The sheriff waved his gun, pointing Jack toward the plane. Ashley had already been forced behind the controls by Elijah.
“Start it up,” Elijah ordered Ashley before pointing to his brother. “You ride in front with her and I’ll keep an eye on Jack.”
Tubbs pulled open the door and started to climb in. He stopped in his tracks and caught his breath.
“What the …? The sheriff gagged.
“Oh, I had a little accident,” Jack sheepishly admit-ted at the sight of the vomit in the floorboard.
“You can sit in front; we’ll take the back,” the sheriff declared as he climbed into the backseat. “No funny business.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Jack mocked as he eased into the passenger seat, careful not to step in the mess in the floorboard.
Ashley fired the engine as Elijah crawled in behind her, still with gun in hand. “Jack, I really don’t know about …”
“Just do like you did before, sweetness,” Jack interrupted. “Use that photographic memory you claim you got. It’s like flying a bike. I’ll help you.”
The brothers looked at one another in the backseat of the plane.
“She knows how to fly this thing, right?” the sheriff asked.
“Eh,” Jack shot back. “She’s all you got so buckle up.”
The plane lurched toward the air strip as Jack did a quick walk through with Ashley.
“Why don’t you try it?” Ashley suggested. “I can tell you’re feeling better.”
“Still no depth perception. Plus I still feel like I might black out,” Jack countered, the knot still as big as ever on his forehead. “You can do it, I promise. Now just line it up and take off like before.”
The brothers looked apprehensively from the backseat, alarmed at the coaching Jack was giving the rookie pilot.
“Don’t worry boys, if we die, we all die together,” Jack said with a wry smile as the plane picked up speed on the runway.
Jack controlled the throttles as the aircraft accelerated, one hand on the levers and the other dug into the dash. Tubbs tightened his seatbelt, grinding his teeth as he watched the end of the runway quickly approach.
“Um, shouldn’t we be taking off?” his voice cracked.
“Yep,” Jack agreed as the plane crossed the end of the runway. “You may want to go ahead and pull up!”
Jack gave the plane full throttle as Ashley pulled back on the yoke. The plane’s wheels left the ground just yards from the outcrop they had almost hit on their first take off. Ashley’s arms shook as she fought to keep the plane airborne.
“There’s more weight than before,” Jack explained tensely as the aircraft finally began to climb.
Tubbs fell back in his seat, breathing a sigh of relief. Elijah smiled confidently. “I have faith in Ashley.”
The plane soared into the moonlit sky as Ashley continued pulling back on the yoke to gain altitude.
“Level her out,” Jack advised as they hit five hundred feet. “We want to stay under the radar.”
Tubbs sat forward, his brow furled. “What’re you trying to pull up there?”
Jack looked innocently back down the barrel of the sheriff’s gun which was trained at his head.
“If we get over five hundred feet, we will show up on radar,” Jack explained.
“Since when do you care?” Tubbs snapped. “It’s a trick. He knows his buddies are coming.”
Elijah thought about the situation for a moment. “You may be right, brother.”
Elijah leaned up behind Ashley and waved his gun. “Take it up. Climb.”
Ashley looked at Jack, shrugging her shoulders.
“Do what they say,” Jack waved as if washing his hands of the situation. “They’ve got the guns so they must be right.”
With that, the plane screamed upward as Jack fed the throttle and Ashley continued pulling on the yoke, causing a fast climb toward the moon.
“You know, if you’d come a week later, none of this would have happened,” Elijah said, sitting back in his seat. “We would have been long gone.”
“Sorry we messed up your schedule,” Jack dryly re-plied. “We didn’t get the memo.”
Elijah laughed at Jack’s response, shaking his head.
“Always with the witty comebacks,” Elijah smiled. “That’s a pretty cavalier attitude for a man who will soon have the blood of Paradise on his hands.”
“Huh?” Jack wondered aloud.
“You don’t think they’ll just let your friends walk in, do you?” Elijah responded. “If I don’t miss my guess, with all the excitement, your fellow agents are speeding toward Paradise right now. What do you think happens when they come busting in there to save the day, all jack booted and armed to the teeth?”
Jack gave Elijah a hollow look in the pale light of the instrument panel.
“Our residents have been trained to fight back,” Elijah explained. “They are prepared for the apocalypse. They’re well-armed and they’re ready to defend their home; every man, woman and child. There will be blood.”
Jack stared at Elijah, trying to focus on his maniacal grin.
“What kind of monster are you?” Ashley yelled back over her shoulder, recalling the people she had met during her first visit to the ranch. “Those people trusted you. They looked up to you.”
“Satan was an angel of light,” Jack said with disgust.
“Don’t blame me,” Elijah defended himself. “I built them a life they wouldn’t have had otherwise, a life away from the evils of the world. And, I was going to leave it to all of them, as my legacy - that is until you showed up and messed up everything.”
“Oh, we’re real sorry about messing up your philanthropic works,” Jack mocked as he turned back toward the controls and strained his eyes at the altimeter. “Five thousand, better level off.”
Ashley ceased fighting the yoke just as she noticed a flashing red light on the dash. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make out what the display was saying. The answer came in the sound of a miss from the engine.
“What was that?” the sheriff asked just as the engine missed again.
Jack started taking inventory of the control panel. “The fuel!”
“What?” Ashley said in a panicked tone.
“You just filled it up,” Tubbs hissed. “I saw you.”
The engine sputtered again, this time coughing and on the brink of a stall.
“The fuel light is flashing!” Elijah rose up to look over Ashley’s shoulder. “Are you blind?”
“Yes,” Ashley shot back. “Without my glasses, I am.”
Moments later the four were left in complete quiet. The engines had ceased.
“It’s your fault!” Jack yelled back at the pair. “You must have hit the fuel tank when you were shooting at us earlier.”
“What do I do, Jack?” Ashley said, paralyzed behind the wheel.
“Just try to hold it steady,” Jack replied, looking out the window but seeing only darkness.
“Turn us around!” Tubbs ordered.
“Too late,” Jack declared. “You insisted we climb a mile high. We can’t glide that far.”
“How far can we go?” Tubbs asked.
“All the way to the crash site,” Jack impatiently quipped as he looked toward the back of the plane. His eyes settled on something over the sheriff’s shoulder for a moment before darting away. Tubbs caught his gaze.
“What were you looking at?” he demanded, looking over his shoulder.
“Nothing,” Jack innocently responded.
Elijah joined his brother in the search behind them.
“There!” Elijah called out. “Parachutes. Against the back of the plane!”
Tubbs stuck his gun in his waistband and grabbed the two chutes that hung at the back of the fuselage.
“Jack?” Ashley’s voice shook. “Tell me what to do.”
“Why were you holding out on us?” Elijah asked as his brother handed him one of the two chutes.
&n
bsp; “Well,” Jack cleared his throat. “There’s only two so …”
“That’s plenty,” Tubbs growled as he began to pull on one of the chutes.
Elijah looked curiously at his brother who finished buckling up the chute. “It’s easy brother. I was in the Hundred and First back in my Army days. You just jump, count to five and pull the cord.”
Tubbs helped put the chute on his brother, keeping a watchful eye on Jack.
“You realize this is murder,” Jack accused. “There’s no way we’ll be able to land in this condition.”
The sheriff laughed at Jack as he finished putting the chute on his brother.
“Like you were ever coming back again anyway,” he growled. “This was going to be a one way trip.”
“Jack?” Ashley called out as she noticed the nose of the plane start dive.
Tubbs pointed his gun at Jack as he reached out for the door. “One false move and you’ll not get a chance to crash.
Wind filled the cockpit, blowing papers and dust about as Tubbs leaned against the door, forcing it open.
“Same with you, Ashley,” Elijah warned as he did the same on his side of the plane. The nose further dipped as the wind in the cockpit slowed the aircraft.
The pair clung to the side of the plane, the wind whipping them as they stood a mile high.
“Remember brother, count to five and pull,” the sheriff called out over the wind. “I’ll see you on the ground.”
With that, the sheriff pushed himself off into the darkness, Elijah lingering for just a moment.
“I know you don’t believe me,” Elijah said over the wind. “But, I’m truly sorry it had to end this way.”
“So am I,” Ashley mouthed as Elijah pushed himself off into the darkness.
“Close the door!” Jack yelled as he pulled his door shut, closing off the wind from the cockpit.
Even with his limited vision, Jack could see the altimeter spinning as the plane plunged toward the ground.
“We’re going to die!” Ashley screamed as she felt the tug of gravity in her stomach, realizing they were falling out of the sky.
“Yes, Ashley, we are …eventually,” Jack calmly re-plied as he looked across the controls. “But not tonight. Hopefully.”
“What?” Ashley asked in tears.
“Beside your left knee there’s a toggle switch,” Jack revealed. “Flick it up toward you.”
Ashley groped for the toggle. Finding it, she flipped it. Nothing happened.
Jack looked surprised. “Well, that’s odd.”
He pored over the controls, looking for the problem before pounding on the dash.
“How’s that going to help?” Ashley cried before Jack took hold of the yoke on his side of the plane.
“Hold on,” Jack called out. “We need to get some wind.”
Much to Ashley’s horror, Jack pushed the yoke for-ward, forcing the plane into a nose dive.
“What are you doing?” Ashley screamed.
“Just a jump start, sweetness,” Jack said as the engines sputtered to life.
Jack pulled back on the yoke, the plane whining as it roared to life but continued heading toward the ground.
While blurry, Ashley could tell the altimeter had dropped below one o’clock.
Jack fought the controls, pulling back with all his might, gathering the plane just before it hit the desert floor. The plane soared back toward the moon. The pair sat in silence for a few moments as Jack leveled out the plane and began making a turn back toward New Hope.
“Care to explain?” Ashley gasped out through tears.
“Explain what?” Jack said as he turned the controls over to Ashley. “We’re alive.”
“We were out of gas,” Ashley reminded.
“That’s what they thought,” Jack smiled as he sat back in his seat. “We’ve got plenty of gas.”
Ashley continued the turn until she saw the lights of New Hope in the far distance. She looked at Jack for an answer.
“A magician never gives away his tricks,” Jack flippantly replied to her unasked question.
“Jack,” Ashley warned crossly, wiping away the last of her tears.
“Okay, if you must know,” Jack said, rubbing the knot on his head. “The main tank is empty. Bone dry, I suspect. But the reserve tank, it’s full. That’s what I filled at the airport.”
Ashley looked at Jack’s face, now bathed in the moonlight. He was smiling from ear to ear.
“You tricked them,” Ashley said.
“I had to think of some way to get them to jump out of a perfectly good plane,” Jack agreed.
Ashley smiled to herself, proud of Jack’s ingenuity but not wanting to admit it.
“They’re going to get away,” Ashley lamented, realizing the chances were slim of finding the fugitives be-fore they were able to make it to the Mexican border which was only a few miles away.
Jack laughed at Ashley’s statement. “No, they aren’t going to get away.”
Ashley looked at Jack, taking her eyes off the wind-shield.
“Hey, the sky is out there,” Jack pushed Ashley’s face back toward the night in front of them.
“What do you mean?” Ashley asked.
“What I mean is those parachutes were just for looks,” Jack revealed.
Ashley caught her breath. “You mean …?
“That they were pretty disappointed when they pulled the cords,” Jack finished her sentence, making a whistling sound as he pantomimed the brothers falling with his hand.
“Jack, I hate to admit it, but that was clever,” Ashley bragged. “Sometimes you astound me. You planned it all along.”
Jack rubbed his chin proudly.
“Actually, I planned for you to put the plane into a dive and overpower them for their guns,” Jack admit-ted. “I’d forgotten about the parachutes, truth be told. They came with the plane. I just never took them out. They were conversation pieces.”
“So, you had no real plan? Ashley’s voice dropped.
“Eh, I’m better at making it up as I go along,” Jack replied. “One thing’s for sure, we weren’t taking them to their island. Like the late sheriff said, that was going to be a one way trip.”
“So, we could have crashed in the desert?” Ashley said, her pride in her partner turning into anger.
“But we didn’t,” Jack happily replied. “See, we’re very much alive. Now, let’s land this thing.”
Ashley shook her head stubbornly. “I can’t land on that runway again. I just can’t.”
Jack smiled at Ashley in a way that made her feel immediately uneasy.
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to land on the run-way,” Jack retorted.
“Thank goodness,” Ashley sighed.
“We’re going to land on the highway outside Paradise Ranch,” Jack announced.
Ashley caught her breath, not believing what he had just said. She opened her mouth to protest but was cut off.
“You heard what Elijah said,” Jack interjected. “He was right. There’s a team of heavily armed agents set to go in. The fire will see to it that they do. Remember Waco? They aren’t going to wait. We have to get there and stop the raid or a lot of innocent people will die.”
Ashley stared out the windshield as the plane approached New Hope. She knew he was right but terror still gripped her.
“I’ll help the best I can,” Jack promised. “It’s a wide highway, there’s no utility wires to hit and the moon is out. Piece of cake.”
“Right. Piece of cake,” Ashley muttered as the plane flew over New Hope.
“Just follow the highway until you see the flashing lights,” Jack directed.
A few minutes later they saw lights pulsing over the horizon. They topped the rise to the sight of the fire still burning in the middle of Paradise.
“We’re just going to cut some speed,” Jack advised as the plane descended to within a couple of hundred feet of the highway.
“Oh, by the way, did you ever put up
the landing gear? My warning indicator has a short. It doesn’t al-ways go off. It feels like they’re down but …”
Ashley racked her brain. Had she put up the wheels? “They’re still down.”
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it,” Jack said as they made their final approach, the moonlight guiding their descent as Ashley focused on the broken lines in the middle of the highway. “But if you’re wrong, my plane is coming out of your pay.”
Ashley held her breath as they quickly raced toward the emergency vehicles that filled the highway in front of them. She tried to remember what she had learned earlier about landing the plane.
“Okay, Ashley. Flare the nose up,” Jack said as the plane neared the highway.
Ashley could only guess when the wheels would hit the ground, her vision not allowing her a clear view of the blacktop. She shut her eyes tight as she felt the wheels hit hard, the impact throwing them both against the roof of the cockpit.
“Slow her down,” Jack encouraged as the plane continued racing toward the vehicles in the road. “Brakes. Brakes. Both brakes!”
Ashley stood on the brakes, taking a quick left just in time to avoid the first emergency vehicle at the access road leading up to the Paradise.
“Taxi on up,” Jack pointed ahead once Ashley gained control of the aircraft, the plane easing by the scores of National Guard and Federal vehicles that lined the road.
“That’s good,” Jack said as they neared the gate. Ashley brought the plane to a stop and killed the engines.
Jack eased open the door and was greeted by several armed officers.
“Take me to your leader,” Jack said, his hands in the air and a smile on his face. “Oh, wait. I’m in charge here.”
Jack gingerly stepped onto the ground and paused, waiting for his head to stop swimming.
“Sir, I’m going to ask you to …” a young officer in tactical gear began.
Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out his identification.
“FBI Agent-in-Charge Jack Looper, son,” Jack said. “What’s going on here?”
The officer looked at the identification and did a quick salute. “He WAS telling the truth!”
“Huh?” Jack wondered.
Paradise Ranch (Jack and Ashley detective series Book 2) Page 21