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“Okay, you’re on speaker.” Sadie sucked in a breath and held it.
“I’m glad I caught you.” Dad’s relief was not what she was expecting. “We have some missing teens and need you to fly out and search for them.”
“Okay.” She cringed at Drew and mouthed, “Sorry.” She turned to Bjørn, holding the phone closer to him. “Where are they?”
“They took a boat into the bay to hike into Eshamy Lake.” Dad rattled off the information. “They never called in, and a report from a pilot that flew over the area this morning said he didn’t see a boat anywhere near.”
“What kind of watercraft did they take?” Bjørn asked as he pulled out a map from the chopper.
“They’re in a white Intrepid Powerboat with the hillsides painted red.” Dad sighed.
Bjørn whistled in appreciation, but Sadie didn’t have a clue what that meant.
“That’s a fancy boat for teens to be taking out.” Bjørn studied the map. “Who else do you have looking?”
“You’re it, at the moment. I’m hoping to round up another plane or two, and I’ll be heading out in my speedboat as soon as I make a few more calls.” Dad’s voice muffled as he spoke to someone else, then came back to them. “I know this messes up your nature show.”
“Actually, it’ll be perfect,” Drew chimed in. “Having these rescue missions will just make the show even better. The execs went nuts over the last one we filmed.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Dad’s tone turned hard. “Sadie, it’s the Miller boy, and you know how his family can get.”
Sadie wrung her hands as anxiety settled like a boulder in her chest. There were a million Millers in the world, but she knew exactly who her dad was talking about. They thought the wealth they’d accumulated entitled them to be treated better than others and were constantly causing issues in the community.
Could she go against her dad again? Her heart shrank in her chest at the thought of letting him down. She was twenty-seven, for Pete’s sake. Shouldn’t she be past feeling the dread of disappointing her parents?
She blew out a breath as she stared at Drew. He brought his clasped hands up to his face and begged like a five-year-old.
Her dad was going to kill her.
“Dad, we need Drew and his team along to help search.” Sadie bit her lower lip as her wheels turned for the right words to say. “We can’t afford to wait for more people to show up. Besides, the cameramen are good at using their observation skills, otherwise Nature wouldn’t be winning all these awards for their documentaries.”
“We’ll leave the cameras in the chopper when we find them. Just video the take off and flying out of the bay, sir, then we’ll all focus on the job at hand,” Drew added.
“Sadie.” Dad didn’t sound convinced.
“Gotta go.” She tipped her head toward the chopper, motioning for Drew to load up. “We’ll keep in contact.”
She hung up and shoved the phone back in her pocket. Dad was going to be livid she was going against him yet again. She closed her eyes as guilt slicked over her in muggy heat. He’d come around. He had to.
Bjørn kissed her on the cheek, then moved around the chopper. She followed him with her eyes, his quick agreement to drop everything to help someone else replacing the guilt with hope … with love. If her dad never came around, would she be able to live with his disappointment? What if he went so far that he stopped speaking to her? The thought twisted in her heart. Family meant everything to her, but what she had with Bjørn was special too. She wasn’t sure if she could choose between Bjørn or her family.
Bjørn scanned the coastline before him again, hoping that he’d see the boat tucked within a cove. Nothing. Breathing out a calming breath, he checked his gauges, running through his safety checklists to slow his heart rate. He’d learned that trick as a pilot for SOAR. Keeping a level head was the only way to get through a mission, especially one that falls apart.
He leaned forward and tipped his gaze to the mountaintops. The clouds hanging low had inched closer to the ocean. His heart sank. They didn’t have much time before the fog set in.
He turned to Sadie in the copilot seat. His lips tipped up at how adorable she looked with the big headset on and her forehead scrunched in concern. He loved how she could switch from playful to all business with just a word. Life with her wouldn’t be boring.
Worry pooled in his gut as he stared at her. She’d gone against her father again. Sure, she was old enough to make her own decisions and directions in life, but he gathered from her comments and stories she’d shared that disappointing her parents—disappointing anyone—went against her nature. She had dreams and did everything she could to achieve them, but she was also a people pleaser. She definitely wasn’t pleasing her father now, not with her continuing to see Bjørn and now bringing the TV crew along.
“See anything?” he asked before his brain wandered off in daydreams. So unlike him, but since meeting Sadie, it’d become a recurring condition.
“No.” Her shoulders slumped as she turned to the guys in the back. “What about back there?”
“Nothing,” Drew said. “The fog is closing in pretty fast too.”
“Yeah.” Sadie rubbed Rowdy’s head where it lay between the seats and turned forward. “We need the sun to break back through.”
Bjørn shook his head as he pulled on Rowdy’s soft ear. The dog leaned into the pet, his tongue hanging out. He truly was a super dog, taking to flying like he’d been doing it since birth. He never once got nervous, and Bjørn wondered if it was the training Sadie had put him through as a puppy or if he really was just that chill. Whatever the reason, the more Bjørn was around the dog, the more he wanted a griffon. Of course, if he married Sadie, he wouldn’t have to get one of his own.
