Along the way, Irene felt tense—she was at once excited and hopeful.
She felt really charged even after days of running about without food or sleep.
Zachary passed her a piece of bread. "Eat. Don't look half-dead when you meet Isaac again."
"You're the one who looks half-dead," Irene retorted even as she took it.
Still, Zachary was relaxed to know that Isaac might be fine. "I knew it. You're trying to make yourself look pitiful so that Isaac would feel sorry for you, right?"
Irene really wanted to roll her eyes at him. "You have a wonderful imagination."
Zachary chuckled.
Nonetheless, Irene ate the bread and drank some water, immediately feeling revitalized after she did.
Zachary was going to tell her to get some sleep as well, but she probably would not fall asleep given her tense state.
He said nothing, while hoping that the helicopter would move faster and take them back to Franconia.
Naturally, the wait was grilling, and Irene was constantly checking the time.
Once the helicopter landed and they alighted, James promptly called Stan, who told them that he was already at the castle.
They drove there immediately and found Stan waiting outside, unscathed.
Once she was out of the car, Irene promptly asked, "Where's Isaac?"
"I don't know," Stan replied.
Everyone else was left speechless for a moment.
"What is this? Shouldn't he be with you? Why don't you know where he is?" Irene demanded, staring fixedly at him. "Explain yourself!"
Stan gave Zachary and James an awkward look in turn, but neither were coming to his defense, with James saying, "We'd like to know too."
It was not as if Stan did not want to say it—he just wanted to do it away from Irene because this was about work.
However, whether the captain did it on purpose or messed up in panic, the plane went out of control, and they quickly ran for the parachutes. It was a private jet instead of the usual passenger airlines, so there were some military-issue parachutes prepared.
It was also much safer than the standard parachutes, which was how Stan landed safely.
However, they were too high up when they jumped, so they landed separately.
Since Stan landed on the border between Dunesia and Franconia, he immediately went looking for populated areas, contacting James as soon as he reached a phone.
However, he never got through to Isaac's phone.
Even if Irene was not sure about Isaac's work, she could tell that it was a business deal gone sour, leading to deliberate sabotage.
But even if the plane crash was no accident, Irene believed that Isaac was fine, since Stan was unscathed.
Looking straight at Stan, she said, "Let's go look for him. He should be near where you landed."
However, Stan became hesitant, as if wondering if he should speak just then!
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