Deadly Dozen: 12 Mysteries/Thrillers by J. F. Penn, Cheryl Bradshaw, Diane Capri, J. Carson Black, Aaron Patterson, Vincent Zandri, M A Comley, Carol Davis Luce, Joshua Graham, Michele Scott, Allan Leverone, Linda S Prather Page B

Then Roscoe’s angry voice filled the room. It said: “You better tell me your ass is back in Margrave and you have Sylvia Black with you.”
    Gaspar tapped his wrist with his finger to show her time was ticking. Kim said, “Chief Roscoe, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “Save it, Agent Otto. I’ve got the guy’s card right here in front of me. L. Mark Newton, Esquire. From Washington, D.C. He had a Federal Marshal with him, for God’s sake. You sent them down here to pick up Sylvia. In the middle of the night when I wasn’t here to stop them. You know it. I know it. And I want her back. Whatever it is you want with her, you can get in the damn line behind me.”
    “We don’t have her.”
    “Save it,” Roscoe said again. “Just get her back here, or I’ll make you sorry. Are we clear?”
    “Look, we don’t have her. But we’re on our way. See you before noon.”
    The call died.
    Gaspar said, “There’s one truly major flaw in that story.”
    “Which is?”
    “L. Mark Newton died last year,” he said.
    “I know. I was at the funeral.”

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    Halfway to the departure gate Kim felt the boss’s cell phone vibrate in her front trouser pocket. She shifted her bags around to free one hand and tried to fish the phone out without slowing her stride. She couldn’t do it. The phone buzzed on. It felt alive, wriggling against her abdomen. She’d have to stop. But she couldn’t. The jet way door at their gate was already closed. She saw the plane through the plate glass window, still parked outside. But passengers could not be boarded after the doors were closed. Technically, the plane was gone. They’d missed the flight.
    “We have to board,” Kim told the gate agent, breathless.
    “I’m sorry, that’s not possible,” the gate agent said without looking up. She was working the final documents to get the plane in the air.
    Kim felt the cell phone buzz on. She’d never failed to answer the boss. She never planned to. She kept her voice calm. She said, “I need you to open the door.” She put her hand in her pocket. To get the cell phone. But the gate agent misinterpreted. Her left hand darted under the counter. She hit the panic button.
    Kim gave up on the cell phone and kept both hands in plain sight. She stood stock still. Where the hell was Gaspar?
    He showed up three paces behind two TSA personnel. They had guns drawn. Kim kept her hands in view and said, “FBI,” as calmly as possible. She reached slowly across her body with her left hand and opened her jacket to reveal her badge, clipped to her waistband.
    Gaspar came up behind her and flashed his badge, too.
    “What’s the problem?” he said.
    Kim held her breath while the agents looked them both over. In the corner of her eye she saw the plane begin to move.
    “You’re too late,” one of the TSA guys said.
    “Let’s pretend we’re not,” Kim replied.
    The phone was still buzzing.
    Time stood still.
    Then the first agent said, “OK, hurry.”
    Agent two opened the departure door wide enough to slip through. Kim ran. Gaspar followed. The door sucked shut behind them. The boss’s phone bounced against Kim’s hip as she ran. She turned the final corner and saw the jet way separating from the plane’s open door. She stopped at the widening gap. Cold November air blew into the tunnel. The flight attendant was on the phone in the cabin. To the gate agent, presumably. She called out to the jet way engineer. The jet way stopped moving. The plane stopped moving.
    Four feet of empty space.
    Maybe five.
    The stewardess said, “You can make it. I’ve done it lots of times.”
    Kim lifted her computer bag off the travel bag and telescoped its handle down. She grabbed one heavy bag in each hand, swung both, and tossed them over the void. The stewardess set them out of the way. Kim breathed in, breathed out, rocked back and forth like a varsity high jumper, and leapt across the empty black hole into the plane.