Chapter 12 - THE AIRSTRIP
Police reached the airport first.
But the plane was gone.
Sarah arrived twelve minutes later.
She jumped out before Rebecca fully stopped the car.
An officer ran toward them.
“You need to stay back.”
“Where’s the plane?”
“In the air.”
“Where is it going?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“The flight plan appears falsified.”
Sarah stared.
“Can’t you track it?”
“We are.”
Her hands shook.
“Is my daughter alive?”
“As far as we know.”
That was the worst answer anyone could give a mother.
Sarah turned away and saw a man standing near a hangar.
Mid-forties.
Work shirt.
Sunglasses on top of his head.
Rebecca recognized him.
“Jason Cole?”
The man flinched.
Sarah walked straight toward him.
“You gave Mark the plane.”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I didn’t give him anything.”
“Then why are you here?”
“It’s my hangar.”
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Mr. Cole, police will be asking you that same question in about ten seconds.”
Jason’s face collapsed.
“He said Lily was sick.”
Sarah stopped.
“What?”
“He said you had some kind of breakdown. That he needed to take her to family.”
“You believed him?”
“He’s been my friend twenty years.”
Sarah’s voice shook.
“So you handed him an airplane?”
“He’s licensed.”
“Where is he going?”
“I don’t know.”
Sarah moved closer.
“Jason.”
“I don’t.”
“You know him.”
Jason rubbed his face.
“There’s one place.”
Sarah’s heart jumped.
“Where?”
“New Mexico.”
“Where in New Mexico?”
“He has a former business partner outside Las Cruces.”
“Name.”
“Victor Hale.”
Rebecca immediately passed it to police.
Jason continued.
“Mark hated him.”
“Why would he go there?”
“Because Victor has a private runway.”
Sarah understood.
No public airport.
No cameras.
No questions.
Police coordinated with New Mexico authorities.
Now there was nothing Sarah could do except wait.
Again.
She hated waiting more than fear itself.
Forty minutes later, the call came.
The aircraft had been tracked.
It was descending near Las Cruces.
Police units were moving.
Sarah asked the question she couldn’t stop asking.
“Can they get Lily first?”
“They will prioritize the child.”
Another hour.
Then another call.
The investigator’s voice.
“We found the plane.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
“And Lily?”
“The plane is empty.”
Sarah’s vision blurred.
“What?”
“Mark abandoned it.”
“Where?”
“Private runway.”
“Then where did he go?”
“We believe someone picked him up.”
Sarah slammed her palm against the car.
“Damn it!”
Rebecca said nothing.
Then Jason spoke behind them.
“Victor owns trucks.”
Sarah turned.
“What kind?”
“Construction trucks. Commercial equipment.”
“How many?”
“Dozens.”
Sarah looked at the investigator.
“He could hide in one.”
Police widened the search.
Roadblocks went up.
Then Sarah’s phone buzzed.
Lily’s tablet.
Location services.
Sarah nearly dropped the phone.
She had forgotten.
Lily’s tablet had its own cellular connection.
Mark had packed it.
A small blue dot appeared on the screen.
Moving.
Rebecca leaned in.
“Oh my God.”
Sarah zoomed.
The signal was traveling east.
Fast.
“Call them.”
Rebecca called police.
The blue dot slowed.
Stopped.
Then disappeared.
Sarah stared.
“No.”
A second later, a message appeared on the tablet account.
Not from Mark.
From Lily.
Three words.
MOMMY I HID.
Sarah’s heart stopped.
Then another message came.
DADDY IS MAD.
May you like
And then:
THERE IS A GUN.
