James Katt's Arc

Chapter 3 of 7

James held the slip of paper under the runway lights. The numbers meant nothing on their own. They marked a spot, but he could not tell which airstrip Thuldark had chosen. Every minute cost them ground. The jet was already miles away, and the dossier with it. He needed a map, and he needed it now. "We can't chase what we can't find," James said. He turned to Telari. His partner had fought beside him for years. She read his fear before he spoke it. "Then we stop guessing," she said. She dug into her jacket and pulled out a small silver device. It fit in her palm. She had used it on a dozen jobs, and it had never failed her. Her thumb moved fast across the buttons. "Read them to me," she said. James read the numbers aloud. Telari typed each one. The tiny screen glowed against her face. James watched the map load, line by line. He hated waiting. He wanted to be in the air already. "It's pulling flight data," Telari said. "Give it a second." The screen flickered. A point blinked at the center. Then a name appeared beside it. Telari leaned close and read it twice. "There," she said. "A private airstrip. Small. One runway. It matches the coordinates." She tilted the screen toward James. A single dot marked the spot, far to the north. James felt his chest ease. "That's where he's landing." "That's where he thinks he's safe," Telari said. She kept typing. Her mouth tightened. "But look. There's a fuel record. A jet filed a stop there tonight. Same tail markings as the THRUSH plane." "So he has to land there to refuel," James said. "He can't skip it," she said. "His range runs out first. He's fast, but he's grounded the moment he touches down." James stared at the blinking dot. For the first time since the jet lifted off, he knew exactly where Thuldark would be. The dossier was not gone. It had an address now. Then the screen changed. A second line of data crawled across it. Telari read it and went still. "James," she said. "There's a landing time. He touches down in forty minutes." He did the math in his head. No car could cover that distance. No commercial flight left in time. "We can't reach it by road." "No," Telari said. She lowered the device. "And if he refuels and takes off again, we lose him for good. The dossier crosses the border by morning." James looked at the dark sky where the jet had vanished. He had the location. He had the deadline. He did not have a way to get there. He turned toward the empty airfield behind them, where the dead men lay near the hangars, and made his choice. "Then we take a plane of our own," he said.