Posted 5 Feb 2019

Sarah stopped the Sienna on a vacant road. She had not driven to La Guardia or JFK, but she instead had driven to Teterboro Airport, which made sense to Beckett if they were taking a charter. What didn't make sense to her was they weren't at the front entrance.

"This is my stop. You go in through security and the gate. Here's your paperwork, and your fake ID. You only need the passport for the return trip. The flight plan has been filed, and the plane should be ready on the tarmac. Go ahead and board. I'll meet you there. If you have any problems, text my cell. It's on silent, but I'll check it every couple minutes. If you signal, I'll rescue you in a few minutes . Any questions?"

Beckett didn't know where to begin. Why did she need a fake ID?

Sarah didn't provide enough time for Beckett to organize her thoughts. She opened the automatic side door and walked to it. Beckett saw her pull out some heavy duty wire cutters, a couple small electronic devices, and two guns.

"Are you sneaking guns past security?" Kate asked.

"That, and running an errand."

"I can get guns through with my badge. There's no need for a fake ID."

"An NYPD badge wouldn't help for international carry-on. These are tranq guns, which would set off all kinds of warning signals to the guards, even for a private plane. These guns could be used to incapacitate the crew without risking making a hole in the side of the plane. Trust me when I said being inside a plan with the side blown out is not fun. We don't want any evidence of being here."

"Won't a hole in the fence be a clue?"

"No immediate evidence will be linked to us or our flight. By the time they find it, we'll be halfway to France, maybe completely there."

"Why all of this sneaking around? Are you on the no-fly list or something?"

"No to the no-fly list. Let's just say this part is a little more complicated than the normal boarding at the airport. Detective. Kate. I need you to do something for me." She paused and stared straight in her eyes. "Trust me."

"You're asking a lot."

"It's a fair trade. In return you get your boyfriend and his daughter home safely. And maybe as a bonus, if everything goes right…" Sarah looked at her watch and didn't finish the thought. Instead she said, "We're running behind schedule." Without waiting for a response to ask for trust, Sarah closed the door and started cutting at the perimeter fence.

Beckett didn't know what to do next. The van was still running. She remembered she was supposed to drive through the main entrance and pretend to be a pilot. She doubted this would ever work.

A few minutes later, Beckett buckled into the copilot's seat in the cockpit of the private jet. She figured that since she was wearing a pilot's outfit, it would look better than sitting in the passenger area, just in case anyone came aboard for something like an inspection. She'd been in place just long enough to start contemplating how to sneak off the plane and go back to the precinct, when Sarah claimed the pilot's seat. Beckett had not heard the outer door open. Sarah was still wearing her black spy apparel. Her 'cover' wasn't a pilot. Her cover was herself. She was playing a spy.

"Where did you come from?"

Sarah replied, "Wheel well," like it was obvious, as she slid on the headset and started flipping switches.

"Where have you been?"

"I had to wait to take out the second guard at the security station."

"You what?!" She was taking people out! This was all too extreme for the detective.

Sarah held up her hand and spoke through the microphone in a British accent. She asked for permission to taxi to the runway. She muted her mic and answered Beckett in the same accent, "It would have been easier if they were both there when I got there, but one was on a coffee break. I couldn't have him come back and discover his partner asleep before we take off."

"And by 'take out' you mean with the tranquilizer gun, I hope."

The plane backed away from the gate. Kate thought it probably was not a good idea to distract the driver when the driver was steering a Gulfstream.

Sarah didn't seem to mind. "Of course. Why would I slit the throat of two American TSA agents?" she said as if that was in the realm of the possibilities. "I used twilight darts so they will only be out for a few minutes. They're probably awake now, thinking they were just tired. It was more important that they be knocked out at the same time."

Beckett held off on her next question until they were moving forward. "Why did you stop at security?"

"I was erasing the cameras that showed you arriving. I also looped the feed by the plane so I could sneak aboard. The loop is timed to end after we take off. The guards will wake up and simply think they were a little derelict on the night shift."

The plane reached the beginning of the runway, and Sarah exchanged a few more words with the tower. When she muted the mic again, Beckett said, "This is overkill. Why was it necessary to erase the video evidence? I saw A Few Good Men. There will be tower logs."

"I saw that movie too, just a couple months ago. That Colonel never should have ordered the code red, but he had one good point. Some methods are necessary on the front lines. He just should have owned up to his responsibility from the start. Not planning the cover up ahead of time is what always gets you killed."

"There's other evidence, like the car."

"Rented with a fake ID. We're not returning it, so it's like it's stolen. It's an open-ended rental, so no one will be looking for it. We were wearing gloves so there are no prints. There might be some hair evidence, but my national DNA database profile points to a person who died twelve years ago and if needed, yours is easy to suppress later by some hacking from my husband. A recovered car in the parking lot with a full tank won't be high on the priority list. A lot of cars are in that lot for a week, so they will think it's one of those. Our car was rented with a fake ID, a fake credit card for an insurance and return guarantee, and cash. I might have Morgan pick it up before anyone realizes it's been abandoned. Oh, the tower logs. They're digital so they can be hacked too, but we might not bother with that. It might be useful to leave those for confusion. If it is too clean, it sometimes looks worse."

"What are you not telling me?" Kate wasn't complete buying the intricate cover story.

"Teterboro has a voluntary sound curfew, and we're going to break it."

"That's not it. What else?" Kate demanded.

Sarah pressed the throttle forward, and the plane reared.

"We're stealing this plane."