by Mary Alford
Liz was his friend and he’d seen how violent these men were. They’d gone after Sam in a heavily guarded facility. They’d killed a federal agent. They had nothing to lose. Liz wouldn’t stand a chance on her own. He wasn’t about to let her fall victim to these monsters.
Like it or not he was all-in, which meant they were on their own.
Something disturbing tore his attention to the edge of the landing strip. Additional vehicles were closing in. Now he understood why the men hadn’t followed them. Whoever was behind Michael’s and Sam’s murders wasn’t taking any chances. They’d stationed men where they believed Liz would go for help. Michael’s place and his. Which meant they knew about his friendship with Liz. They’d anticipated this move.
“We have to get airborne now if we stand a chance at escaping. I need your help,” he yelled over his shoulder.
She didn’t hesitate. Once they reached the hangar where the plane was stored, Aaron threw open the doors. Liz helped him unpin the jet and then they got inside. Aaron fired the engine and taxied down the runway.
More than half a dozen vehicles charged the airstrip trying to cut them off. Aaron dodged the two lead vehicles, then swerved hard and managed to keep a somewhat steady path in spite of multiple rounds of gunfire coming their way.
With a silent prayer for their safe assent, Aaron throttled the plane sharply and they were airborne. Once he’d reached a safe height, Aaron veered right, and headed over Painted Rock Mountain while the men below continued firing to try to bring them down.
He grabbed his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Liz asked on edge. It hurt that she thought he’d betray her.
“Jase needs to know what just happened back there.” He squeezed her good hand. “Please trust me.” She stared at him with those worried eyes before slowly nodding.
Nothing about what happened over the past few weeks made sense. He’d imagined once Sam was in custody, they’d locate the missing weapons and everything would be finished. Yet reality hadn’t proven that to be the case.
Time was quickly running out for the investigation to remain with the Scorpion team. If they didn’t figure out what was going on soon, Liz would be left to take the fall for everything and they might never find out who was behind the killings or locate the missing weapons.
It took forever for the call to finally go through and once it did the service was so sketchy that he lost it several times.
When he could hear Jase clearly enough, Aaron quickly updated him on what had taken place at Michael’s hunting cabin and then again at the landing strip. He didn’t mention Liz.
“I know she’s with you, Aaron. You need to bring her in for her own safety. This thing is escalating and there’s more. We have uncovered some financial records that show a large amount of money was transferred into Liz’s bank account recently.” The moment he heard those words the bottom fell out of Aaron’s stomach. Coupled with what Jase had texted him earlier, things looked bleak.
“I’ll get Gavin and some men on the way to your place and Michael’s. Whatever else is going on here, bring her in for her own protection, Aaron. And before the stink of this thing lands on you.”
Aaron disconnected the call without answering, his thoughts reeling. Jase was smart. It wouldn’t take long before he realized Aaron had disobeyed his orders and they’d both gone rogue.
He needed to go dark and soon. Aaron slipped off the back of his phone and took out the battery. They could trace the phone easily enough when it was on. Taking the battery out would make it more of a challenge. The first opportunity possible, he’d destroy it.
“Where’s your phone?” he asked when she stared at him without understanding. “They’ll keep coming after us. They’ll find a way to track us. We won’t have much time.”
“It’s my burner, Aaron. I left my personal phone at the house. No one on the team has this number,” she assured him.
He remembered what she’d said about the text message. “Someone knows it. They texted you the warning.”
She squared her shoulders. “We need some way to contact Rick Evans when we get close to Talkeetna. In the note, Michael mentioned he could help us. And how else are we going to reach this Jessie Chena we’re to get in touch with in Black Bear?”
He blew out a sigh. She was right. They’d have to risk it. “You’re right. But keep it off. We’ll only use it as necessary.”
She touched his arm. “Thank you, Aaron,” she said humbly. “Thank you for believing in me.”
He managed a smile...for her. In spite of everything, Liz was a good person. She’d shown that to him time and again. He’d walk through fire to protect her, but he just hoped they could stay alive long enough to figure out who was behind the murders and how the attack tonight was connected to the missing guns.
“What I don’t understand is why are they trying to kill me? They’ve planted enough evidence to make me appear guilty. Wouldn’t killing me only shed suspicion on that theory?”
He spared her a searching look. “Not if you’re discredited already. And if you’re dead, you can’t defend yourself.” He watched her shiver at the implication.
“These people are cunning, Liz. If they were able to kill a federal agent and get to Sam in a secure prison, once they realize you’re still alive and not in prison, they’ll be worried you might know something. You’re better off dead to them. Hopefully, they don’t know about the cabin in Alaska or we’re in big trouble.” He shook his head and tried to rally his confidence.
They’d been so sure Sam was acting alone. Transporting the weapons to the US for his own diabolical purpose, but what if Sam were just the supplier? How did Michael’s death fit into any of this? The note he left Liz seemed to implicate him. The only question was, in what?
He knew Liz was watching him closely and he didn’t want to show his doubts. “We’ll figure it out,” he said with as much conviction as he could muster and then focused his full attention on the task of flying the plane in high-altitude weather conditions while trying to make sense of the last twenty-four hours. Nothing about the murders added up. He had to be missing something key.
“I need you to tell me everything you and Michael discussed and what your last minutes were like with him. I know you said he was acting out of character, but did anything unusual happen?” he asked.
She hesitated and his internal radar went ballistic. Why did she have to think about her answer?
Stop it—this is Liz.
“Beyond his wanting to speak with Sam in prison, you mean?” She glanced his way.
That certainly had been unexpected, as was the outcome of the visit.
He nodded. “Go on.”
“After we left the compound, we went straight to his house...” She stopped as if she’d remembered something. “The car. The one that looked the same as the car last night. It was behind us in his neighborhood. Michael kept watching it. I could tell it made him uneasy, but when I asked if he recognized it, he said no.” She turned in her seat to look at him. “Aaron, I’m almost positive it was the same car.”
Which seemed to indicate Michael’s killer not only knew where he lived but had been keeping tabs on him. Waiting for the moment when he was alone perhaps?
Something she’d said earlier troubled him. “You mentioned that Michael insisted on talking to Sam, but he never spoke to him. I watched the interview. Michael didn’t say a word...” He remembered what happened right before Liz and Michael left the cell.
“He hugged Sam.” Aaron glanced her way. “Right before you left, Michael hugged Sam. He whispered something the recorder didn’t pick up. What was it?”
She shook her head baffled. “Are you sure? I didn’t hear anything.”
Regret hit him like a brick wall. He didn’t believe her. The video surveillance hadn’t lied and she’
d been close enough to hear the exchange.
“Aaron, it’s true,” she said, seeing his doubt. “I admit I was surprised when he hugged Sam. He’d been so angry with him earlier. I just thought it was Michael’s way of making peace with the situation.”
He recalled what the previous field commander Kyle Jennings had said. He’d had suspicions that someone from the Scorpion team might have been working for Sam’s organization. Could it have been Michael? If so, then why were both Michael and Sam dead unless there was someone bigger involved? Perhaps, the intended buyer for the guns. Had Sam and possibly Michael double-crossed that person? If so, it had resulted in a deadly outcome.
With no clear answers in sight, Aaron focused on another direction. “Michael obviously had access to your passkey. He could have seen where you put it. The only question is who did he give it to and why did they kill him?”
Liz thought about it for a second then shook her head. “I wish I knew...” She hesitated. There was something else she hadn’t told him, he could tell.
“Aaron, when I got home after we found Sam...” She stopped for a second. “I’m almost positive someone had been inside my cabin. And there’s more.” She hesitated and then said, “I keep my spare weapon in my bedroom closet. It’s missing. Someone took it.”
Shocked, he stared at her in disbelief. He knew she kept a Glock. Would it turn out to be Michael’s murder weapon? Coupled with what Jase had uncovered about Liz’s past, he was certain she was being set up to take the blame for everything.
“Liz, after what happened with the missing weapons in Pennsylvania and the accusations made by Sam’s second-in-command about one of our team being dirty, we’ve been digging into the personnel files of everyone. You’re the only one who has a connection with Sam from the past. You went to the same university for crying out loud, and then you end up attending the CIA training facility around the same time? That’s an awfully big coincidence and to anyone else looking on, it appears the two of you have known each other for a while. It speaks of a possible connection to a terrorist.”
Her face fell. “I told you Sam and I were friends. I was honest about that.”
She was right. Liz had told him that she and Sam had hung out a lot while Sam’s team was working in the same area as the Scorpions and that they’d become friends. Which was Liz’s nature. She rarely met a person she didn’t befriend.
“Yes, but you didn’t tell me about attending the same university or that you were at the CIA training facility around the same time.” He paused for a second to take in her startled reaction.
“That’s because I didn’t know about them. Aaron, I never knew Sam when I was in college and the training facility is big. You know that.”
“There’s more, Liz.” He told her about the large amount of money that had been transferred into her account.
There was no way she could fake that much astonishment. In his mind there was no doubt. Liz wouldn’t betray her team or her country in such a way, but proving her innocence against the increasing evidence that said otherwise was going to be a near-impossible task.
THREE
Something jarred her awake. Caught between sleep and consciousness, her heart in her throat, Liz jerked toward Aaron. He held the controls of the plane in a vise grip, struggling with all his strength to keep it in the air.
Outside, what looked like blizzard conditions made it next to impossible to see more than a few inches in front of them as an onslaught of icy pellets blasted the plane.
Liz fought back a scream as the increasing turbulence sent the plane dipping in the air some fifty feet.
“What’s happening?” she shouted above the noise. Aaron was white as a sheet. He was fighting so hard for her.
He spared her a glance. “The weather’s been deteriorating for a while now. We’re approaching all-out whiteout conditions. We need to find someplace to land and fast, before the storm does it for us.” He fought to bring the plane under control. “We can’t go much farther like this.” The grimness in his voice hammered home the severity of their situation.
The fine lines around Aaron’s eyes had deepened. He looked beyond exhausted and her heart swelled with gratitude. He was doing everything to help her. Risking both his life and his career. She owed him her life. How did you repay such a debt?
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Over Canadian airspace still... I think. I’ve lost power to some of my instruments. I’m guessing we’re about forty-five minutes outside of Talkeetna.” He hesitated and then said, “I’m going to see if I can raise this Rick fellow on the radio. I just hope we’re close enough.”
Aaron grabbed the mic. “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is a distress call for Rick Evans. Come in, Rick.” Static was his only answer and he shook his head, frustrated.
“I can’t afford to give out my call numbers. We can’t identify ourselves because we don’t know who might be listening.” After another failed attempt Aaron said, “The weather’s not helping and we’re probably too far away for him to be able to pick us up under these conditions.”
In Liz’s mind there was only one option. “I’ll try texting him. It’s worth a shot and maybe the message will go through.” She took out her phone, but he grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“What if we’re wrong about this guy? We don’t know if we can trust him, Liz. He could be working for the people who killed Michael and Sam.”
He was right, but there wasn’t any other way. “We’re all out of options. We don’t have a choice.”
After a second’s hesitation, he slowly nodded. “Do it.”
Liz took the note from her boot and typed in the number Michael had provided in his note and kept the message brief. She explained that Michael had told her to get in touch when they were close and that they would be landing under emergency conditions. As soon as the message went through, she replaced the note.
The plane lurched sideways then dipped downward. Liz prayed for their safety while Aaron fought with everything he had to keep the plane from continuing its downward spiral. The weather was worsening by the minute. She’d barely gotten to amen when the phone’s message alert sounded, startling her. She quickly read the message aloud. “It’s Rick. He sent the coordinates. God is good.” She smiled in amazement.
“Yes, He is. Let Rick know we’re less than half an hour away.”
She sent the message and the response was quick. “He’ll be waiting for us at the airstrip.” She swallowed back her fears. “I just hope we’re not making the worst mistake of our lives by trusting him.” Her sleep-deprived brain struggled to remember Michael mentioning him before. She was almost positive he hadn’t. What did that mean?
“Me too, but like you said, he’s all we’ve got right now. Maybe he can shed some light on what was going on with Michael.” He glanced her way. “And I didn’t want to mention this before, but we’re not exactly legal here. We’ve been flying without permission the whole way. Let’s just hope we’ve gone undetected by the authorities as well as the killer.”
Liz shivered because she understood what that meant. If caught they’d be in serious trouble and could face charges. Another something to be sorry for. Aaron was compromising his principles as well as his life to save hers.
Aaron squinted out the side window searching for the airstrip. “There! I see the lights of the landing strip,” he said and breathed out a heavy sigh. “Thank You.” He lifted his eyes toward heaven with heartfelt gratitude.
As he began his descent, crosswinds fought the plane every inch of the way, shifting it sideways. The plane shook so hard that Liz worried it would disintegrate around them. Gusts of air caught the wings, forcing the plane off course. It took three tries just to get low enough to make an attempt at a successful landing.
Aaron white-knuckled the plane at a sideways angle, called cr
abbing, on its final descent.
Once the plane finally came to a jarring halt, Aaron let out a long breath and Liz closed her eyes briefly and tried to slow her accelerated heart rate.
When she looked at him once more, she could see the extent of what he’d gone through written on his pale face. She hoped the rest of the trip wouldn’t be as harrowing as this part had been.
“I’ve flown through dangerous situations in my time, but that had to be the hairiest. Are you okay?” he asked.
She managed a nod and their eyes met: the gentleness she saw in him left her feeling a little off-balanced. “Yes, I think so.”
“Let’s hope that’s the worst thing we see today,” he said to lighten the moment.
She smiled genuinely. He’d fought so hard and she owed him her life. “Let’s hope.” As they continued to watch each other, something shifted in his eyes and suddenly it was painful to breathe. For the first time she was seeing a different side of the man she’d been proud to call a friend and to serve beside.
Strong and rugged, she realized something she hadn’t considered before. Aaron was a handsome man. She hadn’t thought about anyone else like that since Eric. He’d been the love of her life, even though they’d been married only a short five years when he’d gone on that final mission for the CIA and it had claimed his life.
A noise of an approaching vehicle broke the spell between them. Aaron looked away embarrassed and she could finally catch her breath.
“That must be Evans,” he said without looking at her. She tried to regroup. They were going into this thing blind without any idea who this man was other than someone Michael trusted, which wasn’t exactly comforting. From all indications, Michael may have been working for Sam.
Aaron grabbed his weapon from where he’d stowed it and tucked it behind his back. “Keep yours close,” he said and she didn’t miss the taut set of his jaw. Liz quickly slipped the Glock inside her jacket pocket.
