A tic set in Jack’s jaw.
Her voice softened. “My father told me to stay hidden for a reason. He was a highly intelligent man. He would have told me to go to the FBI, the authorities, somebody, anybody, if he thought I’d be safe in their hands. He never would have told me to hide from the world if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
“Harrison sent a plane for us,” Jack said. “Why would he do that if he was involved? It doesn’t add up.”
Jack shut his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. After a few minutes of silence he said, “Back in Haiti, you mentioned some unfinished business you needed to take care of. Care to elaborate?”
Kate sensed Jack needed time to digest the possible betrayal by his own people. But she wasn’t sure how much she wanted to tell him about her plans. The less she told him, the better. Jack’s boss, Agent Harrison, could very well be the man she was looking for, and she wasn’t ready to test Jack’s loyalty to the agency. “It’s nothing,” she finally said.
“Your father?”
She shrugged noncommittally. “Yes, I want to go through my father’s things, see if he left anything behind.”
Jack nodded, his eyes still hazy with angry disillusionment.
Poor Jack. He had such confidence in the world and its people...an unspoken allegiance to justice that made him so very different from anyone she’d ever met before. Jack Coffey, computer whiz turned rookie FBI agent, risked his life to come for her. And yet he would have been just as willing to leave Haiti without her if it meant keeping her alive. He wore his commitment to fight the injustices of the world like a badge branded upon his chest. His decency and strong sense of morality were downright charming.
An unfamiliar pang stirred within...right before the plane pitched.
Kate stiffened. “Did you feel that?”
This time he sat up and listened. Before he could get to his feet, they heard a
whoosh
. The curtain separating them from the cockpit whipped up and flapped violently against the ceiling. The force of the wind pushed Kate backwards. She held tight to her bag and threw the strap over her neck. Objects flew through the cabin: a small pillow, wrappers, bags of peanuts. The in-flight door was open. The cockpit was empty.
Kate’s heart jumped to her throat.
Jack shouted and pointed, but she couldn’t hear a word he was saying. The noise was deafening. Taking hold of her arm, he urged her toward the cockpit. Through the window, Kate saw the pilot open his parachute and disappear into the billowing clouds. Her stomach lurched.
Chapter 5
What the hell was Jack Coffey doing on the FBI’s Most Wanted list? How did Jack get himself into this mess? He’d known Jack since elementary school. If he’d been asked yesterday to pick one person in the world, guaranteed, who would never get in trouble with the law, let alone end up on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, his choice would have been easy...Jack Coffey. Because nobody cared more about “justice for all” than his good friend, Jack. If Jack wasn’t tracking down cyber stalkers, he was teaching companies and individuals to identify, prioritize, and mitigate vulnerabilities. His every thought revolved around making the world a safer place to live.
A.J. was about to shut down his computer for the day when Rick Harvey poked his head into his cubicle. Harvey worked in the Investigative Crime Unit now, but he’d started out in the Computer Division. Harvey had played an important part in amending the Federal Interstate Stalking Prevention Act to include online stalking. He also volunteered his time on weekends by going to high schools across the country, teaching kids and parents how to better protect themselves online by telling them how important it was to use gender-neutral screen names and to not give out passwords. Rick was one of the good guys.
“How are you holding up?” Rick asked, his eyes landing on Jack’s picture on the monitor.
“I’ve been better.” A.J. followed Rick’s gaze. “Doesn’t make any sense, does it?”
“No. Last time I talked to Jack he was thinking about joining me on an upcoming trip to Washington D.C. to talk to a group of teachers and parents. That was two days before Dr. Forstin’s death. Jack never mentioned Kate Huntley or Dr. Forstin. It doesn’t add up.”
“I wonder what Agent Harrison has to say about this. I’m surprised he allowed Jack’s picture to be posted on the Wanted list. He’s usually protective of his men.”
Rick shrugged. “I tried to get into Harrison’s office to see him, but Dorothy told me to take a number. Apparently he has everyone and their neighbors nipping at his heels about this case, including the media.”
“I wouldn’t mind a few answers myself,” A.J. admitted. “I had a supposed computer technician fiddling with more than just wires when I walked in on him this morning. Makes me wonder...”
“What do you mean? Oh.” Rick picked up pen and paper and wrote: “Is your cubicle bugged?”
A.J. nodded and pointed to the row of books on the shelf behind him.
“Well, I better run,” Rick said. “It’s Friday and I’ve got a hot date tonight. How about you?”
“Becky and I are going to the AIDS charity at the Biltmore,” A.J. told him. “Her brother is HIV positive. The tuxedo rental and the gown alone will set me back a few weeks, but it’s the least I could do.”
“Congratulations on your engagement. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
A.J. laughed. “Neither did I, but now that I’ve popped the question, I find myself wondering what the hell took me so long. I don’t deserve her.”
“She said yes, so I guess you can’t be all that bad. Take care,” Rick said as he walked off. “And let me know if you hear from Jack.”
“Will do.”
Not in this lifetime
. A.J. liked the man, but as he watched him walk away, he realized he couldn’t trust anyone. Not yet anyhow...not until he located Jack and found out what was going on.
Jack held tight to Kate’s arm and together they inched past the open door. His ears popped. A paper bag flew by. An empty can rolled across the floor. Once they reached the cockpit, together they pushed the cockpit door shut and latched it into place.
Jack looked to the console and took a calming breath when he saw that the controls were set on autopilot. He slid into the pilot’s chair and strapped himself in. The instruments hummed within the cockpit.
The Learjet featured two screens, including a colorful mapping display. Everything right in front of him—a weather forecast, locations of other planes—was all on a graphical moving map.
Kate moved to his side after looking about the cockpit. “I can’t find any parachutes.”
Jack nodded as he studied the controls. He flicked a few levers in the center console and took control of the throttle.
“Why do I get the feeling you’ve done this before?”
“Any computer geek worth his processor has put in hundreds of hours of Flight Simulator.”
“Ahh, a simulator. That’s reassuring.”
“Yeah, you might want to buckle up.”
The clouds were thick, making it look as if they were flying through a never-ending mass of marshmallow. He couldn’t see a thing. Kate took a seat in the co-pilot’s chair and pulled the wide strap over her shoulder.
Jack flipped another switch. “Looks like we have enough fuel to get us to the desert, a few miles west of Las Vegas.”
Kate pointed to another screen. “What’s that dark splotch?”
“It looks like we’re headed for—shit!”
The clouds became feathery tufts, giving Jack a clearer view. They were headed straight for Red Rock Canyon. “Hold on!” He pulled on the yoke, which immediately deactivated the autopilot. Damn! That’s not what he wanted to do! The aircraft was too low to go over the mountain. He needed to bank a sharp right. He pressed down on the right rudder pedal and raised the aileron. They were losing altitude fast. An alarm went off. He took control of the throttle, increasing power as he tried to clear the mountain.
Perspiration trickled down the side of his face. “Come on,” he said, pulling up on the yoke. Just a few more feet.
Thump!
Jesus! Jack jerked forward as his knee slammed into the control panel. Both engines shuddered. The plane vibrated and the wings wobbled. “We hit a wing!” Jack held tight to the yoke. The left wing had clipped the mountain, but somehow they cleared the rest of the cliffs. The plane dipped to the left. Jack turned hard to the right. It was the only way he could keep the aircraft level. He increased engine power, gaining lift from the added thrust. With part of the wing missing though, the plane bobbed slightly before it pitched downward.
The control panel flickered. They were plunging fast. Afraid of losing all power, Jack flipped the lever to deploy the flaps, pulling back on the yoke. He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he heard the flaps move into position.
Just as he feared, the engine shut down. And for about three seconds it was eerily quiet. Kate stared ahead, her fingers white-knuckling the edge of her seat. The displays flickered before turning black. Both engines were dead.
The altimeter spun, indicating a rapidly approaching reunion with the ground. The sight of dry, barren land stretched out for miles before them. “This is going to be ugly,” he warned her. “Hold tight.”
Kate hardly moved as the plane continued its sharp, stomach-tumbling plunge. Jack yanked up hard on the control wheel, every muscle taut. The nose of the plane came up and the belly of the airplane hit the ground with a neck-jarring thud. The right wing took the worst of it as they skidded along gravely desert. Jack kept a tight grip on the control wheel, his arms shaking violently. A spray of gravel, rock, and sand hit the windshield with incredible force. Crunching, crackling, the plane skidded across desert brush and tumbleweed. The metal hulk flattened everything in its path. Bluish red sparks ricocheted off the windshield.
Everything stopped at once. The crunching of metal, the squeaking of the underside against jagged rock: it all came to a halt. Jack tried to swallow. His hands shook with adrenaline. The right wing had been completely seared off, but the plane remained balanced on its belly. Burnt metal and the smell of fuel filled the cockpit. The only noise was a persistent hissing sound.
Something gurgled beneath them. Jack looked at Kate.
Neither of them said a word. Instead, they quickly unfastened their straps and made their way to the in-flight door. Jack jumped to the ground and helped Kate out of the skewed wreckage. Outside, the hissing was louder, the smell of gas fumes stronger.
“Run!” Jack told her as soon as her feet hit the ground. “It’s going to blow!”
They both took off in a straight line. Kate was three feet in front of him when an explosion rang out. Jack felt the heat from the blast. Soot and debris fell like rain around them. Neither of them turned to look.
Kate stopped up ahead, bending low with her hands propped on her knees as she caught her breath. Jack slowed to a jog.
As soon as Kate straightened, her eyes lit up and she rushed to greet him. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him twice on the cheek and jaw before settling on his mouth. “You did it, Jack!”
Her face was smudged with dirt and sweat. Taken aback by this joyful animated side of her, not a word came out of his mouth. He smiled, glad they were both alive.
Another blast sounded, prompting them to turn toward the aircraft. Puffs of black smoke hovered over the wreckage.
Jack held out his hand.
She slipped her fingers into his.
Despite their terrifying ordeal, a strange calmness washed over him as they turned and headed across the desert. He’d spent the last three days being chased by gun-toting lunatics, he’d just crash-landed a plane, and he was wanted for murder. Every muscle in his body ached. And yet for the first time since his sister’s disappearance over a decade ago, Jack felt very nearly whole again. He was alive, and he was ready to face his demons...every last one of them.
Chapter 6
Yeah, his friend was wanted for murder, and yeah, he had no idea where Jack was at the moment, but worrying about him wasn’t going to make him appear. For tonight at least, A.J. needed to let it go. Instead, he would focus his attention on Becky. Not a bad idea, he realized, as he watched her check herself out in the mirror as she made last minute adjustments to her bronzed beaded gown, a dress he couldn’t afford but that was worth every penny.
A week ago, he got down on one knee like every other moron in the world who couldn’t come up with a better idea, and he asked Rebecca Josephine Smith to marry him. To his surprise, she said yes. Why it had taken him four years to pop the question, he might never know. She deserved so much better than a guy who hacked into computers searching for sleaze-ball cyber stalkers day in and day out. He probably could have made more money managing a McDonald’s down the street. But his Becky, his sunshine on a rainy day, his reason for waking up every day with a smile on his face, loved him for who he was. And he decided months ago that he wasn’t going to fight it any longer. Their eyes met in the mirror and he smiled. “You look beautiful.”
“Well, I better look good if I’m going to be walking into the Biltmore Hotel with the most incredibly handsome man in southern California.”
He stepped close and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her perfume smelled like heaven and roses. He kissed her neck, nibbled on her ear. “Only southern California?”
She laughed. “The world...you’re the most handsome man in the entire world.”
“Maybe we should stay in tonight.”
“It’s tempting,” she said as she bent her head back so that it rested on his shoulder and turned her lips to meet his.
“But?”
“But you promised me a dance.”
“And I never break a promise, sweetheart.” He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the king-sized bed behind them. “We’re going to dance all right,” he told her. “We’re going to dance all night long.”
Her laughter filled him from the bottom up. He laid her on the bed and left a trail of kisses across her collarbone. “First dance of the night,” he told her as he straightened, unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it to the floor, “is going to be the tango.”
Her eyes brightened. “Since when do you know how to do the tango?”
His fingers trailed up and over her arm. Her skin felt as silky as her gown looked. “Baby,” he said, “I invented the tango.”
Kate shaded her eyes with her hand and gazed across the long stretch of highway. Heat rose in waves off of the pavement. “Here comes another car.”
Jack stretched his arm toward the highway and cocked his thumb. The approaching Honda slowed, but the driver saw Jack’s battered face and whizzed by. A silver Mercedes followed close behind.
“Assholes!” Kate said.
Jack’s arm fell limp to his side as he turned and gave her a look of parental disapproval.
“Get a life,” she told him.
He winced. “All those curse words just don’t sound right coming out of your mouth. You’re much too—”
“Crap.”
“Now you’re just being—”
“Shit.”
“One more time and I’m going to—”
“Fuck.”
Jack shook his head, but he didn’t say another word.
She was tempted to ask him what he was going to do about it, but decided against it. Maybe he would kiss her again. The thought sent an honest to God shiver through her body. They were both tired and achy. The last three days had been seventy-two hours of agony and little sleep. Besides, it was obvious Jack wasn’t accustomed to conflict. He seemed to go to great lengths to avoid it...like now. She, on the other hand, was completely immune to friction of any kind. Hardly a day had gone by in the past ten years that she didn’t haggle for a day’s pay, quibble over the price of stale bread, or ward off a thief who tried to take what wasn’t his. What would it have been like to meet Jack under different circumstances, in a kinder, gentler world where her father still lived and breathed and greeted her with open arms and a wide smile?
At the sound of another car approaching, Kate abandoned thoughts of better days and hitched her bag high around her shoulder and stepped out into the middle of the road, facing oncoming traffic. She held out a hand like a traffic cop.
“Get back here,” Jack said. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve had enough.” They had been walking for endless miles. The extra sandwich in her bag had been devoured hours ago. Her throat was parched; her lips were cracked. They weren’t going to hurt anyone. They just needed a lift, for God’s sake.
The car sped over the hill and came to a screeching halt in front of Kate. It was a pale blue Volkswagen bug. The driver opened the door, but when he spotted Jack, his expression changed from concern to dread. He slammed his door shut, jerked the car into reverse and gunned it, maneuvering his vehicle around her.
Kate whipped the gun from her bag and fired at his back tire before the car could get away. There was a loud
pop
and a
whoosh
that left a ringing in her ear.
The car made a zigzag over the two lane highway before it came to a stop. She shoved the gun into her waistband and jogged toward the car. The door shot open. The driver scrambled across the road and took off for the desert.
“You don’t have to run off,” Kate shouted after him. “We just need a ride into town.”
Apparently the man didn’t believe her.
Kate shrugged and continued toward the car. Reaching inside, she grabbed the keys from the ignition. She turned toward Jack and jangled the keys in the air. “We’ve got a ride.” Making her way to the back of the car, she opened the trunk and pulled out the spare tire.
Jack caught up to her. He leaned into the car, shoved the gear into neutral, and moved the car to the side of the road, all the while muttering words like “guns” and “crazy woman” and “prison.” He put the vehicle into park before joining her at the back of the car. He pulled the jack out of the trunk.
They had the tire changed in minutes.
Kate left the driver’s water bottle on the side of the street in case he decided to come back. By the time she shut the trunk, Jack was already at the wheel, his mouth crimped in annoyance. She slid into the passenger seat and for the next five to ten minutes the only sound was the smooth hum of the car’s engine. Kate looked over at him and let out a long sigh. “What’s your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem.”
“Then why are you acting like a two-year old?”
A maniacal laugh erupted. “I’d say that’s calling the kettle black, wouldn’t you? A woman who shoots first, asks questions later; swears like a sailor; and steals cars at gunpoint?”
“Did I put a gun to your head and force you into this car?”
He snorted.
“In case you forgot, if you hadn’t come after me, none of this would have happened.” She crossed her arms. “You’re living in a fantasy world, Jack. It’s never going to be the same again. You’re a fugitive. Just like me. It’s all about survival now. Welcome to my world.”
“Okay, maybe you’re right, this is all my fault,” he ground out. “But you can’t go around firing bullets every time somebody pisses you off.”
She sighed. “If we want to stay alive we’re going to have to play by our rules.”
Neither of them said a word after that.
For the next fifteen minutes they watched the desert sweep by in a blur. It wasn’t long before they reached town. Jack pulled into the parking lot of a K-Mart. He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and counted his money. “We have one hundred and sixty-two dollars. We’re going to have to make it last until we figure out what to do next.”
Kate shuffled through her bag and found Ben Sheldon’s wallet. Inside the leather tri-fold were five crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. “Make that six hundred and sixty-two dollars.”
Jack reached over her, his hand brushing against her leg as he opened the glove box, searching for something to write on. He snatched a pen from the compartment between the seats and proceeded to make a grocery list.
A strange sensation washed over Kate, a sense of normalcy, as if they were a regular everyday couple running to the store to pick up a few things. As if she knew what normal was. She shook her head at her wayward thinking.
When Jack finished writing, he looked at her. “Are you okay?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I guess I just wish it could have been different for you.” He reached out a hand and brushed loose strands of hair from her eyes. “I wanted to bring you back to the States and help you, not make things more difficult.”
“It’s not your fault.” She took the list. “You stay here and I’ll get what we need. People would take one look at you and call the police.” She leaned into him so she could take a look at herself in the rearview mirror. She combed her fingers through her hair before turning to face him. Another hot wave swept through her belly. Being close to Jack Coffey made her wish he would take her in his arms and make her forget what they were running from. She lifted her chin. “How do I look?”
“Like a million bucks.”
She smiled and scooted back to her own seat.
“You might want to leave the gun and the knives behind,” he said.
She placed her weapons on the floor and waved the list between them. “Anything else?”
“Toothbrush...toothpaste. Shampoo and Advil. Let’s see, another T-shirt.” He pointed to the list. “And a few other things I wrote down. That should do it. There’s a hotel a few miles from the strip called Pete’s Palace,” he said. “They have rooms for cheap. We’ll go there, get cleaned up, and figure out what to do next.”
Kate opened the car door and climbed out.
“One more thing,” Jack said.
She stuck her head back inside. “What is it?”
Taking a tissue from the box between the seats, he touched the tissue to his tongue and used it to wipe a smudge of dirt from her forehead. When he finished, he said, “Be careful.”
“I always am.” She turned and headed for the entrance.
The automatic doors swept open and Kate stepped inside. The cool air hit her face the moment she entered, shocking her and making her feel as if she’d stepped into another world. A kaleidoscope of colors and shapes bombarded her senses, making her dizzy.
It took her a moment to figure out what to do. An elderly woman grabbed a cart. Kate did the same and followed the woman down the first aisle, watching to see what items the woman might select. Kate’s fingers clamped tightly around the metal bar as hazy images of her mother lifting her into a grocery cart flooded her mind. She hadn’t thought of her mother in years. Had her mother’s eyes been blue or green? She couldn’t remember. She swallowed the lump in her throat and pushed onward, determined to get through the damn store without falling to pieces.
The sheer number of items to choose from was overwhelming. She went in search of Advil and hair dye, certain that all eyes were on her, watching her every move.
She found scissors, a hairbrush, and a tube of lipstick and threw it all in the cart. “Pucker your lips...like this,” she heard Mom say. She watched her mother lean toward her, felt the coolness of her mother’s fingers on her chin as she tilted her head upward. Kate blinked. Her mother was gone. The same woman who had entered the store before her was watching her now. Kate left that aisle and headed down the main corridor until she found the food aisle. She tossed snacks and water bottles into the cart. A light yellow sundress with matching sandals for $9.99 caught her eye, and she threw them both into the cart along with a three pack of T-shirts and a few pair of underwear. Briefs for him, lacey panties for her.
Her cart was full by the time she headed for the check-out stands. The cashier told her she owed eighty-three dollars and fifty-four cents. Reluctantly, she handed over a crisp hundred-dollar bill. The man held the bill to the light before he turned toward the cash register to gather her change. “Do I know you?” he asked.
“No.”
He shut the cash drawer. His dark eyes bore into her. His thick fingers remained curled around her change, despite the fact she’d been holding her hand out, palm up, for too long.
“I’ve seen your face before. Sure you’re not somebody famous?”
“I’m sure. Could you give me my change? I’m in a hurry.”
He chuckled, his bug-eyes twinkling as if they were playing a fun little game. He wagged a finger in front of her face. “Patience is a virtue,” he said.
Kate fidgeted. She didn’t like the feeling that washed over her and made her feel like everyone in the place was watching her. She drew in a breath and waited, refusing to let her temper get the best of her. This wasn’t Haiti anymore. She needed to learn to relax a little and think before acting.
The woman in line behind her let out a ponderous sigh, showing her displeasure at having to wait so long and prompting the cashier to drop Kate’s money onto the counter. Kate scooped up her change and her groceries and left.
As soon as she exited the store, Jack pulled the car up against the curb. She loaded the groceries into the backseat and then slid into the passenger seat. Jack left the parking lot and merged into traffic. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
He glanced her way. “You’re shaking. What happened back there?”
“I don’t belong here.” She looked straight ahead, hardly blinked. She felt hollow...empty.
Jack kept his eyes on the road as he talked. “It’s perfectly natural that you might feel out of place. You’ve been gone for a long time. But it’s all going to work out. I promise.”
Kate looked his way. “How can you be so optimistic all the time? You’re on the Ten Most Wanted list for a murder you had nothing to do with.”
“Getting upset about it won’t help matters.”
She continued to stare at him. “I can’t figure you out. Who are you? Who are you really?”
He downshifted and stopped at a red light. “I’m just a regular guy. Jack Coffey, a thirty-two year old man who’s been dealt a pretty good hand up until recently. I believe in justice, the American way, and that all things happen for a reason.” He shot her a quick glance, but the light turned green and he was forced to keep his eyes on the road. “I think of life as a challenge, every day a new adventure. And it doesn’t take crash-landing a plane to get my adrenaline soaring. The taste of fine wine, good sushi, or spending time with the right woman works just as well.”