11
Lauren had a pilot’s license? Grady was stunned. He vaguely remembered her saying something about her father having a plane when they were getting out of Chicago, but he hadn’t expected this.
There wasn’t time to ask questions, though. He lifted Lucy into the plane, then ran forward to open the massive garage door so they could head outside. His heart thumped painfully in his chest as he saw the black SUV in the distance rounding the curve in the road to head toward the farmhouse.
They needed to get out of there, and fast! He turned and sprinted back to the plane, vaulting inside. “Go! They’re coming our way!” he shouted above the roar of the plane engines.
Lauren gave a terse nod and moved the plane’s yoke to propel them forward. Grady pulled his weapon, only to realize the plane wasn’t like a car where you could roll down the window to shoot. He held his breath as the small plane picked up speed. A surge of doubt hit hard. Would this work? Would the plane get airborne?
To her credit, Lauren seemed to know what she was doing. As she worked the controls, he told himself to trust her skills. Honestly, he was more worried the plane engine might fail or that they wouldn’t have enough fuel to escape. Not that they had much of a choice but to follow through with this plan. They were so far outside of the city that calling 911 for help was useless. There was no way the police would get there in time.
The wide driveway stretching out before them likely doubled as a runway, but it was also the same path the black SUV was using to close in on them. Grady gripped his weapon tightly, bracing himself for the occupants of the car to start firing at them. He was surprised they hadn’t tried to do that already, but they were still far enough apart that a handgun wouldn’t have the accuracy they needed.
A fact that worked against him, too, even if he could shoot at the SUV from the plane. Somehow, he didn’t think opening the door would be a smart move. His experience in the army was with choppers that could fly with the doors open. He didn’t know much about small planes.
His mouth went dry as he watched through the windshield as Lauren and the black SUV played a game of chicken. It was like something out of a movie. Lauren didn’t let up on the plane controls, continuing to push forward despite the black SUV barreling toward them. The driver of the SUV appeared to be doing the same. Grady had to resist the urge to close his eyes when the gap between the plane and the car closed dramatically.
Then Lauren pulled back on the yoke, lifting the small plane into the air. Pressing his face to the side window, he watched as the black SUV jerked to a stop, the driver’s side door and the passenger-side doors opening as the two occupants bailed from the vehicle.
“Higher,” he shouted, anticipating their attempt to shoot them down. “You need to get us higher!”
She nodded, never taking her gaze from the control panel. The nose of the plane continued to climb to the point he could see they were rising above the treetops. As an escape plan, this wasn’t too bad.
Until he heard the sharp report of gunfire as the two men below unleashed their weapons. He twisted in his seat, trying to see them. Lauren must have had nerves of steel because she didn’t so much as flinch.
She flipped a switch, and he was surprised to see chemicals dropping down to the ground beneath them. Whatever pesticide or fertilizer that had been stored in the cargo section of the plane was now covering the gunman and the SUV.
“Good job,” he shouted, grinning widely.
She barely looked at him as she banked the plane into a wide curve, changing their course. The maneuver gave him a better view of the two gunmen below. They were too small for him to see any details to provide an accurate description. At this distance, he couldn’t even say for sure they were both men. That was the impression he had from watching how they’d moved out of the car and pointed their weapons up toward the. Yet having served with female soldiers, he couldn’t afford to make any assumptions. When the chemicals flowed down from the plane, the two gunmen stopped firing and ducked back into the car.
“We’re clear,” he shouted. Then, for the first time, he turned to check on Lucy. He found the little girl huddled behind Lauren’s pilot seat. Lucy had her palms pressed tightly to her ears to muffle the noise. Under different circumstances, they’d have had headphones with an intercom to enable them to communicate. Obviously, that hadn’t been at the top of the priority list as they escaped the farm. Lauren had done her best under the circumstances. He reached out his hand to touch the young girl’s arm. “Lucy, are you okay?”
Her blue eyes clung to his. She nodded jerkily, but he could tell she was scared to death. This was probably the first time Lucy had been in a small plane like this with her mother behind the controls. He smiled reassuringly.
“Your mom is amazing,” he said loudly. “She’s getting us to safety.”
Lucy nodded again, but this time her mouth tipped up in a slight smile as if agreeing with him about her mom being amazing. He patted her arm, then turned toward Lauren. “How far can you take us?”
Lauren glanced at him, then back at the control panel. “This is a crop duster, so I’m not entirely sure. I expect to find a place to land somewhere close to Madison.”
“Sounds good.” He swallowed hard, not entirely thrilled to be heading back to Madison, considering they’d only left the city less than a few hours ago. He suspected the drivers of the SUV would anticipate the city of Madison would be their likely destination as it was the closest airport. No doubt a crop duster like this couldn’t get them all the way back to Illinois. The good news was that he, Lauren, and Lucy were traveling much faster than a car could go. They would get to the city first.
Unfortunately, he anticipated the black SUV with the tinted windows wouldn’t be too far behind.
Now that the threat of danger was over at least for the moment, Grady leaned forward to inspect the instrument panel. He noticed Lauren kept the plane at an altitude of about one thousand feet above sea level, making him wonder if that was the maximum height a plane like this could go. He assumed most crop-duster planes flew at much lower altitudes than other small planes.
She flipped another switch, and this time, a radio crackled to life. He listened as Lauren explained they were coming in for an unexpected landing. The voice on the other end of the radio sounded annoyed, demanding to know the plane’s registration numbers and berating her for not submitting a flight plan.
He would have jumped in, but Lauren had the situation under control. Ignoring the questions, she repeated her position that they were entering the Madison county airspace for an unexpected landing in a calm tone. When the guy repeated his grievances over her actions, she flipped the switch, killing the radio connection.
Grady saw the airport off to the starboard side of their plane. The Madison airport was much bigger than he’d expected. There was one jumbo jet coming in for a landing while others were in line to take off. Their crop duster could easily get in the way of the other planes if they weren’t careful. He glanced nervously at Lauren, hoping she knew how and, more importantly,whereto land this thing.
He needn’t have worried. Lauren gave the main airport a wide berth, coming in low on the far side of the airport, far away from where the big jets were coming and going. This area of the airfield had individual hangar buildings, several with open doors revealing small planes parked inside. The landing strips were shorter here, too, keeping the much smaller planes out of the main thoroughfare. He stared down at one plane that was bigger than their crop duster and the four people standing outside who were clearly waiting to climb aboard.
“We’re going to crash,” Lucy cried.
“No, don’t worry, we won’t crash.” The words had barely left his mouth when Lauren landed the plane with a light bounce, then slowed to a stop. Grady was impressed with her skill. She’d barely released her grip on the yoke when he leaned over to wrap his arms around her. “That was amazing!”
