* * *
As Abby walked by, she confirmed for herself beyond a doubt that it was Ace leaning up against the column on the far side of the gate. She first spotted him back at the donut shop waiting in line, and then sitting a row behind her in the terminal for the past twenty minutes or so. He looked much different without a beard and with his haircut, but the small cut she had given him on his neck when she had met him a few days before was still there and gave him away.
She wasn’t sure why he was following her, but she had to assume Robert put him up to it. She was keeping an eye out for JJ, too, as she expected that it was only a matter of time before he showed up. More concerning than either of them, however, was the man who had asked her to watch his bag.
Abby couldn’t figure out his angle, but something about him wasn’t sitting right with her. She had said yes so he wouldn’t think she was suspicious, but decided to get away from him the second he got back. She recognized him as the same guy who had tried to use the first class bathroom and was turned away by the flight attendant. Now he was striking up a conversation with her, and she couldn’t help but notice the side of his coffee cup had the exact same order she put in. She was sure that he was following her, and she didn’t like it one bit. She could understand Robert paying JJ and Ace to follow her, but he would never have someone she didn’t know tailing her. It just didn’t add up.
She went in the direction she had originally come from, hoping to find Eric. She knew that they didn’t want to be seen together, but she was worried about this guy following her and wanted to give him a heads up. Standing in the wide-open area of the main terminal, she scanned the crowds, but couldn’t find anyone remotely close to his description. “Where are you?” she asked out loud.
* * *
When Ace looked back toward the corridor and saw that Abby was nowhere in sight, he knew it was time to make a move. Ace took two steps toward the aisle where the man sat and shouted at him, “Jerry?”
The man looked up, confused.
“Jerry Davidson!” Ace trotted over to the man. “You old sonofabitch!”
The man smiled at him uncomfortably. “Sorry, you’ve got the wrong guy.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Ace said boisterously, holding out his hand. “Dale, Dale Harrison. You were a year ahead of me in school, in my sister Julie’s class.”
The confused man took Ace’s hand, which Ace used to yank him into a standing position and wrap his arms around him in a bear hug, pinning the man’s sizeable arms against his sides. Ace whispered into his ear, “I don’t know who the fuck you are, or what’s going on here, but it ends now.” Ace leaned back ever so slightly to look the man in the eye. His long hair had been trimmed, his crazy beard shaved, but he had a wild look in his eyes that, combined with his vice-like strength, told the man he was not someone to be trifled with. He smiled and whispered, “Pick up the bag, we’re going for a walk.”
* * *
Connor stood still, not knowing what to think for a moment. He knew how to take care of himself, but the man who stood in front of him had a look in his eyes that was more animal than man. He quickly checked through his options and realized there was nothing he could do here in the open if he wanted to be able to wrap things up with Abby.
“Pick up the bag, we’re going for a walk,” the man said.
Connor bent down to pick up the bag and stood, “Where are we going?”
“Don’t forget your coffee,” the man said.
Connor bent down to pick up the one closest to him.
“The other one,” the man said.
Connor froze for a moment before picking up the other cup as instructed. As he stood, drugged coffee in hand, he realized his cover was blown. He didn’t know who this guy was, but he was obviously onto him. “I can give you money,” Connor spoke under his breath. “Whatever she’s paying you to watch her back, I’ll double it.”
“Nice try.” The man laughed and threw his arm around Connor like they were old friends. “Let’s walk.”
* * *
As he walked down the corridor with his arm around the man, Ace scanned the area in front of him for options. He briefly considered just tossing this guy to the authorities, but who knew what he was really up to. Whatever it was would tie up Ace for hours in some sort of detention area where he would have to answer questions, as well, and that would leave Abby alone and unattended with JJ still missing.
No, he thought, I need to get rid of this guy quick.
As they walked by the open entrance to the ladies’ room Ace saw a door standing ajar out of the corner of his eye. Custodian’s closet, he thought.
With a quick glance around to make sure there were no security officers with eyes on them, he shuffled the man off to the side and through the open door into the small custodian’s closet, pulling the door shut behind him and flipping the light on. Neither saw Abby watching them from behind.
“Who are you?” Ace demanded.
The man stood silent.
As Ace opened his mouth to ask again, the man flipped open the lid to his cup and threw the lukewarm coffee into Ace’s face. Ace stumbled backwards, spitting it from his mouth and wiping it from his eyes.
He lunged back at the man, giving him a hard slap across the face with his big, meaty open hand, but Ace wasn’t ready for the lightening fast jab to the ribs that immediately followed, doubling him over and into the man’s knee. Ace had grown up scrapping with his older brother and the other boys in the neighborhood and was no stranger to the stunned feeling of a kneecap to the forehead. He used his upward momentum and the man’s off-balance position to hit him in the jaw with an uppercut that sent him reeling backwards into a rack full of toilet paper and cleaning supplies. It was the smile on the man’s face that surprised Ace most of all. Apparently this guy had taken a punch or two himself.
They circled each other in the small, confined room, maybe only six or seven feet square. “So what,” Ace said, “we’re going to beat the crap out of each other in a tiny room? How long is that supposed to last?”
“Oh, not too long,” the man smiled.
* * *
What the hell is going on? Abby wondered. She was standing about thirty feet from the ladies’ room and had just seen Ace and the other man disappear into a utility closet. She looked around, JJ has to be somewhere around here too.
She didn’t know what was going on behind that door, but it seemed that Ace had noticed the guy, too, and was doing something about it. Her heart beat hard and fast in her chest. She wanted to get in there and find out what was happening. Ace seemed like a capable guy, but the other man was just as big. What if Ace needs help? Her mind raced through her options, but every scenario resulted in her not getting on the plane and not getting to Ava.
“Damn it!” she cursed under her breath.
She looked around. Airports are filled with security, and this one was no exception. She spotted a guard at the far end of the terminal. If I go tell him I saw these guys go into a closet, he’ll check it out, but I’m probably going to have to give a statement, too. Damn. That option was out... think, Abby, think...
* * *
Connor expertly ducked as the wild man swung a right hook to his jaw, and he came back with a double jab to the ribs, followed by a right hook of his own that grazed the man’s jaw. The man stumbled back again, and seemed to be moving a bit slower. Connor wondered if the sedative in the coffee he just threw in his face was enough to take care of the guy. Probably not, he thought.
Abby was a little peanut of a woman. Had she drank it, it would have done the job. But this guy was a good six-foot-three and well over two hundred pounds and had swallowed very little of it.
Connor followed up with a punch to the gut before the man could recover, knocking the wind out of him. He quickly grabbed the syringe out of his bag and flipped the cap off, turning back toward his foe.
* * *
Ace was feeling groggy. Whatever was in that coffee was doing its
work. He was glad he had intervened before Abby got ahold of it, but worried about what he had just ingested.
As the man turned around, Ace saw he was holding a tiny plastic syringe tipped with a shiny thin needle. As the man swung it in his direction, the adrenaline gave Ace an extra boost and he moved back, knocking the man’s hand away and sending the syringe clattering to the floor and under the shelving unit.
The man dove to the floor after it, clawing under the unit, searching for the syringe. Ace jumped on his back, wrapping his arm around his neck in a chokehold, cutting off the man’s oxygen supply. The man tried to stand up, but Ace was too large a weight for him to life. He tore at Ace’s forearm, trying to pry it from his neck, but it was fruitless.
* * *
The pressure around Connor’s neck increased as he tried to remove the man’s forearm from his throat. He felt a lightheaded sensation and started to see faint dots of light as his oxygen supply dwindled. He knew he only had a matter of seconds left before he blacked out.
He frantically reached under the shelving unit in front of him and pawed around searching for the sedative-filled syringe, his back-up plan for Abby. He had to use it now or he would never have the chance to grab her.
His right hand settled on the small cylinder. He carefully felt it, being sure to face the needle in the proper direction, and swung his arm back toward the leg of the man clinging to his back. He felt his arm thud against the man’s thigh, and depressed the plunger on the syringe as blackness closed in around him and he went limp.
* * *
Ace groaned in pain as the needle pierced his right thigh. He jumped off the man, who just lay there. Whatever was in that syringe was working fast. He was immediately lightheaded. I have to get back to Abby, he thought. He managed to unlock the door and stumble from the custodian’s closet, forgetting where he was.
The world spun around him as he looked at his surroundings. I’m in a bathroom? Where are all the urinals?
He collapsed to the floor, and as his face hit the cool tile, he heard a woman scream. He saw someone through the fog that looked like Abby. He tried to speak, but he couldn’t hear if the words were even coming out. Blackness crept in from the sides of his head, and the tunnel vision closed in on him as the woman disappeared.
26
ABBY HAD DECIDED to go into the ladies’ room. She could hear the men fighting in the closet, and there were several other women who heard it, too. One particularly bold and heavyset brunette went to open the door of the closet only to find it locked.
“What’s going on in there?” one woman asked.
Another went trotting from the bathroom. “I’m getting security.”
Abby was standing by the sink with two or three other ladies, watching and waiting. The others were stunned with disbelief at the sounds of the fight, but Abby was stunned motionless at her inability to jump into the fray and help the man who had been tasked with watching her back.
Suddenly, the door to the closet burst open and a beaten and bloodied Ace stumbled from the custodian’s closet and collapsed on the ladies’ room floor. Abby gasped at the sight, and one of the other women screamed.
Abby knelt down next to Ace. He seemed to recognize her and tried to speak, “Get out of here,” was all he managed to say before his eyes rolled back and he passed out. She ran over to the open door of the closet with another woman to see the large man lying motionless on the floor? Did Ace kill him?
A crowd quickly gathered as security arrived, and Abby recognized that if she was going to get on her plane and get to her daughter, she could not be involved in this. She slowly backed toward the edge of the growing crowd, and though the guilt pained her, she walked slowly toward her gate. She didn’t know who the big man was that Ace had apparently taken out, but she couldn’t hang around to find out. It was safe to say that the man had been following Abby for the wrong reasons, and that’s all she needed to know.
Abby stood by the gate clerk’s desk scanning the other passengers as they eagerly meandered around waiting to board. She didn’t see anyone else of concern, but she also didn’t see Eric and that, in itself, was a concern.
Abby turned as she heard the squeak of rubber on tile to see a security golf cart stopping at the gate twenty feet away, yellow lights flashing. Is that..? “Eric!” She stifled herself just as it came out.
He glanced at her, and she gave him a curious look that said, Where the hell were you?
He just smiled and silently shook his head from twenty feet away – I’ll fill you in later.
She motioned her head across the terminal to the ladies’ room. Eric looked over and saw the crowd and security, and turned back to Abby, raising an eyebrow. What happened?
She mouthed, “Ace.”
Both of his eyebrows shot up, and he said, “What?!”
Abby rolled her eyes and looked away.
So much for keeping a low profile, Abby thought. She saw a couple people look his way, but no one approached him. She hoped it stayed that way. They weren’t quite ready to reveal themselves yet. Looking back at him, she shook her head and mouthed, “Later.”
She watched over his shoulder as the security team carried the two large men away on stretchers and brought along several of the women who had been standing in the ladies’ room. Abby was happy that she had the foresight to get out of there, and wasn’t among those who had to give statements. Within a few minutes, there was no sign of any of the commotion that had happened.
Glancing down at her watch, Abby noticed that they would be boarding in a few minutes. She couldn’t wait to be in the air again, away from this city and on her way to Ava. Just a few more hours, she thought.
* * *
JJ timed his arrival to the gate to cut it as close to possible to boarding. He didn’t want Abby and Eric to notice him. He stood at the edge of the gate area and watched as Abby, and then Eric, got onto the plane. He looked down to check his phone to see that it was just less than twenty minutes until their scheduled departure time. Where the hell is Ace?
Fifteen minutes later, he had made three calls to his brother, all of which went to voice mail, and none of which were returned. When the attendant made the final boarding call, he had to make a choice. “Where are you, big guy?” he asked himself as he paced the gate area. Ace was nowhere to be seen.
Damn it. He had to get on the plane. Whatever happened with Eric and those two guys was not on the up-and-up. He didn’t have any friends or connections high enough to find out what had happened, but he knew someone who might. He decided to make a quick call before boarding.
“Hi, Robert... Yes, it’s JJ. Listen, I’m about to get on the plane to Montreal... Yes, Abby and Eric are already on the plane. No, no, they don’t know I’m here, but I’m thinking I need to talk to them. I think something is up.”
“Sir,” the male attendant at the ticket desk was snapping his fingers, trying to get JJ’s attention. “Sir! This door is closing in thirty seconds. Are you getting on the plane?”
JJ nodded and held up a finger. “Just a second. Yes, Robert, I need to go, but I need you to look into something if you can.”
* * *
“WHAT?” Bryce’s voice thundered through the receiver and into Greg’s ear, halfway around the world.
“That’s what Robert just said. I don’t know what happened at the airport, but they’re on the plane to Montreal.”
Bryce had been getting antsy, sitting in the large black limousine for the past couple of hours outside the airport. He had expected Eric to be escorted into his car, followed by Abby shortly thereafter. Nearly two hours had passed, and he had neither – and he was unable to get in contact with either Connor or the two guys tasked with grabbing Eric.
When his phone had finally rung, he jumped out of his seat, but was entirely confused when he looked down and saw it was Greg calling from Robert’s island. “How is this even possible?” Bryce was seething.
Greg spoke in a hushed tone. “I don’t know,
sir. I’m not there. Robert got a call a few minutes ago from one of his investigators. The same guy that found Abby and Eric. I guess he’s got him following them. He said that a couple guys tried to grab Eric, so he followed them. The cops nabbed all three before they got out of the airport, but Eric was apparently released and is on the plane now. The investigator asked him to look into it and figure out what happened, so Robert has us calling our contacts in law enforcement.”
“Shit.” Bryce realized now why he hadn’t been able to reach his guys.
“I figured they were your guys,” Greg said. “What about Abby?”
“I had someone else on her, but you don’t need to know about that. He was supposed to take care of her. You said she’s on the plane now? You’re sure?”
“I didn’t see it with my own eyes, sir, but that’s what Robert said. From what I understand, his guy is good, one of the best. If he interfered with your plans for Abby, the guy didn’t say anything, or at least Robert didn’t share anything.”
Bryce’s blood was boiling. He clenched a fist and pounded the seat in front of him, yelling in frustration. Think, think. If they’re going to Montreal, that’s where the girl must be. Abby must be going to Ava. Then that’s where I’m going, too. “Greg, I need you to do something.”
“Name it, sir.”
“Do you have any idea why they’re going to Montreal?”
“I don’t, sir, but I can ask around. One of the other guys might know something.”
“Do it. Do more than ask if you have to. Finding out where they’re going is more important than keeping your cover. I have to know where they’re going. Understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Call me the second you find out anything.” Bryce clicked off the phone, his foot tapping furiously on the black-carpeted floor of the limousine. He didn’t have any connections in Montreal. Once Abby got there, who knew where she would disappear. He had to reach Montreal before Abby, but the plane he had to get ahead of was on its way down the runway. He finally screamed in frustration, “FUCK!” He punched the seat in front of him repeating, “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!”
Escape, the Complete Trilogy Page 44
