“As you wish,” Beast growled back.
He dropped suddenly and Maia and I followed in a steep dive. My stomach leapt for my throat. No matter how many times we did that, it still gave me that moment of queasiness that you get from the first big drop on a rollercoaster. A few seconds later, we were flying close enough to the pine forest to have to rise occasionally to avoid a taller tree. Beast had decided for himself what was safe, as he should since he was the one doing the flying. Maia refused to fly any higher than Beast, even though she would have if I’d asked. Personally, I’d have preferred staying well above the trees.
“Do you know exactly where this hangar is?” I asked.
“Approximately. It has to be adjacent to the flight line in order to move airplanes in and out of it. It also has to be big enough to house the Air Force’s largest planes.”
A minute passed as I studied the rapidly approaching flight line through my enhanced senses. I’d only burned that tat a few days ago and I was still marveling at its capabilities.
“Ah, Rafe. I see at least five hangars that would fit your requirements,” I said pointed ahead of us.
“Don’t you have your senses tat active?” he asked.
“Sure I do.”
“Then tell me what makes one of those hangars different than the others.”
I frowned and took a closer look at the huge buildings.
Damn it, I should have noticed that immediately.
“The second one from the farthest,” I said. “It’s a lot cooler than the others.”
“Exactly,” Rafe said. “They would have the Climatic Hangar set to below freezing to keep Rowle’s familiar from decomposing.”
Now he was dropping into mansplaining. He knew I was smart enough to figure that out, but he had to point out the obvious. When was I going to learn not to ask him questions until I had given the question enough thought to keep him from mansplaining?
“Okay, got you. So, you still think we can just walk in and take the broadheads without anyone trying to stop us?” I asked.
“Probably, it’s not like they expect someone to try to steal forty or fifty tons of frozen dragon. We’ll just slip in, do a little slicing and dicing, and leave with your broadheads before anyone is the wiser.”
“That sounds a lot like what you expected to do at the hangar in the Springs when we rescued my aunts,” I reminded him.
“Humph! Totally different circumstances. They had not only expected us, but also had a mage’s help in setting up the ambush. I’d still like to know what that gas was that dropped me. My healing tat would have activated for anything poisonous and neutralized it in short order. It couldn’t have been magical based because our shields block harmful magics.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” I said. “Could it have been nitrogen? It’s not poisonous, per se, so a healing spell wouldn’t affect it, but if the concentration is high enough, you can’t get oxygen into your blood.”
Rafe rotated around to study me.
After a few seconds, I said, “What? You think it’s not possible?”
“No, I think that’s a clever guess. Almost as clever as them thinking of using something like that against us. I wonder why it occurred to them?”
“Well, they did have a mage. She would have known that your shield would stop magic and that a healing spell would defeat knockout or poison gas.”
“Yeah, but to think of flooding an entire hangar with nitrogen seems a stretch.”
“Maybe not. I Googled gases and came across an article about a NASA accident back in 1981. Five technicians were asphyxiated by nitrogen and two died. Anyone older than me might remember the incident since it was during prep for the very first Space Shuttle mission.”
Rafe nodded. “I think I remember something about that. Did I ever tell you that I watched that first launch?”
“No, I think I would have remembered,” I said. “What was it like?”
“Mostly noisy. Beast and I flew in and watched from less than a mile away. I remember the way my chest vibrated with the noise. It was impressive.”
“If you two want to bring your attention back to the present, we’re here,” Beast growled.
We were circling the cool hangar, but I’d been paying attention, regardless of what Beast thought.
“Don’t get smart,” Rafe said. “Set us down next to one of the low buildings near the main doors.”
Beast didn’t respond verbally, but as we passed the massive doors that faced the flight line, he swooped and glided to a landing next to a one-story building on the flight line side of the hangar. I flipped a leg over Maia’s, my familiar–a hippogriff–neck and slid to the ground without bothering her about kneeling. Mounting was another story and I always appreciated her kneeling. I looked up equine terms one day after she’d become my familiar and I learned that in horse terms she would be at least seventeen hands high. Sure, with the trick of applying magic into muscle strength, I could have leapt that high, but that still took me longer than having Maia kneel.
Rafe joined me at the front of our familiars.
“Weapons?” I queried.
Rafe shook his head. “We don’t have any reason to hurt these flyboys. So no, if there’s a problem, stay behind your shield while I get us out.”
I nodded in agreement. I hadn’t expected to need a weapon and had left my glamoured crossbow slung over my back. I hadn’t learned to glamour yet, but at least I could see through a glamour with my
