As the sun rose in the sky and they neared the city limits, he finally said fuck it.
“Listen, Natalie,” he said, cleared his throat. “I meant what I said. You’ve got a future. I’m already a lost cause.” When she started to respond, he held up his hand. “Just let me get this out, okay?
At her nod he continued. “I may not always be a lost cause, but right now, I’m a bad bet. And trust me, I know a lot about those.” His attempt at humor fell flat.
“I’ve thought about this for the last hour, and I need something from you.”
He could tell he’d piqued her interest as she turned to him, her gaze focused on him, rather than the road unfurling beneath them.
“I need you to be another set of eyes on the inside for me. I’ve got Rob and Cris, but Arrow has a completely different subset of information networks, just by who you are, as a company. Even if they clear both of us, Petra is still out there, and I can’t abide by the fact I assisted in her escape. Yeah, Ward was a dick, but he didn’t deserve to die that way. I really don’t like the idea of a potential foreign agent working within our borders.
“So help me out, please. Do what only you can do from the inside while I try to clear both of our names from out here.”
He saw her shoulders slump in defeat and hated himself for it. But having her out of harm’s way was worth every bit of self-derision he was earning.
Santa Rosa appeared on the horizon, a smallish town on the edge of Interstate 40 and Route 66. Traditional roadside hotels began to appear alongside the same chain eateries. Then they were through town and following the signs to the airport.
Ethan’s heart began to thump. Excitement or anxiety, he wasn’t sure, but the closer they got, the calmer he became, until his beating heart was all he could hear.
They pulled past the deserted terminal, bumped over a weedy berm and around a hangar, and there she was. The Dauphin, sitting there pretty as you please, seemingly without a scratch.
Knowing it could be a trap, he tucked the Jeep in close to the side of the dilapidated building after Natalie exited and slipped around the corner.
Seamless. Part of him sighed as she disappeared from his sight. He’d miss working with her when this was done. Miss the way they’d begun to finish each other’s sentences. He’d never had a partner like that. Probably never would again.
He squared his shoulders and stepped out of the Jeep. Waited for a hail or another vehicle approaching, anything. But it was pure silence in the high desert, with only the morning breeze and birds chirping.
He stepped to the Dauphin, found it unlocked, and climbed into the cockpit, started to get her airworthy. Natalie finished her security sweep, then circled the aircraft, looking for any little gifts Petra might have left behind. There was nothing, so Ethan continued his sequencing.
The Dauphin was low on gas, but that was to be expected. He ran through his fuel options, knowing it was unlikely there’d be anything here, even if it was being used for less-than-legal purposes. But there was enough to get him the sixty miles to Tucumcari and the airport there. He’d call Rob before he lifted off, get them credit there so it’d be a fast turn.
He squinted into the sun, saw a thread of dust approaching and got out of the chopper, headed to where Natalie stood.
“Get in the chopper,” he told her. “If they’re not friendly, we can evade.”
She nodded, followed him and climbed into the copilot’s seat.
A huge black Suburban reminiscent of what had picked them up in Midland pulled up a good hundred yards from the chopper. The same driver stepped out, then opened the back door, and Mandy emerged.
The big hair was a giveaway, but the diminutive size and eye-popping clothing were the final piece of the puzzle. There was no other emissary Flynn could have sent that would be more recognizable…or trustworthy.
He turned to Natalie. She was watching him with a steady gaze.
“Go with her, sunshine. Be safe. Call me when you have news.” He held up the cell phone they’d agreed he would keep since she’d have access to other phones and knew the number.
She leaned forward, brushed a kiss across his lips, then another, one that lingered and he wanted to fall into, more than anything he’d wanted in his entire life.
Then she pulled away, ran her fingers through his now-dark hair. “Stay safe, Ethan. Come back to me.”
She stepped out of the chopper and as soon as she was clear he accelerated the blade rotation. Waited until she’d reached Mandy, and then lifted off, his entire mind and body screaming at him to stay put, to stay on the ground. To stay with her. To keep her safe, even though she was more than capable of taking care of that all on her own.
Instead he pointed the helicopter east and flew away.
Natalie watched as the Dauphin became a spot on the horizon, then turned to Mandy. “So you’re my escort?”
“Nothing but the best, darlin’,” she replied, plumping up her hair. “We’ve got a safe house in Albuquerque, and then Greg will be here in the afternoon to take you back to Maryland.”
Natalie wanted to be happy to hear it, but her head and heart were winging east with Ethan.
How the hell had that happened in four short days? Because she was pretty sure she was falling for Ethan Masters and it had nothing to do with adrenaline or shared danger or any of that bullshit. It had everything to do with him, and the man he’d shown himself to be over the last four days.
“Let’s go,” she said tonelessly, and turned to the open door of the back seat of the SUV. But something made her begin to turn. A noise, a feeling. Something.
She heard the soft pop and then the crackle of electricity as first the driver, and then Mandy fell to their knees and then onto their faces, leads running from their backs.
She completed the turn as if in slow motion, saw one man and one woman holding the Tasers that had brought the duo down. Stared into the large bore of the handgun pointing directly at her held by yet another man.
In that split second, she considered diving into the truck, trying to outrun whoever the hell this was. And then dismissed it as the scenario played through her mind flicker-quick. As the logistician in her filtered through escape options and rejected them all.
She was outmanned and outgunned. They hadn’t used deadly force on Mandy or the driver. Hadn’t used the stun gun on her. Besides the hangar that they had undoubtedly been hiding in, there was no cover. They’d either disable or shoot her outright if she ran.
So instead, she faced them, kept her face impassive, her hands held high. “I’m assuming I’m now a hostage?” Her father’s prediction had come true, just not from the quarter he’d expected. Not from Ethan.
The man holding the gun rolled his eyes. “Jesus honey, can the melodrama, will ya? You’re not a hostage, you’re bounty.” He nodded at the woman who’d Tased Mandy. “The other one should be in back seat.”
“Disarm her,” he ordered the second man, who dispassionately frisked Natalie, removed her pistol and then stepped out of the range of her hands and feet.
She watched them, something ticking at the back of her mind. It was just out of reach, and right now she had to focus on what was happening around her.
The female bounty hunter, long and lean and utterly professional, opened the door to the Suburban and pulled out a bound and gagged Petra. The Ukrainian stared at them all with wide eyes, to include Natalie, who still held her hands at shoulder’s height. This was still an emerging situation and she wasn’t going to get ventilated for moving too quickly.
The woman made a move to ungag Petra, but Natalie stopped her. “I wouldn’t, if I were you.”
The leader, who still held his weapon on her, cocked his head, pursed his lips. “And why is that?”
“Because she’ll give you the same tearful rendition she gave me and our pilot. Which is all bullshit. We’ve been on the run for four days because of her, and I don’t want to hear her proclaiming her innocence in that little lost g
irl voice.”
Petra’s gaze went venomous and the man laughed, lowering his weapon at last, but keeping himself and his other henchman a good distance away. The woman stayed at Petra’s back, close enough that the assassin couldn’t use leverage to flip her or kick her.
The group was one hundred percent professional, and Natalie sent her patron saint a quick thanks. This was about money. Maybe power and favors, but wasn’t personal, not like a hostage scenario could be. And that she could understand. And work with. Even if they turned her over to the Marshals. But she was pretty sure her father would cut a much better deal.
“Tessa,” the head honcho looked at the woman. “Put her in the passenger seat, standard restraints. It’ll be easier to use their wheels than overload ours.”
Natalie looked beyond them for the first time, could barely see another tank-like SUV tucked behind a patch of mesquite. It was so well hidden she and Ethan had driven right past it.
“You gonna play nice?” the man asked.
Natalie nodded. “Bounty hunters I can deal with. So who are you?”
“Name’s Erickson. That’s Tessa and Brodie. We’re out of Vegas.”
“How’d you find me?”
He shrugged as he pointed her toward the vehicle in the scrub. “It’s all about contacts, babe. Who you know.”
She walked without complaint, wishing that she hadn’t ditched the necklace in Roswell. At least Arrow would have known where she was. Then again, she and Ethan would have been nailed that first night, and she had absolutely zero regrets on what had happened because she’d decided to trust Ethan rather than the company.
But there was one thing weighing on her mind. “Did you have another team on us in Roswell yesterday?”
He looked up at her, surprise on his face. “Wasn’t us, and I can guarantee it wasn’t the Marshals. They have one-dimensional minds. Even if we didn’t have sources, we wouldn’t have stayed in Vegas. People like you and Masters are unpredictable. You have too much training and smarts to do the safe thing. So we hit Albuquerque and laid low.” He stopped, as did Brodie. “If it wasn’t us, and it wasn’t the Marshals, then who was it?”
Natalie shook her head. “Maybe Ward’s guys? They seemed more like muscle than security, though. Who knows who the hell is after Petra, though?”
Erickson cursed. “Dammit. Listen, Flynn. We run a clean business. Mostly high-end stuff, just like your friend Masters. I’ve got no beef with you or your father. Whoever bids the highest on the chickie back there wins. But I’m not dealing with Ward’s mob goons or some overseas fucks.”
Natalie was oddly reassured. He was ridiculously matter of fact. Natalie suspected he was only talking to her because of who she was.
“When did Ethan and I get a bounty?” That was what was bothering her. While they were being hunted, it’d only been a few days, and it usually took much longer than that for a bounty to be issued. Law enforcement liked to at least try before giving away money.
“You don’t have one, only Petra. You’re a fugitive. All we’ll get for you is goodwill.”
“Then let me go. I can guarantee the goodwill you’ll get from Arrow Security will far outweigh what you get from law enforcement.” While it was a relief to hear there was no bounty on her head, she wanted out of here, yesterday.
“Good try. Word on the street is that you’re an accessory to murder, so I think I’ll stick with not pissing off the feds. Plus, you’re an unknown quantity. I don’t like unknown quantities, so you’re going to be bound until we get you to the Marshals. We’re going to hole up in a little spot we found, and then Tessa is going to bounce our signal off of a bunch of cell towers and then call your father and see if he’ll beat the bounty for the Russian.”
She almost corrected him on Petra’s nationality, but who really cared? “And if he doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll get her to a location to be determined, and you to the Federal Justice Tower in Vegas. Safely.”
“And if my father can incentivize letting me go, would you do it?”
“I’d consider it,” Erickson said, studying her through narrowed eyes. “But it’d have to be one hell of an incentive.”
Natalie tried to project confidence. “Then let’s do that.” But inside she wondered if her father would actually come through after the words they’d had.
Erickson resumed walking toward the truck. “We’ll see what your father has to say.”
Natalie sat in the front seat, allowed her hands to be zip tied without a fuss. Between the ties and the cross-body seatbelt, she wasn’t going anywhere. Nor did she really want to. Not with the unknown goons still out there. She’d take this safe harbor and figure a way out. Because she hadn’t killed Ward, and was sure everyone knew it. She’d just rather find her way to law enforcement all on her own, thank you very much.
They bumped over dusty, dilapidated roads that were half asphalt and half gravel until the land began to turn hilly. Then around a hillock that led to a tiny town. A ghost town. The faded sign proclaimed it to be Jackson, New Mexico, population 252.
Both vehicles pulled into a barn that had seen better days about a century ago, and then the men were pulling her and Petra out of the SUVs while Tessa covered them.
Next door to the barn was an old jail house. Down the street she could see a corral, what looked like a stable, and all the accoutrements of a ranching or mining town that was long dead.
She and Petra were seated at a sturdy table, legs tied to the chair legs, bound hands on the table in front of them.
Natalie could have protested, told them she didn’t plan on trying to escape, but knew it would be a moot point. They were professionals.
And so was she.
Chapter 13
Ethan settled the Dauphin onto the sole landing pad at the airport in Tucumcari and headed for the airport manager’s office, praying Rob had received his text requesting a credit line here.
He had a few of the gift cards left and could use them as well, but it looked pretty amateurish to fuel a helo this expensive with big box prepaids.
Rob had indeed received his text, so he was cleared to refuel and start the two-and-a-half-hour flight to Oklahoma City. He sat in the airport lounge as a lineman refueled the Dauphin, making chit chat with the desk manager, who ooohed and awwwwed over the chopper before burying himself in his cell phone.
Ethan suspected he was texting his friends and telling them to come get a look while they could.
Everything about it seemed wrong. The casual refueling. Sitting in the small lounge, drinking bad coffee. He should be with Natalie, not here.
He fidgeted, waited what seemed like forever.
And just as he was standing, getting ready to head to the Dauphin and start micromanaging the lineman, the burner rang.
He picked it up, pretty sure it was Natalie’s friend Bec from the Maryland area code.
“Hello,” he answered, not willing to give anything up in case he was wrong.
“This is Rebecca. A woman named Mandy just called and said Natalie had been taken from them, that they were assaulted and tased.”
“Fuck,” Ethan breathed, and sprinted across the tarmac toward the chopper. The lineman had just finished and was pulling the fuel truck away as he jumped in the cockpit, started the rotors turning. “I’ve only been gone a little over half an hour. I had to fuel up. I can be back in less than thirty-five minutes.”
“Copy. I’ll meet you in Santa Rosa in twenty minutes. I’m enroute from Roswell. I flew out as soon as Natalie called, but missed you.”
“You don’t need to—” he began before he was cut off.
“Yes I do. She’s my best friend and we’ve been through things you can’t even imagine together. I’ll be there by the time you touch down.” The line went dead, and Ethan began the eight-and-a-half-minute sequence of bringing the helicopter back online and ready to launch.
In those minutes his mind raced through every possible scenario. That it was the Marshals
. But they wouldn’t have tased Mandy and her driver. They would have taken them into custody for aiding and abetting. That left Ward’s men, and his gut churned at the thought.
It should have been him.
He’d left someone behind.
Again.
He launched at the earliest possible moment, thankful that Tucumcari was so small he wasn’t jockeying for airspace. He pushed the Dauphin to full speed and was in range of the Santa Rosa airport within twenty minutes, helped along by a tailwind.
As he landed he watched Mandy, her driver and a blonde woman exit the dilapidated hangar, waiting for him to put the skids down.
He put the chopper into hot status, with the blades still turning, and dashed to them. “What have we got?” He yelled, following them into the hangar.
“Unknown, but they’re only about twenty miles down the road,” Mandy said, anger flattening the curves of her mouth. “They took Pepe, so we were able to track them.”
“Pepe?” Ethan asked, concerned there was another potential hostage.
“My Little Mule,” she said, as if that clarified everything.
The woman he assumed was Rebecca shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I’m Rebecca. Apparently Mandy is a fan of classic romance movies.” She turned to Mandy. “Tell him who else they took.”
A calculating light entered Mandy’s eyes, as if she was figuring out how to play it. Then she shrugged. “Petra. We bagged her this morning when she ditched the chopper. Apparently her contact didn’t make it on time. We were waiting to pick you up and then head to Maryland on a charter outside Albuquerque.”
“Why didn’t Greg just tell us that this morning? Jesus.” Ethan ran his hand through is hair. “You people and your mind games. I’m done with it. If you’d been straight with us, they wouldn’t have taken Natalie.” He turned to Bec. “Want to take a flight?”
Broken Wings Page 13
