Page 144 of One Last Shot

“Where is Reynolds now?”

“He went to pick up Mike’s gear from Air One.”

“I’ll bet he did.” He turned and nearly ran down the hallway.

And maybe—probably—he was overreacting.

Still, he got into his rental and dialed Boo.

No answer—voicemail. He called Moose next.

Voicemail.

Perfect.

Despite the late hour, the sun still hung high in the sky, above the Alaska Range, as he drove to the Tooth. He pulled up beside Moose’s truck and got out.

Went inside.

A thousand memories washed over him, most of them with Boo, but she wasn’t at the table, now crowded with the rest of the Air One team. They wore their red jumpsuits as if they’d just returned from a callout.

Or were on their way out. Except then they’d be in the briefing room.

Something. . .

They looked up at him as he came in. “Oaken,” said Axel. He wore a thread of tension in his expression, and that slowed Oaken down.

“What are you doinghere?” Moose said.

“Hi to you too,” Oaken said.

“Sorry,” Shep said. “But we have a bit of a situation here.”

And he knew, justknew—“Boo.”

London stared at him. “How?—”

“Just a gut feeling. Because if someone was in trouble, Boo would be at the center of trying to save them. The fact that she’s not?—”

“We’re not jumping to conclusions here,” started Moose.

“Oh yes we are,” said a woman with dark hair in braids, visibly pregnant. He recognized her—oh, wait. “Echo, right? We met?—”

“Yeah, yeah. We met.” She walked over to him. “Have you heard from her?”

He glanced at Moose. “Now I really am jumping to conclusions.”

“When we left for training six hours ago, she was here. She was organizing the gear room. And then Echo showed up.”

“About three hours ago,” Echo said. “She was making me a sandwich, and I had to go to the bathroom. When I came out, she was gone.”

A beat. “What do you meangone?” Oaken said.

“I mean gone. And so was the pack on the table.”

“What pack?” asked Axel.

“It was a parachute that Reynolds Gray was picking up—” Moose started.