Country Of The Falcon. Anne Mather

and the last thing she wanted was for her father to find them hostile towards one another. She had still to discover who this man was, what his occupation was, and exactly how well he knew her father.

      They flew low over one of the larger lakes and Alexandra tensed again until Declan said: ‘Can you see the herons on the shore there? They nest in the trees at night. It’s quite an unusual sight.’

      ‘They have such long legs!’ she exclaimed, quite forgetting her earlier annoyance, and Declan nodded.

      ‘I imagine they consider the safety of the upper branches worth the effort,’ he commented dryly, and eased back on the stick so that the small plane rose higher again.

      Clouds were lowering ahead of them, and Alexandra wondered where they would eventually land. At least it was cool up here, away from the moist heat of the valley floor, and had it not been for the tropical forest beneath them they could have been almost anywhere.

      ‘I think we’re going into rough weather,’ Declan said suddenly, as his headphones crackled and he lifted them to hear what was being relayed. ‘There’s a pretty bad storm up ahead, but it isn’t forcing aircraft down yet, so I’m going to try and beat it in.’