Prologue
Spieden Island, Washington, USA
Elevation: 137’
Miranda Chase shooed a couple of sika deer off the runway. It was a chill November morning only a few degrees above freezing, so she didn’t spend long about it.
A slow wave of sea fog was rolling in from Vancouver and the Canadian Gulf Islands, adding a thick dampness to the chill. The first of the US San Juan islands, Stuart and Johns, were disappearing fast. If she didn’t get aloft in the next fifteen minutes, she’d be trapped here on Spieden Island until the weak November sun burned it off.
The call from the National Transportation Safety Board said that a new crash had been classified as urgent.
As if she would lag when there was a crash to investigate.
She opened the hangar door and began her pre-flight checklist at the p
