He knows something.
Snippets of information shifted around her mind until they clicked into place. She held up her palm to stop him from leaving. “Wait a minute. You said earlier Pete was moving girls up from Playa Del Carmen. How do you know that if you just found out his name yesterday? How do you know so much about the human trafficking ring he runs? Were you chasing him in Mexico?”
His body stiffened and clenched muscles molded against his shirt. “I’m not discussing my investigation with you.”
“Then tell me why you were on that plane.” She spoke each word through clenched teeth.
“Why does it matter? It happened, I took in the bad guy, and it’s over. Move on.” He yanked open the front door and glanced back at her. “Now let’s go.”
The floor swayed beneath her and her knees buckled. She leaned against the wall to steady herself. It all made sense. The man on the plane knew Pete, and he happened to be on her flight. That’s why no one had known an FBI agent was on the plane to begin with. He was following the hijacker.
No wonder she was on the top of their list of suspects. She had been in contact with not one, but two men in the investigation. Even she could admit it was one hell of a coincidence. But how could she prove them wrong?
Her hand slid into her front pocket of her denim shorts and wrapped around a small piece of paper. What she’d found might not give her any answers, but it could be a start. She couldn’tlet Agent Grassi shut her out. She’d have to do this on her own. Becca’s life, and hers, depended on it.
Mickey tooka deep breath to settle her shaky nerves. It didn’t help. She stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror at O’Hare airport. A strong, confident woman stared back at her. It didn’t matter that dark circles hung low under her eyes or her hands trembled slightly at her sides. All the passengers on board to Detroit would see was a competent flight attendant doing her job.
Righting the collar of her white button-down shirt, she stood tall. She smoothed down her hair and made sure the pins held the bun at the nape of her neck into place. She was as ready as she’d ever be. Time to get this over with.
Her heels clicked on the white linoleum floor as she hurried to the plane. Her normally long stride was cut short by the tight A-line skirt that hugged tightly to her curves. She rounded the corner toward the gate and relief loosened the knot in her stomach. Allison and Vanessa stood together with forced smiles, their hands clasped together. Mickey hurried toward them and threw her arms around them, pulling them close to her.
“How are you guys holding up?” she asked Allison. She pulled back and took in the dilated pupils in their widened eyes. She grabbed onto each of their hands and squeezed. “This is going to be fine. As soon as we get back into our routines, everything else will fade away.”
Tears filled Allison’s velvety brown eyes. “I heard about Becca in the news. Are you sure you can handle this right now?”
Mickey’s shoulders dropped forward. She’d hoped neither Allison nor Vanessa had found out about her missinggoddaughter. She could only handle one crisis at a time. Getting back on the Boeing 747 staring at her from outside the large window would be hard enough. She’d fall apart if she had to talk about Becca right now, too.
“I’m fine, and they’re going to find Becca. I know it.” She put as much false enthusiasm in her voice as she could muster. The truth was, Becca had been missing for over twenty-four hours now. The more time that passed by, the slimmer the chances of finding her.
“How’s Suzi?” Allison asked. “My heart breaks for her. I can’t imagine how scared she is right now.”
Mickey bit back pain that threatened to pull her under. Besides Suzi and Lydia, Allison was her closest friend. They’d taken jobs at the same airline together after college when they couldn’t land a job in their field of study, and after flying all over the world together over the last five years, they knew almost everything about each other. It made sense Allison would want to know how Suzi was.
“She’s as good as can be expected.” She couldn’t bring herself to admit Suzi thought she played a role in Becca’s abduction. Suzi had been on her mind all day, and she wanted to reach out, but fear of Suzi’s accusations kept her from making the call.
Allison folded her arms in front of her and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “It’s been one hell of a week. First the plane and then Becca. Let’s hope it’s not true what they say about bad things happening in threes.”
Mickey’s blood turned cold. She couldn’t handle anything else in her life going wrong. But if she didn’t find a way to clear her name, her entire life might be the third thing to go to shit in this scenario. But it’s a price she’d gladly pay if it meant Becca came home safely.
Vanessa leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “Have either of you talked to Captain Fuller?”
Mickey and Allison both shook their heads.
“I went to visit him and his wife at the hospital. He told me the hunky FBI agent who saved us went to see him. He asked him a lot of questions about what routes he usually flew and the crew he worked with. He wanted to know if Fuller had ever seen anything suspicious on one of his flights to Cancun.”
“More suspicious than a man stabbing him and stealing his plane?” Allison asked with a snort.
Vanessa cringed and her face went white.
“Sorry,” Allison said and rubbed a hand down Vanessa’s arm.
“It’s okay. But anyway, Fuller said it seemed like he was fishing for information about someone who worked for the airline.”
The knot in Mickey’s stomach tightened again. He’d been fishing for information about her. What did he think he’d accomplish by asking an airline captain about his crew? Sure, Fuller knew her well. She almost always flew with the same crew. But he didn’t know much about her personal life.
She tried to keep the quiver out of her voice when she asked, “Did Fuller say why he was being asked all of these questions? Did he know what the guy was after?”
Vanessa glanced around and nodded as the captain and co-pilot of their flight walked by. She waited until they were out of earshot to answer. “He thinks it had something to do with human trafficking.”
