Unwitting Alliances - Hunter Blake Series

  * * *

  Hunter frowned at the short string of messages he and Jim were hearing. “Who’s talking?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Jim said. “I’ve lost track of who’s who.”

  Hector leaned forward. “What are they saying?”

  Jim looked at his notes. “After we sent your message, we’ve heard ‘M-I-B-B’, ‘M-I-B-H’, ‘B-I-M-B’, and ‘make my call first’, followed by ‘E-T-A’.”

  “Wait!” Hector said. “You heard B-I-M?”

  “Yeah. Is that significant?

  “Damn right!” John said. “If ever we were in trouble, we’d reverse the letters.” He looked at Jim’s notes. “Frank must be in trouble, assuming he sent the message.”

  Hunter looked at him. “How would you know it’s Frank and what does ‘make my call first’ mean?”

  “‘B’ is for Bradly,” Hector explained. “As for ‘make my call’, I don’t know. It doesn’t fit.” He glanced at John and Charlie.

  Jim exhaled. “Well, E-T-A usually means estimated time of arrival, unless you guys use it for something else.”

  “No,” Charlie said. “We don’t.”

  “Make my call first,” Hunter said. “What call? Who’s he gonna call?” Hunter stared straight ahead. “Make a call... make my call,” he repeated. Impulsively, he adjusted the range on their navigation display then focused on one place in particular and zoomed in on an image. “Well I’ll be damned,” he said with a grin. “Right there! See!” He pointed.

  Jim nodded. “McCall. Of course, that could be it! Make McCall first! You think that’s where he headed?”

  “What do you think, guys?” Hunter glanced over his shoulder.

  “It’s about the only thing that does make sense at the moment,” John agreed.

  “But why McCall?” Charlie asked. “Any of you been there before?” He looked at John and Hector.”

  They both shook their heads.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Hunter said. “We’ll need to turn around.”

  “Where, exactly, are we?” John asked.

  “Over Albuquerque,” Hunter said. “We’ll plug a new route into the system as soon as Jim locates an airport.”

  “Got it,” Jim replied.

  “Okay,” Hunter said. “Everyone back in your seats and belt up.” He banked the plane to the north and west to follow their new heading.