Storm the Author's Cut Read Online Free Page B

against the cold wind, as if he expected the weather to deteriorate.
    "Good morning, Mr. Lucas!"
    He looked up, black eyes scanning her trim figure and heavy-duty clothes. He turned back to the Beaver before he spoke, slamming the door to the luggage compartment.
    "Where's your recorder?"
    "I figured you wouldn't talk to my recorder."
    His short laugh surprised her. "I won't give you an interview without it, either," he said mildly. He closed the baggage compartment and opened the front door.
    "Let me come with you. I'll help search."
    "Bad idea. Twenty minutes and you'd be bored, cold and stiff from sitting in a small space. Probably airsick as well. There's still a gale warning issued for this coast."
    He turned his back and stepped onto the pontoon.
    "Mr. Lucas!"
    He ignored her and walked to the back of the pontoon. Making his pre-flight check, she realized.
    "I've lived on these islands all my life," she said, talking fast. "The first time I flew in a seaplane was when my mother brought me back from the hospital as a baby. My father was an amateur pilot until he got glaucoma and we flew a lot. I've flown this coast, winter and summer. I've been on rough flights. I won't pretend I haven't been frightened, but I've never been airsick and I've never caused trouble for the pilot flying me."
    Liar . She had caused more than enough trouble for Shane, but she mustn't think of that now. Lucas had stepped across to the far pontoon and she could see only his feet beneath the plane.
    "Six years ago I lost my brother in a plane crash. I know the dangers of flying in this country and I care about those missing men. If I come with you, it'll double your chances of spotting that plane. Alone, you could fly right over it and miss it entirely."
    " I could fly right over the wreck with ten people on board and still not spot it." His voice came from the front of the plane and she saw the propeller move as he hand-rotated it. "Spotting takes practice—you've no idea how hard it is."
    "I do, though," she insisted. "My father used to take my brother and I hunting. I've got good eyes and I'm used to watching for something, anything out of place in the bush."
    He ducked under the nose of the plane.
    When he opened the front door she sensed a flicker, a hesitation, and she moved quickly, taking a chance. She slipped past him and across the empty pilot's seat. She quickly strapped herself into the passenger seat, pushing her pack under the seat, avoiding his eyes as he swung up into the seat beside her.
    He hadn't stopped her.
    "We're searching the Lyell Island area," he said crisply. "We may not be back until dark." His hands moved over the controls and his shoulder brushed against hers in the small space. Was he avoiding looking at her?
    "Won't you have to refuel?"
    "At the Lyell Island camp." His arm brushed against her leg as he made an adjustment to one of the controls. The engine coughed to life and she saw him trim the fuel mixture.
    When the Beaver started to taxi away from the wharf, she let out the breath she'd been holding.
    Ken would be furious. He'd had plans for today and she'd dived into an adventure he would certainly disapprove of. Mrs. McDonald would be angry, too, and no matter how much Laurie apologized, they wouldn't understand how her memories of Shane wouldn't let her stand by and be a mere spectator.
    The plane banked to make a sweep of the harbor, flying just west of the exposed drying spit where Sandspit Airport was located. Lucas wore a headset that held a microphone just in front of his mouth. Laurie saw his lips move and strained unsuccessfully to hear over the noise of the engine.
    When he pulled the chart from a side pocket in the door she judged the radio conversation was over. She shouted over the noisy engine, "What color is the missing plane?"
    Instead of answering, he reached past her legs and pulled a spare set of headphones from under the control panel in front of her. When she put them on, he adjusted