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“Croggon Hainey sends his regards, but he isn’t up for hire,” Josephine Early declared griram in her fist She flicked the wad of paper into the tiny round wastebin beside her desk and took a deep breath that caoddammit ”

“Ma’am, the airyard’s full of pilots,” her assistant, Marylin Quantrill, replied

She leaned back in her seat and tapped her fingers on the chair’s armrest “Not pilots like him ”

“Hainey … he’s a colored fellow, isn’t he? One of the Macon Madmen?”

“Yes, and he’s the best flier I know But I can’t bla a lot, for him to come so far south while he’s still wanted—and we don’t have the money to pay hier ”

Marylin nodded, disappointed but understanding “It didn’t hurt to ask ”

“No And if it were me, I wouldn’t take the job either ” Josephine ceased her tapping and shifted her weight, further wedging her voluany chair’s rigid ar he’d say yes He’s perfect for the job, and perfect doesn’t coing about the airyard, I can tell you thatskills and absolutely no loyalty to the Republic or the Confederacy And that, my dear, will be the trouble ”

“Is there anyone else we could ask, anyone farther afield?”

“No one springs to mind,” Josephine murmured

Marylin pressed on “It ht, and a pilot won’t have any better luck than a seaman ”

“It’d be hard for anyone, anywhere, to fail so spectacularly as that last batch of sailors ”

“Not all of them drowned ”

“Four out of five isn’t anything to crow about ”

“I suppose not, loves She didn’t often wear gloves, given the heat and dath silk pair with tiny pearl buttons had been a gift from a custoht Her hair was done up in a twisted set of plaits and set with an ostrich feather The yellow dress she wore cost only half what the gloves did, but they complemented each other all the same