Taking Flight (A Devereux Novel) (21 page)

“Who is Mr. Knight?” Sara
asked. “What does he want? Is he the one who sent you after Derek? I assume you
are the attacker in the alley the night we were out at the club. Were you also
the driver who ran him off the road?”

She dropped back against the
wall when Chad jumped to his feet. He took a step toward her, hands clenched,
but stopped there. Sara waited for the blows to fall, knowing they were
inevitable. She had wanted to provoke him, goad him into making a mistake, and
she had pushed him too far.

“It’s true, you are a smart
woman,” he said. His fingers, both flesh and machine, loosened from the tightly
drawn fists at his sides. “I have enough information to go on now. Once I tell
all of this to Mr. Knight, he will want to proceed with the termination.” A
sharp smile on his face sent a shiver through Sara. He didn’t need to say what
he meant by termination.

Chad left the room the way
he came, and as soon as the door closed, Sara nearly burst out into tears.

You’ve done it this time, Sara. Terminated. That’s what will happen to
you.

There wasn’t much she could
do to escape, not with the zip ties that bound her together. There was nothing
sharp in the room to cut them, either. It would have been
short-sighted
on Chad’s part to make such an elementary slip.

Despair rose within and
threatened to drag her down. Part of her hoped Derek would burst through the
door and rescue her, but that wasn’t likely. He wouldn’t even know where she
was.

If she wanted to live, she
had to save herself.

She stood, hunched over
because of the ties. She hopped awkwardly over to the desk, searching for
anything that might help.

As she got there, an overly
aggressive jump overbalanced her, toppling her over and sending her hard into
the ground. Her face scraped the carpet, giving rise to a wide region of hot
pain. When she could open her eyes, she saw she had come only a few inches from
impaling them on a jagged piece of wood that had rained down from Chad’s
demonstration of strength earlier.

That was close!
She couldn’t think of a worse way to spend her last few minutes alive
than in incredible pain after piercing an eye with a sharp chunk of wood.

Wait a second…

With newfound determination,
Sara shifted on her knees and elbows until she brought her wrists to the piece
of wood. A couple of the edges looked sharp—dangerously so. Exactly what
she needed.

She had to steady the debris
with her knee before she could use it, but when she did she brought the zip tie
up to the edge and ran it along as hard as she could.

Nothing.

She fought against defeatism
as she brought the material up to the light where she could see
better
.

There!

A small nick had appeared in
the band, just enough to give Sara hope. She set to with
fervor
,
repeatedly ripping the tie against her makeshift tool, swearing under her
breath as she worked to free herself.

The moment the pressure
around her wrists gave way with a sudden snap was a sweet one, and Sara spared
a second to send a “thank you” out to the universe at large and any deity that
may have been watching and helping. She rarely believed in such things, but she
wouldn’t be picky now. Any help that might mean the difference between life and
death was welcome.

It was far easier to
maneuver
once both of her hands were free, and Sara
followed the same steps to rid herself of the zip tie that bound her feet
together. Her body freed from its persistent hunch, she stretched and felt
vertebrae pop as they settled back into their proper place. Then she looked out
the window and froze.

She was high.
Very high.
The metropolis spread away underneath the window,
continuing on and on to a hazy horizon.

“Oh, shit,” she sank down
and crouched as though she were in danger of losing her balance and toppling
through the window to her death far below. “That is not good.”

Now what?
There was only one way out of the room. She had two options—try
to leave, or wait in here and try to take Chad by surprise on his return. She
didn’t like the odds of the latter, and she would somehow have to make it down
to the ground without getting stopped either way.

It was possible Chad waited
on the other side of the door and this was all a cruel joke to make her think
she had the opportunity to try to escape. It didn’t matter.

One way to find out!

There wasn’t much in the way
of weaponry with which Sara could arm herself, but she picked up the piece of
wood that had already served her so well and hefted it in her hands. It was
better than nothing, and it would have to do until she found something better.
She wouldn’t have much of a chance if it came to a direct confrontation, but
she would put up as good of a fight as she could.

She held her breath and
eased the door open as tiny of a fraction of an inch as she could. There was no
immediate response from the other side.

When she pushed it open
enough to see out
of, all that
entered her vision was
empty hallway. She opened the door enough to squeeze her head through and
looked the other way.

Clear.

Sara slunk out of the room,
placing each foot as carefully as possible to avoid making any noise. With as
delicate a touch as she could manage, she pulled the door shut behind her and
picked a direction to move—they looked identical, but a dull murmur that
might have been voices came down the hall to her right, so she went left.

Maybe it was because of the
weekend, but the office was a ghost town. She didn’t come across any occupied
offices.

The third office she looked
in had less of an empty feel than the others she had seen. All were replicas of
the one she’d woken up in, but this one had paperwork scattered across the
desk. More importantly, there was an office phone.

With a final check both ways
in the hallway, Sara entered the office and closed the door. She picked up the
receiver and nearly cried at the sound of a dial tone. She almost
dialed
the police, but she held back. From things that
Derek had said, they might be corrupt and she would just alert the wrong
people. No, the only person she wanted to call was Derek. He could help her.

Her finger hovered over the
dial pad, and her stomach sank as she realized she didn’t know his number. He
had put it into her phone and she hadn’t looked at it. It hadn’t been
memorized.

Urgency pulled at her, and
she found her finger
dialing
a number out of sheer
reflex. When she finished she remembered whose it was.

The rings had never sounded
so long. After three rings, it went through to voicemail, and Becky’s chipper
voice greeted Sara.

“Hi, you’ve reached Becky
Williams! I’m not able to take your call at the moment, but please leave a
message with your details and I will be more than happy to get back to you!”

After the beep, Sara talked
low and fast. “Beck, listen. I need you to get a hold of Derek. I’ve been
kidnapped, and I think they will kill me. I’m at one of the big towers
downtown, but I’m not sure which one. I need help, and I need it fast. Onyx is
behind everything. Derek needs to know, even if I’m not able to get out of here
alive. Tell him as soon as you get this, Beck. Stop at nothing.”

Sara paused. She couldn’t
spare any more time, but this might be her last chance to give a message to her
best friend. “Beck… I love you. You are an incredible woman and I know you will
accomplish all your wonderful dreams. If I don’t make it out, know that I
believe in you.”

Her voice cracked, and she
laid the receiver back down in the cradle before she could get any more
emotional. Hot tears splashed down her cheeks, cutting a trail straight to her
jaw before free falling to the desk below. She wiped them away and tried to
settle her breath. She wouldn’t give up yet.

Dim shapes slipped into focus around him, and with
them came a cacophony of sound and intense pain in his arms, shoulders and
chest.

Derek rolled onto his side
and coughed. Water came out, and his brain dimly noted that wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Derek! Thank God!”

He couldn’t place the voice,
but it was hard to force his mind to focus on anything at the moment.

“Derek, look at me, please.
Come on
,
look this way
. Focus on
me.”

A hand had taken control of
his head and held it so that a blotch of beige hovered in front of him. Slowly,
ever so slowly, the beige resolved itself into a face.
A grim
mouth under a thin nose and narrowed eyes.
It didn’t look familiar.

“He’s coming around. He
might be okay,” the lips formed words as Derek stared in fascination. “He
should go to the hospital now, and they will run tests to make sure he’s come
out of it without permanent damage. If he had been under for any longer he
would have been a goner. He’s lucky those people fishing at the shore went
after him when he hit the water.”

“Derek?” That voice was
familiar. He had heard that voice more than any other during his life.

He tried to speak, but it
caused another bout of coughing. His stomach burned from the continuous spasms.

“
Gare
?
Is that you?”

“Yeah, bro. It’s me.” His
brother knelt beside Derek. “You put up quite the performance today, they’ll be
talking about this one for a long time.”

Derek felt a smile tug at
his mouth even though the situation didn’t warrant it. “You know me. The
spotlight loves me.”

“Can’t argue with that,”
Gary said. “You are more than welcome to it, although you could take a break
for a while after this stunt. I thought you were done when I saw the
explosion.”

Explosion?

Memories flooded back. The
race. The beeping.
The little black ball.
The
explosions. The cut straps on the parachute.

“Gary,” Derek looked around.
There were several people in the area but the race staff had done a good job of
holding the media and public back at the airport. The paramedic who had checked
him out still knelt there, listening. “We need to get out of here, now. There
are things we have to figure out and discuss.”

He felt better by the minute
although not all of him felt right. His arms were so leaden they could barely
move, and his fingers felt as though they were stuck in the claws they had
formed in the desperate struggle to hang on for his life.

“You need to get into the
ambulance and go to the hospital,” the paramedic said. “Making sure you’re okay
is the highest priority.”

Derek shook his head. “No, I
can’t afford to take the time or be under someone else’s care right now. It
would put me in a position of vulnerability and I’d be a sitting duck for the
next attempt.”

The medical officer cocked
his head to the side and looked as though he wanted to ask a question, but
Gary’s eyes widened. “You mean this was another…?”

“Yes. I’m sure of it. We
need to get out of here, now.”

“Excuse me, I can’t let you
take off without a proper medical evaluation!” The paramedic looked at the two
brothers as if they were crazy. “You almost died. It’s a miracle you’re alive!”

“That’s right, and I need to
make sure I stay that way,” Derek said. “Help me up, will you,
Gare
?”

His legs wobbled and his
vision grayed out as blood rushed out of his head from the sudden change in orientation.
Gary wrapped his arm around him before he could stumble and fall. “Whoa there,
bro. I’ve got you. Let’s get back to my car and we’ll get you sorted out.”

With one brother on crutches
and the other wobbling from his ordeal, they hobbled away, supporting one
another.

They passed the medical
officer who stood with a hand outstretched and his mouth moving even though no
words came out.
Poor guy doesn’t know how
to react or what to say. Not that it matters—there’s nothing he can say
that would make me go in that ambulance.
His foe could be waiting inside to
finish the job. Gary was the only person he trusted in the entire airfield.

Halfway back to the
airstrip, a lone figure trotted in their direction, wearing the flight suit of
a pilot.

Derek’s gut burned with fury
when he got near enough to recognize Rex.

“That son of a bitch!”

“Derek?”

He wouldn’t let the bastard
finish the job, and wouldn’t give him the chance to get Gary, too.

“Stay here,” he growled to
his brother.

Derek stumbled his way into
a sprint, almost eating dirt before straightening and finding his balance. Long
loping strides ate up the ground between him and Rex.

The other pilot slowed his
own trot as they drew close. “Derek! I was coming out to make sure you were
okay.”

Derek didn’t answer and
didn’t stop his sprint. His vision swam from the exertion so soon after
fighting for his life.

Rex’s eyes widened when he
realized Derek was coming right for him and he tried to get out of the way.

Too late.
Derek launched himself at
his rival and speared him in the side. The impact was hard enough to lift Rex’s
feet before they crashed to the ground, Derek’s full weight driving into the
other man’s chest.

“You asshole!” Derek shouted
as he straddled his opponent and slugged him in the face. “Coming to finish the
job? I’ll fucking end you.”

“Ah, fuck! What the hell are
you talking about?” Rex struggled to get his arms up to protect his face
against Derek’s assault. “I did nothing wrong!”

“Derek!” Gary had caught up.
“What are you doing?”

With fist poised for another
blow, Derek looked up at his brother. “This bastard blew up my plane using an
Onyx explosive, Gary. He’s responsible.”

“I didn’t do anything!
What’s Onyx?” Rex peeked around his arms. His face was bloodied and lip already
swelling.

“Don’t you dare fucking
speak. You know exactly what Onyx is.” Derek readied himself to deliver another
flurry of blows.

“I don’t! I don’t! Please,
stop hitting me!” Rex quailed below him, arms offering a pitiful defense.

Derek held himself back.
Something didn’t feel right. The masked assailant in the alley had been an
unarmed combat specialist with incredible reflexes. Unless Rex was the best
actor of all time, they couldn’t be the same person.

“You threatened me last
night, and you expect me to believe you had no part in what happened today?”

With no new blows raining
down, Rex’s arms parted so he could plead his case. “I told you then, it was
just trash talk. It meant nothing. I’m serious!”

“Then why were you coming
out here if not to finish the job?”

“I told you, to make sure
you were okay. We might not get along, but a crash changes everything. I also
thought we could call off the bet. I won’t take your money because your plane
exploded.”

Derek looked up at Gary. His
brother shrugged. “He sounds honest, Derek.”

He changed his focus to the
beaten man beneath him. “If we both agree to donate our money to charity, then
you have a deal.”

Rex’s eyebrows knit
together. “What? Just give it away?” He eyed Derek’s fist still hovering above
him. “I mean, that sounds good.”

Derek rolled off his rival
and got to his feet. He fought off a bout of dizziness and nausea before
offering his hand to Rex.

“I’d appreciate it if you
shared none of this with anyone. There is a lot more to this situation than you
know, and the less people that know anything the better.”

“If it will stop you from
hitting me again then I’ll do anything you want.”

The three men continued the
trek back to the airstrip in silence. Derek had to rely on Gary’s support once
more as the adrenaline of his fight with Rex wore off.

The inevitable cameras and
tabloid writers swarmed them as they approached the parking lot, but they
walked in silence, ignoring the commotion as best they could. There were dozens
of people watching the spectacle—the crash had ground the races to a
halt.

Loudspeakers blared as the
announcer caught wind of Derek’s miraculous return.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Not
only is Derek Devereux okay,
but
he’s walking under
his own power back to the airport now! Give him a hand, everybody!”

The volume increased
exponentially as a torrent of sound thundered down onto the brothers. Derek
reluctantly gave a wave, playing the part of the pilot even though he had far
more pressing concerns on his mind. The expectation would be that he
go
back to the pilot’s tent to update the race officials and
mingle with the well-to-do sponsors of the sport, reassuring everyone he was
all right. He had no intention of doing any of it.

“Here we go, bro, just about
there.” Gary helped him to the passenger door and opened it for him before
swinging around to get to his own. Unlike his older brother, Gary was less into
the fast, precisely engineered sport machines and had chosen a much more
mundane black BMW. “Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Gary, the explosion was no
accident,” Derek said. “In fact, I saw what caused it, although I’m not sure
how it worked. And it was made by the company.”

Derek held on tight as the
car almost veered into oncoming traffic.

“The company? I heard you
say that to Rex but I thought you were just making a wild accusation. Are you
serious?”

“Dead serious,
Gare
. It was the Onyx logo on the device, plain as day.”

“You saw the explosive?”
Gary took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at his brother as though
to reassure
himself
the eyebrows were still present.
“It didn’t blow up in your face, then?”

“No. I’m not sure what it
was, but a little black ball was attached to the dashboard. It beeped like
crazy and it was really distracting. At first I thought it was something Rex
put in my plane to make sure I couldn’t beat his time.”

Gary nodded. “That makes
sense. You weren’t flying as clean as you usually do—I worried you were
all up in your own head about Sara.”

“Sara… Shit, Gary, I left
her out there with nowhere to stay last night! I let myself get so riled up by
Ron I forgot she was in danger too.” Derek slammed his fist into the armrest.
There wasn’t much he could do about anything while still in the car and without
his phone. They hadn’t swung by the hangar to pick up any of his gear.

“I’m sure she’ll be okay.
She’s a smart girl, that one, I doubt one night will be the end of her.”

The dry Californian
landscape passed by, slowly turning into luxurious estates with massive houses
and exquisitely watered lawns. Huge expenses just to look good… Derek was glad
he’d made the switch to plants that didn’t need extra water.

“I hope you’re right,
Gare
.” He wouldn’t feel right until he got back to the
house and could find out for sure.