Code Black (34 page)

“Calvin. It’s Lauren. Donovan’s on the ground, he’s safe, but I need a huge favor.” It only took her a few minutes to outline what she needed. She was careful not to divulge the real reason she was asking Calvin for his help.

“What you’re asking is extremely difficult,” Calvin said, finally. “I don’t need to remind you that the political, as well as the legal implications are pretty much off the chart.”

“I know. But this man needs to be stopped,” Lauren said, waiting for Calvin to decide what he could or couldn’t do.

“This individual, the one you overheard, you’re positive he was conspiring with another party in regard to the outcome of today’s events?”

“Yes, he was not only going to use the crash to gain control of the airline, but he was going to place as much of the blame on Donovan and Eco-Watch as he could.”

“If I do this—and believe me when I tell you I’m not sure I can even pull it off,” Calvin said. “There is no way this can ever be made public, and it could never be used in a court of law.”

“I understand.” Lauren prayed that Calvin had heard enough to help.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Calvin said, as he exhaled heavily. “But I’m going to need a few things from you first.”

Lauren returned to the flight deck and ignored the questioning expressions of both Henry and Michael. Calvin had promised he’d do his best, but he’d offered no guarantees. It remained yet another item on her growing list of uncertainties.

“How soon can we land?” Matt asked, turning the attention away from Lauren. “Are we going to be able to land at O’Hare?”

Henry shook his head. “The airport is closed. We’ve got some fuel left. We can hold here for a little while longer, but we’ll have to divert somewhere else if the weather doesn’t improve.”

A frown crossed Matt’s face. “But if we divert we wouldn’t be able to get home until later tonight or even tomorrow. We have to land here. Mom needs us.”

“We’ll hold here for as long as we can. Trust me, son. I’m just as frustrated as you are. We have to be patient.”

“You don’t care, do you?” Matt muttered under his breath.

“What was that?” Henry snapped his head in Matt’s direction.

“You did this for your precious airline, didn’t you? Mom’s right, it’s all you’ve ever cared about, isn’t it?”

“Matt! Knock it off. This isn’t the time or the place.”

Without another word, Matt flew up out of his seat and stormed from the cockpit.

Lauren resisted the urge to confront Henry, to get in the middle of this escalated dispute between father and son. She rose from her seat and went back to find Matt. She walked down the aisle in the empty cabin until she reached the very last row of seats. He had his head buried in his hands.

“Matt, I’m sorry all of this is so difficult.” Matt turned further away from her as she spoke. Not to be ignored, Lauren continued. “ I want to thank you for everything you did today. From helping us escape from the first jet, to recognizing there was another airplane we could use, to the laser idea. You made the difference. Everything you did gave your mom a fighting chance.”

Matt raised his head. His eyes were filled with tears and he took in a deep breath to try to hold them in. He shrugged and looked away.

“I won’t make excuses for him, but your father is just as stressed as you are.” Lauren wasn’t sure what she could do to make the young man feel better. “Everything that we did today happened amazingly fast, and you are a huge part of why we succeeded. You should be very proud of what you did. I know I’m proud of you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Matt said, then sniffed. “We’re stuck up here and I need to be on the ground. I have to get to my mom.”

“I think it matters a great deal.” She wanted to keep Matt talking, try and diffuse his frustration and rage. “If it weren’t for you they would have been forced to land in the lake. You gave everyone on that airplane a chance to survive.”

“Yeah, well.” Matt shrugged wistfully as he looked down at the floor. “I wish it were him down there. Not her.”

Lauren crumbled a little inside at Matt’s sad disclosure.

“I wish it were me, too,” Henry said. “I’d trade places with your mother in an instant.”

Lauren turned, startled by the sound of Henry’s voice behind her.

“I’ll leave the two of you alone.” Lauren slipped past Henry.

“No. Stay here,” Henry, said quietly, as he put his hand on Lauren’s arm to stop her. “You’re a part of this. I need you to hear some of what I have to say.”

Lauren looked into Henry’s eyes. She expected to see the same angry expression to which she’d become accustomed. But instead, she found a softening around the edges, as if the tremendous weight he’d been carrying had finally caved in a small part of the facade.

“Matt.” Henry waited to see if his son would turn and face him. When it didn’t happen, he continued anyway. “I’m sorry, son. You didn’t deserve to be yelled at, and I want to apologize.”

Matt sat rigidly in his seat, his attention focused somewhere outside the gently turning Boeing.

“I know we’ve had some problems lately.” Henry lowered his head. “I’m sorry if you feel as if you’ve been caught in the middle of the issues your mother and I are having. You know we both love you, and we want only the best for you. But when you came aboard this airplane, you were putting yourself in harm’s way, which, as a father, is the last place you want your child to be. Can you understand that, can you understand why I was angry?”

“I’m not a child,” Matt muttered. “You treat me like I’m a little kid. You’ve never bothered to notice I’m not ten years old anymore.”

Henry started to say something in return but no sound escaped his lips. A look of profound sorrow flashed across his face, as if he’d been charged and found guilty by his own flesh and blood. At that moment, Lauren didn’t know which of the two of them was the more wounded.

“I know you’re not a child anymore. Which is the hardest thing imaginable for me right now.”

“Why is it so hard?”

Henry took a slow measured breath as he searched for the right thing to say. “You might be right.” He shook his head sadly. “I’ve already lost one child I couldn’t protect. I couldn’t bear to go through that again. Which is why I wanted you to stay out of this today—it’s why I was angry about your putting yourself at risk.”

Matt wiped at his tears. “Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Why did you risk everything to save Mom?”

“I did it because it was the right thing to do. Leo and Cyrus couldn’t see it—but I felt in my heart it was what had to be done.”

“So Mom wasn’t part of it?” Matt said, a wounded tone in his voice. “You were just doing your job?”

“Of course your mother was part of it. She’s always been a part of what I do. We may be having our problems—but I still love her. If I’d only focused on her, I wouldn’t have been able to function. I can’t bear the thought of losing either one of you. What if something had happened to you today? What would that have done to your mother—or to me? It’s why I tried so hard to keep you out of all this.”

“You weren’t going to lose me,” Matt said. “I knew what I was doing. So did you.”

“I don’t know son.” Henry shook his head slowly. “There were a few times today I wasn’t sure of anything.”

“No way.”

“Really,” Henry said, and nodded. “Today was nothing but one big gamble. If anything had hiccupped, if one set of events had turned out differently, we might not be sitting here having this conversation.”

“So what happens now?”

“Well, we can circle for a little while longer,” Henry began, but Matt cut him off.

“No. I mean what happens now. With you, Mom—and me?”

Lauren slid sideways and let Henry get past her to be closer to Matt. She moved forward as Henry sat down next to his son. She loved this new beginning, words spoken in honesty instead of anger. She sensed it was time for her to leave them alone.

“Come get me if you need me,” Henry said, then tilted his head in Matt’s direction. “And thank you.”

Lauren smiled and made her way forward. She went through the open cockpit door and sat heavily in the jump seat.

“How’s it going back there?” Michael asked as he joined her. “You get them calmed down?”

“I hope so.” Lauren pulled a stray hair away from her eyes. “Anything happening up here?”

“Nothing. Kate keeps giving me the latest weather, but so far nothing much has changed.”

“What do you think our chances are of making it back into O’Hare?”

“Not great.” Michael leaned forward and in the waning light looked down at the carpet of solid clouds beneath them. “It might not be a such a bad idea for us to go somewhere else. I don’t think they’re all that happy with us down there. What do you think about us diverting to, I don’t know, maybe an airport where a bunch of high-powered attorneys could meet us. Or, what if we arranged our own little press conference from up here? Then we could go somewhere and find legal counsel. We’re not far from Canada, maybe they’d take us?”

Lauren smiled at Michael’s scheming.

“No wait! I have a better idea!” Michael turned and smiled. “Let’s go to Florida. We can lie on the beach and wait for everyone else to arrive for the wedding. I can work on my tan. Maybe even play a little golf.”

“I’d love that.” Lauren let out a small laugh. “You have no idea how much I’d love that.”

“Boeing 31 Whiskey Alpha, this is O’Hare Tower.”

Lauren’s smile dissolved at the ominous tone in Kate’s voice. She braced herself for bad news, word that something terrible had transpired.

“Go ahead tower.” Michael, too, frowned as he replied.

“Uh. There’s been a slight change in plans. You’re about to be joined by two Air Force fighters. You are now under their jurisdiction. I’m officially out of this loop. Contact them on 121.5. They’re using the call sign Blackjack Zero-One.”

“Michael!” Lauren put her hand on Michael’s arm as she peered out the left side of the airliner. The dark silhouette of a fighter was visible alongside them, missiles hanging menacingly under its wings.

“We see him,” Michael radioed to Kate. “We’re switching frequencies now.”

“What in the hell is going on? When did they get here?” Henry burst into the cockpit. Matt followed close behind.

“We’re about to find out.” Michael keyed the microphone. “Blackjack Zero-One, this is Boeing 31 Whiskey Alpha. What can we do for you?”

“Boeing 31 Whiskey Alpha, this is Blackjack Zero-One. Be advised we have new instructions for you. You are to change course and divert immediately. We will escort you to Scott Air Force base.”

“Let me talk to them.” Henry slid into the left seat and found his microphone. “Blackjack Leader, we prefer to wait here until the weather at O’Hare improves.”

“Negative,” the fighter pilot replied sharply. “You will turn to a 220 degree heading at this time and leave the area. Any deviation and we are under orders to open fire. Do you copy?”

“This is Cyrus’ work!” Henry slammed the microphone into its cradle. “The son-of-a bitch is behind this, I can feel it!”

“I see his wing-man.” Michael had turned and found the other fighter poised above and behind them. “I think they’re serious.”

“Dad. We can’t leave—do something!” Matt cried out.

“I’m afraid we don’t have any choice.” Henry shook his head in defeat. “We have to do what they say.”

“Start your turn now,” the F-16 pilot said firmly as he banked away to give them room to maneuver. “I repeat. Start your turn now.”

Henry reached up and put his hand on the knob that controlled their heading. With one angry twist, he commanded the autopilot to turn the Boeing to the new course.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

“This is the closest entrance to Wayfarer Operations.” Emmett pulled the truck up to a steel door near Wayfarer’s concourse.

The phone in Donovan’s hand rang. He pushed the button and put the phone to his ear. “Donovan Nash.”

“Donovan. This is Calvin Reynolds. Lauren gave me this number if I needed to reach you.”

“What’s going on?” Donovan couldn’t imagine why Calvin would be calling.

“Here’s the deal,” Calvin said. “Lauren explained a little of what’s going on there and asked me for a favor. It’s not something I can do legally and I’ll deny it came from this office. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Lauren wanted me to recover a certain conversation that took place earlier today. Because this particular call was made from a cell phone, during what was believed at the time to be a terrorist attack, certain intelligence elements were activated. There exists classified technology that records virtually every broadcast communication in the world. Once a transmission is recorded, computers key in on certain words and phrases consistent to a given threat. In today’s case it was your flight number. The phone call in question has been retrieved.”

A small smile crept across Donovan’s face. He eyed Emmett, who was watching him. “Very clever.”

“It’s Lauren you have to thank for this,” Calvin said. “But before we go any further, I need you to understand a few important details. This information cannot be used in any legal process. You can do what you need to do, but again, I am not involved. If the information is used publicly, this office will never be mentioned.”

“Of course. You have my word.”

“Your phone is going to ring again. Let it go to voice mail.”

“I don’t have any way to access the messages on this phone,” Donovan said. “Why don’t you leave it on our machine at home?”

“I’d rather this information be on a random cell phone. It gives me another level of deniability. I don’t want what I’m sending you to be traced back to me, or this office. Do I make myself clear?”

“I understand. Do you have the code I’ll need to listen to the message?”

“We just tracked it down,” Calvin said, then paused. “It’s 5599.”

Donovan ended the call. The moment he did the phone rang again and continued to ring until it went to voice mail.

“Who was that?” Emmett said.

Donovan held up the phone triumphantly. “I think we now have what we need to go in there and cause some serious trouble.” Donovan waited for the beep that would announce a new voice message had been received. He dialed the sequence to retrieve what Calvin had sent. What Donovan hadn’t been prepared for, was the emotional response he had at the sound of Patricia’s cheerful voice asking him to leave a message.