“No.”
Pike crouched beside the wires.
“Military installation.”
Reed arrived.
He examined the hardware.
“Encrypted remote-navigation override.”
“Can you disable it?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe isn’t useful.”
He gave me a look.
“Then stop asking questions while I work.”
I almost smiled.
That was the Reed I remembered.
He pulled a compact tool kit from his bag.
The aircraft banked again.
Through a small window, I saw the runway returning beneath us.
Caleb was still standing there.
I noticed something else now.
The armed figures beside the vehicles weren’t aiming toward us.
They were aiming toward the tree line.
As though they were expecting an @tt/@ck from somewhere else.
“Chief,” Cole said quietly. “What if they’re not the enemy?”
“That thought has occurred to me.”
Briggs appeared behind us.
“If Rourke arranged this, he hijacked a military aircraft.”
“Or prevented someone else from taking control of it,” I said.
Briggs frowned.
“You’re defending him?”
“I’m observing.”
Reed cut one wire.
Nothing happened.
He cut another.
The cabin lights died.
“Was that good?” Cole asked.
“No.”
“Excellent.”
Reed reached deeper into the compartment.
Then his eyes widened.
“There.”
A tiny transmitter pulsed beneath the module.
He ripped it free.
