24
Denise jumped when the black-haired man jammed a piece of paper into her palm without speaking.
By the time she turned to look, he was gone again back into the cargo bay. She had an impression of red blood and immediately turned back to the forward console. There was a bloody thumbprint on the scrap of paper she was clutching.
As before, she keyed the coordinates into the nav system.
Then she looked up and saw Vern. He sat at the controls as if nothing unusual was happening.
“How can you be so calm?”
He shrugged, checked his screens, and began turning the helo to take them where she’d keyed in.
“I think the Coast Guard trained panic out of me.”
“What about before? I thought you were going to strangle the cyclic.”
He managed a weak laugh. “That wasn’t panic. I was so goddamn pis
