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“Yes, that’s me.” She stuck out her hand and smiled. “Call me Paige.”

The man nodded as they shook, introducing himself as Captain Thomas Winslow and motioning toward the other man to introduce his copilot, Steven Whittaker.

“Nice to meet you both,” Paige said. She flicked a glance at the jet next to them. “Are we ready to go?”

“Yes. I just need the flight order from Ms. Lauren.”

“Uh…” Paige said.

“She’ll email it over as soon as she’s in the office,” Dewey shouted from the carrier. “This is an emergency directive. As assistant to the director, I have the ability to issue the emergency notification, and I just did. Now, get us off the ground and in the air to Moscow now, Captain!”

The man frowned at the carrier, screwing up his face. “Did your dog just say something in a foreign language?”

“I’m a dragon, you nitwit.”

“Sorry. He’s a little ornery,” Paige said, wondering how much the pilots knew about the library.

Captain Winslow rubbed the back of his neck as he side-eyed the carrier for another moment before flicking his gaze to Paige. “Uh, we’re all ready to fly, but the only orders I can accept are from Veronica Lauren or–“ He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped around on it. “Dewey Decimal.”

“It’s Decimall. And I’m Dewey Decimael. Employee ID number 871131345. Paige, translate for me. He can’t speak Dragon.”

“Oh, right,” Paige said, fingering the translation stone around her neck. “Sorry, my colleague just reminded me that you don’t speak Dragon. He’s actually a dragon, not a dog. He said he can issue the emergency notification and just did so verbally. Please take us to Moscow.”

The man’s eyebrows shot up.

Paige patted the carrier. “This is Dewey Decimael. He’s a dragon. Like I said before.”

“Oh, uh, Mr. Decimael, I didn’t recognize you in that little bag there.”

“Why would you recognize me, Captain? We’ve never met! And so far, I’m thanking my lucky stars as the experience has left something to be desired.”

“What’d he say?”

“He said no problem, and thank you for your help.”

“That’s not what I said, Paige. Tell him he’s a jerk.”

“Anytime.” The man crouched down to peer into the carrier. “And, uh, nice to meet you, Mr. Decimael.”

“Just fly, flyboy,” the dragon huffed.

The man flicked his gaze to Paige for a translation.

“He said it’s lovely to meet you, too. Now, we’re in a terrible hurry, so could we–“ She waved to the plane.

“Oh, yes, sure. We’ll have you out of here in a jiffy and to Moscow in a few hours.” He motioned for Paige to climb up into the cabin.

She lugged her belongings into the well-appointed cabin. “Wow, this is nicer than I expected.”

She ran her fingers over one of the four supple leather chairs grouped together before proceeding back toward the workspace flanked by more seating. Behind it, two couches sat with pillows and blankets.

The pilot pointed to a door next to one of the couches. “There’s a bedroom back there, in case you’d like to sleep on the flight. You’ve got about nine hours or so to kill.”

“Thanks,” Paige said as the two men headed for the cockpit after securing the door.

She dumped her tote bag on the couch and dug her phone out.

“What are you doing?” Dewey asked.