STEVE RAISED UP in his seat. “Is that them three cars ahead of us?”
“I think so, but I don’t dare get any closer. He’d recognize my car and know we were after him.”
Steve looked at Jason. “I think he’ll know that, anyway.”
“Maybe so, but I don’t want to force him to do anything rash.”
“Do you have any idea where he’s going? This isn’t toward Virginia.”
“I guess he thought we’d figure where he was heading, so he’s going in the opposite direction.”
Steve thought about how Miguel would react. “No, I think he has an escape plan ready. He always planned ahead. He’d talk about always thinking ahead, figuring out what the bad guys would do. Remember?”
“Yeah, but…what would he do?”
“What airport are we heading to?”
“You think he’d go to one of the major airports? That wouldn’t be too smart. We’d have a bulletin out for his arrest. He’d never make it onto a plane. Especially with Jessica with him.”
“No. Small airports. Are there any small airports near here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give me your cell phone.”
Jason did as he said. Steve dialed Grouse’s office number. “Mr. Grouse, this is Steve.” He gave the man their location and asked if he could check on small airports in the area and see if Miguel had any airplanes of any kind reserved in his or Linda, his wife’s, name.
Grouse called them back a couple of minutes later. There was a very small airport about fifteen minutes away from their location. Miguel, under his wife’s name, had a helicopter hired there. They were taking off as soon as Miguel arrived.
“Have they filed a flight plan?”
“Yes, they’re going to North Carolina.”
“Thanks.”
Steve directed Jason to try to catch up with Miguel’s car. “We can’t afford to let him get there ahead of us.”
“But surely we could catch him before he got on the helicopter. He’ll probably have Jessica with him.”
“Oh, yeah, he’ll have her with him. After he thinks he’s gotten away, however, he’ll toss her out midair. I’ll never see her alive if he manages to get on the helicopter with her!”
Jason stared at him, his mouth agape, until Steve warned him to watch his driving. Steve’s voice had reflected the pain in his heart at the thought of losing Jessica.
Jason immediately sped up, while Steve tried to contact the small airport. When the director answered, he told him not to allow the helicopter to leave, warning of a hostage situation and Miguel being wanted by the U.S. government.
“Take precautions. There’ll be a woman with him, and he’ll have a gun on her, I’m sure.”
“I’ll inform the pilot at once,” the director agreed.
“Miguel is a trained pilot himself,” Steve told him. “You’d better warn your pilot.”
After he hung up the phone, Steve muttered, “Damn. I have a feeling he’s planning on flying the copter himself, probably leaving the pilot knocked out on the ground.”
He saw that they were directly behind the Mercedes. “Can you see any hint of Jessica?”
“Not so far. I thought I caught a glimpse of her blond hair, but she was yanked down at once if that was her.”
Steve wanted to urge Jason to pass Miguel’s car, but if the man didn’t go to the airport, who knew where he was going. They couldn’t afford to lose all trace of him.
The Mercedes turned onto a side road. Suddenly the car sped up, as if he had no fear of police patrolling the small road.
Jason had fallen back a bit, hoping Miguel wouldn’t notice his car. In the meantime, he reached into his holster and pulled out his gun. “You’d better take this. I know you’re going to be first out of the car. Miguel will try to take you out. At least the playing field will be level if you take my gun.”
“Thanks,” was Steve’s only response other than to take the gun in his hand.
Instead of parking, the Mercedes plowed into the fence that surrounded the landing strip and headed for the helicopter waiting there.
“I guess he’s not worried about his car,” Jason muttered. “Hang on, I’m following him!”
They pulled alongside the Mercedes as it came to a halt in front of the helicopter. Steve leaped from Jason’s car, the gun in one hand.
In the meantime, Miguel was pulling Jessica from the car. When he saw Steve pointing a gun at him, he pulled Jessica in front of him. “Don’t shoot, Steve. Unless you want to kill her first just to get to me.”
“Let her go, Miguel!”
“I can’t do that, Steve. I’ve got plans.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“I’ll let her go after we’re away from here,” Miguel said sweetly. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
“No. Because you’re planning on throwing her out and letting her fall to her death!”
“Steve, how can you think such a thing of me? I’m surprised.”
“Turn her loose now, Miguel!”
“Why? Because you have guards coming? Oh, no, you were in too much of a hurry, weren’t you? Tsk, tsk, Steve, I’ve warned you about thinking ahead.”
Steve moved forward as Miguel began dragging Jessica toward the chopper. “Jessica, don’t get on the helicopter with him, whatever you have to do. He’ll kill you if he gets you on board!”
“Now, don’t scare the pretty lady, Steve.” Miguel tightened his hold on Jessica’s arm.
Suddenly, a woman appeared at the door of the helicopter. “Miguel!”
“It’s all right. I’m coming. We’ll be leaving now, Steve.”
“I think not,” a strange voice said, “unless you don’t care about your wife.” It was the pilot.
Miguel turned to look up. At the same time, Jessica threw herself down, and Steve charged Miguel.
But the pilot had overestimated Miguel’s concern for his wife. Miguel fired immediately, hitting her point-blank in the chest. The bullet had to have traveled through her into the pilot, because he yelled out and fell back.
Steve immediately fired a shot into Miguel’s chest that knocked him to the ground, causing him to drop his gun.
Jessica scrambled away from his body, her eyes wide with shock.
Even as he ran to Jessica’s side, Steve shouted for Jason to call an ambulance.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” he asked anxiously as he gathered her into his arms.
“Yes, but Miguel— Is he—”
“Yeah, unless my skills have eroded. Just a minute and I’ll check.” He felt for Miguel’s pulse and found none. “He’s dead, but I’d better check on that pilot.”
He pulled Jess into a sitting position against the Mercedes. Then he moved to the door of the helicopter. He found Miguel’s wife dead, but the man behind her had only a flesh wound. He was bleeding quite a bit, and Steve took off his shirt to bind the wound. Then he put his jacket back on.
Jason got out of the car after calling for backup and an ambulance. “What can I do?”
“Take the handcuffs off Jessica. Miguel and his wife are both dead.”
While Jason did as he asked, Steve got the pilot out of the helicopter and headed toward the small building that housed the airport business office.
Once he had the man lying on the bunk bed in a back room, he hurried back out to find Jessica. She was sitting in Jason’s back seat. Jason had the back door open and was talking to her. When Steve ap peared at his side, he said, “She’s not saying anything.”
“Let me get in there with her. She’s probably in shock.”
Jason stepped away. “I’ll go sit with the pilot and see if he can answer any questions until the ambulance gets here.”
Steve scooted Jessica over and sat down beside her, putting his arm around her. “Are you all right?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” she said faintly. “Jason was asking me questions and I just…couldn’t answer him then. I’m okay now.”
/>
“I know you must’ve been scared. The man almost got away with everything.”
“Yes. He—he was going to kill me. I had no idea how much I loved life until today.” She nuzzled up against him until she realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. “Where’s your shirt?”
“I took it off to bandage the pilot’s wound. The bullet Miguel fired went through his wife and into the pilot.”
“Oh, the poor woman!”
“Don’t feel sorry for her. I don’t think she believed Miguel was legitimately earning all that money they were spending.”
“No. Probably not.”
They both heard sirens pouring into the airport, and Steve dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I’ve got to answer questions. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
THAT WAS THE LAST she saw of Steve. Mr. Grouse was in one of the cars that arrived at the airport. When he realized she was sitting in the back of Jason’s car, he came to her and asked where she wanted to go.
She knew Steve wouldn’t be able to leave town until he’d helped settle the inquiry. And when he did get to leave, he’d be returning to Los Angeles.
She couldn’t go there.
“I’d like to go home. To Wyoming.”
“Very well. I can get you on the first plane to Denver. From there, you can get a flight to—”
“Casper. My family will pick me up there.”
“Of course, I’ll make sure that’s arranged immediately. I want to thank you, my dear, for all your help. You saved a good man.”
“And he saved me,” she reminded Mr. Grouse.
Chapter Sixteen
When Mr. Grouse told Steve he’d sent Jessica home, Steve was as close to tears as he’d been in a long time. Somehow, he’d come to believe that his future, if he survived the trip to Washington, would be wonderful. He’d have a family, a wife, a real future. Not just days to survive.
“Thank you for getting her out of here, sir. She’ll be safe back in Wyoming.”
“My thoughts exactly. But she did say something about you saving her life.”
“That was a debt I owed her many times over.” Steve settled his teeth in his bottom lip and nodded to his chief. Then he turned away.
“Steve, I want you and Jason to go through Miguel’s office and see what you can find. I suspect he had a Swiss bank account.”
“He admitted as much, sir. I’ll find Jason and get started on that job.”
When he and Jason got back to the building, they went to Miguel’s office. Dividing the room in two, they each began a thorough search of the room. They sent his secretary away after she admitted Miguel didn’t confide in her and never let her file in his office without him there.
Steve was going through the bottom drawer of Miguel’s desk, filled with spare office supplies. When he found nothing suspicious about the supplies, he shut the drawer. Then he realized the depth of the drawer didn’t add up. He pulled it open again, unloaded the supplies and poked and prodded until he got the false bottom out of the drawer. Underneath, he found ledgers.
“Jason, come look at what I found.” Inside the ledgers he found a list of agents with amounts and dates beside their names.
“I think you just found an important clue,” Jason drawled. Then he frowned. “Damn, he had a lot of people working for him…and against us.”
“Yeah. Like Marcus and Baldwin.”
“What’s in the other ledger?”
Steve opened the book. “It looks like it contains daily balances.” He whistled as he read the totals. “Look at the amounts we’re talking about, Jason. Even a saint would be tempted.”
“We’ve got to talk to Grouse at once. Are there any account numbers?”
Steve flipped back to the front of the ledger. “Here they are. Maybe the government can claim the money.”
“Let’s go show Walter.”
SEVERAL DAYS LATER, things were wrapping up. It was obvious that Baldwin had cut and run. They’d found his and his wife’s names on a flight out to South America.
Other men who hadn’t heard of Miguel’s death were easily arrested. Grouse thought they were going to be able to claim the huge amount of money in Miguel’s accounts.
There were a lot of spots to fill, which meant a hiring splurge, which would benefit those on the waiting list. But before they began hiring, Walter Grouse called all his agents to a meeting. There, for those who still didn’t know, he explained about the recent events. He thanked them for their honorable behavior. Then he told them he had many openings. He wanted to be sure that the new people would be working with an experienced man, so he offered them the opportunity to apply for other locations.
Steve sat there, thinking about what he should do. If he were honest, he wanted to quit. After all, none of the openings were in Wyoming.
But that would be abandoning the ship.
He sighed. Then, as Grouse seemed to be ending the meeting, he decided he should say something.
Before he could, Walter turned to him. “Steve, there are a couple of men wanting to talk to you in my office.”
Puzzled, Steve asked who they were.
“I think you’ll understand when you get to my office.”
Steve didn’t ask any more questions. He stood and left the meeting room.
THREE DAYS LATER, Jessica was talking to the Rawhide eighth grade class. She’d already talked to the current high school students. She was explaining the opportunity to join the drama class and drama club. She’d intended to be enthusiastic with them, but she hadn’t realized it would be so difficult to show that upbeat emotion.
She’d been caught in a dismal argument between her head and her heart. She wanted a life with Steve, but she didn’t want a life in Los Angeles. And she couldn’t have one without the other.
With a silent sigh, she straightened her shoulders and faced the young group. “For those of you who don’t know me, I grew up here in Rawhide. And I think you’re lucky to be here, too. But I was always a little different from my family and friends. I wanted to try acting. We didn’t have any opportunities here in town, so I went to Hollywood.”
That got their attention.
“I lived there for three years, supported by my parents who actually believed in me. In those three years, I learned the acting trade well enough to get a few roles on television. Then I landed an ingenue role in a big movie.”
The young audience drew their breaths.
“As soon as I finished that movie, I knew I could come back to Rawhide, because I’d proved myself. But I hope to offer the students in Rawhide an opportunity right here. So I’m starting drama classes and a club that will put on performances for our community.”
“Will you be the teacher?” one young girl called out, catching Jessica by surprise.
She swallowed before she answered. “Yes, at least for the first year,” she said as the back door to the room opened. To her surprise, a lot of her family came into the room.
She smiled at them. “Boys and girls, looks like my family came here to support me.” She found herself trembling, near tears, at the support her family was giving her once again.
She had almost turned back to her listeners when the door at the back of the room opened one more time.
Frozen in place, all she could do was stare at the man who stood there. The man she thought she’d lost.
“S-Steve?” she whispered. All the kids turned around again to stare at him. That convinced Jessica that she wasn’t looking at a mirage, a dream. She’d seen him in her sleep a jillion times.
Now he was here in person.
He moved toward the front of the room…and her.
All she could do was stare at him. She was afraid if he got too close, she’d throw herself at him.
Then her gaze met her father’s.
Her father was smiling at her. He’d been out of town on business a few days now. In fact, when she’d left for the school, he still hadn’t come back. How strange that he would turn up the same tim
e as Steve.
Steve stepped to Jessica’s side and took her hand. “Does anyone have any questions for Miss Randall? I can promise she’s a really good actress.”
There were one or two questions before the teachers told the students they had to go back to class.
Jessica watched them file out. They’d only gotten part of the way out of the room when Steve pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
She pushed herself out of his hold, knowing if she didn’t, she’d never be able to leave him again.
“Steve, what are you doing here?”
“Reporting for duty, sweetheart,” he whispered.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m going to be working in Wyoming now. And I hoped you might be interested in a future with me.”
“You mean—”
“Will you marry me?”
“Oh, yes! Yes, I’ll marry you! I’ve been hurting so much since I came back from D.C.”
She fell into his arms, sobbing against his chest.
“Hush, honey, or your family won’t believe you’re happy.”
Jessica lifted her head off his chest and turned to stare at the back of the room. “Why are they here?” she asked with a sniff.
Her father stepped closer to them. “We’re here to celebrate your engagement, honey. We approve.”
“But how did you know? Steve just—”
“Your dad and Mike came to D.C. to ask for help in Wyoming. They said I was desperately needed here to raise morale.” Steve shook Brett’s hand.
With a beaming smile, Jessica looked at Steve. “If it’s my morale you’re talking about, they’re absolutely right.”
“Walter Grouse agreed with them. So here I am, if you’ll take me.”
“Didn’t I already say yes?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Yeah, but I think we’d better delay the celebration until we’re alone,” Steve suggested.
“Not a chance. If my family went to so much trouble to trap you for me, there’s no way I’m going to let you go.”
“Oh, well, I guess they won’t mind if I kiss you properly, then,” Steve said, “because I’m not letting you go, either.”
Randall on the Run Page 16
