Grace joined her in the hallway. “I’m going with you.”
“That’s fine. You can go with, but I don’t know about a return flight.”
“That’s okay. I’m just seeing you get there safely and back in the air. Someone will be here to meet you when you land with the patient.”
Penny thought it might be a little bit of overkill, but she’d rather be safe than . . . not. “Let’s go, then.”
“Pileup on I-40 West.” The dispatcher’s voice came through Penny’s headset loud and clear. “Reports are a six-car accident. Officers are on the scene and in control of the traffic. You’ll be directed where to land when you get there.”
Once Raina, Holly, and Grace were on board, Penny took off. The hospital fell away from her sight, and she aimed the chopper toward the location of the wreck.
Ten fast minutes later, Penny hovered over the accident scene, her stomach twisting into the familiar knot that always came with a call. A fine mist threatened to turn into rain, and she flipped the wipers on.
The officer below her directed her down onto the highway. Far enough away from the accident that her blades wouldn’t cause a problem, but close enough to get the patient on board as quickly as possible. Fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, and every other vehicle with flashing lights lit up the highway. Law enforcement and health workers scurried like a well-oiled machine.
Raina and Holly were out of the cabin, racing to the scene while Penny stayed with the aircraft. Grace stood at the door, her gaze sweeping the area.
And a shot rang out.
Grace went down.
Screams echoed from those involved in the accident, and law enforcement pulled their weapons while ducking for cover.
“Grace!” Penny bolted for the woman, who lay on the ground gasping, her hand clutching at her chest.
“I’m fine. It got my vest.”
Just as she reached the door to the chopper, a man dressed as a police officer rounded the corner and placed his weapon against her forehead. “Hello, Penny.”
She swallowed. “Rabor.”
“We meet again. Now, before anyone comes this way, we’re going to take a little ride.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m also not playing this game again. The first bullet got her in the vest. The next one will be a warning.” He pointed the weapon at Grace’s head and fired. Penny screamed, then realized the bullet had gouged the concrete. Grace held a hand to her ear while Rabor narrowed his gaze at Penny. “If you make me fire a third time, it goes in her head.”
“Get in,” Penny said. He wasn’t kidding, and delaying the inevitable would only get someone hurt or killed.
He smiled. “Now that’s more like it.”
Still holding the gun on her, he grabbed Grace from the ground and dragged her into the cabin. Then he shut the door. “Get her in the seat,” he told Penny. “Buckle her in.”
Penny moved fast. Ignoring her terror and pounding heart, she grabbed Grace under her arms and did her best to heft her to the seat. But Grace wasn’t a small woman and Penny could barely budge her. “Grace, breathe.” She looked back at Rabor. “I’m going to give her some oxygen.”
“And I want to get out of here.” He motioned with his gun. “Get us in the air. I’ll take care of her.”
Penny glanced out the window and noted law enforcement approaching, weapons drawn and aimed at the chopper. What would he do if she refused to fly?
Easy. He’d kill Grace. Then probably her, and fly the chopper himself.
“Go!”
Penny settled into the pilot’s seat and slapped her headset on. Without giving anyone any indication what she was doing, she powered up the bird, and within seconds they were in the air. Her hand fumbled with the phone in her flight jacket pocket.
“Throw me your phone,” he yelled.
She glanced back over her shoulder to see Rabor strapping Grace into the seat. He caught her eye. “And don’t even think about flying crazy and making me fall or anything. Your friend’s life depends on your actions, at the moment. I shot her in the vest when I could have killed her. I’ve given her oxygen. She doesn’t have any broken ribs or anything that needs immediate attention.” He slipped into the cockpit and slid the extra headset over his head. Then he held out his hand. “Phone.”
Penny shoved it into his hand with a low growl.
He inspected the panel to check everything. She wasn’t worried. She’d done everything right. “Good job.” He input a set of coordinates into the system and pointed. “That’s where we’re going.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I can.”
“No, seriously, what is it that gives you so much pleasure? The chase? The catch? The kill? What?”
“All of the above, my dear.” He reached out and stroked a finger down her cheek, and Penny jerked away, shooting him a glare.
He laughed. “Soon you’ll appreciate my touch. Welcome it.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“No, maybe not, but no one said you had to be alive.”
Holt didn’t like being so far away from Penny but was comforted by the knowledge that he could be back in North Carolina in under half an hour on a Bureau chopper.
True to his word, Matt Nixon had met them at the door to the interview room. “I’m going to be behind the mirror. You’re here as family, not an investigator, but she’ll be more likely to talk if she doesn’t know I’m here. We’ve got the video being processed by one of our best. He’s trying to get any and all information from it.”
Rachel glared at him and Holt nodded. He nudged Rachel and she turned her stare to him. “Stop lasering holes into the man,” he whispered in her ear. “He’s trying to help now.”
“I can’t help it,” she muttered. “Zoe’s in here because he didn’t do his job.”
He wasn’t going to argue with her.
They followed Matt into the interview room—the very one he and Penny and Carol had used to talk to Jenkins. Rachel immediately started pacing, rubbing her hands together as though trying to keep them warm. She looked tired, but there was a fire in her eyes he recognized.
After Matt left, Holt pulled Rachel into a tight hug and kissed the top of her dark head. “I’m sorry, Rach. I should have listened to you. Been here for you. I should have believed in Zoe. I’m so . . . ashamed that I didn’t. I’m truly sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she muttered into his chest. “You’re here now.”
They settled themselves at the table and his phone dinged. He ignored it for the moment.
“If this video was from Yvette’s phone, she had to know about it. Why didn’t she come forward?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I have my thoughts. Knowing Zoe, if she knows about the video—and I really think she does—she’d convince Yvette to keep her mouth shut to protect Ellie.”
“I can see that.”
The door opened and his eldest sister stepped inside, her hair limp. The sight of her in the cuffs and orange jumpsuit sent shards of glass slicing through his heart. He swallowed and hoped he managed to keep the pain from his features. Then again, it might be good for her to see it. To understand that her actions were affecting more people than her.
He forced a smile to his stiff lips. “Hey, ZoZo.”
She blinked at his childhood nickname for her, and he thought he saw a crack in the armor she’d wrapped herself in. Then it was gone, and her hard eyes—the same green eyes he and Rachel shared—met his. “What is this? You weren’t supposed to be here.”
He flinched. He couldn’t help it. “Why not?”
“Because I don’t want you here. Every time you come, you try to get me to say things I don’t want to say. So . . . leave.”
“I won’t say a word. I’ll let you and Rachel talk, but don’t make me leave, please.” He couldn’t help the husky timbre in his voice. He wanted to weep, to grab her and haul her out of the prison. To take her home to her childr
en, who needed her.
“I have something I want to show you,” Rachel said. “Then if you still want us to leave, we’ll leave.”
“Fine.” Zoe dropped into the chair and clasped her fingers in front of her on the table. “What?”
Holt had gotten permission to have their phones in the room. Rachel pulled hers out, tapped the screen, and handed the device to Zoe. “Push play,” Rachel said.
With a frown, Zoe did so. As the video played, her eyes widened a fraction and color leached from her cheeks, but that was all the expression Holt was able to find on her face. When the video ended, Zoe handed the phone back to Rachel. “What’s the point in that?”
“What do you mean? It proves that y’all fought that night. Owen was yelling! He even shoved you, backed you up against the wall, and held you there while you yelled at him to stop. And Ellie—”
“Don’t talk about Ellie!”
After her outburst, Zoe simply stared at her hands, but Holt knew that she was thinking, and thinking hard.
“That video was on your phone,” he said.
“I finally managed to figure out the password,” Rachel said. “Two years I’ve been trying and finally . . .” Tears slipped down her cheeks.
“We were arguing, it’s true,” Zoe said. “But I said some really awful things to him and he . . .”
“He put his hands on you,” Holt said.
“But he didn’t hurt me. I know what the video looks like. I saw it. But it looks a lot worse than it was. Owen was never violent. Not even on a bad day at work. But . . . we’d been having issues.”
“What kind of issues?”
Zoe drew in a deep breath. “I thought he was cheating on me.”
Rachel gasped. “Owen?”
“He swore he wasn’t, and I so wanted to believe him, but the evidence . . .” She buried her face in her hands. “The evidence really pointed that he was, and I was so angry, so hurt, so . . . broken at the thought, that—” Her voice broke and she shook her head. “And I still don’t know. All I know is if I’d handled it differently that night, my husband might still be alive and I . . .” She shrugged and pressed her fingers to her eyes.
“Did Ellie shoot Owen?” he asked.
Zoe’s face crumpled, and for a moment, Holt thought they might finally get the truth. Then the mask slipped back into place and her features hardened. “No.” Even though her voice remained calm, Holt saw a new tension running through her. “She didn’t. She wasn’t even there.”
Holt reached out a hand. “Zoe—”
“She was there!” Rachel cried.
Her outburst turned Zoe’s attention to her. “I said don’t do this.”
“I don’t understand.” Rachel’s desperate pleading nearly broke Holt’s heart. “We could get you out of here! Find a way to protect Ellie—”
“I’m never getting out,” Zoe said, her fingers clenching and unclenching, her breathing coming faster. “Just leave me alone!”
“Why are you doing this?” Holt asked.
“It’s my choice. This is my choice and you don’t get a say in whether it’s right or wrong. It’s right for me.”
“You don’t have to make this choice, ZoZo,” Holt said, keeping his tone soft.
She looked at him, really looked at him, and he saw the intense agony she was trying so hard to hide. “Yes, I do,” she whispered. “This is the hand I’ve been dealt, the choice I’ve had to make to protect my child.” She snapped her lips shut as she realized what she’d just said. “End of discussion.” She shot to her feet, turned, and rapped her knuckles on the door as Holt’s phone buzzed.
He ignored it. “We can fix this, Zoe. We can get Ellie help.”
She whipped around and glared. “Leave it alone! Leave me alone and don’t come back. I won’t agree to see you again.”
The door opened and the guard led her out.
Rachel looked at Holt, her face pale, eyes wide. “Thought you were going to keep quiet.”
“I failed.”
“We both did.”
He raked a hand over his head. “Matt will have someone pull every bit of information off of there, clean up the footage, get us a transcript of the argument, and find out exactly what happened.”
“Finally,” Rachel whispered.
They walked out together and Holt took a moment to check his phone.
A text from Julianna.
Grace and Penny are missing. Think Rabor got to them in the chopper and forced Penny to fly. Tracking them via the GPS on the chopper, but need you here ASAP.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
Penny clutched the control stick and noted they were about five minutes out from his specified destination. “What are you going to do with Grace when we land?” Surely someone would be tracking them and would meet them at the location?
“I don’t need her.”
“Don’t kill her and I’ll go with you willingly.”
“Why now? Why not in the hospital?”
She huffed a short, humorless laugh that did nothing to dispel the terror racing through her. “The hospital was a long shot for you. You were watching me and saw a chance to have a little fun. You obviously hadn’t planned on snatching me, but probably thought you’d give it a try. My refusal to cooperate confused you. Surprised you. You weren’t sure what to do, so you retreated to wait for another opportunity to strike. I guess this was it.”
His cold stare lightened for a moment and a small smile curved his lips. “Well, well.”
“What?”
“Nothing. You’ve just surprised me. You remind me of someone else that I admire.”
“Is she dead or alive?”
He laughed. Actually laughed. Penny wanted to throw up.
“She’s quite alive,” he said. “But only because I like her that way. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. This wasn’t just an opportunity that happened. I created it.”
Penny shot him a sideways glance. “You caused the pileup?”
“How else was I going to get you alone? You have more security than POTUS.”
His irritation came through loud and clear.
“And you don’t think they’re tracking me at this very moment?”
“Of course they are.”
The fact that he didn’t sound a bit worried about that sent more darts of terror through her. What was he planning? “Where’d you get the curare drug?”
“Joel managed to procure that for me before his untimely death.”
She hesitated. “He wanted to be you.”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long story. And a boring one.”
And one she desperately wanted to hear, but he didn’t seem inclined to tell it. “You were never going to let him live very long after you got out of prison, were you?”
He raised a brow. “Why do you say that?”
“You’re too smart not to use his obsession with you for your benefit. Were you going to kill him, then leave the country? I mean, by the time they figured out it wasn’t you, you could’ve been gone without a trace.”
He fell silent for a moment and Penny wondered if he’d answer. Part of her hoped he wouldn’t. Then he looked at her, long and hard. “You’re really very intelligent, aren’t you?”
“So I’ve been told.” She paused. “Well? That was the plan?”
“A lot of it. There are a few other things we had planned before all of that was to happen, but”—he shrugged—“guess it’s not to be.” He sighed. “It’s a shame too. We all worked hard on that plan. Everything was going along perfectly until you killed Joel. We could have had a double date. But, alas, he’ll just have to miss out on this one.”
This one? Her. Another wave of nausea swept her and she breathed in through her nose. Out through her mouth. “I didn’t kill him,” she muttered. “He fell on his own knife.”
“Yeah, that’s something he’d be dumb enough to do.” He paused, then gave another s
hrug. “Ah, well, it was fun while it lasted.”
She stared at him a few seconds. “Who was the woman who came to the prison to meet with you?”
His eyes darkened, then shuttered. “I had a lot of women who came to visit. Not sure which one you’re talking about.”
“The one you admire,” Penny said, her voice soft. “I’m sure she was there. Who was she to you?” Things were clicking in her brain, little pieces of information swimming around up there, but she had no idea how to put it all together.
“Shut up and land.”
She wanted to question him further, but they’d arrived at their destination. She began the descent, her goal the freshly cleared plot of land. “A subdivision.” With room for about a hundred houses. Several lots already had the foundation, but none were framed yet. And then there was one house that was already built. The sales office, no doubt.
“Well, it will be one day. For now, it’s your landing pad.”
A silver Buick sat in the drive. Hope sparked for a brief moment before reality intruded. Anyone in that house would be dead if they came out to see why a helicopter was landing in one of the yards.
Her stomach clenched and she looked back to see Grace unconscious. “What did you do to her?”
“I just gave her a little something to knock her out.”
“Not the curare! She can’t breathe with that!”
He rolled his eyes. “Naw, I only use that for the special ones. She just got a nice dose of ketamine.”
She swallowed and had a bad feeling she ranked among those “special ones.” Penny bit her lip on the question. She didn’t want to hear him confirm it. “Why not just kill her?”
“Really?” he scoffed. “That’s what you think of me? I don’t just go around killing random people. There has to be a reason for it. She has nothing to do with this and can’t tell anyone where we’re going. Now, shut it down and let’s go.”
Penny cut the engine and left the keys behind. Someone might need the chopper once they found it. Not that there wasn’t a spare—
What was she doing? Think! She needed to focus on finding a way to get away from Rabor, not worry about the chopper.
Her heart pounded and her hands shook.
Life Flight Page 23