Act of Valor Page 17

  Leaving the country. A death sentence for both of them, or worse. “Take me, then,” Zach said. “A cop for a hostage, not her. Let her go.”

  “Oh, we will take you. And when we get close to our destination, we’ll toss you out, but she’s coming, too. Nice to have someone around who can cook and clean.”

  Violet glared at him. “In your dreams.”

  He laughed. “Kidding. You’re a witness, after all, so Beck says it will be a one-way trip for you, too.”

  Zach yanked at the duct tape that bound his wrists behind him. His brothers had to have seen Beck’s vehicle speeding away. Were they right behind him?

  “The airport is locked down. You won’t make it out of here.”

  “No problem,” Jones said. “We’ll be aboard and in the air in minutes.”

  In the air, cut off from any help. He could not let that happen.

  As they sped toward a looming cargo plane, Zach nudged Violet with his knee. She jerked a look at him and he tried to wriggle his hands while Jones studied the tarmac through the partially unzipped canvas. She understood. Since Eddie created some concealment, she snaked one arm behind Zach. With her manicured fingernails, she scratched and probed until she found the edge of the duct tape. The truck was moving fast now, the cart bumping and shimmying. Violet kept focused, prying the tape up with agonizing slowness, but she had to stop every time Jones shot a glance at them.

  In the distance, he heard sirens and hope surged inside him. His brothers were on their way with plenty of units. He just needed to get free and keep Violet safe until backup arrived. The cargo plane came into view. He could not figure out how Beck had gotten weapons past security and onto the runway.

  He felt the tape loosen slightly and he could barely keep still. Eddie whined as a bump jarred him from Violet’s lap and sent him falling off. Violet stopped pulling at the tape and helped Eddie scramble into her protection again. Another few tugs and the tape loosened more, but she had to stop again as Beck braked to a standstill.

  Beck came around and pulled Violet from the car while Jones did the same to Zach. He tied Eddie to the empty baggage cart. Eddie’s shrill baying was lost in the shriek of sirens. Jones shoved them both up the ramp and onto the plane. With a brutal push, he knocked them to their knees on the floor. All around them were stacks of furniture, tied down and secure, and all no doubt filled with hidden drugs.

  Zach frantically worked at the duct tape, praying that Violet had weakened the bonds. The tape began to stretch, buying him precious inches to work his wrists back and forth. He ignored the pain and the warmth of the blood caused by the abrasion. A minute more was all he needed.

  “Cops have figured out our diversion. They’re blocking the runway,” Jones shouted.

  “Take them down,” Beck snapped. Jones started shooting. Bullets pounded toward the blockade of police cars, toward his brothers. Every muscle in Zach’s body was wire taut. Noah’s voice came out tinny and distorted over his public address channel.

  “Xavier Beck, this is the NYPD. You are completely surrounded and there’s no way out. Hijack protocols are in place and this airport is locked down. Release your hostages immediately and order your pilot to cut the engines.”

  Beck answered by firing his own weapon, too. Noah’s words were lost in the barrage of bullets.

  “We’re taking off now,” Beck yelled to the pilot through the open cockpit door.

  “Air traffic control has ordered me to turn off the engines,” the pilot answered, peeking out, sweat beading his forehead. “This isn’t worth what you’re paying me. This wasn’t what I signed on for.”

  “If you power down,” Beck snarled, “I will shoot you right now and fly this plane myself.”

  The pilot’s lips moved but he did not speak. “Mr. Beck, there is no way...even if we get in the air...”

  Beck cut him off. “I have a boss to answer to who won’t settle for your death as a punishment. He’ll make sure everyone you ever loved dies, too, slowly and painfully. You get me?”

  Gulping, the pilot nodded and turned back to the controls.

  The plane rumbled as the pilot began to ready for takeoff. Jones braced himself against the wall and kept his gun trained on them while Beck supervised the pilot. Zach yanked at the duct tape, desperate now.

  If they got off the ground, they would not survive. Violet turned a terrified gaze at him, the brown of her eyes clouded in disbelief. She trusted him to keep her safe, believed in him when he did not believe in himself. And he realized in that moment that his heart would not continue to beat if hers didn’t, that the cascade of confusing feelings he’d felt toward her had crystallized into one clear and shining reality: he loved her, adored her, and he was about to lose her.

  The seconds ticked away as the plane began to roll down the runway.

  * * *

  Violet’s body shook from the vibrations of the plane and her own bone-deep fear. They were trapped in a nightmare. Beck was crazy to send the plane right into the police barricade and ignore what would have to be a massive response from Homeland Security to an airport breach. Hijacking protocols in the post 9-11 days were clear. Even if the plane somehow took off, it would be tracked until it landed and met with another mountain of security personnel. Beck was insane to think they would survive.

  “Victor, listen,” she started. “Beck is crazy. He’ll get us all killed. You’ll never...”

  “Close the hatch,” Beck shouted from the cockpit.

  Jones jerked the gun at her. “You do it. Now.”

  She was crouched against a crate, trying to keep her balance as the plane lurched over the tarmac. Zach faced her, on his knees. He gave her a wink. What did it mean? She thought about their childhood when such a look meant, “Keep my secret, Vi. I’m going to launch a surprise attack on my brothers.”

  A surprise attack? No, her mind screamed. Jones could not miss at such a distance. Zach would be killed for sure. Then she saw Zach’s arm come loose from behind him and there was no more time to stall. She reached up as if to secure the hatch, but she pretended to stumble and fall with a dramatic scream thrown in for good measure.

  As she’d hoped, Jones yanked a startled look at her just as Zach surged forward, a perfect football tackle that drove the air out of Jones’s stomach.

  He hurtled back, smashing into a metal edge, stunning himself. Violet grabbed up a flashlight secured to the wall and swung it at Jones’s chin. The contact sent him toppling. His gun skittered across the floor and behind a table shrouded in blankets. He groaned and went still.

  “Here,” Zach said, gesturing with his bound hands.

  She quickly unfastened the tape.

  “Find the gun,” Zach said, ripping the rest of the tape from his wrists. She darted toward the stacked furniture. The space was dark and she could not see the gun anywhere. Dropping to hands and knees, she felt along the grimy floor, fingers cold and shaking. Despair licked at her until she saw a corner of the weapon poking out from underneath a plastic-wrapped pallet.

  “Got it,” she said, but as she reached for it, a roar of rage stopped her.

  “Get up,” Beck boomed, emerging from the cockpit with murder in his eyes.

  Their time had run out.

  TWENTY

  “It’s all falling apart, Beck,” Zach said, struggling to his feet. “You can’t get away. It’s over.”

  Noah’s radio command cut through the din again. “Stop the plane, Beck. There’s no way out.”

  “He’s right. You’re outgunned and outnumbered.”

  “I’ll have help when we land this bucket. All I need to do is buy some time.” He aimed the gun at Zach. “I think your body bouncing across the tarmac would do the trick.”

  “No!” Violet yelled. He pulled the trigger. Her scream mingled with the report of the gun.

  He fired just as the plane jud
dered, upsetting his aim. The shot zinged into the ceiling, raining sparks down on Zach. Violet darted at Beck, grabbing at his arm but he jabbed an elbow into her ribs, driving the breath from her lungs and sending her falling to the floor.

  “Get out, Violet!” Zach yelled. “Jump out now.”

  Instead, she tried to scramble to her feet, but the impact had made her dizzy. She tried again, upright just as Beck took aim at Zach and fired a round.

  Again, the bullet went wide, but Zach stumbled to one knee. Beck took aim one last time and smiled. “Trip’s over.”

  “No!” she screamed.

  There was a flash of brown and for a moment she did not realize what was happening. Eddie leaped into the plane, trailing his chewed leash. He barked with everything in him, lunging for the man who was about to murder his master.

  At the same time, Zach dived for Beck’s gun hand while Eddie latched on to Beck’s pant leg. The combination took Beck over backward. Zach and Beck rolled on the floor, grappling for control of the gun. Another shot let loose, ricocheting off the metal door frame in a shower of sparks.

  “Violet, jump off!” Zach shouted again through gritted teeth. The muscles of his neck were banded steel as he fought Beck. “Now!”

  An idea sparked. She ignored the command and whipped off her scarf, pulling it around Beck’s neck.

  With a strength she didn’t know she possessed, she held it as tight as she could until Beck began to make gagging noises. Zach hammered away at Beck’s fist until the gun popped loose.

  Violet continued to hold as tight as her trembling muscles would allow until Beck went unconscious. Zach rolled him onto his stomach. “Tie his hands.”

  She did, making a mess of the knot, but securing him nonetheless. He was breathing, body limp. Zach grabbed Beck’s gun and charged into the cockpit.

  “Police! Stop this plane right now,” Zach commanded.

  “I will, I will. Just don’t shoot,” came the reply.

  Violet felt the plane slow until it rolled to a stop. Zach led the pilot out into the cargo area. “On your belly on the floor. Don’t move.” He meekly followed instructions. Zach kept the gun trained on the two.

  “Violet,” he said over his shoulder. “There’s gonna be an army of highly amped officers swarming this plane in a matter of moments. We’re going to stay really still until they can secure the scene and show them we’ve got everything under control in here. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  Eddie snuggled up to Zach’s leg, whining and pawing.

  “You did great, buddy,” Zach said. “And you’re completely forgiven for the sofa incident.” Eddie whined. Zach glanced at Violet.

  “You okay, Vi?”

  She nodded.

  His smile was nothing short of brilliant, despite the blood smeared on his brow and grime streaking his temple. “I knew you had it in you, Vi. Never doubted my tough girl for a moment.”

  “New York tough,” she said, and then she started to cry.

  * * *

  As he figured, his fellow officers had arrived with guns drawn and ready for battle. They’d arrested the pilot, and taken Victor Jones and Xavier Beck via armed guard to the hospital before their inevitable arrest. Zach figured with ten cops watching their slightest twitch, there was no way they would escape custody. Roach was still at large, but he was a small-time player to this point, and not a threat to Violet. Zach was confident they’d get him in time, too. He was tired, bruised and bloody, but buzzing with sweet satisfaction. The three of them—a cop, an airline employee and a beagle—had taken down the bad guys and kept the plane on the ground. He’d even gotten word that Jeb Leak, the crooked TSA agent, had been taken into custody. He reveled in the victory, wishing Jordy were there to share it.

  Noah broke away from his duties along with Carter to out-and-out force Zach over to the paramedic unit where Violet was being checked.

  “I don’t need...” he started.

  “I don’t care what you need,” Noah said. “I want you to get checked out and I’m driving the chief’s car last I checked, so get your scrawny carcass over there pronto.”

  Carter quirked a smile. “I’d follow orders if I were you.”

  “Yes, sir,” he said.

  “When you get the all clear for you and Violet, we’ll meet back at Griffin’s. I’ve already called Lou and Barbara to tell them it’s over.” Noah left to talk to the airport officials.

  Zach shot a look at Violet, hunched over, wrapped in a blanket and talking quietly to the medics. “You know,” he said, “she would have made a great cop if she’d wanted to.”

  Carter considered. “That right?”

  “I mean, you should have been there. She was terrified, but she came through, anyway. Went after a guy with a gun using her scarf. I’ve been around cops all my life and I’ve never seen courage like that.”

  Carter raised an eyebrow. “She’d probably say you’re pretty good in a crisis situation, too.” He paused. “Might even say she’d never find someone else like you, huh?”

  Zach jerked a look at him, warmth infusing his cheeks. “I... I feel... I mean I finally realized...” He simply could not get the words out that he was in love with Violet.

  His brother laughed. “I get it. I think maybe you’d be a class-A dunce not to feel that way. Go do your thing, Zach.” Chuckling, Carter walked away.

  Zach watched Violet for a moment. Something the medic said made her smile. That smile was worth everything they’d been through; it was priceless, breathtaking, one of a kind. The lights of the runway, the bustle of the police personnel and the sounds of the commotion all faded away as he looked at Violet, his best friend, and so much more.

  With a smile of his own, he bent to talk to Eddie. “Whaddya think, Ed? A top-notch operation if I never saw one.”

  Eddie barked once and let loose with a jubilant beagle howl. Zach resisted the urge to bust out with one of his own.

  * * *

  Violet was kneading the pie crust dough when Zach came into the diner Tuesday morning. She watched surreptitiously from the kitchen as he greeted his friends in the dining room. Bruises darkened his cheekbones and there was a bandage taped up high on his left temple. What could have happened, what almost happened, made her breath catch and she looked down quickly at the floury mass in her fingers. Keep your mouth in check, Violet.

  This would be the challenge, she thought. Now that Beck was in jail along with Jones, her world would be her work, her old airport job, the diner...and Zach, but not in the way she yearned for.

  I’ll never find anyone like you.

  Her admission had changed the tenor of their relationship, inserted an awkwardness between them that she’d have to live with. They’d go on joking, laughing, chatting, but behind the facade, he would know that she was in love with him, and she would always be reminded that he did not feel the same.

  Get used to it. Zach was beginning to heal from the grief of his brother’s murder, incrementally. She would continue to pray for Jordy’s killer to be caught, that Zach would open his heart to the Lord and inch by inch, he would take up the threads of his interrupted life...without her.

  I hope you have peace, Zach, and rest and safety, just like the Psalm says. And that was the definition of love, she thought, wanting the best for Zach even if it couldn’t be with her. Someday he would find that woman who would be a proper match for him, and Violet’s heart would disintegrate, but she would never let on; she would always be the smiling, joking, tough-as-nails friend he wanted her to be.

  Straightening her shoulders, she kneaded with more vigor.

  “So that’s how you stay in shape,” Zach said as he tied an apron around his narrow waist. “Maybe I should try baking instead of lifting weights. I’m here to be your sous-chef like I promised.”

  “Oh, I forgot about our deal.”


  “Well, I didn’t. Reporting for duty, Miss Violet. Ready to slam-dunk this pie-making thing.”

  “You don’t have to help. I can manage on my own.”

  “I am a man of my word when it comes to pastry. Quit stalling and show me the ropes.”

  Seeing that he was not about to be diverted, she retrieved a chilled disk of dough that she’d made earlier from the fridge, removed the plastic and put it on the floured stainless-steel counter in front of him. “We’ll just take it one step at a time, Incinerator. Can you roll this out?”

  “Of course I can. This is gonna be the best pie crust you ever tasted. People are going to line up around the block for a slice of this thing.”

  She sprinkled some flour on his rolling pin before she reached for the sugar and cornstarch and a saucepan to make the filling. She wished she had never made such a deal with Zach. It was too exquisitely painful to have him there, elbow to elbow with her, all jokes and banter and teasing as if they hadn’t almost died together. He applied the rolling pin with enthusiasm.

  “And anytime you’re ready, you can show me how to do the scrambled egg thing. I am going to master that if it kills me.”

  “Right, as soon as there’s free time,” she said, intending never to initiate such a lesson unless he gave her no choice. She figured given his regular duties, his search to find Snapper and unearth Jordy’s killer, combined with his natural restlessness, he would probably forget all about the egg-cooking lesson in time.

  “You know, Vi,” he said, working the rolling pin. “I’ve been thinking a lot about you.”

  She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and forced a sassy reply. “Don’t even start. I’m safe now. I’m going back to my job at LaGuardia on Monday, so there’s no reason to bicker about that anymore.”

  He laughed as he continued his efforts with the pie dough. “But we’re so good at bickering, you and me. We’ve got it down pat. Everybody thinks so...you know, old married couple, like Jordy said.”