body of a plane surrounded by scattered pieces of wreckage.

From the state of it, the Syrians hadn’t lied about shooting it down. The damage in the photo was clearly catastrophic. Mack zoomed in, trying to get a good look at what was left of the cockpit, but the plane had rolled as it hit, leaving the top buried in the sand.

“What if Emmy’s in there?” she whispered. “Nobody could have survived that.”

“We still don’t know for sure Emmy was even flying it.”

Mack couldn’t keep her hands steady as she swiped across the screen in front of her. Luke tried to comfort her with words, but they fell on deaf ears.

Nate took control, live from Richmond. He hadn’t gone home since Emmy disappeared, according to Mack, and this morning, his customary scowl had been replaced with a frown.

“We need to send a team to Jordan right away. I want that cockpit checked before any of our people go back into that Syrian base.”

Jed shook his head. “If we have any further delays going into Syria, that could cost Emmy her life. This is eight days now. If you’d seen what they did to Phil, you’d know how little time we’ve got in that respect.”

“We’re not sending a team when Emmy might not even be in the same country. And from the way you described Phil, we’ll only be looking for a body to recover if they caught her.”

Jed slumped in his seat and Dan snapped, “There’s no need to be so blunt, Nate.”

“Someone needs to tell it like it is. If Black was here, you know he’d say the exact same thing.”

“If Black was here, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“She’d still have gone. You know that. Black wouldn’t even have tried to talk her out of it.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about that weird connection they had. He’d have got inside her head and worked out where she was by now.”

“And even if he hadn’t, he’d be sitting in that seat…” Nate motioned to the desk where Jed was leaning back in a chair with his cast propped up on a stool. “Saying ‘let her get on with it, the woman’s indestructible.’”

“Then he’d rub his nose to remind himself,” Dan finished.

In London, Mack sat stiffly, gripping Luke’s hand out of sight under the table. She’d grabbed it when Nate so kindly reminded everyone of Emmy’s possible fate. Luke squeezed it back, trying not to let on how worried he was himself. Until now, the only death he’d suffered through was his father’s, and he’d passed away in the hospital. Mack’s world scared him more than he cared to admit.

“Why would he rub his nose?” Luke asked her.

“Emmy broke it for him once. That fight they had when they first met, remember?”

“Wasn’t Black a big guy?”

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