Within minutes, the pirates were cuffed and loaded onto the Coast Guard boats. The stolen goods—at least most of them—were recovered. The seaplane drifted slightly in the waves, damaged but still afloat.
Later, as they sat under a warm blanket on the deck of the cutter, Jamie leaned back, still trembling a little. “So,” he said, “that’s flight one hundred.” Noah gave a weak smile. “Didn’t go exactly to plan.” Jamie looked up at the stars. “Yeah… but I’ll take it.”