We were answered by nothing.

“Unidentified aircraft in Wilmington airspace, identify yourself,” the tower repeated.

Silence followed.

Lucy saw the aircraft first, directly behind us and below horizon, meaning its altitude was lower than ours.

“Wilmington tower,” she said over the air. “Helicopter two Sierra Bravo. Have low-flying aircraft in sight. Will maintain separation.

“Something’s not right,” Lucy commented to me, turning around in her seat to look behind us again.

24

IT WAS A dark speck at first, flying after us, directly in our path and gaining on us. As it got closer it became white. Then it turned into a Schweizer with sunlight glinting off the bubble. My heart jumped as I was seized by fear.

“Lucy!” I exclaimed.

“I’ve got it in sight,” she said, instantly angry. “Fuck. I don’t believe this.”

She pulled up on the collective and we began a steep climb. The Schweizer maintained the same altitude, moving faster than we were for as we gained altitude, our speed dropped to seventy knots. Lucy pushed the cyclic forward as the Schweizer gained on us, swerving in closer on our starboard side, where Lucy was sitting. Lucy keyed the mike.

“Tower. Unidentified aircraft making aggressive moves,” she said. “Will be making evasive maneuvers. Contact local police authorities, suspect in unidentified aircraft known armed and dangerous fugitive. Will avoid built-up areas, will take evasive actions towards water.”

“Roger helicopter. Am contacting local authorities.”

Then the tower switched to over-the-guard frequency.

“Attention any aircraft, this is Wilmington tower on-guard, aircraft traffic area is now closed to incoming traffic. Any ground traffic halt movement. Repeat, aircraft traffic area is now closed to incoming traffic. Any ground traffic halt movement. All aircraft this frequency, immediately switch to Wilmington approach control on Victor 135.75 or Uniform 343.9. I say again, all aircraft this frequency immediately switch to Wilmington approach control on Victor 135.75 or Uniform 343.9. Helicopter two Sierra Bravo, remain this frequency.”

“Roger, two Sierra Bravo,” Lucy returned.

I knew why she was heading toward the ocean. If we went down, she didn’t want it to be in a populated area where others might get hurt or killed. I also was certain that Carrie had predicted Lucy would do exactly this, because Lucy was good. She would always put others first. She turned to the east, the Schweizer following our every move but maintaining the same distance behind us of maybe a hundred yards, as if confident that it didn’t need to be in a hurry. That’s when I realized that Carrie had probably been watching us all along.

“It can’t go over ninety knots,” Lucy said to me, and our tension was rising like heat.

“She saw us come in straight to the field earlier today,” I said. “She knows we haven’t refueled.”