Loring exchanged knuckles with his fellow biker, and edged forward on his seat. "Hang your pack there", he said, indicating a little backrest just above the taillight. "You can put the gun and the giblet prodder on the front rack, if you like".
Quick-release plastic snaps secured the gear there. With that, Valentine climbed on and they were off, back into the once-fertile valley.
Loring gave him a quick lesson on how and when to lean in turns, where to put his feet when they stopped the bike, and what to do in case of attack: "Hug me like an ass bandit. You come off, I'm not turning round".
They stopped once while still on the highway to reconnoiter from a slight hill, and Valentine pointed to where he marked the crash site.
"If you want to take a leak, do it now. It's going to be bumpy for a while", Loring advised.
After a companionable release - Loring loosed a long, satisfied " Aye-yup" along with his bladder - they bumped off into the Arizona dirt, crossing through stands of cacti and waxy succulents.
Loring negotiated the big, woolly bushes and dry washes with a good deal of skill. All they disturbed were rabbit, whose Ping-Pong ball tails bounced away from the bike's noisy exhaust, and roadrunners.
"Practically ringing the dinner bell for the Jaguars, you know", Loring said, at a stop where Valentine mounted a rock to recheck their bearings.
They reached the crash site perhaps two hours after the pilot had set down. Judging from the tire tracks, he'd made a good job of the landing, snapping off a few taller cacti, until the right under-engine landing gear hit a rock. The gear hadn't broken, but it bounced the
plane up, and the right wingtip caught and spun it, and once the nose struck it was all over. The rugged frame of the aircraft, though thick with patched bullet holes, had stood up to even the pancake. Wings and tail were still intact.
They made a slow circle of the wreck. Valentine cocked his head to admire the nose art: A girl in an abbreviated red uniform, fighting to keep the front of her skirt down, rode a rocket pointed toward the nose gear. Valentine retrieved his weapons and gear from the bike.
"Wonder if they got him already", Loring said.
"I don't see any tracks". Valentine looked at the upside-down craft. "Anyone in there?"
Loring switched off his motor so Valentine could listen. He saw a pair of bloody fingerprints below one of the windows, upside-down letters reading
MILKMAN
He stuck his head in and looked at the field of gauges and controls. He smelled blood, strong now.
Cargo netting filled the rear of the plane, mostly empty save for a couple of battered crates and strewn duffel bags. He smelled a sweet odor, and traced it to a broken jar of preserved plums in syrup resting against a big water bottle and a mouth tube. An open camera case with a body and a long lens inside rested on the roof. "There are some bags of cargo here. And a camera. You want to check for salvage?"
"Rocket rails", Loring said, still firmly in his saddle, bike pointed for a quick exit.
"Hmmm?" Valentine asked. He pulled the camera case out and inspected the prize. It looked quite valuable.
"On the bottom of the wings. This thing's built to carry rockets, and they've been fired a lot. Let's get out of here. Let the colab choke out here".
Valentine made a slow circuit of the plane. The ground was rocky and...
Blood on the air.
The pilot's keeping close to his ship, but hiding. Sensible, if his friends come looking for him.
Valentine approached the bike. "He's still in the area", he said quietly.
Loring watched the sun, now touching the mountains. "If you say so. I'm dusting off. You coming?"
"I want to meet this guy", Valentine said.
"Shit. You said there were bags of stuff?"
"Yes".
"Gimme one". Loring unwrapped a bungee cord from his handlebar.
Valentine retrieved an ordinary-looking service duffel. It contained a rolled-up sleeping mat and spare blankets. He watched while Loring took off his leather jacket, zipped it on the upright duffel, then placed it in the saddle behind him. He whipped the bungee around it and fixed it at his belly button.