Lone Star Renegades (6 page)

He unzipped a large black duffle and found neatly stacked T-shirts, boxers, socks, and green army-issue pants inside. He pulled out a pair of pants and held them up. Might be a little big, but looked long enough. He looked over to the others and saw they were still busy digging through their own stacks of luggage. Quickly, Collin pulled off his football pants, jockstrap and cup, and pretty rank-smelling jersey. He then pulled on the clean boxers, T-shirt and army pants. He found a belt for the pants in the duffel, as well as a pocketknife, a small first-aid kit, and a pair of well-used boots.

The boots were a pretty good fit. He checked the duffle one more time
—
he
’
d almost missed the most important item
…
a set of small keys tucked into a side pocket
—
the kind used for unlocking weapon hard cases. Collin suspected the duffle, and the clean clothes he was wearing, were owned by the same person owning the set of gun cases.

Collin
’
s attention was pulled away when he heard other voices entering the dimly lit cargo hold. Two were unmistakable
—
Humphrey
’
s and Darren
’
s. Shit. There was no way he was going to hand over more firepower to those two idiots.

Collin hunched down lower, doing his best to keep out of sight. But it was too late
—
Darren was quickly making his way through the stacks of suitcases.

“
He
’
s over here,
”
Darren yelled back over his shoulder, picking up his pace.

Collin tried the first of the keys on the small hard case. Not the right key. He fumbled to get the second key into the lock. It worked. He turned the lock and opened the lid. Inside were three secured handguns
—
two Glocks, similar to the one Humphrey was carrying around, and a Beretta. One by one, he checked the weapons
—
all unloaded. That made sense. Collin was pretty sure there were strict airline transport regulations for firearms. Noticing the various official-looking tags affixed to the case
’
s handle confirmed as much. Fortunately, the weapons
’
magazines were stored in the box as well.

“
There you are
…
what are you doing hiding back here, Sticks?
”
Darren asked.

Collin didn
’
t look up until he heard the other voice.

“
Step the fuck away from that, Sticks,
”
Humphrey demanded, his voice deep and threatening. He was two paces behind Darren and was reaching for the Glock at the back of his pants.

Collin, still holding the Beretta in his right hand, grabbed the matching magazine with his left. He slipped the clip into the butt of the handle, locked it home with the heel of his palm, then pulled the slide and chambered a round.

Collin brought the gun up and pointed it directly at Humphrey
’
s forehead. Humphrey had his gun out but hadn
’
t had time to aim.

“
Don
’
t!
”
Collin said.

Humphrey froze.

“
Hey, man, we
’
re all on the same side,
”
Darren said, holding his palms up in a gesture of friendship. He smiled and turned back to Humphrey.
“
Put your gun away, Humphrey. Let
’
s keep things cool here.
”

Humphrey hesitated, then did as he was told. Collin debated whether to relieve Humphrey of his weapon but decided, instead, to just keep a close eye on him.

“
So, ah
…
what have you got there, Frost?
”
Darren asked, his eyes locked on the open hard case and the other handguns lying in front of Collin.

“
A way to defend ourselves. That is, other than Sheriff Humph there and his Glock.
”

It started with a wobbling motion. Collin reached out for something, anything, to grab on to. The cargo hold began to tilt
—
the far tail section dropped as the nose section, where they were standing, rose up several feet. Everyone was thrown to the floor. Sounds of bending and twisting metal increased, soon culminating in a loud crash. Everything came to a shuddering stop. The sounds
—
the tilting of the plane
’
s angle
—
spoke for themselves: The tail section of the plane had collapsed under the weight of the passenger car above.

Getting to his knees, Collin saw that more than the tail section had collapsed
—
nearly half the plane was gone. He got to his feet and yelled,
“
DiMaggio! Tink
…
Tami!
”

Darren and Humphrey got to their feet, too, and stood looking back at the jet
’
s significantly reduced cargo hold.

“
I
’
m okay,
”
came DiMaggio
’
s voice.

“
What happened?
”
asked Tink weakly.

Collin let out his breath in relief.

“
Tami
…
Oh God. She was farther back. She
’
s under there,
”
DiMaggio said, the emotion heavy in his voice.

As much as Collin liked Tami, all he could think about was Lydia. How far back in the plane above had she been when everything collapsed? Was she lying dead beneath tons of twisted metal above them?

“
We
’
re trapped. We
’
re fucking trapped!
”
Darren said angrily. He spun toward Collin.
“
It was your brilliant idea to come down here. Now we
’
re going to die in this little hell hole and it
’
s your fault.
”

“
I didn
’
t ask you to come down here. In fact, we purposely didn
’
t tell you where we were going. Have you even thought about who might be dead up in the passenger area?
”

Darren
’
s expression went from anger to fear in a millisecond.
“
Shit! Bubba
…
all the guys
…
the team.
”

“
Yeah
…
and how about Lydia
…
you at all worried about her?
”

Collin
’
s question stunned him.
“
We have to get back up there. Maybe there
’
s another access panel.
”
Almost frantic in his movements, Darren started pacing and looking upward toward the ceiling of the cargo hold.

“
There
’
s no other access to above. At least not where you
’
re looking,
”
Collin said.

Humphrey
’
s cold stare bore down on Collin.
“
Then where, Frost? How do we get out of here?
”

DiMaggio and Tink, a layer of white dust covering their hair and faces, joined Collin
’
s side. Collin knew DiMaggio was close to Tami; he
’
d wanted to ask her out ever since their freshman year
—
but lacked the courage.

“
I
’
m sorry, Paul. Tami
…
She was
…”
Collin didn
’
t know what to say. He didn
’
t know how to put words to something so terrible.

DiMaggio simply nodded, his eyes beginning to well up with tears.

“
You can cry about her later,
”
Humphrey said.
“
Frost, stay focused! Did you have an idea how to get us out of here?
”

Collin smacked a magazine into one of the Glocks and handed it
—
along with one of the holsters
—
over to DiMaggio.

“
You giving that last one to me?
”
Darren asked.

Collin stood and appraised Darren with disgust. He looked over to Tink, who shook her head.

“
Not me
…
I hate guns.
”

Minutes earlier he
’
d had no intention of giving Darren or Humphrey another weapon. Now things were obviously different. Leaving any of the weapons he
’
d found behind would be crazy. Collin picked up the remaining Glock, slid in the last remaining magazine, and handed it over to Darren.

He took it and nodded,
“
Cool.
”

Collin handed him the last remaining holster.
“
You
’
ll need this too.
”

“
We
’
ll each need to carry a load.
”
He looked over to Humphrey.
“
That means you too, Humph.
”

“
What the hell you talking about? I
’
m not carrying shit
…
if there
’
s a way out of here, I
’
m gone
…
before I
’
m flattened.
”

“
Whatever
…
Help me out here, DiMaggio,
”
Collin said, pointing to the two longer hard cases on the floor. DiMaggio passed one of the cases, and then the second, to Collin, who placed them on top of the waist-high stack of remaining satchels and suitcases. Collin used his keys to open the first of the cases and flipped up the lid. The five inhaled.

“
Nice,
”
Darren said.

Collin opened the next case. Now there was little doubt the guns, one a Heckler and Koch MP5, the other an MK48
—
both machine guns
—
had belonged to someone in the military. The weapons looked to be fully automatic and neither one was legal to own by civilians
—
strictly for use by the military.

Chapter 8

Collin, Tink and DiMaggio began transporting the stash of weapons over to the now significantly smaller cargo opening. Five of the largest duffle bags were quickly repacked with various needed clothing items. Darren and Humphrey reluctantly hefted them over to where the weapons lay.

“
We
’
ll have to go through here,
”
Collin said, gesturing to the blocked cargo opening.

“
No way. Have you looked at that wall of crap? Stuff
’
s packed together way too tight,
”
Humphrey said, shaking his head.

Collin stepped over to the opening and knelt down.
“
We
’
ll have to go down first, then go up again. We
’
re standing right below and behind the left wing. I
’
ll go first
…
find a pathway in this mess and get up on the wing. There
’
s a cabin door there.
”

Tink was already on the move.
“
I
’
ll go with you, I
’
m small.
”

Collin turned to DiMaggio and said under his breath,
“
Watch the weapons.
”

“
How do we know you
’
ll come back for us?
”
Darren asked, his voice sounding more shaky than he
’
d probably intended.

“
Because I wouldn
’
t leave DiMaggio,
”
Collin said flatly.

Tink, crouched down low at the forwardmost part of the cargo opening, said,
“
I don
’
t see a way out through here, Collin.
”

“
This is where we
’
ll need to work as a team.
”
He turned to Darren, the biggest of the four of them.
“
We need you three to help lift and separate the closest metal items here.
”

“
Like hell,
”
Humphrey said.
“
Stuff
’
s too tightly packed.
”

Collin moved close to Tink and used his boot to kick at what looked like an old bicycle frame. It moved.
“
There
’
s a significant amount of play between everything. Looks like things are clustered mostly here, at the opening. Help get us through here and we should be able to maneuver around in there
…
at least that
’
s the plan.
”

“
Found this. You
’
ll need it more than we will here.
”
DiMaggio handed Collin a small bright red Maglite.

Collin moved the Beretta from the back of his pants to one of the pants
’
oversized pockets.
“
DiMaggio
…
you lift here, at the back of this freezer unit. Darren and Humphrey, you
’
ll actually need to push up on this and down on that,
”
Collin said, gesturing.

DiMaggio moved into place, got a good hold on the metal coils at the back of the freezer, and lifted. It moved. He looked over to Darren and Humphrey.
“
Are you going to help or just stand there?
”

They both took up the positions where Collin had indicated and got their hands firmly situated.

“
You
’
re going to die in there, you know. Just letting you know,
”
Humphrey said.

“
Shut up and push, Humph,
”
DiMaggio said.

The three began to push and pull. Tink hesitated, as if having second thoughts, then moved headfirst into the now two-foot-square opening.