CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

Gavin jumped when the door flew open. He’d untied the general, but left the ropes arranged in such a way as to disguise their looseness. He kept his own hands behind him.

A man entered, carrying Sarah draped over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Marshall McClain, the man who’d betrayed the general. McClain set Sarah on the floor, then motioned to the woman hovering behind him. “Do it.”

“Sarah!” The general stood, the untied ropes falling around his feet.

A woman stepped forward—Nurse Donna?—syringe in hand and aimed at Sarah’s arm. Gavin came off the floor and tackled the nurse. She screamed and buckled beneath his weight.

“I’m going to kill you!” The general went after McClain.

A gunshot sounded and Gavin spun to see the general slump midstep to the floor.

“Don’t move!” McClain’s yell froze him.

Donna scurried from underneath him, panting and clutching her side. He’d hit her hard enough to break something, but the pain didn’t hold her back and she darted to Sarah’s side searching for the syringe. Gavin went after her one more time, only to halt when the man aimed his weapon at Sarah.

“Move and she dies, right here, right now,” the man said.

Gavin stayed put, but his gaze darted to Donna, who’d found the syringe, needle once again aimed at Sarah’s arm.

“Get away from her,” the general said. “Don’t do it. Please.” His eyes closed and Gavin prayed he’d only passed out and wasn’t dead.

Donna glanced at McClain, who nodded.

“The shot won’t kill her,” McClain said, “but it will encourage her to see things my way. It’s simple. When she signs the papers, she gets the second dose which counteracts the first.” Sarah stirred and McClain raised a brow. “I need her signature and I need it ASAP, but we’re going to have to take care of that in the plane.”

Sarah groaned and Donna jabbed her with the needle. Gavin hollered, ignored the weapon aimed at Sarah and lunged, catching the man in the stomach. The gun tumbled from his fingers and hit the concrete.

They stumbled backward while Donna screeched at them to stop. Gavin drew his fist back, pausing when the weapon fired again. The bullet whizzed past his face so close to his nose, he could almost smell it. He jerked back.

“Stop! I’ll kill her! Do you understand? I’ll kill her and you and everyone in here! Stop! Stop now!” Donna’s hysterical screams registered, and he stilled, his eyes going to Sarah. Awake, she met his gaze, confusion and fear mingled with sheer fury. She tried to roll to her feet and staggered. Fell on her backside.

McClain scooted backward, breathing hard and shooting black looks at him. He scrambled to his feet and snagged the gun from Donna. “Get up.” He gestured to Sarah, who simply looked at him. Her gaze shifted to Gavin, then finally landed on her father and her eyes flickered. She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. “General,” she whispered. She reached out a hand and moved, trying to get to her father.

“Pick her up,” McClain said. “We need to get out of here now.”

“What about the general?” Gavin asked, glancing at the wounded man. He lay still, eyes closed, but his chest rose and fell.

“Regrettable, but he’ll be staying here. Go. Out the door. And just in case you’re tempted to try something like that again, keep in mind that I’m the only one who can reverse the drug. Neutralize it, so to speak.”

Gavin lifted Sarah into his arms. She gave a whimper of protest and wiggled, her gaze fixed on her father.

He’d said something about a “cure” a few moments ago. “What are you talking about?” Gavin tightened his grip. “Hold on, Sarah, please.”

“T-64. The drug she was just injected with. I’m the only one who can offer an antidote.”

It had a name. T-64. The drug that had killed Sarah’s brother and so many others.

Gavin’s heart thudded, not with the effort of holding Sarah, but with the knowledge that she was going to soon suffer the effects of the drug. “There’s a cure?”

“Of course. Now go!”

Gavin could no longer stall. He stepped out of the room, sparing a backward glance at the general. The man lay still, bleeding, but still breathing.

Nurse Donna consulted her phone and groaned. “They’re surrounding the building.”

“Shut up,” McClain ordered. He shoved the weapon in Gavin’s back. “Donna, you go first.” To Gavin, “Follow her. Out the door and up the stairs. All the way to the roof.”

Help was on the way. Gavin’s heart leapt even as he desperately searched for a way to buy some more time. But even if he had to leave with Sarah, law enforcement would search the building and find the general. With that worry off his mind, Gavin could focus on Sarah. He followed Donna with Sarah in his arms.

“General,” she said again. “Gavin, my father . . .”

She stiffened and he tightened his grip. “Stay still, please. Trust me.”

Sarah went limp and his heart did all kinds of funny things at the instant response that said she fully believed he’d take care of her—and her father.

At the top of the stairs, Donna led them through a maze of corridors and up one last flight of steps. She pushed through the metal door, and Gavin found himself on an airstrip that ran the length of the massive building. A small plane was ready and waiting, the propellers beating the air. He thought he could hear sirens above the whir of the blades.

“Get on the plane, Donna.”

“I’m not going!”

McClain turned the weapon on her and pulled the trigger. She screamed. Then clutched her bleeding chest and stumbled backward, fighting to stay on her feet. And failing.

Before Gavin could act, the weapon was once more trained on him and Sarah. “I’m not playing around. Get on!”

Gavin couldn’t do much to protest with Sarah in his arms—which was something McClain had no doubt thought of. Regret that he couldn’t help Donna or the general overwhelmed him. But there was nothing he could do—except whatever he had to do to keep Sarah safe. Killing was second nature to this man and Gavin would have to tread carefully.

He climbed the portable steps and ducked into the six-seater plane. Sarah slid from his arms and into the nearest seat. He discreetly felt under her seat. A parachute. Good. And bad. He broke out in a sweat at the plan forming in his mind, but he had a feeling it was the only way. Using his body to shield his actions from the man behind him, Gavin pulled the chute from its nook and placed it behind Sarah. “Wiggle your arms through the straps when you can,” he whispered. Her eyes went wide, and she grabbed his hand and squeezed, her grip stronger than he would have thought.

“Hurry up. Get her strapped in,” McClain ordered.

He did as instructed, wondering if she was as groggy as she was leading him and McClain to believe. Regardless, Gavin finished and turned to face yet another weapon held by the pilot. Apparently, McClain had an entire army on his payroll. Gavin took the seat next to Sarah while McClain stepped in and shut the door.

“Get this thing in the air,” McClain yelled to the pilot. He turned back to Gavin. “No funny stuff or you’re dead and I’ll figure out what to do about her after that. As soon as we’re at cruising altitude and out of danger of being detected, she’s going to sign the papers. You hear me, Sarah?”

She ignored the man, keeping her eyes shut.

Gavin raised his hands as though in surrender.

McClain took the passenger seat in the front but stayed facing them, with the weapon trained on them. “Wrap the seatbelt around your arm and tie yourself to the armrest.”

After a brief hesitation, Gavin grabbed the lap belt and did as ordered. McClain reached over and grabbed the end, yanking it tight. The strap cut into his forearm, but Gavin kept his expression blank. He wouldn’t give the man the satisfaction of seeing him wince.

Sarah’s head lolled over onto Gavin’s shoulder, and he slipped his free arm around her to pull her closer.

“We have to get out of this,” she said, her voice low enough not to be heard by the two men up front.

“We will,” he said. “I’m working on a plan. Keep your eyes closed and act like you’re still drugged.”

“Not hard. I am. A little. Fortunately, I managed to dodge some of it.”

The plane accelerated down the rooftop runway and swooped into the air. He looked out the window and saw the authorities below, entering the building. Some pointed up to the plane and Gavin figured they’d have a police chopper on the way, if they didn’t already.

“They injected you with that drug, Sarah. You have to tell me if you start feeling . . . it.”

She gave a short nod. “Right now, I feel pretty good. Like I could conquer the world. Other than being a little sleepy, that is.”

“Good, we’re going to have to use that ‘conquer the world’ feeling as soon as we’re in the air.”

“How so?”

“Sarah,” McClain said, “glad to see you’re awake and feeling better. For now.”

Gavin wanted to smash the smirk off the man’s face. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and waited.

The plane banked left and the pilot said something to McClain, who jerked his attention to the window.

A police helicopter closing in. Thank God. Gavin leaned closer to Sarah. “The bird’s here. Please tell me you’ve parachuted out of a plane before.”

She hesitated. “Twice. For a story I was doing on a special forces team. Both times I was strapped to someone who knew what they were doing.”

“Twice?”

“I enjoyed it so much the first time, I wanted to do it again. They humored me.”

“Okay, good to know.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve got one under my seat, but I’m going to be the distraction that gets you out the door.”

She gulped and her eyes went wide. “So . . . you’re saying . . . ?”

“Yeah. I’m just saying, if it comes down to it, you’re going to have to do a solo jump.”

Sarah shook her head and noted the pilot and McClain were still in heated conversation about the helicopter. McClain had a headset on and every so often would tell the pilot what to say, then turn and check on them.

After his last check, Sarah worked quickly. She unbuckled the lap belt Gavin had fastened and stripped off her oversized sweatshirt. She slipped her arms through the straps of the parachute he’d stuffed behind her. She wouldn’t be able to get her legs in the harness but fastened the buckle that went across her chest, then yanked the sweatshirt back over her.

She really wasn’t planning on jumping out of the plane, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. She’d have to get the sweatshirt off before she pulled the cord, but for now, at least she had a parachute.

Her heart pounded as she kept an eye on the men still arguing in the front. She pulled the shoulder straps from the seat belt back into place. “Your turn,” she whispered to Gavin.

McClain spun in his seat, the weapon passing over her and Gavin.

“You need to land,” Gavin said. “There’s no way out of this.”

“We’re not landing.”

“They’ll just wait until you have to land due to low fuel. Or crash.”

The man shot him the weirdest smile Gavin had ever seen. “I’ll be done by then.”

“What?”

McClain got out of his seat and turned to Sarah. The gun never wavered in his right hand. In his left, he held four pages and a pen. He thrust the items at Sarah. “Sign it or die.”

“We’ve already been over this.”

“Which is why I brought him.” He turned the weapon on Gavin’s knee. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way, but one way or another you’re going to sign those papers.”

“Why not just forge my name?” she cried. “You didn’t have to go through all of this! Just sign my name yourself.”

“I can’t. One of the terms for releasing the money is that a handwriting expert verify the signatures. Now sign or I’ll shoot him!”

The look in his eyes said he was close to pulling the trigger. He’d do it. He’d strategically place bullets so they wouldn’t kill him quickly, but the pain would be excruciating. Sarah grabbed the papers and the pen.

“No, Sarah,” Gavin said, “don’t do it.”

“What does it matter at this point?” She scribbled her name on each page and shoved them back at him. “There! Now what?”

McClain shrugged out of the overcoat he wore, tucked the papers into his front pocket, and pulled the flap over them. “Now, the money will be transferred to my offshore account. Now, it’s time for me to disappear.”

He turned and pulled the trigger. The pilot’s blood and brain matter coated the windshield. Sarah gaped, but before she could make a sound, he turned the weapon back on Gavin. “Right now, the plane is on autopilot. Give me the parachute under your seat.”

Gavin complied. McClain pulled the emergency lever and the door of the plane flew off. Cold wind whipped around them. He then turned and fired the weapon at the instrument panel of the plane. Once, twice, three times. Sparks flared and the instruments went haywire.

Sarah ducked her head. “What are you doing?”

McClain tossed the parachute out the door. “Give me the other one,” he shouted. “From under her seat.”

Gavin met her gaze, then went to his knees to look under her seat. He turned. “It’s not there.”

Keeping his eyes on Gavin, McClain’s scowl deepened. “Back in your seat. If I look and it’s there, I’ll shoot her.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not there!”

The man bent, then straightened and moved to the other two seats opposite Sarah and Gavin. He grabbed the parachutes from underneath and tossed them out the door. Then removed the pilot’s and sent it after the others.

Once the parachutes were free-falling from the plane, McClain turned the weapon back on Gavin. Sarah screamed.

Gavin kicked out and caught the man in the knee. Sarah heard the crunch over the whistle of the wind. McClain fell to the floor of the plane, screaming a litany of curses while his weapon slid toward the open door. Gavin worked the belt holding him to the seat as the plane listed to the side, the right wing dipping toward the earth. The gun slid farther from McClain.

Sarah’s gaze went to the instrument panel. “Hurry, Gavin! The autopilot’s disengaged. We’re going down!”

Four more tugs and he was loose.

McClain had managed to get to his feet, favoring his injured right leg. When he saw Gavin was free, he dove for the gun, grabbed it, and rolled to aim at Gavin. The plane shifted again, throwing McClain off-balance. Still gripping the weapon, he slid out the door.

The plane tilted once more. Gavin scrambled to his knees, but like McClain, slid toward the opening.

Sarah screamed and unbuckled her seat belt and shoulder harness with frantic fingers. “Gavin! Hold on!”

Finally, she was free just as he managed to wrap his fingers around the leg of one of the seats. She darted toward him and grabbed his wrist. He placed a foot against the edge of the door and Sarah slammed against the side of the plane.

“What do I do?” she screamed.

“Put your legs through the straps and pull them tight.”

Working quickly, she yanked her sweatshirt off, then with her back still against the wall of the plane, she loosened the material around her upper body to enable her to maneuver her legs into the proper place. She pulled the straps tight as instructed. The plane lurched and she lost her balance, tumbling to her hip and sliding toward the open door. “Gavin!”

His hand clamped onto the right shoulder strap and yanked her back. Prayers whispered from her lips, even as she struggled to regain her balance. “He had a parachute on,” she said. “He’s getting away.”

“I’m more worried about us right now.” Gavin’s fingers slipped and his leg dangled outside the open door. The ground rose rapidly and the police chopper hovered close by.

She pointed. “We have to jump!”

Sweat dripped from his brow. “I can’t!”

“Of course you can,” she shouted above the roar of the wind. “You’ve done it a thousand times.”

“Not since the incident.” He shook his head. “I freeze every time I try. Go! Jump!”

“Not without you!”

“I’m going to land the plane.”

“Not a chance, my friend. This one is going down and fast.”

“Innocent people are going to die if I don’t—”

“The helicopter is right there. They’re tracking the plane and evacuating anyone in the area where it might crash. Now, let’s go!”

“Sarah, I’m sorry, but I . . . can’t.”

“You promised me!”

He shut his eyes, agony dripping from every square inch of him.

“You promised me that as long as you had breath left in you, you’d make sure I was safe. I’m not safe yet and I’m not going alone!”

“Sarah—”

She looked around. Spotted the pilot’s gun sliding toward her and snagged it. She gathered her strength and her feet and moved to the seat belt. She fired the weapon once, twice, three times, effectively slicing a long strip of material from the seat.

Quickly, she stuck one end through the parachute strap buckled on her chest and then inched forward toward the door and Gavin. “Tie this around you! We’re running out of time.”

“Sarah—”

“Do it!” She screamed the two words. “You have to keep your promise or I’ll die with you!”

For a moment, a brief moment they didn’t have, he stared at her before his jaw hardened and determination flooded his eyes. Sarah almost wept her relief. He was back. With effort, he hauled himself into the plane and rolled to his side. “Lie down next to me and press against my back.”

She did so and slid the end of the seatbelt under his armpit. He pulled the rest of it around him and tied the ends together. “We don’t have time to switch and give me the chute, so wrap your legs around my waist and lock your ankles. Don’t let go of me when it deploys.”

“I won’t.”

“Then here we go. Let gravity work for us. I’ll tell you when to pull the cord.”

Sarah quit trying to resist and let gravity work.