Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4)

by Bob Blanton

  “She’s DEA!”

  “Yeah, I heard. Okay, the story we’re going to tell is, I’ve just been called back to the office. Get us cleared for takeoff.”

  Agent Peters leaned toward Matthew, “Sorry.”

  “Not your fault,” Matthew said.

  “You two, shut up!”

  Brad finished searching Matthew, finding nothing, then pushed him back into one of the seats while they waited for Mr. Graham to return. It was an awkward wait while Jack entered a flight plan that would take them to Fallbrook and Mr. Graham rushed back to the airport. Unfortunately, the copilot kept a gun on them the whole time so Matthew wasn’t able to do anything about escaping, worried that he would manage to shoot one of them before Matthew could disable him. If he wasn’t zip tied, it would have been a no-brainer.

  “Open up!” Mr. Graham was banging on the jet’s hatch. He ran up the ladder as soon as the door opened. “Get us in the air!”

  He came to the back of the plane where Matthew and Agent Peters were sitting in the back seats. Matthew could tell that steam was coming out of his ears. The copilot handed him Agent Peters’ gun.

  “Agent Peters, what were you looking for?”

  “Nothing.”

  Mr. Graham pressed the gun against Matthew’s right knee. “I’m sure the kid doesn’t know anything, but if you don’t talk, I’m going to start putting bullets in him!”

  “I was following Jimmy Lawrence.”

  "What the hell was Jimmy doing out here?” Mr. Graham demanded.

  “One of the guys at the warehouse got sick.”

  “So they sent the idiot stock boy out here. Why were you following him anyway?”

  “We traced some cocaine back to him.”

  “So?”

  “We know there’s cocaine coming in from somewhere. One of our guys made a buy off of Jimmy. It was too pure for street cocaine so we figured he must be pretty high up in the supply chain. I was following him in hopes of finding his source.”

  “That son of a bitch! How did he come across the cocaine? Jorge is going to kill him.” Mr. Graham paused and braced himself against the other seat as the plane started to taxi.

  “Now, who knows you’re on Catalina?”

  “My boss.”

  “Who knew you were going to the airport?” Mr. Graham pressed the gun against Matthew’s knee again.

  “Nobody. I was following Jimmy.”

  “What about backup?”

  “I didn’t have any. I was just supposed to make inquiries.”

  “Now, what about you kid? What’s your name?”

  “Jason,” Matthew lied.

  “Jason what?”

  “Jason McGregor.”

  “What were you doing at the airport?”

  “I like planes.”

  “You like planes.” Mr. Graham looked like he didn’t believe Matthew.

  “Yes. I want to be a pilot and I saw this plane coming in, so I wanted to check it out.”

  “What were you doing sneaking around the shed?”

  “Civilians aren’t allowed on the tarmac unless they’re boarding or deplaning. I wanted to get a better look at the plane.”

  “Well, kid. You should have stuck with parasailing and playing at the beach. Jack, once we’re in the air, take us about twenty miles northwest of the island. Brad, we need to get ready to dump them.”

  The copilot opened the door between the main cabin and the cargo bay. When Mr. Graham gave him a questioning look, he explained, “Can’t open the main hatch while we’re in the air, ladder gets in the way.”

  He dragged Agent Peters into the cargo bay then came back for Matthew. Matthew was desperately trying to think of what he could do to get him and Agent Peters out of this. The parasailing comment had given Matthew a glimmer of an idea.

  Mr. Graham punched the intercom, “What’s our status?”

  “We’ve just been cleared for takeoff.”

  Once Brad dumped Matthew in the back and turned his attention to Agent Peters, Matthew started to look for some way to cut his ties. It took him five minutes to find a clasp-knife in the cargo hold. Probably used to open boxes and such. Then it took him another five minutes to move it to himself. He had to move it five or six inches at a time, the range of motion remaining in his zip-tied arms. Once he had it, he used it to cut through the zip-ties, but only enough that he would be able to break them when the time came.

  By then the plane had taken off and was just reaching cruising altitude.

  “Where are we?” Mr. Graham demanded.

  “Just approaching the 20-mile limit you asked for.”

  “What altitude?”

  “Ten thousand feet, that’s about as high as we want to go and open the cargo door.”

  “Good, can you come back and help?”

  “Sure, autopilot’s on, it’ll give us a ten-minute sweep of the area.”

  “Why do we need help?” Brad asked.

  “I want to remove the zip ties before we dump them. I’d rather not find out about Agent Peters’ hand-to-hand skills.”

  “Why don’t we put a bullet in her before we dump her?”

  “I don’t want any forensics pointing back to us. We’ll let the sharks take care of them. Besides, I want them to enjoy the ride down.”

  The pilot made his way back into the cargo bay. He had his gun drawn. “Do you want me to cover the kid, or is there another agent back here somewhere?”

  “Don’t be a smart ass. Better safe than sorry.” Mr. Graham obviously didn’t appreciate the sarcasm.

  “Time to fly,” Mr. Graham said as he cut the zip ties on Agent Peters’ ankles.

  As soon as her feet were free, Agent Peters rammed her shoulder into the copilot. Mr. Graham grabbed her around the throat and put the gun against her head. “Do you want to fly, or should I just shoot you now?”

  Agent Peters looked at Matthew; although she was about to get shoved out of an airplane, she looked surprisingly calm. She nodded her head; Matthew nodded back and gave her a smile. She looked puzzled at that.

  “Does that mean you want to fly or that you want a bullet? Or I could just have Brad knock you out, but what fun would that be?”

  “I’d rather make a different deal,” Agent Peters said.

  “Like what?”

  “Agent Peters gently twisted herself out of Mr. Graham’s grasp and backed up to the open hatch. “We might be able to come to an arrangement, I have a lot of inside information that might help you and your cocaine trade.”

  “You obviously don’t have very much information if you think this is about cocaine,” Mr. Graham said as he backed away to a safe distance from Agent Peters. Matthew could see her gently moving her arms against the edge of the hatch, trying to cut the zip ties or loosen them.

  “We didn’t realize that the cocaine was such a small part of your operation.” Agent Peters shifted so her shoulder was against the doorframe.

  “Now I think you’re guessing. And how could I ever trust you? You’d turn on me as soon as you could.”

  “Why would I? If the money’s good enough, then I could retire early.

  By this time, Matthew had broken his zip ties and was sliding to position himself where he had a clear shot at the hatch. He opened his portal in front of Agent Peters to protect her from being shot. He placed the other end in front of himself, too, but only big enough to protect his head and torso, he needed his arms free. Then he leapt up and slammed into the copilot, knocking him into the pilot. Then he slammed into Agent Peters, carrying them both outside the plane.

  “You idiot!” Agent Peters screamed.

  “Well, that could have gone better,” Mr. Graham said, shaking his head. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Matthew had his arms wrapped around Agent Peters as they fell. She was struggling against his hold. He had to push his legs between hers, then he brought his knees up. He brought his portal up under his butt with the other end above them expanding. He had to open it slowly so they
weren’t jerked apart by a sudden change in speed. He was having to fight Agent Peters as he tried to keep her above him so his butt would stay on the top of the portal.

  “What are you trying to do?!”

  “Parachute, can’t you feel it?!”

  “What, that can’t be real.” Agent Peters looked above them.

  “It’s invisible, but it’s real. Now quit fighting and help me so I can slow us down more.”

  “How . . . how are you doing this?”

  “It’s a secret. I’ll explain later, but first, we have to slow down before we hit the water.”

  “Okay, I guess I don’t have a choice.” Agent Peters could tell that they were slowing down, even if she couldn’t understand it. “You can relax your grip; you’re hurting my ribs.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What are we going to do once we hit the water? It’s still a long way to shore.”

  “I’ll call a friend. She’ll come get us in a speed boat.”

  “Call a friend? How?”

  Matthew pointed upward. “Parachute.”

  “I guess if you can pull that off you can pull off a phone call.”

  Matthew had continued to expand the top end of his portal. It was now large enough that it was really slowing them down. “I hope this is enough.”

  “Why?”

  “I think this is as good as it gets. I can’t grow the chute anymore.”

  “I’ve done some skydiving. This is a little fast, but not by much. Hitting the water should cushion us enough to compensate for the speed we’re carrying.”

  “Good.”

  “Now, can you explain what is going on?”

  “Later. I have to concentrate.”

  Agent Peters shook her head, still confused. Then looked down at the water. “I think I should jump free before we hit. Will you be able to find me after?”

  “Not a problem.”

  “Have you called your friend yet?”

  “One thing at a time.”

  It was another minute before Agent Peters jumped free. Matthew rode the portal the other six feet before he hit the water. He immediately reopened it up high where it would give him a view of where Agent Peters was. He started swimming in her direction. She was bobbing, dropping down below the water, then kicking hard so she would pop up and get a view over the swells.

  “There you are,” she gasped as Matthew swam up behind her.

  “No sharks?”

  “I don’t see any, and since there’s no blood, we should be okay for a bit.”

  “Alright, give me a minute and I’ll get us out of the water.”

  “What?!”

  Matthew held his hand up to stop her question. “Emily!”

  “Matt, where are you? I’ve been looking all over. I was about to go to the police.”

  “I need you to get a speed boat and come and get us.”

  “Who’s us, and where are you?”

  “I’ll explain when you get here. We’re about twenty miles west-northwest of the island. I’ll give you directions once you get on the water. I’ll check back in thirty minutes.”

  “What’s going on?!”

  “Emily, I’m floating in the ocean. Can I please explain later? I need you to come get us now!”

  “I’ll have to get Rebecca to rent the boat since I’m not eighteen yet. But I’ll come and get you even if I have to steal one.”

  “Thanks. Talk to you later.”

  Matthew closed his portal and turned back to Agent Peters. “Okay, we need to get out of the water, in water this cold, survival time is only fifteen or twenty minutes.”

  “What neat trick are you going to come up with now?”

  “We need to float on our backs next to each other. Come on!”

  The two lay on their backs and Matthew opened his portal below them. Then he raised it up until it was pressed against their bodies. He put the other end all the way on the bottom, allowing the distance to adjust as their bodies bobbed.

  “What’s that pressing against me?”

  “My portal. Now just wait until the next swell.”

  When the next swell raised them up, Matthew locked the distance between the ends of the portal, so when the wave passed they were now above the water. He then stood up, pulling Agent Peters up with him.

  “Okay, now we need to hop at the same time, bring your knees up as far as you can. Plan on landing on your butt. Are you with me?”

  “It’s worked so far.”

  “Okay, on three; one, . . . two, . . . three.” The two hopped, bringing their knees up. Matthew raised the level of the portal so when they landed they were above the swells. Of course, they both fell over onto their butts when they hit the portal.

  “This is amazing. I keep thinking I’m dead and this is the afterlife, or they shot me and this has all been a dream.”

  “Not a dream. Now relax, I’m going to turn this into a boat.”

  “Why, this looks like it’ll work just fine.”

  “Two reasons, we’ll get slammed by any big swells. I could raise us up to avoid that, but then that goes to the second reason. I don’t want to explain to anyone how I can suspend us in air.”

  “Okay, you’re the boss.” Agent Peters sat up and removed her blouse. She wrung it out before putting it back on. Matthew had quickly turned away so he could focus on his portal. He softened the face and brought the other end up so it was exactly against the end they were sitting on, making a bowl-shaped surface. Matthew made it large enough that it was able to keep them floating above the surface.

  “You know you should wring your shirt out as well. Don’t be shy.”

  “I wasn’t being shy. But if I get distracted and lose concentration, then the portal will collapse and we’ll be in the water again.”

  “Oh, I guess I should have warned you. But it’s no different than a bikini.”

  “Right, well, I get distracted by girls in bikinis.” Matthew's ears were red, so Agent Peters knew he was lying a little. He pulled off his polo shirt and wrung it out. “We need to warm up as much as we can. We’re going to have to get wet again in thirty minutes when I have to connect with Emily again.”

  “We will?” Agent Peters asked as she squeegeed the water out of her pants. Matthew was glad she didn’t take them off to wring them out.

  “Yes, I can only do one thing at a time. So when I have to find Emily, I’ll have to close the portal and open it again where Emily is.”

  “Who’s Emily, your girlfriend?”

  “No, just a friend. She’s the only one who knows about my portal, besides you now.”

  “And what exactly is this portal?”

  “I’m not sure. I just started to realize I could open a portal. At first, I could just see through it, I thought I was daydreaming; I was able to see things that were far away. Then I realized it was real and started to learn how to control it more. Now I can do lots of things. You’ve seen most of them, but if you understand physics you can figure out things it can let you do.”

  “So, like that parachute thing, you can’t just make it fly, you needed to use the air to slow us down?”

  “Right, it can’t change your potential or kinetic energy, the power to do that has to come from outside. But there are two ends, so you can manipulate one end so that it allows the other end to do things. Like when we jumped up, I was able to move our end up and we landed on it. We changed our potential energy, the portal just supported us against the ocean floor.”

  “Neat trick. Now, why were you at the airport?”

  “Let’s wait until Emily picks us up. I’d rather not dunk us accidentally.”

  “I guess I can wait. The sun feels warm.” Agent Peters laid back to bask in the sun while they waited.

  “Yeah, even in November we get nice days.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Are you ready to get wet again?”

  “It’s already been thirty minutes? How can you tell?”

  “The sun’s moved about nine
degrees since we’ve been here. This time of year, that’s thirty minutes.”

  Agent Peters looked at Matthew skeptically but then shrugged her shoulders. “Are you going to dunk us?”

  “No, we’ll just sink down until we’re floating.”

  Matthew started shrinking his portal. When Agent Peters felt the edge of it, she slipped over it into the water. Matthew closed it the rest of the way. Once he was floating, he opened it at Emily’s location.

  “Hi, Emily.”

  “Hey, I just got the boat five minutes ago. I’m out of the harbor heading north.”

  “Okay, let me zoom out and get a reading.”

  Matthew zoomed his portal out and raised it high above Emily so he could see the various landmarks around. Then he reopened it at Emily’s location. “We’re almost directly between Santa Barbara Island and Malibu. If you have navigation, you should be able to pick out the spot. It’ll take you about forty minutes to get here. I’ll check back then.”

  Matthew and Agent Peters repeated the routine to get back out of the water and onto his portal. Then Matthew made a point of turning around while he removed his shirt and wrung it out.

  “It’s safe to turn around.”

  Matthew turned around. Agent Peters was still buttoning up her blouse. He made a point of focusing on getting the water out of his shorts before he lay back and relaxed in the sun. He couldn’t totally relax since that would put them back in the water, but he could enjoy the heat.

  “So forty minutes.”

  “I think so, but Emily goes fast when she drives her car, I probably should assume she’ll max out the speed boat. I’ll check in thirty just in case.”

  “Did she get a fast boat?”

  “It looked fast. Emily doesn’t skimp.”

  “And she’s not your girlfriend?”

  “She’s almost two years older than me.”

  “Oh, too bad.”

  “We’re good friends.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “I hear a boat.”

  “It’s a bit early.”

  “Is it okay if I stand up?”

  “Sure. The boat is a thirty-three-foot Chaparral. Blue trim.”

  “Wow, she sure doesn’t skimp.”

  Agent Peters stood up and peered toward the south. “Can I jump?”