“That’s why I thought it was just luck. They aren’t going to Brazil. They’re headed south right now.”
“South as in... where?”
“Beats the hell out of me. I’d have to get up in the air and squawk them to find where they’re at now.”
“What’s that mean? You can see them?”
“Within about a hundred miles, yeah. They have a transponder that transmits their callsign, altitude, heading, and that sort of thing so we don’t run into each other.”
“How much gas do you have?”
“Not enough. I’ve been burning holes in the sky all morning, but I’ve got a tanker on the way.”
Shit.“How long will that take?”
“About thirty minutes. I still have to file a flight plan anyway. Where are we going?”
“Somewhere south. I don’t give a shit where. Just pick something in the direction they were headed and file it. Get it done before they decide to close the flightline.”
He left and I began pacing, thinking through the problem set. Veep said, “What’s the plan?”
“Right now, it’s to get airborne and follow them. I imagine soon enough there very well might be Argentinian fighter jets escorting his ass, but it’ll take a little bit for that cluster to unravel.”
Aaron said, “I heard what you said about Brazil, and I’m thinking the same thing, only about them flying south. There’s nothing down there but the Antarctic. Do you think they’re panicking? That they planned on flying to Brazil, but now, with the hostages, that’s no longer an option?”
Shoshana said, “No. They aren’t panicking. I saw the Ghost for what he is, and he’s not one to panic.”
I knew she was talking her psychobabble bullshit again, but I agreed with her. The Ghost didn’t panic. Then I decided to lean into the psychobabble, because, well, deep down I believed.
I said, “Do you think he’ll kill the hostages? I mean, was he bloodred or whatever you see? What’s the read?”
She gave me the side-eye and said, “Why Nephilim, that’s not like you.”
She saw me scowl and grew serious, saying, “He will kill them, but I didn’t see bloodlust. He’ll do it when it will help him, not out of vengeance. But he most definitely will kill them.”
“So he probably won’t do it on the plane, since that creates nothing but downside. If a fighter jet comes up, he’s going to want to shove them in front of a window. Is that what you mean?”
“Yes. He’s too smart to let his emotions overtake his judgment, but I must stress, he’s a killer. The second they become a liability instead of an asset, they’re dead.”
I said, “Okay, okay, let’s hope that Carrie shit is real. I agree with you on the panic thing. They didn’t just decide to fly south. It was the plan. If he’s shown us anything, it’s that he’s always got a plan. We just have to figure it out. Jennifer, when we get on the plane, you and Veep get withthe copilot and plot every single airstrip that could land a Learjet south of Buenos Aires.”
They nodded, and twenty minutes later the captain came up, saying, “We’re ready to go.”
To the group, I said, “Let’s roll,” and we jogged out to the Rock Star Bird. Along the way I said, “Where’d you tell ’em we were going?”
The captain said, “I went ahead and plotted for Ushuaia, so unless they’re flying to the pack ice of the Antarctic, they’ll be within the flight plan.”
“Where’s that?”
He chuckled and said, “Southernmost outpost on earth. The end of the world.”
“They have an airport?”
“Yeah, a modern one, actually. It’s where everyone goes that gets on an Antarctic cruise ship.”
We clambered up the stairs and I let the captain get to work. I took one of the plush leather seats as Jennifer and Veep went to the back, breaking out computers.
Shoshana and Aaron sat across from me and buckled up. In minutes, we were airborne, the confusion of the hijacking causing all the commercial carriers to pause their departures.
