Death Echo

automatically recorded. She started with the plane’s tail numbers.
    â€œType of plane?” Grace asked when Emma was finished.
    â€œSingle engine, dry-and water-landing gear, DeHavilland Beaver. Don’t know the age. White plane, with a blue-green wavy stripe on a diagonal over the fuselage. They made two passes and wagged their wings at us. Mac flipped them off.”
    â€œOne hand or two?” Grace asked absently.
    â€œOne. The other was busy holding binoculars.”
    â€œYour man is reminding me more and more of Joe. Stand by.”
    â€œStanding by,” Emma said. Then, to herself, My man?
    It was a heady thought.
    Grace wasn’t gone long. There weren’t nearly as many aircraft registrations as there were for land vehicles.
    â€œAs my husband would say, oh shit, oh, dear,” Grace muttered. “You sure about that tail number?”
    â€œRepeat, please,” Emma said, switching the phone to its external speaker.
    â€œWas the tail number real or a guesstimate?” Grace said.
    â€œReal,” Mac said. “What’s up?”
    â€œNothing good,” Grace said. “The registration comes back to a company called Greentree Aviation at Boeing Field in Seattle.”
    Emma looked at Mac, wondering if he understood. The look on his face told her that he did.
    â€œBack when I was in special ops,” he said, “I rode Greentree aircraft a time or two. Those pilots have balls.”
    â€œThe CIA has never been short on huevos, ” Grace said, using the slang of her childhood.
    â€œThey’re certainly hanging them out for God and man to see,” Emma said. “That’s unusual.”
    â€œInevitable,” Mac said. “From the moment Demidov showed up.”
    â€œYeah,” Emma agreed, disgusted. She’d really been hoping to be left alone to answer questions for St. Kilda and the razor-tongued Alara. “Well, at least we know who three of the locator bugs you found belong to.”
    â€œSt. Kilda put two on Blackbird, ” Grace reminded her. “Redundancy in the face of fragile technology.”
    â€œThen I’m betting the CIA did, too,” Emma said.
    â€œThat takes care of the five we found,” Mac said. “Two St. Kilda, two CIA, one Russian.”
    â€œI’ll call the instant I have anything more,” Grace said.
    â€œWait,” Emma said, “is Canada in on the game?”
    â€œAll our information says no,” Grace said. “What are you going to do?”
    â€œHead north,” Emma and Mac said together.
    â€œLike fucking lemmings,” Mac said under his breath.
    Emma felt the same way.
    And she was tired of it.
    â€œSt. Kilda can track us by our special phones, right?” she asked Grace.
    Mac looked at Emma, smiled, then started laughing. When it came to tactics, partnering with her was like looking in a mirror.
    It was time for the other side to work blind.
    â€œWhat’s the joke?” Grace asked.
    â€œCan you find us by our phones?” Mac asked.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGood,” Emma said, watching Mac. “Because in a few minutes, Blackbird is going stealth.”

53
    DAY FIVE
NORTH OF CAMPBELL RIVER
10:15 A.M .
    A single locator says Blackbird hasn’t left Discovery Harbor,” One said. “The other locator is dead.”
    Tim Harrow looked at the hard, well-built man known only as “Team One” or “One.” The other team members were also known by a numeric designation.
    Don’t ask.
    Don’t tell.
    â€œOne” was the leader of the team of five that had met him at public docks connected to a small, deserted resort/campground. The nearby, popular Blind Channel resort obviously siphoned off all the business. At this time of year, the ratty public docks were ignored. In any case, most cruisers were in their winter docks by mid-September. Harrow’s team had told him that fall weather was notoriously unpredictable in northern B.C.
    It was hard to believe that today. Steady breeze, a few clouds, water like blue glass with artistic ripples here and there to keep things from being boring. Ringing it all was the endless mixed forest, green on green.
    â€œThank you, One,” Harrow said. “Let me know the instant that changes.”
    â€œSir.”
    The man went back to his team. Part of the team was aboard the Summer Solstice, a sixty-foot power boat. The rest was in the Zodiac that served as the