Free Forced to Kill by Andrew Peterson Page A

stopped at an empty slip.
    “You sure this is the one?”
    “Positive. He was moored here yesterday. The bastard flew the coop. He knew we were coming. Wait… what are you smiling about?”
    “Mr. Houseboat doesn’t know we have a helicopter.”
     
    ***
     
    The man in tan overalls waited until the three men left the dock before pulling his cell phone.“It’s Arturo.”
    “Report.”
    “Three men came looking for the houseboat.”
    “Describe them.”
    “Two white, one Hispanic. One of the white guys was pretty big. Tall, I mean, and hard looking. The Hispanic guy was pretty tall too. I was too far away to see much detail, but the other white guy was FBI. I saw the lettering on his shirt. The two tall guys looked like government agents too.”
    “Interesting.”
    “I overheard them mention a helicopter. I think they’re going to look for the houseboat with it.”
    “Get the tail numbers. Make sure you’re not seen following them. Park at a safe distance and use your field glasses.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “And call me back immediately.”
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 12
     
     
     
    During the drive up to the airstrip, Nathan asked Jeremy to call the park ranger and ask if the houseboat had any distinguishing features. It did. It seemed Mr. Houseboat fancied himself as something of a pirate. His party barge hosted a large Jolly Roger on the stern of the sundeck. His sundeck canopy was light blue. Shouldn’t be too hard to spot.
    They lifted off just before 0800 hours.
    Nathan applied power and climbed. “We’ll check the north end first and work our way south.”
    Jeremy had a pair of field glasses slung around his neck. “I’ve cruised this lake many times. He’ll be hiding in one of the fingers off the main body. But when we find him, where do we land? This is pretty rugged territory.”
    “If we have to,” Nathan said, “we’ll come back with a park ranger on the water.”
    Nathan maintained 500 feet AGL. It gave them the most bang for the buck. Jeremy kept his eyes in the field glasses, calling out the locations of any houseboats he spotted. The north end of the lake didn’t yield their man. The few scattered houseboats beached or anchored in the inlets were all Lake Powell rentals with light burgundy canopies.
    Jeremy said, “I have to admit, this is the coolest assignment I’ve had in a long time. Looking at things from above is totally different.”
    Harv directed him to an inlet on the east side, but it didn’t contain any boats.
    Nathan read the fuel gauges and ran a quick calculation. They had about ninety minutes left before reaching their half-hour reserve. “Harv, give Cal Black’s UNICOM a call and make sure the jet-A fuel pump is good to go. If it isn’t, we’ll need to head for Page within the next forty minutes or so.”
    “You got it.” It took a minute for someone on the ground to respond with an affirmative reply. Jet-A was available 24-7.
    Nathan looked at the chart on Harv’s knee board. “Let’s go directly to that long inlet on the west side. I’ve got a hunch he’s in there.”
    “Heading… two-five-zero,” Harv said. “That should take us directly to the mouth of the inlet. If we find him in there, we’ll overfly his position and orbit at a distance while we decide where to land. With a little luck, we’ll be able to get close. Getting down to the water might pose a problem, though. These canyon walls are pretty steep in most places.”
     Nathan said, “We didn’t check density altitude. Think we’re okay for a steep approach?”
    “Shouldn’t be a problem, we’re way under gross.”
    They reached the mouth of the inlet and initiated an east-west zigzag pattern, checking all the alcoves.
    Several miles in, Jeremy said, “Houseboat at three o’clock. It’s got a powder-blue canopy. Could be our man.”
    He turned right and flew up the canyon.
    “That’s him. We’ve got a Jolly Roger on the stern.”
    “I see him. He’s