Xander made it to the cockpit.
“It’s up to you, Bob. I don’t want that plane to leave, but I don’t want to put us all in danger. Especially those innocent girls in the back.”
“I understand. All I can say is that we are a lot bigger than they are. If we touch down before they get off the ground, at the very least they’ll be forced to swerve off the pavement. And if they’re going very fast, it could stop them.”
“Your call, Bob.”
“I say we run their ass off the runway.”
“I’ll tell everyone to strap in for a bumpy landing!”
Xander rushed back to the cabin, leaned over the chairs, and told everyone to buckle up.
Sam said, “I take it we aren’t aborting?”
Xander smiled.
“Aborting isn’t really our style.”
Everyone strapped in, and Xander ran back up to take a seat beside Bob. Looking through the front windshield, they were already just in front of the runway.
Bob clicked a few buttons on the instrument panel. “Controller said they are coming our way, hold on.”
Bob went three green and full flaps, and a few seconds later, the plane bounced as the tires screeched against the pavement. Sure enough, in the distance there was a plane heading straight for them. It was a very surreal moment. Xander had been through a lot of wild things since joining the navy, but playing chicken with another airplane was definitely a first.
But they didn’t play chicken for long.
The much smaller CJ2 veered off the runway in front of them, sliding sideways in the grass that separated the runways. Xander immediately unfastened, told Bob to stay with the girls until everything was secure, and bolted for the back of the plane.
“We’ve got them,” Xander announced.
Everyone else unstrapped, stood, held on to the tops of their seats as Bob slowed the plane. Before coming to a stop, he stomped on the rudder, turning the plane around to the left, then throttled forward until they were right beside Francisco’s jet. Xander lowered the stairs and bounded down them, sprinting for the back end of the plane, pistol extended in front of him. The stairs had already been lowered on the CJ2, but no one was coming out. In the distance Xander heard multiple sirens. He hoped they were after Tarter so they could tie all of this up in a nice neat bow before nightfall.
Xander approached the jet’s entrance with caution.
“There’s nowhere to go, Antonio, or Francisco, whatever name you’re going by. Lay your weapons on the floor of the plane, and all of you come out with your hands up!”
The rest of Reign joined at Xander’s back.
“Kyle, you and Jack go get us a car,” Xander said, not taking his eyes off the jet’s open door. “We need to be ready to move on Tarter after we nail Francisco down.”
“On it.”
Xander shouted toward the entrance of the plane again. “The longer you sit in there, the longer I’m going to beat you before I turn you in!”
Nothing was coming from the plane’s entrance. Just a dim yellow light, no sound.
“Okay, I’m coming in!”
Xander took two steps toward the stairs, when finally he saw a pair of hands flash from the direction of the cockpit.
“Keep your hands where I can see them!”
“Okay! No problem!” a man with a Spanish accent shouted. “He made me do it. I am so sorry!”
“Now the rest of you, get your ass out here!”
The same voice spoke as his head poked around the corner. “It is just me, señor! He made me do it. They all left, told me to fly back to Mexico! I swear!”
“All right then, nothing for you to worry about. Come on down here and we’ll sort this out.”
Reluctantly, the man finally came out from around the corner, his hands as high as they would go. He walked down the stairs, and Xander grabbed him and shoved him into the arms of José.
“So there’s no one else in there?” Xander glanced back at the man, then trained his eyes, along with his gun, back on the opening.
“No one, I swear!”
Xander made his way up the three steps, took a breath, then swung to his left inside the cabin. His finger ready to pull the trigger. But the pilot was telling the truth. The plane was empty.
“Damn it!” Xander lowered his gun and looked back out at Sam and Zhanna. “They’re gone.”
He looked out beyond Sam, and driving straight toward them were a gang of cop cars. Out in front were two Chevy Tahoes with blue lights flashing in the front windshield.
“Sam, get Marv on the phone. We need to know what he knows. Francisco must have gone with Tarter.”
José held on to the pilot as Zhanna looked up at Xander.
“This is bad for girl.”
“Really bad,” Sam added.
Xander could have done without the two of them stating the obvious.
34
An Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend
For five minutes, the girl had been holding on to Carrie so tight that it had become hard for Carrie to breathe. She didn’t know what was going on, but it was clear something had gone wrong. The way they had rushed her off the plane and hurried the two girls into the back of the Hummer. The way the man was driving wildly. The way the big man in the front passenger seat had been in a screaming match with the man who kidnapped her. Someone clearly did something wrong.
When she had gotten carried off the plane and heard police sirens in the distance, she thought for a moment they had a chance to get away. But almost immediately, the Hummer came speeding up to them, skidded to a halt, and there she was, captive again. She couldn’t tell if the men yelling at each other was a good thing or a bad thing, but it was seriously getting heated. She raised her head above the backseat for a moment, but immediately lay back down. She gave the younger girl a squeeze and whispered that everything was going to be all right. She wished someone could tell her the same thing.
“I told you, there was a mole! But I have it handled!” David shouted at Francisco.
David never liked being questioned, but he especially hated it coming from this 1980s-looking Mexican douche-lord.
“You call this handled?” Francisco Romero shouted back. “I should be on my way back to Mexico, but here I am instead, packed into this truck, running from the police!”
“Why are there two girls, Romero? Huh? You said one girl.”
“The man wanted two girls, he gets two girls. You were going to be paid two million dollars. Two million!”
The truck swerved, tossing everyone around inside. David recovered and turned all the way around in his seat, pulled his Beretta from his hip holster, and trained it on Francisco’s forehead.
“Were going to be paid? Were?”
Francisco’s men pulled their guns and pointed them at David. Jon shouted at them from the driver’s seat.
“Put the damn guns down! All of you! Are you insane? We’ve got to work together now. And by the way, Francisco, we have a plan for this, so everyone just relax!”
David didn’t lower his weapon, and neither did Francisco’s men.
“The police are looking for this Hummer,” Jon continued. “We’ve got it covered.”
He turned left, then pulled into an open garage space in a car repair shop. As soon as the Hummer entered, the garage door shut behind them, and inside were all three black vans and some of David’s men.
“What is this?” Francisco asked.
“Plan C,” David said, lowering his weapon and getting out of the Hummer.
David had called his men away from the Santa Monica Airport at the last minute. He knew it was a risk, but he knew if the vans were burnt, the job was finished. He gambled, and it paid off. Now they just had to transport the girl—girls—to the drop and make the exchange for the money. This was the part that David was worried about the most. This was the first time he would be doing something like this, and it was the main reason he had wanted Lisa to be involved. He was going to have her
take the girl and exchange her, with the promise that her parents were there waiting. Let Lisa handle the delicate work while he and his men watched from various positions around the block. He didn’t know what sorts of problems could come from doing an exchange like this, so he had men in place to be ready for a variety of problems. Police interference, the man buying the girl not being where he was supposed to be, and he even had men in place at the pier across the street, in case the girl tried to make a break for it.
David wasn’t going to lose this payday. Not to a snitch of a “sister,” not to the police, and not to Xander King if he should so happen to interfere.
Francisco and his men followed David out of the car, not satisfied with the backup plan.
“This is great for you, but what about me? Your mistake has made getting back to Mexico very difficult for me. I will not pay for your mistake.”
David walked up got in Francisco’s face. Once again, all of them drew their weapons.
“That is the second time you’ve made a comment in the direction of not paying me. Now, I’m assuming you don’t get your cut either until the girl is delivered.”
“Girls,” Francisco reminded him.
“Okay, girls. You see my point, asshole.”
Francisco motioned for his men to lower their weapons.
“You are right, cowboy, I don’t. But I did not agree to pay you two million for me to be involved in this end of the deal. If I hadn’t received word that the CIA was coming for me in Mexico, I wouldn’t have even taken the risk to deliver the girls this far. I never cross the border myself. But like you, I couldn’t turn down this money.”
David took a step back, and a worried look came over his face.
“Wait, wait, wait. CIA? You never said anything about the CIA being after you. You think we’re playing games here?”
“Jesus, David,” Jon started in, “this whole damn mission has gone to shit. Maybe we should just cut bait and get the hell out of here. Let El Guapo here worry about those girls.”
David shook his head and walked a few feet away from the situation. Something was gnawing at the back of his brain, but he couldn’t place it.
Francisco adjusted his pants by the belt.
“You leave now, you get nothing.”
“Yeah?” David said. “And just what the hell do you get? Seems as though you need us a lot more than we need you.”
“Then we can end this right now and see.” Francisco didn’t back down.
David turned toward Francisco to gauge his level of seriousness. The little man may have looked like an absolute fraud, but he didn’t seem as though he was afraid. So he must just be stupid. A garage full of trained soldiers, and the pipsqueak and his three goons thought they were going to control how things would go. David meant it when he said he didn’t need Francisco. Francisco had already made the rookie mistake of telling him where, when, and who he was taking the girl to. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of taking Francisco’s cut too.
But he had to be smart about it.
A man with an ego likes it to have it stroked.
Besides, there was something about the CIA comment that he wanted to know more about.
“Relax,” David told Francisco. “You just threw me for a loop with this CIA business. No reason we can’t finish what we set out to do.”
David motioned for his men to put their guns down.
“You are not as dumb as you look,” Francisco said, a cocky smile on his face.
That burned David up inside. But he took a deep breath and let it pass. Francisco motioned for his men to put their guns down as well.
“So, the CIA? How’d you know they were coming for you?”
“I’ve got eyes in places you have no idea about.”
“That right?”
“That’s right.”
Then it hit David. The CIA comment was stuck in his craw because the CIA must be Xander King. It had to be. It was too much of a coincidence. His man in the tower at Burbank Airport had a friend who worked the air traffic tower in Mazatlán. He told him to report anything odd coming out of there. When a big jet flew in and its occupants got into a firefight, he called David earlier with that information. That’s how David knew Xander was involved. Now that Francisco had mentioned the CIA coming after him in Mexico, two plus two equaled rich boy Xander King’s jet was the one that flew in and got in the gunfight, so he must also be the CIA that was there to get Francisco.
“Yeah,” said David. “I happen to have eyes in a few places myself. The name Xander King ring a bell?”
Francisco looked surprised.
“You know about Xander King?”
“I guess that means you do too.” David read into Francisco’s tone.
Francisco walked the ten feet that separated them. “You have a history with King?”
“Oh yeah, and not a good one either,” David said.
“Then we have something in common. He is a skilled fighter. Are you worried he will interfere?”
“I know he will interfere, that’s just what he does.”
Francisco turned to his men, motioned for them to get the girls from the back of the Hummer, then turned back to David, wearing a confident smile.
“Let’s finish what you came here to do.”
“I don’t think we are finished here, Francisco. If you know something about King, the CIA, and where they will be, you need to share it.”
“Mr. Tarter, one thing you won’t have to worry about tonight is Xander King. I’ve made certain of that.”
35
Xander Tests His Faith in Humanity
Reign piled into the Tahoe, Kyle behind the wheel. They left José to explain to the police on the scene where the girls were, and about the pilot flying Francisco’s chartered plane. Bob was handing off the girls to the FBI and taking care of the jet. Sam had just ended a call with Marv. The only lead they had was that a witness had called in and saw a Hummer driving wildly, heading east on Ocean Park Blvd.
“That has to be our man,” Sam said. “All of you military types love your Humvees.”
Xander couldn’t deny that. He had one parked in his garage in Lexington at that very moment.
Kyle threw the truck into drive and sped out toward the airport exit. Zhanna was playing navigator in the passenger seat, pulling a map up on her phone.
“Turn right here. This is Ocean Park.”
Kyle wheeled a right turn and they were on their way.
“What do you want me to do now? Just drive?”
“It’s all you can do,” Xander answered. “At least we’re headed in their direction. Until Marv calls back, it’s the best we’ve got.”
Sam’s phone began to ring.
“Marv?” Xander asked hopefully.
Sam shook her head.
“I don’t recognize the number.” She answered the call. “Hello?” She listened. “We don’t have time for this right now. Xander will—” Sam was cut off, and she listened some more. “This had better be good,” she said, then extended the phone to Xander. “It’s for you.”
Xander took the phone.
“Xander!” A female voice.
“Who is this?”
Xander noticed Sam shaking her head in the seat next to him.
“Gabriela. I have to see you.”
“Gabriela? What happened to you back in Mex—”
“I don’t have time to explain. Francisco had his men pick me up when I landed at LAX. They brought me to a hotel called Fairmont. I’m in room 736. They haven’t hurt me, but I don’t know what he’ll do to me when he gets here. Please hurry, Xan––”
The line went dead.
“Gabriela. Gabriela!”
Xander handed the phone back to Sam, then tapped on Kyle’s seat in front of him.
“Go to the Fairmont Hotel, now!”
“You can’t be serious,” Sam said.
“What do you mean? You heard her.”
Jack spoke up from the b
ack row. “I don’t know about this, X. Lotta red flags.”
On Zhanna’s command, Kyle made a U-turn at the green light.
Xander turned to look at Sam and Jack.
“Yeah? Where the hell else are we going? Are we a patrol car? We just going to drive around aimlessly? Searching for one Hummer in over a million cars? I mean, did you not hear her?”
“We heard her, Xander,” Sam said. “And Jack is right, red flags everywhere. Why would we trust her?”
Xander looked baffled.
“Who said I trust her? Point is, we’ve got nothing else. Even if she is lying, we have nowhere else to go. Until Marv finds out where Francisco and Tarter are headed, we’re just sitting here with our thumbs up our ass. But if we go check this out, it may lead to something. Maybe even right to Francisco.”
Zhanna spoke up from the front.
“Does sound fishy, as you say, but Xander does have point. Maybe will lead to clue.”
Sam was quiet for a moment.
“We are right on top of the Fairmont already, guys,” Kyle said. “It wasn’t far at all from the airport. What do you want to do?”
A couple of minutes later Xander and Sam were walking toward the entrance of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel. Darkness had begun to fall. The hotel was wrapped in an orange-and-purple glow that was highlighting the sky from the ocean just across the street. Sam had agreed that they would go in and check things out, at least until Marv called back. Kyle, Zhanna, and Jack were on standby in case things went sideways.
“What a cheesy line,” Xander said, pointing to a black van just outside the hotel’s entrance.
“Seriously? You’re worried about marketing right now?” Sam, as usual, couldn’t believe Xander and his ADD.
“I’m just saying, it’s 2017. You can’t do better than ‘clean as a whistle’?”
Sam ignored his last ingenious thought completely.
“All right, you take the elevator, and I’ll take the stairs. I’ll make sure nothing looks out of place from that end. Just walk by the room, do not go in without me. Even if this isn’t some sort of game Gabriela is playing, she already told us that there are men of Francisco’s there.”
King's Reign (The Xander King Series Book 4) Page 16