Lost in Her

by Sandra Owens

  She had wanted to get in her car and go straight to his house to confront him, but Maria had sensibly convinced her that wasn’t a good idea. “Besides, before we do anything about this, I want to dig deeper, see if there’s more to find on him,” she’d said.

  Charlie nudged the litter box against the wall next to the back door. What was she supposed to do? The air show was fast approaching, and she needed to practice. Maria had tried to talk her into withdrawing until they found out who was messing with the plane, but Charlie refused to consider it. Flying was what she lived for, and no one was going to take that away from her. Then there was the money she would make from the show. She desperately needed it, especially since she had racked up repair bills on her plane.

  Since she wasn’t stupid, however, she’d decided to move the stunt plane to Emerald Coast Aviation. It wasn’t as close to her apartment, and when she had called to see if they had hangar space, she managed not to grimace at hearing the rental fee. Although it would put another dent in her budget, she didn’t hesitate to give them her credit card number. Obviously, she couldn’t move the flight school’s Cessna, so she’d decided to take a leave of absence until the air show was over.

  “What’s a girl to do?” she asked Mr. Bunny as she let him out of his carrier. Apparently worn out from his cat-rabbit playtime, he hopped into the kitchen and curled up in his little bed. “You’re no help,” she told him, then grabbed her purse and keys.

  On the way to Pensacola Aviation, she practiced what she was going to say. Although she wanted to demand David tell her if he was the one trying to sabotage the Citabria, Maria was right. They needed to know more about him. Her friend had promised to get right on investigating him further as soon as she got to work. She had also reminded Charlie that even if he had a history of stalking women, that didn’t mean it was him doing those things to her plane, which meant Charlie still had to be suspicious of just about everyone. That sucked.

  When she pulled into her usual parking space, she saw David walking around the stunt plane. Throwing the Corvette into park, she almost fell on her face trying to hurry out of the car. Leaving her purse behind, she clicked the lock button on the remote, then headed for her boss, head down like an angry bull.

  “Get away from my plane,” she fairly snarled when she was a few feet from him.

  He turned toward her, a frown on his face. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  Be cool, Charlie, a warning voice said in her ear. Right, cool. She could do cool. “Nothing.” She forced a laugh. “After everything that’s happened, I guess I’m getting paranoid. Sorry about that. You’re just making sure she’s not been messed with, right?”

  Brown eyes narrowed to slits. “You think I’m the one doing that?” He threw up a hand when she opened her mouth to respond. “Screw you, Charlie.”

  When he stomped off, she hurried to catch up with him. “That’s not what I think.” Well, it was, but there was no proof, so she couldn’t accuse him of trying to kill her. Not yet. “I’m sorry. I’m just a bundle of nerves between all the crap going on and the air show coming up.” She grabbed his arm. “Would you just stop for a minute? I need to talk to you.”

  He heaved a sigh, but he stopped. “What?”

  “Why didn’t you want to give me the phone number for the attorney?” Well, that had slipped out before she could stop it, but it had been preying on her mind. At his puzzled look, she said, “When I called and asked for the aviation attorney’s number, you said you were in the hangar and couldn’t give it to me.”

  His cheeks flushed red as if he was embarrassed. “Oh, that.”

  “Yes, that. What was the deal, David?”

  He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared down at his feet. “Okay, this is going to sound stupid, but I wanted to take care of it for you.”

  “You mean like being some kind of hero and taking care of my problems?” She had thought he’d gotten the message that she wasn’t interested in him. Maybe she hadn’t been clear enough.

  “Something like that.” He shrugged. “But it’s all cleared up now, right?”

  “Yeah, the complaint has been dismissed.” Maybe she was a fool, but she believed him.

  “So we’re good?”

  “We’re boss-employee good, and that’s all we’ll ever be.” He nodded, and she was grateful that had been dealt with.

  “Are we done here, Charlie?”

  “No, there’s one more thing.” This was going to be harder than she’d thought. “I’m moving my plane this morning. And I’m taking a leave of absence from instructing until after the air show. It’s gotten to the point where I’m starting to feel afraid every time I get in the Citabria and start the engine. I can’t go on like that.”

  “You’re moving your plane?”

  “Yeah, I am.”

  “Where to?”

  “I don’t know. Alabama, maybe.” No way she was telling him or anyone else where. “There’s some hangar spaces available at a few FBOs I’m looking into. It’s just temporary until I feel safe enough to bring her back here, okay?”

  He swiped a hand through the top of his crew cut. “Okay, I get moving your plane. I would probably do that, too. But you can’t just stop instructing without giving me some kind of notice.”

  “Actually, I can. There’s no contract that I’ve signed saying otherwise.” As far as she knew, none of the instructors had contracts, which worked in her favor. “It’s just until after the air show. Not even two weeks. Give my students to the other instructors if they don’t want to wait for me to come back.”

  “You’re a pain in the ass, Charlie, you know that?”

  “I know, and I mean to do whatever I must to keep on hearing you say that.” She still hadn’t ruled him out, but she had just moved him to the bottom of her list.

  “If you’re not back instructing the day after that damned air show, you’re fired,” he said as he threw up his hands and stormed away.

  “As long as I’m still breathing, I’ll be here,” she called after him. She’d better still be breathing because she’d promised Ryan she would be waiting for him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  The Russian police car was inches from their bumper, its lights on bright. “He’s blinding me,” Jake snapped.

  The Akulovs had gone deathly quiet, and Ryan turned to check on them. They were slouched down in the seat, huddled together. “Stay down,” he told them. Angling toward Jake, he said, “You thinking of trying to outrun him?” The car’s engine was supposed to be souped-up, but who knew what souped-up meant to a Russian.

  “Tempting but no.” He turned on the blinker as he slowed. “He’s probably already called the stop in, so let’s do this fast.”

  Ryan dug into his backpack and retrieved three of the M9 syringes. Hopefully there was only one cop in the car, but he couldn’t see past the bright lights to tell. Jake reached into a pocket of his cargo pants, brought out his Taser, and tucked it next to him. Ryan stuck his between his legs. Their guns stayed hidden. No way were they going to shoot a Russian cop.

  “Not stop,” Akulov said, pushing on Ryan’s shoulder. “They take us away.”

  “No one’s going to take you, Mr. Akulov. Just stay down and be quiet.”

  “Ooooooh.”

  At the low moan from the backseat, Jake glared at Ryan as if he were to blame. “Tell me that was the damn poodle and not a pregnant woman having contractions.”

  “Sure, man, it was the damn poodle.”

  That earned him another glare from his teammate. “Not funny, Doc.”

  Rapid Russian from the backseat had him turning again. “What’s she saying?” When they ignored him, he glanced at the girl. She stared back at him, her eyes wide with fright. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart.” Although she nodded, Ryan figured she didn’t have a clue what he said and was only responding to his calm voice.

  “Mr. Akulov, what is your wife saying?”

  The man’s eyes were as wide as
his daughter’s. “Her . . . she . . . the water, it came.”

  “Her water broke?”

  “Yes!” the man exclaimed, as if Ryan had just said something brilliant.

  Perfect. Just perfect. “Okay, she still has some time. Ask her to try to be quiet,” he said as Jake pulled to a stop. “Tell your wife and daughter not to be afraid at what they see. We’re not going to hurt anyone, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  The headlights stayed on from the police car, keeping them from seeing if there was more than one person inside. A full minute passed as they sat there, waiting.

  “What the fuck is he waiting for?” Jake muttered as he stared into the rearview mirror.

  “Running the plate, I’d guess.”

  Another low moan sounded from the backseat.

  “The plate’s clean. If he doesn’t hurry up, he can help us deliver a baby.”

  Ryan glanced into the side-view mirror. “Worst-case scenario, he’s waiting for backup.”

  “One more minute and I’m going back there.”

  “I got a better idea.” He turned to Mr. Akulov. “Sir, listen to me.” He explained what he wanted, and when the man began to shake his head, he said, “She’s the only one of us the cop won’t be suspicious of. At least ask her if she can do it.”

  Jake watched the girl’s face as her father spoke to her, and when she met his gaze, he smiled. “Okay, Sasha? Da?”

  She smiled back at him. “Da. O-ke.”

  “Tell her to only go halfway to the car,” he reminded Akulov. After a quick conversation, the girl opened her door and Ryan was sure they all held their breath as she ran toward the cop car, yelling that her mother was having a baby. At exactly halfway, she stopped, hollered something, then started back for their car.

  “What did she just say?” he asked.

  “Please come. Please come help my mother,” Akulov said.

  The child had performed her role perfectly, and before she reached them, the cop was getting out of his car and heading their way.

  Jake pulled the Taser from under his leg. “Show time.”

  “Tell your wife to cry out as if she’s in pain,” Ryan said.

  At the woman’s loud shriek, the cop increased his pace. Ryan leaned over the seat as if helping Mrs. Akulov. “Remember,” he said quietly to Mr. Akulov, “we’re just going to put him to sleep. Tell Sasha to back away when the officer arrives.”

  Akulov spoke to his daughter, who stood by the open door. When the cop poked his head in, Ryan Tasered him before he had a chance to open his mouth. Before he could fall into the car, Jake was out the door and behind him, pulling him back. Ryan tossed the Taser—the electrodes still attached to the man—to Jake, then grabbed a syringe. Once the cop was tranquilized, he and Jake carried him to the police car, hog-tied him with plastic ties, then put him in the backseat.

  “I’ll follow you,” Jake said.

  Ryan got in the police car, and as he drove, he watched for a place where he could hide the car. Three miles down the road, he saw a stand of trees and turned into them, parked, then jogged to the Volga.

  “There are headlights a ways behind us,” Jake said when Ryan returned. “Let’s see how fast this thing can go.”

  Turned out it could go pretty fast. Ryan fished the satellite phone from the backpack, and called Dog.

  “Dammit,” Jake said, looking into the rearview mirror.

  Ryan glanced over his shoulder to see not just one, but two cars behind them, blue lights flashing. “Coming in hot. ETA ten minutes,” he said when Cody answered. “Boil some water.” He grinned when Jake snorted.

  “Copy coming in hot, ETA ten minutes.” There was a pause, then, “Repeat the last.”

  “Woman in labor on board. Don’t you boil water for that?”

  “This baby can do a lot of things, but boiling water ain’t one of them.”

  Cody clicked off, and Ryan returned the satellite phone to the backpack, then leaned forward and slipped his arms through the straps.

  He twisted in the seat. “Mr. Akulov, you and your daughter need to change places with me.” They were coming up to the dirt road, and Jake wouldn’t slow his speed over it. Hopefully, the bumps wouldn’t cause Mrs. Akulov to deliver her baby, but the SEALs had taught him to prepare for all contingencies. When the man protested, Ryan said, “Do you know what do to if the baby starts coming?”

  “No, I . . . I do not, but she needs me.”

  “I’m a medic, sir. Right now she needs me more than you.” He slipped over the seat, picked up Sasha, and lifted her to the front. “When the car stops, you need to take your daughter and run to the boat. Move to the front. Now!”

  Akulov said something to his wife, then handed the poodle to his daughter before he scrambled over the seat. Whether it was the command in Ryan’s voice or that the man realized his wife would be in better hands with him, Ryan didn’t care. At another moan from Mrs. Akulov, he punched the knob on his watch to light the dial so he could check the time.

  The last thing he wanted to do was deliver a baby in the middle of an operation, but babies didn’t always care about one’s wishes. When Jake slowed only enough to take the turn on all four tires, Ryan lifted the moaning woman onto his lap.

  “What you do?” her husband demanded—sounding jealous—as he craned his neck to see his wife.

  “Trying to absorb the bumps in the road so she’s not bounced around so hard that your baby decides to make an appearance.” Like he would decide it was a great idea to seduce a moaning woman on the verge of giving birth while in the middle of an operation. Idiot men in love.

  Jake must have heard the irritation in his voice. “Listen up,” his teammate said, landing a hard punch on Akulov’s shoulder with one hand while the other hand expertly steered them toward Cody’s stealth boat and out of danger. “Tell Sasha to hold tight to her dog when you run with her to the boat that’s waiting for us.”

  “My bags—”

  “We’ll get your bags, sir, and your wife. You just do what we tell you.”

  Ryan shut out the conversation from the front seat and lit up his watch again when the woman in his arms buried her face against his chest and moaned. Certain she was drawing blood, he ignored how her fingernails dug into his skin. “Four fucking minutes, Jake,” he said.

  “I’ll get us there in time, partner.”

  Although Ryan’s arms grew tired from holding Mrs. Akulov a foot above his lap so she didn’t bounce along with him, he didn’t lower her even an inch. The baby was not going to be born on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere if he had anything to say about it.

  “They’ve gained on us,” Jake said. “Almost there. Be ready to haul ass.”

  Ryan reached up and thumped Jake on the side of the head. “I was ready to haul ass a mile back.”

  “Dammit, Doc, you do that one more time, your ass is grass.”

  Ryan did it again. “I’m not afraid of you. Trade places?”

  Jake did what he always did when amused by one of his teammates. He snorted. “Not happening, man. Ever.” He laughed as if he were having the most fun of his life. “Oh, Miss Scarlett, I don’t know nothing ’bout birthin’ babies!”

  The Gulf of Finland came into view when they turned a corner and Ryan squinted. “Where’s the damn boat?” Just as the words were out of his mouth, the Sealion appeared as if by magic, and reached the shore at the same time as they did.

  The car screeched to a halt. “Go, go, go,” Jake ordered, reaching across Akulov and pushing his door open. “Go!”

  Ryan decided that was good advice. Following Akulov, who was holding his daughter and the poodle, he ran toward the boat, keeping his pregnant patient close to his chest. The two bags belonging to the family came flying by him—tossed by Jake—and landed on the bow.

  Gunshots sounded behind him, and he turned to see Jake crouched in front of the Volga firing back at the four men shooting at him, two of them in uniform, two in plain clothes. KGB? Cody pulled fat
her and daughter aboard, then took Mrs. Akulov from him, tossing Ryan a high-powered rifle and ammo in exchange.

  Ryan pitched his backpack onto the boat, then pushed it away. “Get them out of here!”

  “You better get your ass back on board in time to deliver that baby, Doc,” Cody said before he disappeared below and the stealth backed silently into the night.

  “That’s the plan,” he muttered as he belly-crawled back to the Volga.

  It was mind-boggling amazing to take off in her plane without the sickening feeling that something was going to go wrong. As Charlie flew the Citabria out over the gulf, she thought of the day she had flown there with Ryan as a passenger. She tried not to worry about him, but failed miserably. Maria had sworn that everything was going as planned, but Charlie needed to hear his voice, needed to know he was okay. If only he would call.

  Yet, his job took him into dangerous situations, and that was something she would have to get used to if they stayed together. That he wouldn’t be able to call her would be the norm, but she could live with that if they had some kind of commitment.

  Getting ahead of yourself, Charlie. All he’d asked was that she be waiting for him when he returned, not to mention she had an air show to get ready for. After that, they could spend some time together, see how things went. Clearing her mind, she went through her routine, pleased with the Citabria’s performance.

  After returning to her new hangar, she made sure the plane was towed inside—safe and secure—before she left. Maria was bringing her cat, Mouse, over for cat-rabbit playtime after work, and Charlie headed for her apartment to check her mail and pick up a few more clothes before going to Ryan’s.

  Although she loved staying at his place, he wouldn’t want her there forever. She supposed when he returned and was there to take care of his rabbit, he would want her to move back to her apartment. More questions that couldn’t be answered until he returned.

  A parking spot was open right in front of her door, and she pulled the Corvette into it. As she walked up the sidewalk, she flipped through her keys to find the one to her house. When she reached the door, she took the three envelopes from the mailbox. Once inside, she set the mail on her small desk, then went to her tiny closet and grabbed a few hangers with jeans on them, dropping them on the bed. She took some extra T-shirts from a drawer, then opened the one holding her underwear, collected a handful, and piled everything on the bed with the jeans.