Chapter 48
SPOV
Isaac now had hold of my wrist as he closed the door behind him, and we were suddenly walking really quickly down a dark hallway.
"Isaac, what's happening, where are we going?"
"Just keep up"
Was all I heard him say. I really wasn't sure what Isaac was doing or where we were going. Was this what he was supposed to do, was this part of his role as an FBI agent? Then why drag me with him, why not leave me in the departure area. A second door opened, and it was then that I realized that Isaac was carrying a flashlight. It wasn't as bright as I would normally expect but it gave off enough light to be able to see where we were going. Through the door I could see some stairs that went both up and down and it was then that my sense of fear kicked in. I tried to pull my wrist free, but Isaac had a firm hold on it.
"Isaac where the hell are we going?"
I got no answer so fell back on what Bobby had taught me. To free my wrist, I held onto his wrist and pulled down quickly where his thumb and fingers met. He wasn't expecting it and as my wrist came free, I turned quickly to head back in the direction that we'd come from. As I pulled the door open his hand came over my shoulder and slammed it shut. The sound of a safety catch clicking from a gun had my attention as a hand pushed me face first against the door.
"Drop your bag on the floor Stephanie"
I was about to protest and maybe he thought I was taking too long because the hand came around the back of my neck and forced me flatter against the door. Seeing as the strap of my bag was over my head and shoulder I was struggling as to how to remove it, in fact I was struggling at being able to draw air into my lungs.
A movement had it being pulled down my arm so that it fell around my feet on the floor. Then I felt a sharp pain coming from my wrist as my watch was yanked away and dropped onto the floor. As the pressure was released from my neck, I was able to move away from the door enough to pull a fresh breath of air into my lungs. That's when I heard and felt a metal cuff replace the watch and that's when my brain reconnected to my body. I was pissed, totally annoyed at what Isaac had done and probably more annoyed at myself for not realizing what he was doing.
How fucking stupid had I been to be taken in by him. He's FBI, Ranger knew of him so was he just trying to make sure I stayed out of any skirmishes that happened?
I turned around quickly to face him debating whether to just shout at him or physically go for him. Both choices were mute when I felt the back of his hand across my face. I stumbled against the wall and ended up sprawled on the floor. He was fast to move against me and what I assumed was his knee on my back immobilized me once again.
My wrists were yanked together allowing the second cuff to be locked around my other wrist. I lay there, my breathing taking over my emotions. Focus, focus was the thought running through my head. Panic isn't going to help you get out of this.
"On your feet, we have to move"
Yeah, like that was easy to do. Turning onto my side I was looking at the stairs in front of me and grunting from the effort as I managed to pull my legs around so that at least I was sat up. The flashlight was laid on the floor casting eerie shadows along the floor which showed the broken watch on the floor and the contents of my bag spilling out next to it. I was surprised when Isaac bent down and picked up my camera, opening the section at the side. I couldn't understand why he was doing that until I saw him remove the memory card.
"Isaac, what's going on, why are you doing this?"
He dropped the memory card and ground it into the floor with the heel of his boot, totally destroying it. That action had me thinking through the shots that were on it.
"Hector up loaded the pictures"
"Not all of them and knowing you I bet there were a lot more on there"
His coat came off revealing a vest underneath and then he stepped forward and with one hand around my arm he pulled me up onto my feet.
"Isaac, I don't understand"
As he turned to pick up the flashlight from the floor that's when I noticed the FBI emblem across the back, but instead of being the normal neon yellow it was a fluorescent blue. That's when a coldness came through me, Ranger and the men had different vests.
"Why the blue color for the vests, I thought that normally they were yellow?"
His smile was pure evil as he stood up and pushed me ahead of him toward the stairs that went down.
"Brilliant idea of mine don't you think. Only FBI agents and of course my team will be wearing these. Anyone else will be seen as imposters and shot as terrorists"
I knew that using my watch wasn't an option now but had remembered the mic attached underneath my breast. I hadn't turned it off after Ranger left thinking that it would be embarrassing to start putting my hand down my top in front of people. I could only pray that it hadn't been damaged when I'd been pushed around. What I needed to do was to get as much information to Ranger as I could.
"Why are we going downstairs?"
"You talk too much"
"Sorry, a bad habit I have when I get nervous and seeing that you have a gun pointed at me, I'm feeling nervous"
I continued to step down the stairs, slowly as though trying to keep my balance, which to honest I was. I didn't like the idea of falling down the stairs and knew that my damn ankle was still a bit tender.
"So how are you involved in this, was it Sophia or Beth that persuaded you?"
"Neither"
That's when I stood still and turned to look at him. Remembering how he'd looked and behaved when I'd first met him. I knew that he was assessing me with a look, but it didn't make me feel that he was eyeing me up. Ranger did though and I remembered how I felt when he'd stared him down as though proclaiming an unsaid statement that I was his. Sophia had said that he was a good friend, how the hell had I missed the vibes?
"It must be Ethan then, or was it Alan"
The look he gave me just proved that what I had guessed was right, but now I was hoping that it was Ethan that was his partner and not Alan, otherwise he could be a very pissed off man knowing that Alan Andrews was dead. He turned me away from him, but this time kept his hand on my arm holding it tightly. At least now that meant that he'd put his gun away because I could only see the flashlight in his other hand.
We came to a stop in front of another door, but this had no handle on this side of the door. What the hell were we waiting for? I shouldn't have been so impatient because I heard the door opening from the other side and as I was led through, I came face to face with Tasha.
Seeing her for the first time since my experience at that farm brought a new feeling coursing through me. I wasn't afraid of her, though I probably should have been. Instead my hate for her had me angry and probably defiant.
"You're late Isaac"
"I'm here now. Everything go as planned?"
Tasha, Beth whatever she called herself was wearing the uniform of a cabin crew. Her makeup was immaculate if not a bit over the top. Her hair was somehow pulled back from her face and she was wearing the matching hat and scarf around her head. I wasn't too sure what airline the uniform belonged to but had the feeling that it was the one that had been transporting the diamonds.
"Exactly as planned"
She answered as she lifted a bag from the floor. It looked heavy so I assumed the diamonds were inside. Damn that meant that they'd broken into the safe while it had still been in the plane, probably while it was flying. It also meant that Ranger was keeping watch over an empty safe. Somehow, I needed for him to know that.
"That was clever, emptying the safe while the plane was in flight"
"All part of the plan, as is those stupid men being down in the unloading bay. Isaac?"
I watched as Isaac pulled out his phone and as he waited for someone to answer it. I suppose it would be too risky for him to have a mic and earbud on him and he wouldn't want the rest of the FBI listening in to any of the conversations that he was having.
"Top level of the loading bay. There's a woman that I'm following"
"Yeah, I think the group that we're after are down there"
"Be careful, I'm sure that they are well armed, and they may have another explosive devise"
"Will do"
He smiled back at Beth as he replaced his phone into his pocket, and it was as I looked at Beth that I saw her holding up a diamond between her fingers.
"Put this in her pocket, when they find her, they'll assume that she was part of it"
As Beth started to walk away from us Isaac approached me. No way was he going to put that into one of my pockets to frame me, so as his hand went to my front jeans pocket I breathed in and expanded my stomach. As he struggled to push the stone inside, I took the opportunity, knowing it was now or never. He'd bent down slightly and was using a hand to try and pull the pocket open so that's when I decided to move. My knee came up, fast and accurate, pleased when it hit the intended place. As he started to bend down to cover his balls, I used my hip to knock him out of the way and then turned and ran in the opposite direction to where Beth had gone.
The hallway was dark, but I knew I needed to get away and was so relieved to see light coming from the edges of a door. I could hear the sound of footsteps behind me and just prayed that the door would open. I slammed my shoulder against it surprised when it opened so easily and held my breath as my forward momentum brought me onto a waist high rail. Shock was probably what had me stay still as I realized it was a long way down beyond the rail but the sound of the door opening behind me had me remembering that I needed to run. Looking to my left and to my right I turned left, thinking that either way would suffice for finding a way out of here. My trainers didn't make much sound on the metal walkway and the sounds coming from below me were loud, so loud that I wasn't even sure where Isaac was. I didn't like being so high up, or being able to see through the walkway, so a set of metal stairs seemed a preferable option. I leant against the outside rail to steady my balance and had just come to the first landing before the stairs turned to continue down when I felt someone grab hold of my jacket collar.
I pulled against it and felt the hold release but too late to stop myself from falling over the rail. As I flew down, I know I screamed, and caught a glimpse of Isaac as he watched me fall. That I landed on something soft surprised me, okay landing on my back knocked the wind out of me but it was then that I realized that the view above me was moving.
A quick sideways look and I realized that I'd landed onto one of those conveyer belts and was surrounded by bags and cases. I had no idea where Isaac was but wasn't stupid enough to think that he wouldn't follow me. Were the bags from planes that had just landed or were they heading out? I had no idea but as the belt was at an incline, I could only hope that I was headed up into the baggage collection area. That meant that the power must be back on and there'd be people there, police, security, someone who could help me.
It seemed as though I was moving into a tunnel, it was pitch black now and I couldn't see anything. My heart almost stopped when the belt began to judder and with a jolt it came to a stop. I had to get out of here, sure that it had been Isaac that had somehow turned the damn belt off and was probably heading my way.
I used my legs to push bags away from me and managed to turn onto my side. Using my head and then shoulders I squirmed forward until I was on my knees. At the least the area above me seemed quite tall so I started the arduous task of trying to move forward. I clambered and scrambled past and over bags. My knees were sore, my shoulders were killing me, and I was sure a buckle or more had ripped into my jeans and through my shirt.
My face ached from where I'd been hit and to be honest, I felt exhausted and ready to give up. I knew tears were streaming down my face and was sure that I was cursing out loud, but I had to stop and get myself back in control. I lay over what seemed to be a backpack and closed my eyes, fighting to stop the sobbing that threatened to erupt. All I could think about was Ranger and that he'd be okay, that armed men hadn't shot him down.
"You've got to be okay Ranger" became my mantra and that gave me the energy and will to carry on moving forward. I became aware that there was light coming in from somewhere and looking ahead I was sure I could see the end to this tunnel. As I made slow progress, I realized that what I could see were long pieces of material hung down, resting on top of two cases. I felt both elation and fear. That I'd eventually found the exit but was unsure of what to expect.
As I used my shoulders to push away those last two cases my eyes blinked against the strong lights. Stupid, I thought, of course the power supply was back on otherwise the belt wouldn't have been working at the start. I literally rolled off the belt onto the floor and looked around then used the side of the carousel to push myself up onto my knees and then fell forward so that I was leant over the side of the carousel. Now that I'd made it, I almost felt like laying down and waiting but then my senses took over. It was quiet, too quiet, which meant there weren't any people here to rescue me. A voice behind me made me jump slightly so I slowly sat on the side of the carousel to look toward it.
"Nice try at escaping Miss Plum"
Stood at the end of the narrow room was Isaac, his gun pointing at me with several other armed men behind him.
"Miss Plum, I'm arresting you under the terrorism act and for theft. Stand up and turn around"
Not knowing what else to do I felt myself deflate at my predicament. Who would believe me now? I'd end up in some dark, dank cell with no hope of getting out. I wasn't even sure if I'd have the privilege of a trial. Didn't they treat terrorists badly, shipping them to god knows where? I stood and started to turn but my eyes caught movement on the landing above and behind where Isaac was stood. A look again and I recognized who it was. There in her fancy uniform with the bag of diamonds in her hands was none other than Beth.
I wasn't too sure what her intentions were as she stared down at me. Though judging by the look on her face it wasn't something that I wanted to find out. She was obviously unaware of the other men behind Isaac, as they were basically underneath her but they were looking around for where her voice had come from.
"Well, well, if it isn't you again. I knew we should have killed you when we had the chance. Because of you my brother is dead, payback's a bitch isn't it"
I hadn't noticed what else she had in her hands until she pulled forward what looked like a small machine gun. Several things happened as she did that and stepped forward to the rail. I was sure that I saw someone else stood several feet away from her on the same level and thinking to myself that I would never trust anyone ever again. Isaac looked up at her and started to move forward but the men behind him obviously weren't going to get in the way.
"Beth no"
"Do you think I'm just going to walk away and let her live Isaac? You'll get your glory from stopping a group of terrorists"
With that her finger must have been on the trigger because there was the sound of shot after shot being fired. I felt an enormous explosion in my chest and was suddenly looking up at the roof, strange though, because my last thought was that it was raining diamonds.
