Code Black (20 page)

“What about trying to get power back to the other side of the electrical system? We only tried the number one generator. What about number two?” Henry’s face grew red; his control seemed to be slipping away.

“They were almost burned alive trying to get power to the instruments; for God’s sake, John may not even be able to fly the plane now. They almost crashed into the middle of downtown! Now you want to try it again? You’re the one who has lost his mind.”

“We can figure it out,” Henry said. “There are still the batteries. Maybe it’s possible to route the power in another direction. There are still options we haven’t explored yet!”

Lauren knew that Henry was fighting a losing battle. She moved toward him to get him to leave the tower, get him someplace where she could explain what she knew. Their only chance now was to find Leo Singer.

“We can’t take the chance that we’ll kill more people. It’s a tragedy, Henry. We didn’t cause this horrible chain of events, but we have a responsibility to try to minimize the deaths of innocent people. Can you imagine the public outcry if 880 had crashed on Michigan Avenue?”

“Jesus.” Henry shook his head, looking at Devereux with total disgust. “You sound just like Cyrus. I hope you can sleep at night knowing you took the easy way out, that you didn’t explore every option to save them.”

Lauren looked around at the solemn faces of the tower crew. They had stood by and watched as Henry and Devereux argued. The only person who had a task was Andy. Lauren envied his focus, how removed he was from the scene crashing down upon her.

“I’d prefer if the two of you went back to Operations,” Devereux said quietly. “They’re expecting you. Henry, I’m sorry, but this is out of your hands and things will work more smoothly if you and I don’t argue at every turn.”

“I’ll leave you to orchestrate this—this act of murder.” Henry angrily spun away from Devereux.

Lauren gave a silent nod of thanks to both Kate and Wayne. She could see in their grim faces that they, too, were stunned at what had just transpired. Henry fell in behind Lauren and the door to the tower slammed shut behind them. Lauren went down one flight of steps and stopped on the small landing. She waited for Henry to catch up.

“What is it?” Henry asked as he joined her.

“We have a bigger problem.” Lauren’s tone was dead serious—from the expression on his face she knew she had Henry’s undivided attention. “I need you listen very carefully to what I have to tell you.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Lauren was still in step with Henry when they barged through the security doors that led to Operations. All eyes turned at the commotion of their entrance, then were quickly averted as their identities registered. Lauren could almost feel the negative atmosphere of the room. It was apparent that everyone already knew that Henry had been relieved and were keeping their distance. She was beginning to hate the political minefield that existed at Wayfarer Airlines. To her left she saw Tucker with Matt. The young man was gesturing for her to join him.

“Where are Leo and Cyrus?” Henry called across the room.

Glen hustled to where Henry stood. “Henry. I’m sorry. I’ve been instructed to keep you out of the way and not to disturb them until this is over.”

“That’s no surprise.” Henry’s jaw worked as he battled his anger. “How much time do we have until they’re in the water?”

“Right now we’re trying to organize all the rescue assets. It’s going to be at least forty minutes before we have everything in place.”

“Keep me advised,” Henry replied, and then lowered his voice to Lauren and Matt. “We’ve got to find Leo.”

Lauren had her hand on Matt’s shoulder, as if to offer some small measure of comfort. Once again she wondered if he’d been crying.

“Matt,” Henry said as he slowed. “Try not to worry. I’m doing everything I can, but right now I have to find Leo.”

“You’re going the wrong way.” Matt shook his head in obvious frustration at his father’s paper-thin encouragement. “They’re not in a conference room, they’re in Devereux’s office.”

Henry stormed down the hallway, his shoes silent on the carpet. Lauren followed close behind.

As they neared the office, Lauren heard Cyrus through the closed door. Henry put his hand on the doorknob, but before he could open the door Lauren reached in and stopped him.

“I know you don’t like this, Leo.” Cyrus raised his voice. “Neither do I! But we’ve made the best decision, now let’s not second-guess ourselves. It’s the best option. We can’t risk any more lives with this fiasco. If they can get it down in the lake then we’ve solved all our problems. The brain-dead people will die. It’s probably best for them anyway, don’t you think? We can dodge that public relations bullet. Do you have any idea what the press would do to us? The public is desensitized to airplane crashes; the sight of body bags on the evening news only stays with them until their favorite reality show starts. But can you imagine the public’s reaction to the images of those people being led off our airplane? You’ve poured your guts into this airline, Leo. The crash isn’t our fault! We’ll be absolved of any wrongdoing. We might also be able to point our finger at the guy from Eco-Watch. We can’t be responsible for civilians who think they can fly our planes. The casualties will be the victims of an outdated air traffic control system.” Cyrus softened his tone. “Leo, I can picture us spearheading the move for some meaningful policy decisions in Washington. It could go down as the Singer Aviation Safety Bill. You could lead the way for decisive action that makes our skies safe into the next century. We have the connections to get that ball rolling.”

Lauren was both horrified and sickened at what she’d heard. Cyrus was talking about trying to pin part of the blame on Donovan and Eco-Watch. She felt for her cell phone.

“What are you doing?” Henry whispered.

“This is bullshit!” Lauren struggled to keep her voice low. “I have to reach Donovan. These people are trying to kill them. He needs to know.”

“Not yet! Give me a second to think,” Henry said, trying to calm her down. “There has to be a way to get Cyrus away from Leo. He’s like some of deranged seeing-eye dog and Leo is being led to slaughter.”

Lauren started to say something, but hesitated as a vague idea sparked to life. She tilted her head to one side and looked at Henry. “What did you just say?”

“I have to create a diversion, something to get Cyrus away from Leo. Then I can try to convince Leo he’s being manipulated.”

“You called Cyrus a seeing-eye dog,” Lauren said, letting the words hang as her scientific brain began to hastily connect the separate pieces of the puzzle.

“Yeah, so what,” Henry replied. “It’s the truth. Leo’s blinded by the crap that Cyrus feeds him.”

“That’s it!” Lauren began, then quickly ushered Henry away from the door and around the corner. She looked up and down the hallway to make sure they were alone.

“What are you trying to say?” Henry said impatiently.

“We can be 880’s seeing eye dog.” Lauren locked eyes with Henry. More than anything she needed for him to hear what she was about to say. “If we get another airplane, we could go up and get them—lead them down to the ground. It’s possible—right?”

Henry stepped back as if her words had some sort of tangible force. His eyes narrowed as he processed what she’d just said. “How good is this flyboy fiancé of yours? Was he ever in the military?”

“No. He’s always been in the private sector.” Lauren saw the flash of disappointment that crossed Henry’s face. “Why?”

Henry shook his head. “The problem is your boyfriend doesn’t have any flight time in airliners, or military formation experience. With John out of the picture, I don’t know if it could be done. Flying formation in this weather is harder than you can imagine. I just need to get to Leo.”

Lauren watched as Henry Parrish seemingly dismissed her idea and turned to leave. Desperate, Lauren reached out and grabbed Henry by the arm. “Wait.”

“Let go,” Henry said, pulling his arm out of her grasp. “I have to get in there and break up that meeting.”

“What if the Donovan had the skills—would you do it?”

“I’m sure you think your fiancé is a wonderful pilot, and all of that, but what you’re asking would be almost impossible for someone with no military background.”

Lauren bit her lip as she fought with herself. Henry was starting to leave and she knew she only had one shot at this. “What if you did know the man at the controls of flight 880?”

Henry stopped. “What do you mean?”

“A long time ago…and you have to promise me that what I’m about to tell you will go with you to your grave.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Do I have your word?” Lauren said. She didn’t have time to measure all of the repercussions of what she was about to say. But it didn’t matter at this point. She needed Henry to see that Donovan was more than capable of pulling off this plan.

“Sure.” Henry held out his hands as if he had nothing to lose.

Lauren trembled as she thought about the solemn promise she’d made to Donovan—a promise she was now about to break. “The man flying 880 is someone you used to know, but you knew him by another name—Robert Huntington.”

Henry opened his mouth as if to speak but no words escaped.

“Does that change your mind?”

“That son-of-a-bitch!” Henry whispered, his anger clearly evident. “You’re trying to tell me he didn’t die all those years ago? I can’t believe this!”

“Forget everything that happened back then. What I want to hear is that now that you know—tell me he’s good enough for what we have in mind.”

“You’re telling me he faked his death, then left me to answer all the questions about why his plane crashed? That he had the unmitigated gall to hang me out to dry and clean up the mess he left behind.”

“What are you talking about?” Lauren was truly shocked at the furious expression on Henry’s face. “Henry, will this plan work?”

“The bastard wanted the world to think he died in a plane crash—I should grant him his wish!”

Lauren was blindsided by Henry’s fury. “Look, I don’t know everything that happened back then, but we’ve got bigger issues at stake here. Put all that behind you and think of the people on flight 880—what Cyrus is trying to do.”

“I can’t believe he betrayed me.” Henry’s voice dripped with anger.

Lauren recoiled at not only the force of the words but the implications. She tried to gather herself; whatever had gone on between Donovan and Henry was ancient history as far as she was concerned. She leveled a dead-serious glare at Henry. “I asked you a question. Is Robert Huntington good enough?”

“Yeah. He’s good enough.” Henry nodded, his face red with bitterness and resentment. “But we need to move fast. Stay close, you’re the only way I can talk to that S.O.B. I’ll try and save his ass—but I’ll never forget everything he did to me.” He lowered his voice and pointed his index finger at Lauren. “And trust me, if we do pull this off and I get him on the ground—I might decide to kill him for real.”

Lauren sidestepped Henry as he stormed down the hallway toward Operations. As they rounded the corner, Lauren saw that the door to Devereux’s office was wide open. A sick feeling lodged in her stomach as she realized that at some point during her and Henry’s conversation, Cyrus and Leo had left. Had they heard any or all of what was being said?

Henry waved her forward. “Forget it. If they heard about our plan we’ll know shortly, trust me, we won’t get very far. Once we get to Operations, we’re going to have to find some help. Do what I say and don’t ask questions.”

Lauren, angered at Henry’s words, nevertheless stayed close as they hurried to Operations. She scanned the room but didn’t see either Leo or Cyrus. Henry immediately went to where Matt and Tucker stood.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Matt said, reacting to the grim expression etched on his father’s face.

“We’re going to take an airplane and go get 880,” Henry said, quietly but with conviction. “I’m going to need some help.”

Lauren felt galvanized by his words

“I need to find a plane.” Henry lowered his voice and glanced warily around him as he spoke. “One that’s already been fueled, and hopefully not buried in snow. Once we know which gate, we need to get there as fast as we can.”

“I take it Leo didn’t sign off on this?” Tucker whispered.

“I didn’t even ask,” Henry said in a rush. “For some really screwed-up reasons—Cyrus wants this airplane in the lake. I don’t have time to explain it all right now, but trust me, this is the right thing to do.”

“I’m in,” Tucker offered. “John’s a good friend of mine. You’re going to need another pilot.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Henry clinched his fist. “Matt, once I get a gate number, I want you to go there and start getting the plane ready. Move any ground equipment that might be in our way.”

“Sure.” Matt nodded as if it were no big deal. “What about the security cameras? Someone in Operations might see what we’re doing.”

“I forgot about them,” Henry said. “Hopefully it’s snowing too hard for anyone to notice.”

“What can I do?” Lauren’s hope surged as Henry began to set things in motion.

“You need to call 880 and tell them we’re coming. But let’s wait a few minutes before we do that.” Henry paused as he thought. “Tucker, you and Matt start toward the H concourse. We’ll call and give you a gate number as soon as we have one.”

“See you shortly.” Tucker and Matt quickly made their way as instructed.

Henry stepped over to a computer terminal and began typing on the keyboard. Lauren moved closer and used herself to shield the rest of the room as to what Henry was doing. Several minutes later Henry logged off and looked around.

“H-18,” he said quietly. “It was fueled to go to Dallas and was one of the last flights cancelled. It should have less snow on it than some of the others.”

Lauren pulled out her phone and sent the information as a text message to Matt’s cell phone. A few moments later, her phone beeped that he’d received the information.

“Let’s go.” Henry took her by the arm as he scanned the busy room. He grabbed a two-way radio and shoved it into his back pocket.