Think Twice

Bennie turned to the next man in line. “Sir, may I borrow your cell phone, please?”

“?Que?” he said, frowning, but the airline employee was already motioning him forward, speaking to him in rapid Spanish.

“Does anybody else have a cell phone I can borrow?” Bennie called to the others in line.

“Get outta the way!” an older man answered, annoyed. “We’re gonna miss the flight, lady!”

“Excuse me,” said a voice, and Bennie turned. Behind her stood a heavyset man with glasses and a gray- flecked beard. He had on a Hawaiian shirt and carried a Marlboro duffel bag. “Did I hear you say you need to get to Nassau?”

“Yes.”

“I know somebody who can get you there.”

“Tonight?”

“I can find out,” the man answered.

Chapter One Hundred and Twelve

Alice tugged Knox into a bathroom stall and closed the wooden door behind them. She pressed him against the tiles, kissed him, then moved to undo his pants. “I bet I know what you want,” she whispered.

“I know that you do.”

Alice kissed him as she slid his zipper down. Outside she could hear shouting, so somebody had discovered the fire in the jet. Quickly she dug her fingers into Knox’s crotch, got a good grip, and squeezed so hard his eyes flew open.

“Ow!” Knox yelped, bewildered.

“Do I have your attention? Our jet is on fire, and if I get lucky, it’ll blow up.”

Ka-boom! Suddenly, something detonated outside. Percussion shook the building. A siren went off.

“I need you to get me to my car,” Alice said, holding on. “Do what I say or I’ll tell your boss you set the fire. They’re your cigarettes that started it, and your matches. I’ll say you set it, after you raped me. I’ll tell the cops, I’ll tell your wife, too. Everything.”

“No!” Knox shook his head. “I have a record. Please. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Smart move.” Alice released him. “First, get me out of here.”

KA-BOOM! There was a deafening explosion, then more shouting. Another jet must have gone up, the one parked next to theirs.

“Move! Hurry!” Alice grabbed his arm, flung open the stall door, and yanked him out. “Get me to my car.”

“How about another grand?”

“Done.”

“This way, then!” Knox hurried from the stall with Alice, just as another explosion rocked the building. They stumbled but kept their footing, and ran from the bathroom into the waiting room.

The glass windows had blown out in the terminal, scattering shards everywhere. Smoke filled the room. On the runway raged an enormous conflagration, shooting flames into the night sky. It must have been the fuel truck that blew up. An emergency vehicle zoomed toward the blaze. A uniformed employee ran past, shouting into a radio.

Alice used Knox for interference, bolting past doors that read BOND ROOM, then MISSION CONTROL, and out the front door. The blaze superheated the air. Smoke choked her nostrils and stung her eyes.

“This way!” shouted Knox, running to the car.

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen

Bennie gripped the handstrap, and the helicopter left behind the funky architecture and neon lights of Miami. Her hair flew around her face, and she sat pitched forward, looking down through the windshield. The wind buffeted them, the engine rattled in her ears, and the rotors whined at a high pitch. The clouds shifted, and the moon popped into view, shining on a ripple of black water, making whitecaps like a strand of pearls.

The pilot was an older man who knew the heavyset guy from the airport, and Bennie didn’t know more than that about him. He seemed to know what he was doing, his hands moving expertly over the console, with its instruments, gauges, and dials, their colorful numbers glowing disembodied in the dark.

She tried to figure out Alice’s next move. The girl was probably on her way to the Bahamas, if not there already. She must have flown private. The credit cards didn’t get canceled tonight because everybody had been so busy. She wondered if the FBI had called down to the Bahamas. She had no ID, no passport, and no idea how she’d get onto the island.

“Change of plans!” the pilot shouted, to be heard. “Can’t land at L.P.”

“What?”

“Lyden Pindling, the Nassau airport. Gotta take you to another island. Get the ferry to Nassau tomorrow morning.”

“No, I have to get to Nassau tonight. That’s the deal.”

“Too bad. They closed the airport.”

“Can’t you land somewhere else on the island?”

“That’ll cost you.”

“I have the cash. You saw it.”

“Roger that. Hang on, blondie.”

Blondie. It was who Bennie had become. Otherwise, she didn’t know who she was anymore. She used to fight for the law, and now she was an outlaw. She was about to enter a country illegally.

And her intent was to kill.

Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen

Alice and Knox ran to the car, amid mass confusion. Sirens blared everywhere. Smoke fogged the air. A loudspeaker barked. Airport personnel in reflective vests bolted toward the fires. At the limo stand stood a black Town Car, with its front door and trunk open.

“No driver!” Alice called out, reaching the driver’s side. She caught a glint of keys in the ignition. “He left the keys. Get in.”

Knox slammed the trunk closed, then jumped into the passenger seat.

Alice twisted the keys in the ignition and hit the gas. She sped out of the lot as police cruisers sped directly toward them in the same lane.

“Move over!” Knox yelled. “We drive on the other side!”

Alice steered into the other lane. “Tell me how to get out of here.”

“Go left.” Knox pointed, and Alice took the turn, then zoomed for the exit gate just as a red fire truck raced toward them, its headlights blinding. She veered around the fire truck and hit the main road leaving the airport, then reached a fork.

“Where now?”

“Right, then left.” Knox pointed again.

Alice zoomed onto a side road and kept driving until the car rental places and businesses disappeared. She found herself in a neighborhood of small, run-down houses, their pastel hues faded and peeling. People were going to their cars and into the street to see what was happening at the airport, so she kept driving until she spotted a