Page 117 of The Explorer
My pulse sped up. We couldn’t give them a ride when we had Banni to bring home.
“Ehhh… You know that we’re not flying directly. We’re going back to the Northlands first to drop off Mason, Thor, and Freya,” I answered.
“We figured, but it will still be faster for us than waiting here for a drone to arrive from home.”
“How long do they need to repair your drone?” I asked.
“They don’t know. Could be days or weeks.”
We were quiet.
Victor scanned our faces with a displeased wrinkling of his forehead. “Your drone has the capacity and you’re going to the same destination so what’s the problem?”
“Ehh…” Thor played with his fork. “There’s no problem. Of course, you can get a ride.”
Dipping his chin, Victor gave a short “Merci.”
As soon as he was gone, I blew out a breath and ran a hand through my hair. “What the fuck do we do about Banni?”
Thor groaned. “I don’t know but saying no to Victor would have been suspicious.”
Mason stuffed a large strawberry into his mouth and chewed. “You’ll have to hide Banni in the luggage compartment.”
Pushing my plate away, I got up from the table.
“Where are you going?”
“To talk to Freya. I’ll bet she can come up with a solution.”
Mason and Thor followed me and together we found Freya and Aubri, who were enjoying their last morning on the beach by collecting seashells.
“What’s wrong?” Aubri asked as we came toward them with serious faces.
“We have a problem,” I said.
Thor quickly elaborated. “Victor asked for a ride for the French delegation.”
Aubri’s face stiffened. “You said no, right?”
“How rude would that have been? You’re going to France anyway. I couldn’t exactly tell him that you smuggled out one of their countrymen and that you have to bring him back.”
Freya was playing with a large shell in her hands as she listened. “Maybe we can talk to them and have them swear their secrecy. That way you could all fly back there together.”
“No way, they all work for the government in one capacity or another,” Aubri said.
“Hmm…” She looked down at the shell and rubbed sand off the edges. “Then what are you going to do?”
Picking up a stone, I threw it into the ocean. “We just got them to agree on Aubri and Banni training the new Explorers. If they find out about Banni, they’ll shit sheep.”
Aubri’s head hung down. “We can’t just send him with a different drone. Old Europe scans the area and sees all incoming aircraft.”
“I have an idea.”
We all turned to Freya but she just hummed softly, the signature signal that she was thinking.
“What’s your idea?” I asked with impatience.
“I see two options. Either Banni follows in a drone under the pretense that you forgot something at home, and we sent it to you. Or he avoids being detected by landing in a different part of Europe where he can be picked up by his Exploration team.”
