“There’s one missing truck.” Dace said, rejoining the group with Wylie. “A box truck from the caterer – gone. That’s how they got her out.”
“She went to get Champagne glasses and they tossed her in.” Luke surmised. “She walked right into a trap.”
City was scanning a map and began to recite potential locations as Luke had asked, “My query picked up fifteen possible locations within fifteen miles any direction from the last known point.”
Luke nodded, and crossed his arms, “Okay. Of the fifteen, which one stands out?”
“Uhh, let’s see. Barn…warehouse…new construction but too populated of an area. There’s…oh no.” City’s fingers were tapping away as she closed in on a potential location, one that made the most sense for the situation, “Oh no. I was right…. there’s an airport, Luke.”
“A plane. Quick easy in and a quick and easy out.” Luke agreed. “Just outside the city, so what capacity are we looking at – big birds or crop dusters.”
She looked down at her screen and tapped some more, “It’s a private airstrip, densely populated, mostly high-tech manufacturing plants out that way. Their clientele appears to be heavy on the corporate jets. They can handle almost anything.”
“Let’s go.” Luke said.
“Go? What if we’re wrong?” Dace offered, playing devil’s advocate because they didn’t have time to be wrong, and right now his brother was running on emotion. “What’s your plan B, Luke.”
“We know she’s moving west so even if we’re wrong we’re moving in the right direction until Liam nails down her location. City, while he’s doing that – I need you to look at flight plans filed in the last week for today.”
“That’s FAA…” She protested.
“Hack it.” Liam fired back.
City leaned in and kissed her new husband. “I love it when you talk dirty to me.”
In full wedding attire the team made their way to the very drive where Daisy was kidnapped. Several of the catering and rental trucks had already departed and what remained left the team with yet another dilemma.
“Shit. The only one that drove was Wylie and we aren’t all fitting in his truck.” Dace said.
“Get in the limo – I’m driving.” Wylie hollered as he ran a few cars ahead and dropped the tailgate of his truck. “I’ll be right there.”
One at a time they piled in but not before they saw what their kid brother was doing. With a quick flip of a switch a faux floor in the bed of his truck lifted and he grabbed two black duffle bags, slung them over his shoulders, and grabbed two large, long, hard cases and met the group at the limo.
“Pass these around.” He said.
Luke opened the bag and his jaw dropped. “What the hell Wylie? You drive around with this shit…in the back of your truck?”
“They don’t leave home without their backpacks full of geek shit. I don’t leave home without my badass, let’s get the fucking bad guy stuff.”
“Touché, little brother, touché.” Liam said before his fingers stilled and his smile grew. “Bingo. She stopped moving. Airport in Hillsboro just outside of Portland. Good job baby, you were right.”
City, pleased by his praise, leaned in for a kiss. “Thanks, baby. We make a great team.”
While Wylie took the limo down the long winding road off the foothills the Pittock Mansion sat on with speed and surprising precision – the rest of them readied for whatever they were about to embark on.
“How’s that list coming, City?”
“It’s populating now, Luke. They have heavy traffic in and out, and it groups the incoming with departure. The system is pulling it apart for me, narrowing to departures logged for today…and…done. Let me see if I can match these up by owner or user so we can cross reference your party list Luke.”
Luke nodded. Sitting idle, craving the next clue so he would have somewhere to focus his thoughts. Daisy had quickly become his purpose, his will, his heart, his everything. He would get to her in time because there wasn’t another option.
“Oh shit.” City didn’t curse, so when she did, you knew it meant something. Her gaze slowly lifted to meet Luke’s, stunned didn’t begin to describe her demeanor. “Oh shit. Luke, I found it. This has to be it. This…this is big and it’s bad.”
Fear settled in Luke’s gut, as thoughts raced through his mind. How far up did this go? Who was their enemy today, what name would she mention? Who was he about to take down, or take out if he wasn’t cooperative?
“It’s a government plane. It’s the Speaker of the House’s plane and they are taking off…”
“Now.” Liam interrupted, looking up from his screen just as shocked. “They just took off, her tracker confirms it, she’s on the move and fast. Has to be a plane.”
“Five-minute ETA, guys.” Wylie shouted from the front.
Luke hit the car door with such force the window cracked. “How the hell do we get her out of the air?”
“We can have the jet fueled and wheels up in an hour.” Declan tossed back.
“We don’t have an hour, even if we are able to follow them. We’d never get there in time. Whoever has her – they know us, how we operate. We need to be smarter and work outside our usual, so our next move isn’t anticipated.”
Dace tossed his hands up. “Air national guard, we have connections. They work out of the Portland International Airport they’ll be on that jets wing in minutes.”
“Then what, shoot her out of the sky? Those fighter jets show up and they may take one for the team and land that plane on the face of a mountain – not risking it.” Luke stated.
“Toss out some options then, Luke. What else do you have?” Dace fired back.
“Liam?” Luke desperately hoped his brother read between the lines, and his own past didn’t come back to haunt him.
Liam looked around the small cabin of the limo, processing in his brothers unspoken request. He knew what was being asked of him and he knew why he was getting such sullen looks. When City’s life was on the line, not long ago, he had to ground a plane and nearly lost his shit instead. Luke saved his brother from his own fury and conscience and subdued the man behind it, permanently, for his brother. Now he was being asked to face that day, that fury, all over again and save his brother’s fiancé, which in turn would be saving his brother.
“I can do it. I-I can do it. I can get control of that plane.” Liam went to work on his laptop. “I can get into the jets computer…upload a virus…uh...I can shut it all down on their end, but…”
“But?”
“But I’ll have to land the plane. They’ll be completely blind up there.”
“From the ground?” Luke questioned. “You have to fly and land the plane…from the...”
“From…the ground. I can do it though. This is different technology, it’s a government plane, advanced tech. He’s third in line for the presidency. He’s nearly as secure as Airforce One or Airforce Two…just smaller. It’s like…a giant…drone. If the military can fly a drone halfway around the world and drop a bomb, I can land a plane I’m watching…from the ground.”
After a long quiet spell, Luke finally spoke. “Bring her back, Liam.”
CHAPTER 24
Luke sat on the tarmac watching the sky for any evidence that Liam had been successful. With the new program they hand delivered to virtually every branch of government, it was highly likely they were using it on the House Speaker Kelly’s jet. What that meant was Liam might be seeing hard facts and be one hundred percent in control of that jet, from a damn laptop, no less. Or, he just thought he was in control of the plane because the program he designed was working against him again, showing him an illusion of such. If that plane came into view, they would know it was Liam’s plane.
“You should have a visual in t-minus three.” Liam said over his radio, so everyone could prepare to get into position.
Luke turned to him. “You’re sure you have the plane, the right plane?”
“On
e hundred percent sure, bro.” Liam answered, keeping his focus on his laptop
“Liam…the software, what if they…”
“Use it? They are using it – but I’m manipulating what they see.” Liam looked up just long enough to wink at his brother. “It’s taking a few extra minutes to bring them back because I took a wide berth, so they didn’t know they were headed right back here. Their instrument panel is showing them exactly what they expect to see”
“They don’t know you have the plane.” Luke said as a statement rather than a question.
“Not at all. Too risky. If they’re desperate up there because they figure out they don’t have control, it just puts Daisy in more danger.”
Luke slapped his twin brother on the back, feeling more hopeful than he had in hours. “Genius.”
“I know.” Liam shrugged, focus back on the computer screen.
“So how the hell do you land that thing?” Wylie asked through the radio, the brothers able to hear everything Liam just said.
“Very carefully.” Liam chuckled, fingers dancing on the keyboard. “It’s mostly auto-pilot right now, landing gets a tad tricky because I had to quickly calculate descent, speed, etcetera so I don’t over shoot the runway. While I’m waiting for them come in, I’ve been reprogramming a few things trying to automate more of the landing procedure, just to take the pressure off. I think we’re all good – technically, a plane can land itself with the right tech. I only have time to semi-automate the process though. The rest…well, it’s no different than a video game at that point.”
“I’m not finding comfort in that in the least. It can’t be that easy…a video game?”
“As you shouldn’t, and it’s not easy. I just know what I’m doing. I also put a kill switch on the program – I can kill it at any time no matter who is using it. I should have done that in the beginning.”
“You’re babysitting the government.” Luke said.
“Ehh, someone has to. I already coded an automation that will watch it for me using key words, keystroke patterns, and stuff like that. I’ll get an alarm if they do something they shouldn’t.”
Carter shook his head. “That brain of yours scares me.”
“I know, right? It’s beautiful.” City said, followed by a quick kiss.
“I have some intel popping up, boys, here’s what you’re facing. I finally got into the security cameras and rolled back until I found them.” Liam flipped City’s computer around on the hood of the Limo where everyone could see the video, namely, Luke.
Luke’s blood began to boil when he saw those assholes toss Daisy to the ground like a rag doll and kick her while she was there. There was a special place in hell for men like that and he was going to send them there. It only took minutes to assess the enemy and prepare.
“The only thing we don’t know is if there is anyone on the plane other than pilot and co-pilot. We have three men and Daisy – that’s it.”
“We also won’t know whose side they’re on. Are they just doing a job or are they on the thus payroll? Treat everyone as a hostile until we know otherwise.” Luke instructed.
“I’ll watch them from my position over there.” Dace pointed to the hangar with his rifle. “I’ll make sure they see the red laser on them while I watch your back.”
“Hey, there was a glare on the camera.” City said, leaning in for a closer look. “That didn’t look like Speaker Kelly. He was too big – brawny.”
“That’s because it wasn’t.” Luke informed, crossing his arms and widening his stance while he summed up his target.
“Excuse me?” City asked, looking between the screen and Luke.
“It wasn’t the House Speaker, it’s just his jet.” Luke had a sneaking suspicion this was an under the radar job under the guise of a government conspiracy. “When I compared the valet list to the Senator’s guest list, I found a few discrepancies. There were two cars checked in as House Speaker Kelly, but only the Speaker was at the party, no plus one.”
“Well then who else could it be – who has clearance to borrow a government plane like that?” Liam asked, looking up the two vehicles on the valet registry.
“His staff.” Luke shrugged. “One staffer in particular that not only has the Speaker’s ear, but nearly as much authority.”
“Well, son of a bitch.” Liam said, standing back from his laptop with his hands locked behind his neck. “We helped him. We literally helped this happen, all of it. It’s Terrence Blachley, the Speakers assistant. Son of a bitch. But why?”
“I think we’re about to find out.” Luke added. “He got off active duty around the time we did, started working with special units, even planned to come work for us.”
“Then something happened.” Liam finished. “He was released from duty and nearly brought up on charges for something. I was ordered to seal his file and later destroy it. There is no record anywhere for Terrence Blachley. He didn’t come to Brother’s Keeper, but rather went into politics, ran the Speaker’s campaigns, they’ve been side by side for years.”
“This is bad. Really bad,” Dace added. “So what’s the motive, and what’s the Speaker’s role in this?”
“No clue.” Liam said, “It wasn’t long after that I started burying files they wanted destroyed – I keep everything in a virtual vault now, you never know when it will come in handy. I’d love to know what was in his file and what he did.”
“You and me both. I think he’s our smoking gun though, that’s going to be the assassin we’ve been looking for.” Luke was furious as part of their past had come back to haunt them. They may not have provoked the attack, but somehow, they landed smack dab in the middle of it.
“Here we go.” Liam announced, excitement in his voice. “Get locked and loaded, visual on the aircraft in five…four…three…two…boom. There she is.”
The men all took strategic positions and prepared for anything to walk off that plane. Luke feared what would come first, but he held his breath and said a prayer that Daisy was okay. A shaky landing ensued, beginning with an abrupt nose heavy hit with the front wheel landing first, nearly sending the plane into trouble. With Liam chanting various affirmations, as if talking the plane through every step, nerves ran on edge until the jet finally came to a screeching halt with hardly a handful of feet left of runway.
“It’s on you now brother, I just unlocked the hatch door.” Liam said, trading his laptop for his weapon. “I got you from back here.”
Luke nodded and moved forward slowly, weapon up and aimed as he scanned the plane front to back repeatedly looking for signs of activity. He was exposed, and vulnerable without a flack jacket or protective gear of any kind. They hadn’t anticipated any of this, so they hadn’t prepared for it.
Moving in slowly, strategically, he called out, “Blachley – come out with your hands up. Bring those piece of shit traders with you.”
Rage filled him as he screamed again, “Blachley. I’m coming for you one way or another and I don’t mind doing it the hard way”
Wylie came from behind, driving a set of moving stairs right up the jet, below the door – odd Luke thought, but necessary. Wylie then took position under the plane guarded by the base of the motorized stair section.
The door to the plane flew open, causing everyone to narrow their aim and hold their weapons higher – they were ready, almost, for what was walking out of there.
Terrence Blachley was a retired special ops guy. He’d worked with the O’Reilly’s back in their day and was well known in the small community of soldiers like them. But also like them, his missions were off record, as was the branch of government security he belonged to until his abrupt dismissal.
Upon retiring, he pursued politics and quickly climbed to the top with fabricated war stories of him being a hero, time and time again. He was undocumented. He could be whoever he wanted to be and who didn’t love a hero but a politician that needed a face for his campaign. When former congressman Rick Kelly was named Speaker, Terren
ce was promoted from the campaign manager to assisting the majority leader.
When Terrence walked out on the landing of the mobile stairs he had a human shield like the coward that he was. Daisy.
The fury racing through Luke was unbearable, she was hurt, it was evident by her heavy limp and battered face, there were bloodstains on her torn dress.
“Daisy.” Luke called out, “You okay honey?”
“Luke…” Her voice shook with fear. “I didn’t know who they were, they just took me. I…”
"It’s okay baby. He’s going to let you go. Just hang tight while I take care of this.”
“Luke, he killed the senator, he’s the one I saw kill the senator. I know it was him. I recognize his voice.”
“I believe you. Just hang in there for me.”
Terrence Blachley acted out an exaggerated gesture of annoyance, that included slumping and flailing arms. “Jesus. Honey? Baby? You went soft man.”
“Let her go, Blachley.” Luke demanded.
“Okay.” Blachley said sarcastically “You’re terrible at this, do you really think let her go is going to work? You’ve been out of the game too long.” He said, coming down the stairs.
Luke kept him talking, needed to distract him because out of his peripheral he saw Liam moving on the north side, toward the plane, taking cover as he went. Wylie, from below the plane and out of Blachley’s sight moved north as well and met Liam under the rear wheel where he quickly climbed into the plane from the landing gear shaft. Liam quickly added a long silver barrel to the end of his weapon, a silencer, and climbed through the same shaft.
“This doesn’t end well for you, Terrence.”
“Oh but it does because you’re going to let me go.”
“Not on my life.” Luke fired back.
Terrence laughed, “You’re right, maybe not on your life, but definitely on hers.”
“What is this all about?” Luke asked, patiently waiting for his moment to react. “Why – why the Senator, why the general?”
“Power, of course. I’ve been planning this for years.”
Brother's Keeper III_Luke Page 23
