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dog. I named her Daisy. Maybe she was just dazed by that truck, not really hurt bad at all. That must be it. I got some on video I’ll send you. SEAN GRAVAS AND THE MIRACLE MUTT! I got her a basket and a pad and some food and I’ll bring her home to YOU someday very, very soon. I MUST say that I’m feeling very strong and good today. In my HEART I feel MY great big JOURNEY is ready to continue. I’m ready. I’m more than ready.
     
    Your Dog Savior,
Sean
    Seliah stood again and snapped shut the curtains against the last of the sunset. She lifted her hair off her neck with one hand and fanned her face with the other.
    As if on cue the laptop chimed and the in-box listings shifted down to make room for a new message.
    “It’s from Sean,” said Bly.
    “Read it to me,” said Seliah.
    “ ‘My Dear Seliah, I’m off into the wild blue yonder now. The mission is clear. Good acts and the defeat of evil. Blowdown will be in touch with you soon if they haven’t been already. They will ask you to help them find me. Tell them what they want to hear, dear woman. But hold me in your heart. I will be with you soon. Sean.’ ”
    Hood realized something that made his heart drop. There was a long moment of silence until Hood broke it.
    “The wild blue yonder,” he said. “Sean has a plane at Oceanside Airport, right? A yellow Piper Cub. Bobbie or Betty or something like that. The name is under the fuselage.”
    Seliah shook her head and held his look. “ Betty . He moved her three weeks ago. He wouldn’t tell me where.”
    “When were you going to tell me this?”
    “Damn all of you.”
    Both Hood and Bly let the curse hang. Hood figured if Ozburn was in the wind, there would be few better ways to get around than in his own little aircraft. He’d stay away from commercial airports where he’d have to file flight plans. He’d find other ways. Oz could land a Piper Cub on a street, a dirt road, a level meadow, just plain old desert if it was flat and firm enough. Hood remembered Sean talking about his club, the Desert Flyers. He remembered that Ozburn had outfitted his plane with expensive lights but didn’t bother with a radio or transponder. It was a private aircraft—made to be flown literally off the charts and under the radar.
    “He cashed in his IRA last week,” said Seliah. “Thirty grand after the penalties.”
    Hood thought he heard pride in her voice. “Will you help us find him?”
    Seliah left the room. Hood heard her at the kitchen sink, running water. A moment later she was back, blotting her face with a wet paper towel folded into quarters. “I love him. I want to protect him. And now, after what you say he did this morning, I’ll help you find him. But how?”
    “Right now, just tell him the truth,” said Hood. He turned the laptop to face her.
    “Right now?”
    “Right now.”
    “Are you going to tell me what to say?”
    “Tell him the truth, Seliah. Tell him what you told us.”
    Seliah sat on the couch and set the damp paper towel by the computer. She looked at Hood, then at Bly, then down at the keyboard. She composed slowly, a phrase at a time. Five minutes later she turned the computer to Hood:
    From: Seliah [[email protected]]
    Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 7:55 p.m.
    To: Gravas, Sean
    Subject: With You
     
    My Dear Sean,
    My heart is so heavy for you, sweet husband. Charlie and Janet told me what happened in the Buenavista safe house today. They want me to help them find you. I don’t understand your mission but I want to be by your side. I want to be with you. Six years ago, when I promised you for better or worse, that was more than a promise. It was a statement of unchangeable truth. Please let me come to you. Please let me come to you. Your joy is mine as is your pain and we are one.
     
    All My Love,
Seliah
    Hood nodded and she sent the e-mail.
    “I’ve betrayed him,” said Seliah. A tear ran down her cheek and she dabbed it away with the paper towel.
    “We need your