Painfully aware of Ronan’s eyes boring into my back and the secret I have hidden deep within my purse, I tuck my handbag into my flight bag, and tuck that bag in the small storage compartment behind the plane’s cockpit.

“Any problems during the pre-flight check?” I grab my headphones and settle them over my hair.

“Nope. Everything looked good. As soon as you’re settled, we’re ready to take off.” Ronan reaches out and strokes a finger a lightly across my cheek. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” A little worried that he’ll see something in my eyes that will alert him to my suspicions, I turn away from him and take my seat.

“Really?” Ronan settles into the first officer’s chair. “You look a little pale. And strained.”

“I have a bit of a headache and I hate being rushed,” I tell him. “Nothing more.”

“I am sorry about the late warning about this flight. Bruno sprang it on me just before I called you. Probably, I would have turned him down, but…” Ronan glances around the cockpit. “I’ll tell you about it once we’re airborne.”

His behavior more than his words piques my curiosity as I use the radio to communicate with air control. A second later, I get cleared for takeoff and Ronan and I guide the airplane away from the terminal and toward the runway.

The plane handles the takeoff perfectly. Once we level out at cruising altitude, I put it on auto-pilot and turn my attention to Ronan.

“We’re in the air, now spill.”

Ronan scans the flight panel and makes sure that the radio isn’t on. As one last precaution, he reaches behind us and makes sure that the door that divides the bridge from the rest of the plane is securely closed.

I snort. “The way you’re acting, you’d think you were about to share top military secrets.”

Ronan shoots me an amused glance. “Not quite that important, but I did a little research and think that this flight, or at least the return flight, holds the secret to what’s going on with Northwest.”

That’s unexpected.

“Really?”

“The fact that this flight was so last minute made me suspicious. So I did a little digging. About two hours before we’ll reach Helena, another Northwest plane is landing there. It’s on the return leg from a trip that included a stay in Sydney, Australia.”

“Okay,” I say. “And why’s that important?”

“Four days ago, thieves hit one of the smaller zoos just outside of Sydney.”

I raise a brow. “How do you even know that?”

Ronan chuckles. “Google alerts is worth its weight in gold.”

“I see. Did the thieves take more monkeys?”

Ronan shakes his head. “This time it was a pair of Spix’s macaws.”

I blink. “Parrots. Someone went to the trouble of breaking into a zoo just so they could steal some parrots. Why not just go to a pet store and buy one? It’d be cheaper and easier.”

“I don’t see the appeal myself, but these aren’t the type of parrots that you can buy for a few bucks. With the exception of the ones in zoos, they’re believed to be extinct. This particular pair not only bred successfully, but has also raised a few chicks. I haven’t been able to find out how much they’re worth on the black market, but I’m guessing there are people who’d pay a lot for them.”

“And you think Northwest is shipping them to Montana?”

“No,” Ronan corrects. “I think that Northwest is shipping them to Texas. And I think we’re carrying them on the final leg of the trip.” He casts another glance over his shoulder at the door and leans closer. “And I’ll tell you something else. One of the passengers, Paul Caplan, is a Northwest mechanic.”

“So? He’s probably being transferred to Montana, the poor guy.” I think Montana is beautiful, but it’s not a place I’d want to live. It gets way too cold during the winter.

“I don’t think that’s what’s happening here,” Ronan says. “I recognized him when he got on the plane. He was on the plane when we left Berlin, and I’ve seen him on at least two other flights that we’ve piloted. I think he’s the guy that is responsible for getting the stolen critters onto the planes.”

“Then why wasn’t he on the plane that came in from Australia?” I ask.

“I’m guessing there’s more than one animal wrangler,” Ronan hypothesizes. “Or maybe this was a spur of the moment robbery.”

“So, do you have a plan for proving exactly how we’re going to confirm that Northwest is a major player in the exotic animal trade?”

Grinning, Ronan reaches over and takes my hand. “We’re going to spy on Mr. Paul Caplan. If I’m right, he’ll lead us straight to the macaws. Once we find those, we’ll have all the proof we need.”