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The sleek, ruh forIts jets were ru so loud that I couldn’t even hear s

Instead of a stewardess, a green-fatigues-clad soldier wearing a beret dropped the door and helped me aboard As the soldier resealed the door, I could see that the plane’s resemblance to a G6 ended at the steps Inside, it looked like a cargo plane, with netting and juasoline A feave me a wide smile and a thumbs-up from the forward cockpit

“Can I get you anything, sir?” the soldier asked after he expertly strapped s to the wall

Still in a state of shock and awe, I just shook my head as the jets fired and the desert outside thestarted to roll

The soldier didn’t offer e brown paper bag and handed it to round

“Just in case,” he said

CHAPTER 31

AS WE HEADED SOUTH, the friendly soldier-steward told me his name was Larry and that the plane was called a C-26 Metroliner

What he failed to mention hy I was on aI was about to find out

It had been just under an hour e touched back down to earth Not bad, considering that Cody’s ranch was alo plane, I decided flying private was the way to go No one had even once estion that they wanted to touch my junk

When I looked out the porthole of a , not too far off I spotted a couple of parked Chinook cargo helicopters Where are the Delta and Southwest planes? I wondered Where are the guys driving the luggage carts? Instead of these usual airport sights, beyond the runway fence were rows of two-story dors It looked like ere on some sort of military base

“I take it this isn’t LAX,” I said to Larry

“No, sir We’re at SCLA, Southern Cal Logistics Airport,” he said

Eolf cart on steroids, as Larry dropped the door She was checking her phone and trying to look all nonchalant, like private jets were thein the world to her

But after I thanked Larry and the pilot and started to walk over, she cracked a sent Parker could look as steely as the snub-nosed Colt 45 automatic she packed, but when she sirl you were too afraid to ask to your high school proreat smile it was Almost