Near midnight, the group travels aboard a Challenger jet marked MAINE PAPER INDUSTRIES, cruising over West Virginia en route to Maine. Their departure from Alcolu goes smoothly because Julia Sigsby uses a VIP Regal Air FBO pass to open the gate, which gives her hope of survival. Tim Jamieson secures the cabin, raises the air-stairs, and signals the pilots to depart by pounding on the cockpit door with a Glock taken from a dead deputy.

Once airborne, Dr. James Evans dozes and Luke Ellis sleeps deeply, his bandaged ear and dirty face making him look younger than twelve. Sigsby, wounded but refusing painkillers, sits upright watching Tim, whom she assesses as having law enforcement experience based on his bearing and quick reactions. She challenges the logic of Luke’s rescue plan, calling it idiotic, and questions why Tim agreed to it and why he got involved at all.

Tim refuses to answer, adhering to his training that perps are questioned, not allowed to question. He keeps the Glock beside him but has no intention of firing on a pressurized jet. He offers Sigsby a pain pill; she declines, continuing her interrogation.

Internally, Tim considers but does not voice the improbable path that led him here: an impulsive decision to give up an airline seat, the ensuing hitchhike and delays, his arrival in DuPray, and the night knocker job that positioned him to rescue Luke. He wonders about fate and whether he and others—Sheriff John, Tag Faraday, George Burkett, Frank Potter, and Bill Wicklow—are pawns in a larger game, and what piece he might be.

The exchange ends with Tim maintaining silence, turning to look out at the darkness below while Sigsby watches, calculating her chances. The flight continues north toward Maine, with Luke and Evans asleep and Sigsby awake and intent.