*******
2:45 P.M. (LOCAL TIME)
20 MILES WEST OF
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
Capable of intercontinental flights without refueling, the white Bombardier Global Express, its folding staircase down, sat ready to depart from the private airstrip. In the cockpit, the pilot was completing his pre-takeoff checklist.
Outside, still wearing the suit he had taken from the deputy marshal he had killed, Michael Crane, eager to get airborne, strode toward his plane to freedom. In a few minutes, I’ll be on my way to a new life. Hearing a quick squeal of a tire, he picked up his pace and threw a look over his shoulder. Observing an SUV speeding toward him, he retrieved his phone and placed a hurried call.
*******
Noticing the jet before seeing a figure in a dark suit hustling toward it, Devlin straightened the steering wheel and pressed her right foot to the floor.
Its motor roaring, the Tahoe surged forward.
As the aircraft got closer, bigger, she glimpsed ‘91’ on the speedometer before transitioning her foot to the brake pedal.
Its screeching tires gripping the hard surface, its front-end diving while its rear end fishtailed left, the Chevy skidded to a halt the length of a school bus away from the plane’s port side stairs.
Devlin rushed out of the SUV and peeled around the open door. Her Colt 45 in both hands, she aimed it at the fleeing man. “Stop right there, Crane!”
His left hand grasping a handrail, his right foot on the staircase’s first step, Crane stuffed his cell phone into a pocket and pivoted his head toward the voice. He smiled. “Jessica. Come to wish me a safe flight?”
∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞
.
Chapter 13
Bite Me
15 SECONDS EARLIER...
11:45 A.M. (LOCAL TIME)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
“Understood, sir. I’ll be ready in one minute.” With Linebacker right behind him, Blade (Deputy Marshal Mason) stowed his cell phone, navigated the steps to the basement, and unlocked a door.
Both men burst into the pitch-black holding cell and rushed the woman on the cot, Linebacker pointing a flashlight at her.
Shielding her eyes from the blinding beam, Faith scrambled to a sitting position, her back to the wall. “What the—”
Mason clutched her t-shirt and dragged her to her belly, ripping the tattered garment from her body.
She lifted her torso.
He drove her face back down onto the canvas.
She kicked.
Linebacker subdued her legs.
Mason sunk a knee into the middle of her back.
Faith bellowed at the mind-numbing pain flooding her body.
He secured her wrists behind her back with plastic restraints and yanked her to her feet. “The time has come, Ms. Mahoney.” Clenching her left elbow, he pushed her toward the door.
She let her knees buckle.
Her frame becoming dead weight in his grasp, he stumbled over her lower legs. Regaining his balance and hoisting her to her feet, he got a handful of hair, shoved her against the wall face first, and touched lips to her left ear. “Do that again, and I’ll make sure you die a slow and most painful death.”
Her right cheek kissing damp and smelly cinder blocks, her words came out slurred. “Bite me.”
He pulled, “Oh, believe me when I tell you,” before pushing her through the open doorway, “I’ll be doing that...and much more before this is all over.”
*******
11:46 A.M.
From his hiding place amid a stand of trees—one of several mini forests surrounding the perimeter of a barren subdivision that featured one completed home and one in the middle stages of construction—Randall sprinted to within ten yards of the completed structure and ducked behind a yellow-colored backhoe, one of many pieces of equipment sitting idle.
Twenty seconds later, he saw the two men who had disappeared from his sight a minute ago come into view again.
His left arm around a struggling, half-naked woman’s throat, the taller of the two men thumbed a cell phone and put the device to his ear.
Randall squinted at the captive female’s face. She’s a spitting image of Jessica...except for the blonde hair. He retrieved his mobile and dialed Devlin’s number.
*******
2:46 P.M. (LOCAL TIME)
VIRGINIA
“Show me your hands!”
Crane turned toward the marshal and complied with the order. “I just knew we’d meet again.”
Devlin nudged the muzzle of her 45 ACP to the right twice. “Back away from the plane and get on your knees.”
“In fact, I told you so when you arrested me. Remember?”
“I said...”
Her phone rang.
“...back...away...from the plane.”
His open hands in front of his chest, Crane rotated one toward her. “You’ll want to take that. It’s a matter of life and death,” he sneered at her, “your sister’s life that is.”
Devlin hauled out her mobile and eyed the screen: Number Blocked. She lifted her gaze toward Crane.
He tilted his head one way and then the other. “Tick tock, Jessica.”
Glaring at him, she answered the call.
*******
SEATTLE
Barely releasing his chokehold on Faith, Mason touched his lips to her left ear while putting his phone to her other ear. “It’s your dear sister. Tell her to do exactly what she’s told to do...and you might live to see tomorrow.”
Her captor’s stale coffee breath sweeping over her jaw and rushing up her nostrils, Faith swallowed to clear her aching throat. “Jess?”
“Faith. Are you all right?”
Faith heard the fear in her sibling’s voice. “I’m fine.” She glimpsed the man behind her out of the corner of her eye, his words coming back to her. Tell her to do exactly what she’s told to do. Mustering her verbal strength, she raised her voice. “Don’t do anything this mother fu—”
Mason wrenched on her neck, forcing her to her tiptoes, before speaking into his cell’s microphone. “Do what Mr. Crane tells you to, or she’s dead.” He disconnected the call. “Now we wait...to see how much your sister cares for you.”
*******
VIRGINIA
Devlin’s upper body lurched forward, the air in her lungs leaving in a single eruption. “Faith!” She gawked at the screen, saw the call had ended, and threw a death stare toward Crane.
“Once I’m,” he motioned toward the plane, “in the air, I’ll tell them to release her.”
She went back to her cell and noticed
