15
Danielle hustled her ass hard.
They were aloft in under five minutes. This time the DAP Hawk was tight on her blind spot; she felt exposed, uncomfortable without the familiar Little Birds also close by. The ADAS camera offered a full three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view, but the back left quadrant was always a weak spot for any rotorcraft pilot. Rafe tucked the Beatrix in there nice and tight which made her feel a little better.
Sofia was calling out the locations of marine and air traffic before Danielle was a mile off the deck of the Ashland.
For the first half of the flight no one spoke, and Danielle flew on raw nerves. Unable to stand it any longer, she flicked the intercom control to pilots only.
“Talk to me, Pete.”
“Sure, you need me to take over?”
“For a minute, sure.”
“I
