The Missing Heir(51)
The more he thought about it, the more he realized acknowledging their blood relationship was the right thing to do. He wasn’t sure why he waited so long.
Nearly an hour had gone by before he returned to the penthouse. Amber had given him her spare key, so he let himself in, wondering if Zachary would have finished his bottle and might be having a morning bath. He hoped he wasn’t being fussy for Amber.
When Cole opened the door, he did hear Zachary’s cries. But they were interspersed with adult voices. At first he assumed Isabel had arrived. But it was a man speaking, then another answering.
Cole and Otis rounded the corner to the living room to see Roth Calvin and four other men standing with Amber in the middle of the room. Two of the men were on cell phones, while Amber was holding a crying Zachary. Cole reflexively moved forward to take the baby.
“What’s going on?” he asked, worried that something had gone wrong in the court battle.
“Thank you,” whispered Amber as Zachary’s cries quieted. “Isabel’s running late, and we’ve got a problem.”
Cole glanced at the other four men. “What’s wrong?”
“A Coast Eagle flight is in trouble,” said one of them.
Cole went instantly on alert. “What kind of trouble?”
“Hydraulic failure,” said the shortest of the three. “The landing gear won’t come down.”
“What’s he doing here?” Roth demanded, ending his call, seeming to have just recognized Cole.
“I brought bagels,” said Cole.
“Zachary likes him,” said Amber.
“What kind of plane?” Cole asked.
“We’ve got work to do here,” said a large, rotund, fiftysomething man with gray hair and a bulbous nose.
“Cole,” said Amber. “This is Max Cutter. He’s our interim president. This is Sidney Raines and Julius Fonteno, both vice presidents. You know Roth.”
“What kind of plane?” Cole repeated. The size of the plane dictated the scale of the problem.
Julius, the large man, frowned. “Shouldn’t you go change a diaper or something?”
Cole braced his feet apart. “It’ll be faster if you just answer the question.”
“Boonsome 300 over LAX,” said Sidney, the shorter, younger man, glancing up from the screen of his phone. “They’re reporting twenty minutes of fuel left.”
Cole’s stomach sank. A Boonsome 300 was a passenger jet. There were up to two hundred souls on board.
Max Cutter ended his own call. “The pilot’s leaving the holding pattern and bringing her in.”
Cole looked to Amber. She was still and pale.
“Are you a pilot?” he asked Sidney.
“Yes.”
“They’ve checked the pump circuit breakers?” Cole knew the answer would be yes. But he couldn’t help going through the diagnostics in his mind.