Clawback by Jance J. A

Author:Jance, J. A. [Jance, J. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, thriller, Suspense, Crime, Adult
ISBN: 9781501110764
Amazon: 1501110764
Goodreads: 27221499
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2016-03-08T08:00:00+00:00

31

Tanna Romberg’s Flights for Life call out had come through on her cell phone just after four a.m.

“We need you,” the dispatcher said in her ear. “Terrible car crash south of Hoover Dam—a minivan carrying a soccer team. Two critical patients have been airlifted to Vegas. Less severely injured are being transported to Kingman. How fast can you be there?”

“In Kingman?”

“Yes.”

At that hour of the morning, Tanna estimated there wouldn’t be much traffic between her home in Glendale, Arizona, and the Deer Valley Airport just north of the 101 Loop. As a volunteer for Flights for Life, Tanna was responsible for transporting human blood products to cities and towns all over Arizona. Kingman, located in the far northwestern corner of the state, was a place she’d flown into often. To drive there from Phoenix would take close to three hours. Her Piper Cherokee 235 could cut that three-hour trip down to one and a little bit.

“Tell the courier to meet me at Cutter Aviation at the Deer Valley Airport in forty-five,” she said, scrambling out of bed and heading for the bathroom. “Since I’m on call, the aircraft is already fully fueled. All I’ll need to do is my preflight check.”

As predicted, there was zero traffic on I-17 as Tanna headed north. By the time the courier arrived at the FBO and handed her the distinctive cooler box labeled HUMAN BLOOD it was going on five a.m. The flight was smooth and uneventful—dark with glittering stars in a black sky as she flew north and with the sun fully up when she headed back south at 7:30.

Soaring over the mostly brown landscape, Tanna realized that she’d be landing in full rush hour. It would probably take her longer to drive home from the airport than it would take to fly from Kingman to Phoenix.

Her return flight path took her south over Wickenburg and then above Highway 60 before vectoring the aircraft in for an east/west landing at Deer Valley Airport. Tanna was already at a fairly low altitude in her gradual descent as she approached Loop 303. An occasional flight instructor, she’d often flown over this area with students doing touch-and-go landings. Nearby a huge but deserted gravel pit in the middle of nowhere was a recognizable landmark. When sunlight glinted off something down there, it caught her attention. Peering down she saw a vehicle there—a single vehicle.

Flights loaded with precious cargo—blood flights—were straight up and down affairs, but the trips home were usually much more leisurely, with occasional stops along the way for breakfast or lunch. This time, something about a single vehicle parked in a lonely gravel pit at that hour of the morning bothered her. Maybe it was the Silver Alert she’d seen earlier on her way to the airport—an elderly missing man driving a white Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Shrugging to herself, she turned back and sent the Cherokee into a series of turns around a point, all the while keeping the vehicle in the gravel pit in view.

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