Nick eyed the landing zone as they approached the airfield. His passenger, while still a little nervous, was visibly calmer and had actually spent most of the flight working. Nick cleared his throat and thumbed the microphone switch. "You might want to stow that; we're about to land.

Cody looked up and out, "Already?"

Nick bit down on a smile. He considered it a huge accomplishment that Cody was no longer completely terrified of helicopters. "'Fraid so. Or I could take us back for another circle around the Channel Islands."

Cody's grin was easy, "No, it's getting late. And I won't be sad to get away from this noise. How do you stand it?"

Nick pursed his lips to keep from laughing. "Don't even notice it, guy."

Cody smiled back, "That's some pretty willful ignorance, buddy."

"Just part of my life, man." After their earlier conversation, Nick was a little surprised that Cody called him buddy, but he didn't mention it. For his part, it did seem like Cody had become something more than a passenger after Nick's turn as a pretend lawyer. There was an ease between them that was unusual for Nick. He tended to rub new acquaintances the wrong way as he generally called a spade a spade. As a result, he didn't have many close friends. But the whole bogus-attorney scam made it feel like he and Cody kind of were a team.

Cody shook his head with a wide smile as he started shoving his notes in the brief case. They were less than twenty feet off the ground when he glanced out the window again. Nick was busy, but, concerned about his passenger's reaction, his peripheral vision caught Cody's white face as they quickly approached the LZ.

Nick did his best to be gentle, and in a few seconds, he was shutting down the engines. Beside him, he could feel Cody's abrupt anxiety begin to ease. Nick started the post flight checklist as Cody gathered his belongings.

"So what happens now?"

"You're ready to go, man."

"That's it? I don't have to sign anything? Review your singing or whatever?"

Nick was unable to stop his grin. This guy was sharp and quick and had a good sense of humor. "Probably be better if you didn't mention that actually. Make all my other flights jealous." Nick kept working, studiously ignoring the smile lighting up the face beside him.

"But that was the most memorable part of the whole flight."

Not wanting to remind him of the utter terror that preceded it, Nick cocked a brow. "More memorable than Ned Newton, the new associate at your firm?"

This time, it was Cody trying to suppress his amusement. "Yeah, that part was pretty good, too…but not technically part of the flight."

By then, Nick had finished his checklist. "Jerry'll send the bill to your office. You're done, guy."

Cody sat still for a moment, "You know, this day went a whole lot better than it could have. Much better than I expected. That's because of you. I owe you."

Uncomfortable with the serious turn, Nick shrugged and shook his head, "All part of the service. Don't sweat it."

Cody's smile was gentle, "For you maybe, but a pretty big deal to me." He paused, "Thank you."

Nick didn't want to be dismissive of the gratitude, but he wanted to return them to easier footing. "You're welcome. Now get outta here; been a long day for you."

Cody grinned, "You need any help here?"

"Just have to drop some stuff in the office, finish up the paperwork."

They climbed out of the chopper and firmly shut the doors before ambling over to the office. Nick glanced around the empty parking lot, "Where's your car?"

Cody grinned ruefully and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "I'm on the other side of that building, by a chain link fence and some trees. I was so nervous this morning that I couldn't find the office, and I kept driving around and around the airfield. Finally, I just parked the car and asked somebody. Turned out, I was pretty close, so I left it where it was."

Nick pulled up his mental map of the airfield. "It's kinda dark over there. You okay to find your way back?"

"Oh sure. I was turned around, but I know where I left my car."

By this time, they were standing by the office door. Nick faced the man he'd expected to be a huge pain in the butt, but Cody had turned out to be a good guy. And Nick had found out a little about being a lawyer. "Well…good luck with the case."

"It's pretty well locked up. Thanks for your help. It was nice having a little back up at the table."

"Hey, it was a big promotion for a grunt like me."

Cody shrugged nonchalantly, "My pleasure."

"So maybe I'll see ya around, huh?"

"Yeah, maybe. I hope so."

After they shook hands, Nick briefly watched him walk away and then unlocked the office door. At the desk, he signed in his flight and on-the-ground time, along with mileage. He picked up a couple of things from his cubby and headed for the 'Vette behind the hanger.

A tingle of unease raised goose bumps under his collar. Glancing around briefly as he slid into the leather seat, he tried to shrug off the sudden feeling of disquiet. When that didn't work, he tried to figure out what was messing with his head. Nothing seemed out of place or unusual, but in the darkness, it would be child's play to hide in the shadows.

Finally, he started the car and put it in reverse, trying to enjoy her throaty roar and dismiss the sense of unease. His eyes followed the path of her headlights, hoping to see something—anything—out of place. But nothing jumped out, and he finally decided to just let it go. Probably nothing anyway.

Except…

Except that instinct had been developed in the Vietnamese jungle. A feeling like this had saved his hide a dozen times. Occasionally, it had saved people around him, too. And just because he didn't use it very often these days didn't mean that it was rusty. It wasn't something he could just ignore.

Maybe…maybe he'd just take a little drive around the field. See if anything turned up.

Puttering in a 'Vette wasn't easy to do; she loved to run, but Nick kept her creeping along the open spaces of the airfield. He turned left at the next hanger and crawled past the metal siding. As he got beyond the last corner of the building, he looked left again and saw Cody by his car. His passenger was about a hundred yards away, parked under some overhanging jacaranda trees by the airfield fence. Nick stopped to watch as Cody fiddled with his keys…and two shadows jumped out.

Nick's instincts roared as he floored the pedal and swung the car in their direction. Three faces flashed his way as he sped toward them. Cody stood still, startled and bewildered, but the other two immediately fled around the end of the Volvo.

Nick flew past Cody in pursuit, but quickly realized it was a fool's errand. The two shadows split up and disappeared in the darkness of the buildings and machines scattered around the airfield. Nick thumped the steering wheel in frustration and turned the car back toward Cody.

He found him standing at the back end of his car, one hand on the roof for support, the other still holding his briefcase. He shielded his eyes in the 'Vette's headlights until Nick turned them off. "Cody? You all right, man?"

"Nick? Boy, you're a sight for sore eyes."

Nick jumped out of the car, "You okay?"

"Yeah. I mean…yeah. Those two guys came out of nowhere, and they had a knife, and…"

"What'd they want?"

"My wallet and the car keys."

Nick started mentally listing the people at the airfield who might be boneheaded enough to pull something this asinine. Had to be a crime of opportunity as most people were gone by this time of night. Plus, there were plenty of better cars to steal than a Volvo. Hard to look cool tooling around in a boxy station wagon. And mugging someone at an empty airfield was likely gonna bring a pretty low yield on the return, but there were a few idiots around who might try something that stupid.

"Nick?"

Nick stirred from his pondering, "Huh?"

"I asked what you're doing here. I didn't look that lost, did I? That you had to follow me to my car? Not that I'm not grateful, but…"

Nick fumbled for an explanation. He waved his hands in the air in opposing circles, "There was just something, ya know, and I couldn't…" He trailed off at how ridiculous it sounded. "I guess I just wanted to make sure you got to your car okay."

Cody's face was skeptical. "Seems a little above and beyond, but I'm not gonna object." He smiled, "How 'bout a beer and some food? My treat."

Nick hesitated. He wasn't a guy who just sat around jawing with people. He might go out with a few of the pilots or ground crew occasionally, but he wasn't one for clubbing. If he was looking for company, he had a couple or three places he stopped at, but it wasn't a regular evening activity for him. But…it had been a hell of a day, and it would be nice to unwind with the guy who'd been through it with him. "Yeah, okay. Sure."

"I'm not familiar with this part of town; you know a place?"