Read Order of the Air Omnibus: Books 1-3 for Free Online Page A

all right?”
    “Yeah.” Lewis shook himself, shaking away the residue of the dream. It was just a nightmare, nothing to do with the other dreams. It was just a lesson: never fall asleep while flying. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
     
    M itch brought the Terrier into Grand Central in the thickening dusk, just before the moment where the tower might have waved them off while they got the field lighted up. They taxied up to the brand new terminal, stucco so white it almost seemed to glow, tower jutting against the purple sky, and Mitch insisted on unloading them before he took the plane to the rented hangar space. Alma wasn’t sorry to have the chance to freshen up — a movie star could arrive at the Roosevelt grubby and sweating, but not an ordinary mortal — and she wasn’t surprised to find that the Ladies’ Lounge had a dressing room. She left Jerry and Lewis at the coffee shop and lugged her suitcase up to the second floor. The attendant didn’t seem surprised to see her, just shuffled off and came back with a damp washcloth and a towel that actually looked as though it would do some good. Alma washed her face and hands gratefully, and ran her wrists under the cold water until she felt almost human again.
    The attendant pointed her to a changing room, and she dug her blue frock out of the suitcase and stripped out of shirt and pants. She stood for a moment in her bare feet and combinations, savoring the cooling air, then hastily pulled on stockings and pumps and slid the dress over her head. The matching cloche was dented; she pressed it out, and settled it to hide her untidy hair. Powder was pointless, with her complexion. Instead, she craned to see that her seams were straight, then clicked the suitcase closed, left a nickel in the attendant’s dish, and headed back down to the main lobby.
    The men were waiting for her under one of the arches that gave onto the field, where the lights were strongest. Jerry tipped his hat at her approach, and Lewis put his hand to his cap in something like a salute, his glance appreciative. Mitch lifted his hat as well, set it onto the back of his head. He had his jacket over his arm
    “We got lucky, Al. Nomie Jones is still running the rentals here.”
    That was good news on all counts — Nomie had served with Gil, gave them a break on the hangar fee — and Alma nodded. “That’s good news.” There was an orchestra tuning somewhere, she realized, looked up the stairs to see lights and movement, and shook her head as she realized there was a restaurant there, apparently with a dance floor.
    Lewis grinned. “Feels too much like work, doesn’t it?”
    Alma nodded, and Jerry laughed. “Oh, come now, don’t you know this is where you go to see the stars? The ones who fly, anyway.”
    “It’s still too much like work,” Alma answered.
     

Chapter Four
     
    M itch leaned back against the pillows and closed his eyes, while Jerry hunted around. He’d long since learned to tune out things that didn’t concern him, and Jerry’s search through his reference books was out of his league. Mitch was pretty cheerful about that. He’d never had any pretensions to academic brilliance.
    Yes, he had a degree, and he’d earned it, but it was more the result of concerted effort than natural talent, a lot like some other things in his life. Mitch had learned a long time ago that everybody gets one good, golden talent if they’re lucky, to make of what they can. All the rest of life is hard work.
    His talent was airplanes. The first day he’d been up he’d understood what to do, felt it all suddenly make sense in a way that nothing else before ever had. This was it. This was the thing, the beautiful thing that Mitchell Sorley was born to do. No more kind of sort of getting it, trudging along in the middle of the pack laboring to do what others did with rare grace. In the air he was reborn.
    Gil had seen it. Lt. Colonel Gilchrist had given him the chance to shine.
    Gil was pretty much the