“Sir, can I help you?” he asked.
“She’s just a little tired. Help me get her over to that row of chairs,” Vernon said.
The man was about my size and curled his arm around under my armpit. Both men hurried me over to the empty waiting area and sat me down.
“Is there anything I can get you?” the man asked.
“No, we’re fine. Leave us,” McCarthy ordered.
The man looked at my agonized expression and took off.
“Ooo I think I twisted my ankle,” I groaned, acting the part.
“Hush up, you’ll draw too much attention to us,” he said in a low voice. He pulled out my phone from his pants pocket and then realizing it wasn’t his, he put it back and pulled out his phone from his jacket, and shook it at me.
“You try anything more and I give the call to my watchdogs to hurt your friends,” he warned.
“You wouldn’t dare in this busy terminal,” I protested.
“How is your ankle now?” he asked.
“Better but it still hurts. Give me a few minutes,” I replied.
He straightened up to look through the window where one of the boarding tubes had expanded out from the exit of the building. An airplane taxied up to the shaft. We watched the ground crew fastened the walkway to the entrance hatch of the plane, leaving a narrow gap near the door.
“Get up and wrap that scarf tight around your head without taking it off,” he ordered.
“I feel a little better now, but don’t walk too fast,” I said, staying in character.
He placed his hand on my elbow to help me stand and grabbed the top handle of my rolling suitcase.
“Here, you pull this. I’ll carry your purse,” he said. “So it doesn’t look like we are too chummy, I’ll follow you a few feet behind. Don’t try anything or I call my contacts.”
I nodded as I pretended to limp and towed my suitcase behind me into the flowing lane of passengers walking to their departure gates. I was still thinking of what I could do to slow this process down, but fear has a way of gripping your thoughts. I tried mouthing the word ‘help’ a few times to passerbys, but no one stopped us. We walked right by Trisha in her seat as Vernon caught up with me. He guided me over to a corner row of seats in front of the large viewing window. Now no one can see us from here.
—-
Larry went to every ladies room with one of the women security guards to check if I was in them. He had no luck.
“You haven’t found them yet?” another officer said, approaching him.
“No, but she has to be here somewhere,” he replied.
“Maybe he decided to call it off.”
“I’d like to think that but Susan is his ticket on the plane. Let’s go back to my gate and keep a lookout.”
They searched on their way back to Gate Four and Larry sat down near Trisha and David.
“Nothing yet?” David asked.
“No, and I’m getting worried. If he wants to escape off this island, this will have to be his only chance,” Larry said.
Trisha glanced up and turned to listen to Larry and David talk.
A man wearing a ball cap with a head-scarfed woman walked along the far wall.
—-
A half an hour before takeoff, the airline desk announced over the sound system for the handicap passengers to board the plane. Vernon rose up and grabbed my arm. In one sweeping moment, I had to take hold of my suitcase. He wasn’t giving me much time. We walked passed the other people in the same row as we until he stepped aside to let me go in front of him.
I strolled straight ahead until I stood in line with a few other passengers up front waiting for the desk clerk to call our section number. Vernon stood a couple of feet behind me.
“I should remove my scarf so the checker can compare me to my ID,” I said in a low voice as I turned toward him.
“Wait until then, she might not ask you,” he said.
Chapter 31
The Unthinkable
Larry and Trisha entered the boarding line. At the front, a woman in a headscarf showed the ticket agent her ID. As Larry watched, she reached up and removed her scarf. Glancing over to David, Larry cut him off with a look before he could yell Susan’s name.
“She’s just now going through. I think McCarthy is behind her,” David whispered, pointing to the front of the line.
Trisha bent sideways to look around David and gasped. Larry waved to the officer standing close to the exit ramp.
As McCarthy drew out his ticket for scanning, the officer approached him.
“Mr. Vernon McCarthy, I’m placing you under arrest—“
Before the police officer could finish the recitation, the stocky man bolted passed Susan and ran down through the jetway tube.
—-
One moment Ol’ Vern was behind me and as soon as I heard a man, I guessed to be an officer attempting to make an arrest, I moved aside as fast as I could. I turned away from the covered bridge entrance at the same time my kidnapper ran passed me, almost knocking me off balance. As I regained my composure, I could see David waving as two officers rushed by me. More security personnel entered the jetway and stopped the passengers from further entering the jet tube.
Larry and Trisha got their boarding passes scanned and caught up with me.
“Are you all right,” Trisha asked as Larry ran ahead with one of the security men.
“I’m a little shook. Did anyone follow you?” I asked.
“No, come on, we are holding up the line.”
We started walking through the jet tube when we heard several people screaming up ahead of us. One of the airport security officers returned to our position to tell everyone to wait.
“What happened?” Larry asked the guard.
The officer listened to his two-way radio and motioned us to continue down the ramp single file. As we passed the connection between the plane’s hatch door
