Chapter 86

The drive to the airport was fast and silent, for the most part. Jo sat in the passenger seat while Zane drove with Heather and Scott in the back seat. Elliott was driving another vehicle with Cassidy, Brandon, and Ryker in it while Cadon drove a third with Cale, Dax, and Mandy. The fourth vehicle they were taking had Meagan, her daughter Shayna, and Lucy in it, but she had no idea which of them was driving. Whoever it was behind the wheel was keeping up with Elliott, and that was saying something because he was driving like a man who’d been challenged to make a two hour drive in less than an hour. Jo handed intended to take this many people, but once she’d called the team together, more people had insisted on coming until she’d ended up with this team.
The roads were icy and slick, but Zane managed to stay in Elliott’s tracks, and he wasn’t having any problems sliding around. The fact that he wasn’t able to die probably made him a little less cautious than most people would be.
Whether it was the road conditions or the seriousness of the situation that kept the chatter down, Jo couldn't say, but she was happy about it. She needed time to think. Assuming that the pilot Ryker had procured to get them to the States was competent, she might be able to get some sleep on the plane, which meant, the moment they landed, she’d have to be prepared to launch an attack. Assuming they could land somewhere near the nation’s capital and not a long drive away from there. She didn’t know how much of the country the Australian army had infiltrated, but she hoped she’d be able to talk to Margie through the IAC once they got there, then, she could get a better idea of what was going on. If the IACs were still scrambled, and she couldn’t use a cell phone to contact someone on the ground, they’d be going in blind, and that was bound to fail since they didn't even know for sure where Jamie and the others were being held.
“Jo, Ryker says we’re about five miles out from the airport. We need to hop out quick when we get there, or we won’t have a plane, all right?” Elliott said in her head just when Jo was starting to formulate a plan.
“All right,” she said. She passed the message along to the rest of the crew in her vehicle and made sure the other drivers knew as well. They’d need to grab their packs and the supplies they’d brought along, which wasn’t much since they should have access to more ammo and bombs in America than they had with them over here, and get loaded up fast.
Spotting the airport in the distance, Jo held her breath. If this didn’t work, and Ryker’s plane was gone, she might just have to commandeer someone else's plane. She wished she were a pilot like her dad, but despite him wanting to teach her how to fly, she’d never had the patience to learn.
The airport was surrounded by a chain link fence. Elliott leaned through the window and punched in a code she assumed he’d gotten from Ryker, and the gate opened. All of the vehicles went through, and Elliott steered them over toward a large cargo plane that was sitting near the end of a runway.
Elliott pulled his SUV to a stop near the plane, and Zane did the same, followed by the other vehicles. They all jumped out, grabbing their belongings and heading toward the plane, which was already running, the door open for them to climb up the steps and hop in. Jo hated to leave their vehicles behind because there was no way to be sure they’d be there when they got back, but she didn’t really have any choice.
Jo waited for everyone else to climb into the plane with all of the equipment and bags they’d brought. It didn’t take long for them to get in, and then she climbed up the ladder herself. She had realized immediately that this was a cargo plane. Her teammates were all sitting on the floor. There was nothing in it except for them and their luggage at least.
Ryker was next to her. He pulled the door up and said, “Can any of your people fly a plane?”
Thinking he was joking, Jo snickered, but then, she saw that he was serious. “What? We don’t have a pilot?” she asked.
“Of course we have a pilot,” he replied, rolling his eyes at her. ‘It’s a copilot that we need.”
Jo turned to look at the cockpit. There were two empty seats behind her. “Who the hell is the pilot?” she asked, regretting the question the second it came out of her mouth.
“Me. Now, do any of your people know jackshit about aviation or not?”
“No!” she said. “I don’t think so. My dad is a pilot, but he’s not here!” Why was her dad never there when she needed him to be? She looked around and then asked the question, thinking she knew the answer. “Do any of you know how to fly a damn plane?”
“No, but I make a mean airplane sound,” Elliott replied, copying the sound of the roaring engine with his mouth.
She rolled her eyes at him and returned her attention to Ryker. “How did you get us a plane with no pilots?”
“You’re lucky I got you a plane at all, princess.” He took a few steps toward the front of the plane, shedding his giant, fluffy coat as he went and hanging it on a hook near the cockpit. “All right, that means it’s me and you, McReynolds.”
“Me?” Jo said, following him. “You may as well have an empty seat.”
“It's not that hard. I’ll show you. Come on.”
“I’ll do it,” Cadon volunteered, stepping over to help.
Ryker looked him up and down and shook his head. “No thanks, kid. At least with your sister I know what I'm getting.”
“My dad let me fly a few times,” Cadon argued, obviously annoyed that Jo was getting picked instead of him--again.
“All right. You’ve got second shift then. But for now, Jo, go sit in that seat right there while I do a few more checks,” Pilot Ryker insisted.
Cadon glowered at her as Jo reluctantly followed instructions. She sat down in the co-pilot’s seat but was careful not to touch anything. Ryker was walking around the plane, touching things and looking at different parts. She had no idea what he was doing. A conversation she’d had with her dad when she was about twelve came to mind. He’d told her she really should learn how to fly a plane, that it was something that might come in handy one day, and she’d blown him off. It had been her grandfather, her mom’s dad, who’d taught Aaron how to fly. She should’ve kept it in the family. Maybe then she wouldn’t be so terrified that she was going to screw this up, and they were all going to crash and shatter into a million pieces on the ground.
Finally satisfied with whatever it was he was looking for, Ryker sat down in the pilot’s seat and put on a headset, gesturing for her to do the same.
Carefully, Jo plucked the headset from where it was hanging, watching her fingers to make sure she didn’t brush any of the switches or levers.
Ryker started talking in Russian, so she assumed he was speaking to someone at the airport. For once, she used her IAC translator to follow along, thinking it might be worth it to know what was going to happen. Apparently, he was getting clearance to take off.
Once Ryker finished his conversation, he revved the engine, and the plane began to move. Jo couldn’t remember ever being so nervous in her entire life. She thought about what would happen if they crashed. Most of the individuals on this plane would live, but they’d be in a horrible state, cut and crushed, possibly dismembered. The only one in danger of dying was Ryker. Why in the world would he agree to this? Could he really fly so far without an actual copilot? Wouldn’t he need to sleep?