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I’d woken my pilot up in the middle of the night, telling her I had to get back to the Blue fast. With hardly any notice, I know the pickings for a flight crew will be slim, which gives us a better chance at sneaking the baby to the Blue undetected. When I step onto the plane, my skeleton crew is already there, sleepy-eyed and trying to appear cheerful.
“We’re giving a lift to two of my friends,” I say. “They should arrive shortly.”
I have them make me a drink and I sip it slowly, as I watch out the window for Bisa’s car. They should have been here by now—they were only minutes behind me. Ten minutes pass, then twenty. My leg bounces beneath me. I check my messages. Nothing.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I say when we reach the hour mark.
“Sir, the pilot would like an ETA on your guests’ arrival.”
I look up to see the flight attendant standing above me, a stiff smile on her face.
“We leave when I say we leave,” I snap.
She nods apologetically. “I’ll let her know.”
“Give me a few minutes,” I say, standing up. “I have to make a call.”
She moves out of the main area, and I stare at my Silverbook. I’m not supposed to call. They’re supposed to contact me if anything goes wrong.
I could jeopardize everything. I check the time. Phoenix should be back at her hotel by now. Is she sharing a room with Sean, or is she alone? The thought of her in bed with the governor temporarily distracts me from the problem at hand. I take a few minutes to seethe.
“Call Phoenix,” I tell my device. As an afterthought I say, “Tell her Ruby is calling.”
When she picks up, she’s breathless. “Jackal,” she says. “I need your help.”
“Where are you?”
There’s a pause. “I’m driving. I have the baby.”
“Tell me where to meet you,” I say. I’m jogging down the stairs.
“Don’t go anywhere,” she says. “I’m bringing the baby to you.”
“Phoenix,” I say. “What happened? Phoenix…?” The line is dead. She’s already hung up.
I meet her outside of the airstrip, beyond the fence of the rickety airport. Her eyes are panicked as she hands Rebel to me, wrapped in a blanket and asleep.
“They have Mama B,” she says.
“What? How?”
“Roadblocks. As soon as they found Rebel missing, the governor shut down the roads. You got out just in time.”
“But how did you get him?” I stare down at the baby. This is impossible. How am I going to get him on the plane alone?
“Moma—Sylvia—got out of the car with him before they reached the roadblock. She hid,” she says. “Bisa drove through and they took her in for questioning when she didn’t have a good excuse to be out. Sylvia called me and I snuck out of the hotel.”
“Phoenix…” I shake my head. “I can’t just walk on the plane with a baby. They’re not my crew, and even if they were, I wouldn’t trust them—they all work for the Society. They’d sell me out in a minute.”
She bites her lip. “I know. Sean and I leave in the morning. I don’t know what to do. They’re going to shut down all air traffic once they have clearance from the Statehead. That could be any minute.”
“Shit,” I say. “Shit. We had to steal the most famous baby in the Regions, didn’t we?” I run my hands through my hair, my heart racing. “All right...okay. I think I know what to do.”
I root in my pocket for my Silverbook. Right now we don’t have many options. If we don’t make a risky move, we might as well hand Rebel back and turn ourselves in. Phoenix watches me with wide eyes while I make the call, still cradling the baby in my arm. The pilot answers.
“I’m going to need you to send everyone home,” I say. “They’re shutting down flights out of the Red. I don’t want to be responsible for stranding the crew in the Blue, where they’re unable to get home.”
“Sir,” she says. “They won’t let me fly without a copilot.”
