If I Should Die_ A Novel of Suspense - Allison Brennan [102]
Noah glanced at the screen. “Bingo. Mr. Stockton, sir, we found our warehouse full of weed.”
“I’ll wait for your report.”
Lucy shut off the cell phone and adjusted the camera. The red, orange, and yellow glowing colors over the external structure of the warehouse told them that it was well heated with high-wattage lights. “Wow. I didn’t realize it would be so noticeable!”
Noah made a note on a pad attached to the console. “I got the location. We’ll swing around and take another pass, then—”
“No—go north. Look at this.” She pointed at the ground where there were clearings ahead.
As Noah headed north, one warehouse gave way to another about one hundred yards apart.
“Two warehouses?” Lucy asked.
“I think you’re right.” Noah looked at his map and the terrain below. “We’re approximately four miles northeast of the town center. The population center is in town, and most of the larger-acreage properties are south and west.”
“Could there be more?”
“Anything’s possible, but look at the size of those buildings.”
Trees dotted the area, which was relatively flat, but didn’t provide a complete canopy. The warehouses may have once been barns—they were the same relative size and shape—but they’d been completely renovated. Likely insulated to keep down the cost of the electricity and heat. It would still cost a small fortune to run the facilities.
“I’m going east to follow that road down there,” Noah said. “It appears that both those warehouses are accessible from it.”
The road dipped into a valley and ended before the mountain began to rise again on the far edge of the Spruce Lake area, opposite from the Hendricksons’ and Callahans’ properties. Four new buildings were nestled in the valley, each half the size of the large barns they’d passed a mile away. A rambling ranch house spread out on the far side of the property, at the base of the mountain.
“Two of the buildings are possibles,” Lucy said, showing Noah the screen. “The other two are dark. The house—very small thermal signatures.”
Noah glanced. “People. We need to get out of here.” He started his ascent and turned away from the property at the same time that three men ran from the house, and a fourth came from one of the buildings.
“They have semiautomatic rifles,” Lucy said, sliding the camera back into its case.
She heard the rapid fire of the guns even over the plane’s engine, sounding more like comic pops than weapons fire.
Noah increased speed and continued to climb. The window behind Lucy cracked. “Those are fully automatic,” he said grimly.
A sharp metallic bang was followed by alarms in the cockpit and the small Cessna dipped dangerously to the left. Noah’s hands gripped the yoke, fighting to control their descent.
“It’s the rudder,” he said. “We have to land. Look for a road, an open field. No trees.”
They were heading northwest and a small lake was directly beneath them. The sun was gone, they were flying in the twilight, and Lucy had a hard time distinguishing the terrain without any outside lights to point her to a road.
“Lucy, anything! I need to get her down while I still have some control.” The propeller sputtered and Noah flipped a switch rapidly until it came back on.
Lucy saw a dirt road just the other side of the lake heading back toward the town. “On the left.”
Noah glanced. “Twenty degrees left. I don’t know if I can turn the plane.”
As he moved the stick to go left the plane dipped precariously.
“Bad idea,” he said.
“I don’t see another road.”
“I’m aiming for the field.”
He couldn’t regain the control he’d had before he attempted the turn, and they were dropping fast.
Lucy sat in the co-pilot seat, buckled in, gripping the strap hanging from the ceiling. Though Noah was tense, he had an aura of calm command even as the plane continued to fall. He worked the panel of switches and buttons like a master musician. There was a waxing crescent moon, hardly reflecting any light, but because the sky was cloudless and there was still a hint of light on the