“Thats not your fault.

He forgot his terror long enough to send Prince a pitying glance. “Youve never had a permanent relationship, have you, Prince? A serious one?

Defensive now, she shook her head. “Still

“Still nothing, Liam said. “It doesnt matter if its my fault or not. It will be by the time I get there.

He stared resolutely ahead, trying to ignore the thousand feet of space between himself and Mother Earth.

Prince mumbled something he couldnt hear. “What?

“Nothing, Prince said, and tossed Liam the FAAs Airport/Facility Directory. He opened it, and found the airport sketch for Kagati Lake. “Its a gravel strip, two thousand forty-five feet long, fifty-five wide.

“Elevation?

“Eight hundred eight feet.

“Light?

Liam squinted down at the page. “Says its unimproved. That mean no lights?

“If there were lights it would say. Prince tapped the dial of a gauge on the control panel. The needle didnt move. “Wed better hustle if were going to beat the sun.

It hadnt registered with Liam until this moment that the sun was in the act of setting. There wasnt any snow yet, piled into neat, defining berms along the sides, so it could be hard to spot an unfamiliar runway in the dark. “How long?

“Weve got a little bit of a tailwind, Prince said. “Id say about an hour.

Liam thought of Wy, alone on the ground in Kagati Lake but for the doubtful company of a corpse. “Can we push it?

Prince grinned beneath mirrored aviator lenses that made her look like one of the extras in Top Gun. “What the hell, the states buying.

She kept the throttle all the way out and they raised Kagati Lake in fifty-nine minutes. It was still light enough to see 68 Kilo parked at the west end of the strip, near a large sprawling building that looked as if it had begun its long life as a one-room log cabin, and then had skipped the split-level phase entirely to metamorphose into something that was a cross between a plantation house and a barn. The roof was variously shingled, tarpapered and capped with sheets of corrugated plastic.

Wy emerged from beneath the wing of 68 Kilo and looked up. Prince waggled her wings. Wy didnt wave back.

“See? Liam muttered.

The 180, which even Liam had to admit was a well-mannered beast, set down smoothly, jounced once in and out of a pothole, recovered neatly and rolled to a stop.

As always, Liam was first out. Wy was waiting for him.

“I dont want to find any more dead bodies, she said.

“I know, he said.

“I never used to find dead bodies.

“I know.

“I never, ever found a single dead body before this year.

“I know.

“No more dead bodies, she said. She was very definite. “Of any kind. Nobody I know, nobody I dont know. Not next to the fuel pump at the Newenham airport, not in the middle of the ruins of an abandoned village, and especially not at a Bush post office where Im delivering the U.S. mail.