Wolf Watch (The Madison Wolves Book 8) (10 page)

BOOK: Wolf Watch (The Madison Wolves Book 8)
4.96Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Everyone was standing around, waiting for us. They would have heard us approach, so the casual posture everyone carried was feigned. Michaela also would have heard our entire conversation and may have relayed it to everyone else. But they all waited for us to approach before turning to us. Six pairs of eyes focused on Zoe and only one on me.

Zoe slowed under the attention, and I automatically adjusted my pace to match hers. Her hand reached out, looking for a hand to hold, but mine were busy.

"They're so big," she said.

"It's not quite a requirement to join the clan," I said, trying to make it light. "But yes. We tend to run big."

"All women?"

"On this trip," I said. "We made the men folk stay home."

The one pair of eyes on me was Michaela's, and she wasn't happy.

"Come on," I said. I stepped forward, then veered to the side and set everything down in a pile on the floor of the hangar. Then I took Zoe's camera b
ags from her and added them to the pile.

"We're going to have to weigh all that," Michaela said.

"Maybe we should let Elisabeth introduce Zoe to everyone first," Lara said.

I took Zoe's hand, but she held back. "Am I in trouble?"

"No." I pulled her forward. "Michaela, Zoe think's your angry at her because she brought more than a pared down toothbrush."

Michaela eyed the pile consisting of a cooler of food, two modest duffle bags, and two camera bags. It wasn't that bad. Really it wasn't. But there were nine of us, and that meant she wasn't going to get to ride with Lara.

"No," she said. "Zoe, I'm sorry. I was trying to cram us into fewer aircraft than we're going to end up taking." Then she smiled. "At least I get to fly the Bonanza!" Then she stepped forward and gave Zoe a quick hug. "I'm glad you could come."

She took over from that point. I wasn't surprised. "You remember my wife, Lara." Zoe and Lara shook hands. "And Angel and Scarlett." That was a couple of little waves. "Has Elisabeth talked to you about my security detail."

"She mentioned something."

"This is Serena. She's the head of my security."

Serena stepped forward and shook Zoe's hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, Zoe," Serena said.

"Serena is also a dear, dear friend," Michaela explained. "I love her to pieces. These two are Karen and Portia."

With greetings out of the way, Michaela went on. "Do you want to understand my frown earlier, or are you so intimidated you want to plaster yourself to Elisabeth's side and sit where you're told?"

Zoe smiled. "I'd like to understand."

"I rather thought you might." She put an arm around Zoe's shoulders and then turned her to the two aircraft in this hangar. "There are nine of us. Technically, we could fly in two aircraft. Lara is the only one of us who can pilot the Seneca. That's this one with the two engines. Theoretically, it can seat six of us."

"Theoretically."

"Weight and where the weight is situated are also determining factors. The FAA defines an average adult as weighing 180 pounds. Clearly, I weigh significantly less than that, as do you." The she gestured to the wolves. "As you can guess, everyone else weighs about that or more."

Zoe turned to me with a raised eyebrow. I shrugged and smiled.

"They're all around six feet," Michaela went on. "I don't know if you've fully appreciated Elisabeth's physique yet."

Zoe blushed but admitted she had.

"Well, all those muscles are heavy.  And fuel is heavy, too. So we aren't going to get six of us in the Seneca. If I'm one of them, we can fly five and light luggage."

"I think I see where you're going," Zoe said. "That airplane is smaller."

"It's only a tiny bit smaller," Michaela said. "That's a Bonanza. Theoretically, it holds six as well."

Zoe counted. "Nine. Five and four. And room for luggage."

"Yes. If I carefully measure everything and everyone, I can probably get all of us into both aircraft, but we'll be near maximum weight limits. This is a short flight, so if we could take off without full fuel. However, both aircraft are already fueled, and we're not equipped to drain gas back out of the tanks. But even if we could do it that way, Lara is the only one who can fly the Seneca. And of the two remaining pilots, I'm the only one who can fly the Bonanza."

With that she turned to Angel and offered a small glare.

"Don't blame Angel," Scarlett said defensively. "She's had more important things to learn."

"Why are you blaming Angel?" Zoe asked.

"Because Angel is our third pilot, and if she could fly the Bonanza, then theoretically, I could ride in the Seneca with my wife."

"Which still wouldn't satisfy you," Scarlett said, continuing to defend Angel. "Because you'd still have to ride in back. And besides, you would rather pilot the Bonanza than ride in the back of the Seneca."

Scarlett was right, and the other wolves chuckled.

Michaela turned back to Zoe. "So instead, Lara will pilot the Seneca with four of us. I will pilot the Bonanza with three more. And Angel and Scarlett will ride in one of the Mooneys in the other hangar."

"If you're only taking three, you could fly the other Mooney," Lara said, earning a glare from Michaela. She really, really liked the Bonanza. "Or not," Lara added.

That was when Portia spoke up. "It's a nice day."

Everyone turned to her.

"I could use the time," she added. Portia had learned to fly, but she was by far the least experienced of us. She was asking whether she could fly one of the planes.

Michaela turned to Serena who only said, "I'm with you. As long as you take off first and land last, I don't care."

Then she looked at me. "I suppose you want the front passenger seat of the Seneca."

It suddenly occurred to me I hadn't thought everything through. "Oh shit," I said.

Zoe moved to my side. "What?"

"Elisabeth gets airsick," Michaela said. "We never make her face backwards, and we try to give her a front seat. Unfortunately, there are no combinations where she can face forward and be seated next to you."

Zoe looked at me with a moment of panic. "Are we going to be in the same airplane?"

"That we can arrange," Michaela said. She turned to Lara. "I presume I'm flying the Bonanza."

"Yes," Lara said.

"I'd forgotten we had Portia now," Michaela said. "Elisabeth, do you care?" She was asking whether I wanted to make specific arrangements.

"Lara, Zoe and I in the Seneca," I said. "You and Serena in the Bonanza. Portia or Angel in the Mooney. After that, I don't care."

"Angel," Michaela said. "I could use some hood time. Serena, do you mind the back seat?"

"That's fine," Serena said.

If Angel was disappointed she wouldn't be piloting, she didn't show it. I think riding with Michaela made it easier. "What about Scarlett?"

"With us, and Karen with Portia. Three-four-two. And the luggage can go in the back of the Seneca."

Zoe leaned up to me and whispered, "Is it always this complicated?"

"No. It's usually more cut and dried. Michaela wanted Lara with her in the Bonanza, but we can't make that work, although Michaela isn't considering one last choice."

She heard me, of course, and her ears twitched. She cocked her head, then she turned slowly to look at Portia with a glance at Angel. She was considering letting Portia and Angel fly the two Mooneys, and she'd fly the Bonanza.

"Michaela," I said. "I really would prefer to ride w
ith you or Lara as pilot. Please."

She turned back to me. "Right. Of course. We have a plan."

But she still made us weigh everything.

* * * *

Scarlett and Karen loaded the luggage while the four pilots held a discussion off to the side. Zoe and I stood together, watching everything.

"I've never flown in a small plane before," Zoe admitted. "I'm a little nervous."

"Lara has been flying since she was seven," I said. "And it's a beautiful day. We're flying from our home field to a very nice airport we know very well. I would rather Angel were piloting the third aircraft, but Lara and Michaela are both more qualified to assign pilots than I am. This will be Portia's first group trip as a pilot."

"She hasn't flown much?"

"I think about sixty hours. By comparison, Lara has a couple of thousand hours, Michaela has about seven hundred, and I think Angel is about two-fifty."

"I didn't think this would be so complicated. I imagined getting here and we'd all pile into some sort of business jet or something."

"Lara would love an excuse to buy a business jet, but we actually don't leave Wisconsin very often, and it would be complete overkill for flying to Bayfield. That's the longest trip we do more than every few years."

"With all her businesses, she doesn't travel?"

"Her businesses are all local."

"Vacations?"

"Those are the trips outside Wisconsin, and we tend to charter a jet."

"That sounds far more expensive than traveling commercial."

"It is, but it lets us maintain more control."

She shook her head. "We're from such different worlds."

Finally, about twenty minutes after Zoe and I had arrived, it was time to climb into the aircraft. I helped Zoe into the back seat of the Seneca and got her buckled in. Then while I climbed into the front seat, Lara poked her nose in and gave Zoe a thorough passenger briefing.

Ten minutes later, we watched Michaela take off, then Lara taxied us onto the runway.

"Zoe, all set?"

"I'm good," she replied over the headset.

"Elisabeth, did you want to fly?"

"What?" Zoe screeched from the back seat.

"Elisabeth is a fine pilot," Lara said. "Licensed or otherwise."

"I'd rather not, Lara," I replied.

Without another word, Lara pushed on the throttles, and we began thundering down the runway. As lightly loaded as we were, it took no time at all before we departed the earth and were climbing into the sky.

From the back seat, Zoe gave a shout of joy. "Oops, sorry," she added.

"Quite all right, Zoe," Lara said. "That's often my reaction as well."

She was actually seated behind Lara. I reached an arm back between the front seats, and Zoe clasped it. Lara noticed but didn't comment.

Over the radio we heard Portia announce, "Wolf Run area traffic, Mooney five-five-nine-wolf-run, taxi for takeoff, north departure."

"Portia, c
limb out in the pattern," Lara directed over the radio.

"Roger," was the reply.

We made our first turns. My eyes flicked to the east, and I saw the Bonanza flying wide circles around the compound, another five hundred feet above us. Michaela wasn't typically predictable, but on this one thing, she was highly predictable. She would fly circles over the house until Lara told her to turn north.

I imagined Nora was outside with Rebecca and Celeste telling them, "There's Mommy Fox, taking one last look at us. Wave at her."

And then I saw the Bonanza's wings rock, and Michaela was waving back at them.

"Give 'em an extra wing rock for me, Michaela," Lara said, and I could hear the love in her voice.

I felt bad we couldn't bring them. I loved my little nieces. But I didn't want them around Zoe until we determined what was going on.

We flew the pattern three times. Portia reported every one of her turns, which wasn't really necessary, but no one told her otherwise. Then she reported, "I'm behind you, Lara."

"All right, Michaela," Lara said. "Lead the way."

* * * *

We flew a very loose formation. Michaela was simulating flying in the clouds, so we didn't want to crowd her. And Portia didn't have training in formation flying. Lara told her to follow Michaela with a half-mile spacing, and then we followed Portia with similar spacing. Once we were on track, Lara said, "So, Zoe. How are you doing back there?"

"I'm great," Zoe said. "Thank you for bringing me. I love your airplane!"

"Thanks," Lara said. "So do I. It's one of my few luxuries."

"But..." Zoe said. "You're rich, right? Elisabeth mentioned a mansion."

"Ah, that's in town. We don't stay there much. I'd sell it, but it's been in the family for a hundred years, and it still gets some use. We actually live just five minutes from the airport. The house is big, but it's not a mansion. We're actually pretty down to earth. It's good to be close to nature."

"It sounds lovely," Zoe replied.

"We have some time," Lara said. "We can get to know each other a little bit. I would like to know what you see in my sister."

I didn't complain. She could ask
whereas I couldn't.

Zoe didn't seem fazed. "Are you kidding? She's amazing. I want to know all about her."

Lara glanced at me meaningfully.

BOOK: Wolf Watch (The Madison Wolves Book 8)
4.96Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

A Time for Dying by Hardin, Jude
The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress
With Silent Screams by Steve McHugh
Historia de un Pepe by José Milla y Vidaurre (Salomé Jil)
Kindred Intentions by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli
Blood on the Moon by James Ellroy
Submit to the Beast by April Andrews
Sins and Scarlet Lace by Liliana Hart