Page 69 of Silent Target

The pilot starts the engines.

Caleb adjusts his rifle.

“What are you aiming at?”

“The helicopter.”

“You can’t shoot the pilot.”

“I’m not.”

He fires.

The round strikes a hydraulic line near the landing assembly. Fluid sprays across the pad, and alarms scream inside the cockpit.

The helicopter lists to one side.

The pilot immediately shuts down the engines.

Walter stares at the crippled aircraft.

Then he turns toward our mountain.

Even from this distance, I feel his fury.

Caleb has stranded one of the most powerful men in Washington.

I watch Walter lift his radio.

“He’s calling reinforcements.”

“Probably.”

“What happens when they arrive?”

“We leave before they do.”

Fathom’s voice breaks through the radio.

“You’re all going to want to see this.”

Something in his tone silences everyone.

Rook answers first. “What did you find?”

“Evidence that Black Banner is older than we thought.”

“How old?”

“I’m looking at a photograph taken nearly fifty years ago.”

My skin goes cold.

“Who’s in it?” I ask.

Several seconds pass.

Then Fathom says, “Walter Graves.”