“Don’t ask.” Tess clicked her buckle as the plane’s engine purred to life and began to warm up. On the inside, the cockpit reminded her of a luxury car, upholstered in leather with two more seats tucked in back. The control panel was like nothing she’d ever seen before. A screen, much like a large computer monitor, dominated the space in front of her. Brock controlled the images that appeared with a touch of his fingertip.
“Wow,” Tess said. “It looks like something out ofStar Trek.”
“This system is a Garmin 2000,” he explained, pressing in some data on a keypad below the screen. “I’ve entered our flight plan, and this screen is giving me all the information I need to get there. This computer could almost fly the plane by itself. It’s even got autopilot.”
“I hope you’re not going to demonstrate,” Tess joked in an effort to calm her screaming nerves. “By the way, I hope you have a paper bag in here.”
“Pocket in the door panel. Relax, you’ll be fine. Here we go.”
The plane, its engine surprisingly quiet, taxied onto the runway. Tess had expected it to have a steering wheel, like a car, but Brock used a lever to steer. He was so calm and competent that he put her fear to shame. This was a man she could count on to keep her safe.
The runway appeared on the screen, with the front wheel aligned in the center. As the plane revved up to takeoff speed and began to climb, Tess’s stomach started to flutter. No, she swore, she wasn’t going to disgrace herself by getting sick in Brock’s beautiful airplane. She would be fine if it killed her.
* * *
Brock leveled the plane off at 8,000 feet. The flight would be relatively short. No need to go higher. Cruising at 220 mph, he should get Tess to Ajo in less than the two-hour target. He’d fueled up at the ranch. There’d been no time to refuel before leaving Vegas, but with the plane’s 1,200-mile range, that shouldn’t be a problem.
He glanced at Tess. She sat rigidly in her seat, staring down at her clasped hands. He knew she was worried about Lexie and anxious for the trip to be over. But what a shame she couldn’t relax and enjoy the flight, which would take them past the tip of Lake Mead and over the Grand Canyon, then follow the path of Route 93 as far as Phoenix before cutting west, over the Tohono reservation, to Ajo.
“We’ve got a beautiful view out there,” he said. “You should take a look.”
Making the effort, at least, she turned toward the window and gazed out for a moment before turning back. “It is beautiful,” she said. “But all I can think of is how far we would fall if we were to crash.”
“We’ll be fine, Tess.” Brock checked the gauges. The plane seemed to be using more fuel than usual. But there was plenty left to get to Ajo and back to Las Vegas, or at least to Phoenix, where he could refuel. A shadow crossed his mind—a vague sense that something wasn’t right. Maybe after dropping Tess off, he’d be smart to continue on to the ranch. It wasn’t that far. He could check in with Rusty, whom he’d left in charge. If everything was fine, he could refuel from his own tank and head back to Vegas from there.
For now, he would turn his attention to a more troubling matter.
“I have a question that needs an answer,” he said. “Before that phone call from Shane, you mentioned something you’d learned from your lawyer—something about me. I need you to tell me what it was.”
He heard the slight catch of her breath, but no answer came.
“Go on,” he said. “Whatever it is you heard, I need to know.”
“All right,” she said. “My lawyer did a background check. Due diligence, she called it. She could find no record of any kind for you until twenty-one years ago. You didn’t exist. I’m assuming you changed your name. Would you care to explain?”
Brock made a course change to avoid the air traffic over Phoenix, which would be coming up in a few minutes.
“Did you change your name?” she demanded. “I can’t sign that document until I know who you really are.”
“Who I really am is the man you see,” he said. “My name change was legal, and I did it for a good reason.”
“I need more than that,” Tess said.
“I know you do. But it’s a long story, and this isn’t the time or the place. It’ll have to wait.”
“Fine. But I’m not signing that contract until I hear it all, and maybe not even then.”
“Understood. You’ll hear it.” It was a story Brock had never told anyone. But if he wanted a future partnership—or anything else—with Tess, she needed to know. “Right now, I’ve got to fly this plane and get you to your sister.”
He turned his full attention back to the controls. That was when he noticed the fuel gauge. It was dropping rapidly.
The plane had two fuel tanks, one inside each wing. As usual, he’d been pumping from both tanks at the same time to keep the wings evenly balanced. Now he switched the fuel selector to the left tank, then the right tank. Both tanks were almost empty.
Something—a tank, a line, a pump, or the engine itself, was leaking—so fast that, minutes from now, the fuel would be gone. The engine would stop, and the plane would crash.
There was no time to wonder what had gone wrong. He had to land the plane now, any way he could.
CHAPTER TWELVE