Skyhook by Nance John J

Author:Nance, John J [Nance, John J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, Mystery, Adventure
ISBN: 9781504027991
Goodreads: 28101775
Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thri
Published: 2003-03-12T08:00:00+00:00

With the waters of the bay a bit more choppy than the previous afternoon, the takeoff was a series of heavy shudders through the wave tops before Scott could yank the Widgeon free of the surface, barely skimming the next swell. They climbed to the west, turning then to the south down the channel toward Bligh Reef.

“We’re going to stay low?” April asked when she finally got the David Clark headset adjusted and the boom microphone in position, barely touching her lips.

He nodded, his head on a swivel for other traffic, before looking at her. “I thought we’d stay at about five hundred feet, which should be below most of the air traffic radars. We could be seen by anything airborne, of course.”

“Like an AWACS?”

“Yeah, or those F-15s you were mentioning. I’ve got the restricted area figured out on my GPS screen. I thought we’d drag the eastern side of it before the light fades and see if there’s any surface traffic.”

“How close can we get to the crash site?”

“Within two miles. It’s strange, April. The surface area the Coast Guard has declared restricted to boat traffic does not correspond with the military operations area for air traffic, except over the crash site. But there’s something else I didn’t tell you. Tonight, that military airspace is from the surface up to thirty thousand feet.”

“Okay.”

“On Monday evening, when your folks were coming through, it was from five thousand to thirty thousand feet, and if I’m calculating correctly, they flew right under it. You know what that suggests to me?”

“I think so,” April answered. “It means that between Monday and now, something has changed and they now want all the airspace.”

“And what may have caused that change is your folks flying legally right underneath their Monday-night block. The change suggests that something happened, and since we know the Albatross crashed in that airspace, it’s a pretty good bet that that’s it.”

“The connection, in other words?”

“Yes. I don’t know how. I mean, did they clip something, or did they have a mechanical failure? Either way it’s coincidental, but provocative.”

They flew in silence for nearly ten minutes as April let herself marvel at the verdant beauty of the forests lining the inlet on either side almost down to the water. The beaches were rocky and narrow here, with occasional sandy patches, but just as often a small slope or cliff marked the point where land and sea met.

“Scott, look out there at eleven o’clock.” She pointed to the looming shape of a large surface vessel on the horizon ahead.

He nodded. “It’s an inbound supertanker. See how high he’s riding? He’s empty, coming in from California.”

The sun was riding low on the southwestern horizon as Scott studied the GPS screen. “The crash coordinates are just ahead, April, about five miles. The MOA starts three miles ahead. I’m going to turn and parallel it by a mile to make sure anyone watching doesn’t misinterpret what we’re doing.”

“So what are we doing?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Beats me. I … let’s just loiter out here and see if we can see anything unusual.

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