Silencing Eve

had a notification from a state trooper on Highway 25 that they saw a vehicle answering the description pull off the main road onto a side road.”
    “What’s on that side road?”
    “I’m checking it on the map now. Houses, a trailer camp, a small convenience store … Shit! A small private airport. Get the hell out there!”
    “An airport,” Catherine said to Zander as she hung up. “They’re not heading for the state border. They’re heading for an airport. We’ve just got to hope that Doane hasn’t already arranged for his flight and that there will be a delay.”
    “You hope. I always operate on the worst-case scenario.” Zander’s foot pressed on the accelerator and the car leaped forward. “And that scenario is that Doane has made contact with Kevin’s old friends, and they sent a plane to pick him up. Tell Venable to scramble some airpower and be ready to try to bring them down.”
    She reached for her cell, then stopped. “No.”
    “What?”
    “I’m not sure how they’d bring them down, dammit. Venable said that Homeland Security was a little too eager about using the drones.”
    “He didn’t mention that to me. But that’s no surprise. Venable and I are not always entirely honest with each other.” He increased speed again. He was going close to a hundred miles an hour now. “Then I believe we’d better forget about airpower and get to them before they take off.”
    Fast.
    Faster.
    The hills on either side of them became a green blur.
    They’d be lucky if those state troopers they’d put on alert didn’t try to pull them over, Catherine thought.
    She glanced at Zander’s face. It was completely intent and resolute. He would not stop regardless of who tried to get in his way. She felt a sudden chill as she realized she was seeing the Zander who had earned a reputation that was feared in every corner of the world.
    He was handling the Mercedes like a race car driver. He suddenly made a turn to the left that caused the tires to screech, but he never lost control. “How far?” he bit out.
    “Three miles. On your left.”
    Dirt bumping and spraying beneath the tires.
    Rocky Mountain Airport.
    “Just ahead,” she said. “I see a few hangars…” Her excitement was growing. “There’s a Toyota parked before that little terminal building.” She was getting a glimpse of the runway. “And there’s a plane going down the runway!”
    Zander was screeching to a stop in front of a chain-link fence. He drew his gun as he jumped out of the car. “Get the numbers on the side of the plane.”
    “You’re going to shoot? You don’t even know if it’s them,” Catherine said as she memorized the number.
    “I don’t know that it’s not. It won’t hurt to shoot the tires out before they—” He stopped as the Gulfstream left the runway. “Too late.” He put his gun away. “Now we can go inside and see if they were on that Gulfstream or if they’re in that terminal waiting for us.” His lips twisted. “As usual, I’m subscribing to the worst-case scenario.”
    And the worst-case scenario proved to be accurate.
    Five minutes later, Catherine was on the phone giving the registration numbers that were on the Gulfstream to Venable as they strode out of the terminal building and over to the Toyota Doane had abandoned.
    She hung up the phone as Zander bent over the lock of the car. “Venable said that he’ll make every attempt to locate the plane.” She made a face. “And that the chances aren’t even fifty-fifty if they continue to use out-of-the-way airports like this one.”
    “It’s a weapon in the arsenal,” he said as he picked the lock and swung open the door of the driver’s seat. “Now let’s see if we can find any other weapons he might have left in here.”
    “I’m surprised you picked the lock. I would have thought you’d shoot the damn thing off. You seem to be so fond of using your gun.”
    “Only if I’m in a hurry. We have more time now.” He was rifling through the glove box. “We can start using more mundane methods.”
    She raised her eyes to the sky.
    The disappointment was hitting home with wrenching force as she realized how close they’d come to Eve only to lose her.
    Zander said they had more time now, but she wasn’t so sure.
    Doane was moving fast, and it appeared he had help.
    How much time did Eve have left?

 
    CHAPTER
    8
    Muncie, Indiana
Muncie Airport Terminal
    “MS. WEBER?” JANE SAID when Harriet Weber answered her call.