The Reunion

by FraidyCat

Chapter 14: Boarding Pass

A gutteral, almost primal, grunt came from Charlie, and Don glanced at his brother sympathetically. Charlie's expression was a mixture of fear and longing, as the three Eppes huddled on the floor of the charter service's small office. They were crammed out of sight, behind the desk, but when Charlie heard footsteps in the outer office, he had risked a peek around the corner of the desk. From his reaction, Don was guessing Jack Warren was at the front counter, and that Charlie had seen his daughter. Although he was reluctant to do so, Don reached out and firmly grabbed Charlie's upper arm, jerking his body back into full seclusion. "Don't screw this up now," he mouthed to his brother. Charlie looked away, raising a shaking hand to wipe at a tear rolling down his cheek; then he hung his head and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Don exchanged a look with his father, shrugging slightly in apology. The eldest Eppes simply nodded, reaching across Don to touch Charlie briefly.

All three of them listened to the police officer — a sergeant — who was working the front counter. "I just need some information for the manifest," she said, and Don heard the rustling of paper. "Your granddaugther has such beautiful blonde hair. I can hold her for you, while you fill this out, if you want."

Don held his breath for a moment, letting it out slowly when he heard Warren's voice for the first time. "No, thank you. She's a light sleeper." Don heard something being placed on the counter. "Here's my identification — couldn't you fill out the form for me? I really don't want to wake my girl."

Don felt Charlie stiffen at Warren's proprietory statement, and he placed a calming hand on Charlie's knee. This time when he looked at Charlie, the outrage on his brother's face took him aback, a little. He couldn't recall ever seeing Charlie look so angry; not even when Amita had been shot.

Sgt. Casey Martin tried again. "Of course," she said, and Don heard the scratching of a pen on paper begin. "The only thing worse than a tired child is one who's whining to go to the bathroom," Don heard over the scratching. "The flight to LAX is short, but there are no facilities aboard the aircraft. Perhaps you should wake her; I can take her to the ladies' room."

"Thank you again, but if she wakes up before we board, she can go by herself," Warren answered. He even chuckled a little. "This place isn't exactly teeming with activity. I'm sure she'll be safe enough."

Don't push him too far, Don thought to himself. Don't make him suspicious. As if she had heard him, the officer backed off her efforts to get her hands on Abby. "No," she laughed, "we're not usually very busy, especially after 5. I just stayed late because I knew you were coming in, and I had some paperwork to catch up on." Don heard the flutter of paper, again. "There. I think I have all your information..."

"Thank you," Warren said. "For staying late, and for helping me. I'm afraid my granddaughter doesn't have her driver's license or passport, yet. She's only three."

Don imagined that Sgt. Martin was smiling at the piece of shit that called itself Jack Warren. "Oh, we're not quite as picky as the major airlines. Of course we have to follow TSA protocols, but for a short domestic hop like this, all we really need is her name and address. Although you should probably get her identification soon, if you plan to do much traveling. I'm surprised LAX let you through, even on a charter flight."

"We drove," Warren answered, then stuttered a bit as he thought on his feet. "Our car...broke down, and I need to get back to LA for work. No time to rent another vehicle." His speech was speeding up as he fabricated his story. "Anyway. It's Abagail Warren, same address. Her mother died, you see, so the child lives with me."

"What a shame," murmured the officer. Don could feel Charlie's body start to shake, either with anguish or hatred. Probably both. He tightened his grip on his brother's arm. More footfalls sounded as another person entered the office, and the police officer's tone of voice brightened. "Here's Manny. He can take your luggage out to the aircraft.'

Warren cleared his throat. " I...sent it ahead, on the bus. I thought there might not be enough room on the aircraft, so I just kept out a few things for the child. Toys, mostly. We can carry this onboard, correct?"

"Yeah." Don heard a man answer, and reasoned that it must be Manny, another masquerading police officer. He heard more rustling, slightly different this time — perhaps a plastic shopping bag was exchanging hands. "Just let me check this through security, in case you're packing a Barbie bomb or something."

Warren chuckled. "Of course. Lead the way." His voice faded as he spoke, and two sets of footsteps indicated that the two men were leaving the office. Don kept a grip on Charlie until Sgt. Martin stepped into the small cubicle and came around behind the desk. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, glancing guiltily at Charlie and then looking at Don. "I tried to get him to let me take the girl."

"You did fine," Don assured her. "Too insistent, and you would've made him suspicious."

"Manny will wait for him to pass through security, and then escort him to the aircraft."

"Won't he have to put her down and let her walk through security herself?" asked Alan.

The officer frowned. "Not at a small airport like this. The officer posing at the security station will just run a wand over the suspect and his bag, then wave them on through. We thought about trying to set up something more like what you're used to seeing in the larger airports — but we don't know how educated your guy is. He might fly small charters all the time; he may have even been through Crescent City before, and understand what qualifies as normal operation."

Don nodded. "Good call," he murmured.

Charlie suddenly scrambled to his feet, shaking off Don's hand. "That monster is not taking my daughter," he said, hurrying toward the door. "He's taken too much already."

…...

Abby stirred in Warren's arms, repositioned her head on his shoulder and lazily opened her eyes to regard the stranger before her. Manny smiled at her, and she smiled back. "Who are you?" she asked, yawning, and Warren tightened his grip on her.

"My name is Manny," the officer answered. "I'm taking you and your grandfather out to the airplane."

Abby frowned. This didn't feel like grandpa. She lifted her head and reared back far enough to see Jack Warren's face, they looked around the nearly deserted airport. "Where's Poppa?" she demanded loudly, and started struggling to get down.

Warren stiffened. They were on the tarmac now; the small aircraft that would take them to their new life was just a few feet away. "Settle down, child," he said quietly, slowing his step so that Manny wouldn't hear their conversation. "We're going home, to LA, and I will take you to see your grandfather when we get there. But you must call me 'Grandpa Jack' from now on, all right?"

Abby stopped struggling when she noticed the awaiting charter. "Is Daddy there too?" she asked.

Warren nodded. "We're all playing a game with daddy. Hide-and-seek."

Abby giggled. "I always win," she confided, then started swinging her little legs, struggling again to get down onto the tarmac. "I walk!" she semi-shouted, and one kick connected to Jack's crotch. The three-year-old's kick wasn't strong enough to be disabling, but Warren grunted and quickly bent to place the child on the ground. "Hold my hand, then," he gasped, slowly stretching to his full height. He latched onto Abby's hand at the same moment that he saw Charlie step out from behind the aircraft.

…...

Don couldn't yell at Charlie without tipping Jack Warren off. He barely stopped himself from shouting after his brother anyway, and was only halfway to his feet when he heard a quick intake of air from his father. Don fell back and managed to clamp his hand over Alan's mouth just as the older man called for his youngest son. By the time Alan shook Don off and the two oldest Eppes had gained their feet, Charlie was long gone.

After one last look at his sleeping daughter, who was just entering the security checkpoint on Warren's shoulder, Charlie ran out the main door of the small terminal, careened around the building, and hesitated at the edge of the tarmac. There were two small planes on the tarmac, and he wasn't sure which one was Warren's. Finally he decided to make a mad dash to the nearest one, a Cessna 172 that looked remarkably similar to the one Don, Colby, and Ian had come in on. The call letters painted on the side were different, though; Charlie's photographic memory for all things numeric told him that.

He ran for the aircraft as if is feet were on fire. The officer posing as the pilot had radioed his police chief as soon as he saw the body flying across the tarmac; by the time Charlie arrived, the officer knew who he was, and also that Manny was leading Warren toward the tarmac.

The Crescent City police officer climbed out of the cockpit and waited for Charlie at the nose of the aircraft. As soon as he could reach the professor, he latched onto Charlie's shirt and dragged him toward the back of the aircraft. "Your brother told me to kick your ass," he shouted into Charlie's ear, "but I don't have time right now. What the hell are you doing?"

"He's not taking my daughter!" Charlie shouted back.

The officer positioned Charlie behind one of the plane's wheels. "Just stand here and shut up. Don't let him see your feet. I gotta get back in the aircraft." The officer considered handcuffing Charlie's ankle to the wheelbase, but decided it would be faster just to put the fear of God into him. He drew close to Charlie and spoke directly into his ear. "If you ever want to see your kid again, you will not screw this up any more than you already have. Stand here and let me do my job, dammit. Do you understand?" He waited until Charlie nodded, his face pale and his eyes wide, before he ran back around the plane.

…...

Ian watched through his rifle scope as Charlie flew across the tarmac. "What the hell is he doing?" he growled.

Granger focused the binoculars and swore. "It was a mistake not to tie him up as soon as we got here," he answered, then interrupted himself as the earbud in his ear cackled with sound. "Warren's through security," he announced. "Officer Alvez is bring him out the east door."

Edgerton watched Charlie for a few more seconds, hoping whatever Officer Raynor was yelling at him, as he planted him behind the aircraft, was making an impression. Then Ian retrained his rifle to a position a few feet in front of the plane, and waited for Jack Warren.

…...

Charlie knew the officer was right; he should stay hidden behind the aircraft's wheel. As soon as Officer Raynor was out of sight, though, Charlie dropped to his stomach on the tarmac surface. His thin body was still hidden by the wheel, and now he could peek out from behind it to watch Warren and Abagail approach the aircraft.

Charlie saw Abby wake up, and begin her struggles to get down. Like most children, Abagail preferred to stand on her own two feet whenever she could, so he wasn't surprised to see the little girl start swinging her legs. When Warren suddenly folded, setting Abby onto her feet; Charlie scrambled quickly to his own feet, and ran in a half crouch to the end of the plane.

…...

Jack Warren could count the number of times he'd been surprised in his life, using the fingers of one hand. Recognizing Charlie's curly head when the professor popped out from behind the aircraft definitely qualified as one of those times; but he thought quickly, and dragged Abby back towards him.

Perhaps he thought too quickly. His action was completely unexpected by the toddler, who lost her balance and fell onto the tarmac. Jack swore over the girl's started cries, and bent to gather her into his arms.

He didn't even feel the bullet that took him down.

…...

"Shit," complained Ian. "I wasn't even going for a kill shot. Bastard leaned over at the last second - my shoulder shot ended up a head shot."

Colby smiled behind his binoculars. "Noticed that. Damn shame," he said, watching Officer Alvarez place himself between Abby and Warren. Raynor had once again left the aircraft and was jogging toward them. Abby looked up from her position on the tarmac, bewildered, and recognized her father running toward her. Skinned knee forgotten, the child smiled brightly, climbed to her feet, and ran to meet Charlie just a few feet in front of the plane. Colby could see Alan and Don in the distance, running toward the melee on the tarmac. "That's gonna look bad in your jacket," he said, still smiling. "Lots of paperwork, too."

Ian lowered his rifle, watching Abby leap into Charlie's arms, and grinned. "I can live with it," he said.

…...

End, Chapter 14