Okay, okay, everyone stay calm.” Luke scanned the restaurant.
Judith looked at Ida then back to Luke. “We are calm, Luke. I don’t see anyone panicking.”
“Sorry. It just seemed the right thing to say.”
Judging by the response of the restaurant’s patrons, the news story went unnoticed. What few diners watched the overhead televisions had eyes fixed to the ones with sports programming.
“What do we do now?” Ida asked.
Before anyone could answer, the waitress, still inspired by the twenty Luke slipped her, arrived with a broad smile. “Is everything delicious?” She looked at Ida’s untouched food. “Is there something wrong with the salad?”
Ida blanched. “No, I just wasn’t as hungry as I thought.”
“You want me to get you something else?”
We want you to leave us alone. Judith kept the words locked in her mind.
Ida said, “No.”
“I know what you mean, honey. I don’t like to eat before I fly either.”
For a moment, Judith thought Ida was going to correct the waitress but the woman caught herself and offered a simple smile.
The moment the waitress left, Judith relaxed, unaware that she had tensed as much as she had. Was the waitress looking at them differently? Had she seen the newscast or had she been too busy keeping track of customers?
Luke sat in silence, his eyes shut, and his head moving slightly from side to side. She made eye contact with Ida then shrugged. Judith hadn’t known Luke long enough to know what the motions meant. She suspected that Luke had fallen deep into thought.
A second later, his eyes snapped open. “This is a problem.”
In a less stressful situation Judith might have laughed at the understatement. “Think so? I kinda thought we had problems when someone tried to blow us up.”
Luke’s mouth dipped. “What I mean is, this has become much more complicated. If the news media has the story, then we can be certain that police agencies everywhere have been notified. We have to assume that since a witness identified you, local police in Ontario are searching for you.”
“But we’re in San Diego.” The fact gave Judith no comfort. The Puppeteer made clear they could not go to the police. They hadn’t but now the police were involved, at least in trying to find them.
“That’s our only advantage. We need to get the most out of it.”
“Oh.” Judith had a thought that removed what little appetite she had. Luke tilted his head in an unspoken question. “The jet. If they’re looking for me, then what would they do? If they assume that it was really me the witness saw in Fresno, then they’ll know I had to get there somehow. My car is at the office. Remember, I had Terri pick it up from Hutch’s.”
“I remember,” Luke said. “And the cops can determine when you were last seen at the office and compare that with when you were seen in Fresno.”
“And know that I flew. It won’t take them long to figure out the corporation has a business jet.”
Luke raised his hands to his face. “Please tell me the pilots didn’t file flight plans.”
“I’m sure they did. It only takes a few moments. It can even be done verbally.”
“What’s that mean?” Ida wondered.
Judith answered. “It means that it’s only a matter of time before someone figures out that the jet traveled from Ontario to Fresno to San Diego.”
“We can’t stay here much longer,” Luke said.
Judith agreed although a large part of her wanted to walk up to the closest airport security person and lay out the whole story, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her future was at stake, then — and it shamed her that the thought came second — there was Abel’s safety to consider.
“This changes everything.” Luke shifted his weight like a man perched on a pebble-filled cushion. “We had some advantage when we began, but now that the police and others are looking for us, we have to be even more careful about what we do.”
“They’re not looking for you, Luke. They’re looking for me. I’m a publicly recognizable figure. That must be why the witness knew who I was. You’re not.”
“Granted, but it makes no difference. The Puppeteer has handcuffed us together.”
“Maybe we should go on separately.”
“How? How do we do that? He didn’t say it specifically, but I think part of the deal is that we stick together.”
“And what about me?” Ida asked.
And what about you, indeed. Judith had no ideas. They couldn’t cart an unwilling woman along. They had no idea what lay ahead and based on the narrow escape they just faced, the future might be dangerous. Of course, the demolished house provided proof enough that the woman was in danger. She couldn’t go home. What was left?
No one spoke, the question too sticky to dismiss easily.
“I’m going with you.” Ida made the pronouncement in solid I’ve-made-up-my-mind tone.
Luke shook his head. “I don’t think that’s wise, Ida. We’re not sure where we’re going or what we’ll find. There is too much uncertainty.”
“What certainty do I have now? My house is charred rubble, my husband is dead, and my son is missing.”
“Still, Ida, it’s unwise.”
Judith spoke up. “I think she should come with us.”
“Are you daft? You know how difficult this is.”
“No, I’m not daft.” Judith leaned over the table to keep her voice from carrying to the other patrons. “You’re not thinking this through. We can’t stay here much longer and we haven’t learned all that Ida has to say. She may have more information.” Judith nudged the woman with her foot. She jerked.
“That’s right. I’m not telling you any more unless you let me come along.”
Luke started to speak, but Judith cut him off. “Not only that, she can identify you. You introduced yourself to her at her home. If the police get hold of her, they’ll have names and descriptions for both of us. If she claims we kidnapped her, then we have bigger problems. If she implicates us in the kidnapping of her son, then the FBI gets involved. Right? The FBI has jurisdiction over child abduction. It’s bad enough having local cops from two cities — ”
“Three cities,” Luke said. “If your pilots filed a flight plan, then they know the jet is here and the locals will be notified by a phone call.”
“But it’s hard enough for two people to stay invisible, especially when one has had her face on television for years. Three people might be impossible.”
“Think, Luke. If we find Abel, do you think he’s going to run into our arms because we look like a nice couple? He’s been abducted from his home. He wants to see his mother.”
Ida’s face set like stone. Judith couldn’t tell if she was acting or if a strength and intelligence previously masked by sorrow was now coming to the surface. Either way, she was playing the part well. Judith just hoped she had chosen the right side.
“I know when I’m being worked.” Luke’s frown turned into a scowl.
Judith answered the scowl with a grin. “You are, but you know that taking Ida is the right decision.”
“I don’t think she’d turn on us, but you make a good point about Abel responding to his mother better than to us, and about our need to hear the rest of Ida’s story.” He leaned back and his shoulders rounded. “You win.”
Once again, Ida seemed on the verge of tears, but Judith saw something new in the woman: resolve.
“What now?” Ida asked.
“We leave but once outside the restaurant, we split up.”
“Split up?”
Luke raised a hand. “Not completely. They’re going to be looking for three people, one man and two women. We stick out like coal on snow. You two walk together, I’ll stay a few steps behind. We are never to lose sight of one another. And speaking of sticking out, Judith, you need to buy a hat, or scarf or something, and some shades. Disguise yourself the best you can. Don’t — I’m serious about this — do not use any credit card or debit card. Got it? They’re looking for you and any transaction other than cash can be traced. Do you have any money?”
“Enough.”
“Okay. I’m going to get more cash from an ATM machine. No one has identified me yet so I think I can get away with it. Once they do, all my plastic gets tossed.”
“Understood.” Judith took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”
Luke threw two twenties on the table and the three walked into the concourse of the airport.
Sam Pennington taxied the Piper Arrow 180 aircraft to the runway and waited the final clearance to take off from the Fresno Chandler Downtown Airport. He had wanted to be in the air sooner, but the local cops and fire investigators had an endless stream of “just one last question.” Finally satisfied, they gave him his leave and he returned his rental car and rented the single engine aircraft. At 120 bucks an hour most people would have choked at the expense, but Pennington didn’t care. It wasn’t his money he was spending.
The tower radioed his clearance and Pennington put the craft into motion. An experienced private pilot, he felt the thrill of acceleration and lift and soon exchanged the view of the ground for the blue of the central California sky. Soon he’d be at altitude and traveling at 130 knots.
His destination had been easy to determine. People like Judith Find didn’t travel in commercial airliners. A couple of phone calls and two or three lies got him the information he needed. What he didn’t know was why Judith Find had been at his target’s house in the first place and who the man with her might be. Pennington liked things clear and in the proper order, but life — especially his life — seldom cooperated.
“In due time,” he said to himself and banked the airplane in the direction of San Diego.
It bothered him that they had flown to San Diego. How had they known? How could they know that his employers set up camp in the city? Something was missing. No, not something — someone. Could there be another player? If so, who?
He had a few hours to consider such things and to plan his next step.
Pennington wasn’t sure how things would progress but he was certain it wasn’t going to be pretty.