“Don’t worry,” Travis said. “No one’s going to get trigger-happy when they know the President’s daughter is on board.”
He was right. No shots were fired, and in seconds they were out of range.
Cassie screamed.
Galen jumped. “Holy shit.”
“She’s back in the nightmare. I didn’t have time to get her entirely out of it.” Travis crawled over to Cassie. “How much time do we have?”
“Ten minutes until we land at the airport and transfer planes.” Galen grimaced as Cassie screamed again. “Do something, will you? The kid sounds terrible.”
“I’m doing it. I hope ten minutes are enough.” He began to talk to Cassie.
Jessica cradled Mellie in her arms and watched him. Gentleness. Strength. Determination. How could he change from moment to moment? She had wanted to kill him in Cassie’s bedroom tonight. She still wanted to kill him. He was doing only what he had to do, and he’d done it at his convenience.
“Wonders never cease, do they?” Galen was also watching Travis. “He’s actually reaching her. What’s his secret?”
“He got a head start at Vasaro.”
Galen nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. I remember when he came out of that study with her. I told him we should go, but he wouldn’t leave the kid. I had the devil of a time getting him out later.”
“You were at Vasaro that night?”
“Sure.” He grinned. “You may have heard Travis was the hero, but it was really me. I was just too modest to stay around and take the bows.” His smile faded. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you away safely. I’ve got it all set up.”
“Why shouldn’t I worry? I don’t even know what happened tonight. How did you know we’d sent for an ambulance?”
“When Travis knew Andreas was going to stash him somewhere, he called me and told me to be ready to set up a technical van.”
She frowned in confusion. “To intercept the call to the hospital?”
“Oh, that came later. He wanted me to trace his location at Juniper from his phone signal. And he wasn’t sure the Secret Service boys would obey the President’s orders not to listen to his calls. He wanted my guys to occasionally interrupt their satellite signal monitor when he said a code word to van der Beck. Of course, not all the time, or it would have tipped them off.”
“Van der Beck?”
“Never mind, I’m probably throwing too much at you.”
“Yes, you are. And all this technical mumbo jumbo will be for nothing.” She shook her head. “Andreas will set every law enforcement agency in the country after us.”
“I admit it’s quite a challenge.”
She looked at him in astonishment.
“Okay, maybe a little bit more than I’d usually take on.” He shrugged. “But Travis promised me he’d make it right.”
“He’s going to make kidnapping the daughter of the President right?”
He made a face. “Don’t remind me. As long as I take one step at a time, I’m okay. When he first told me about his plan, I wanted to break his neck. I told Travis the last time I saw him that I didn’t like living on the edge anymore.”
“But you’re doing this for him. Why?”
“I owe him.” He shrugged. “Even so, if it was an ordinary job, I’d have told him to find someone else. This one means something to him.”
“Money?”
“Sure, but there’s something else thrown into the pot.” Then he added, “Besides, I like him. God knows why. He’s not an easy man to like. You have to beat down too many walls to get to him.”
“Then I wouldn’t bother.” She glanced away from Travis. “What airport are we going to?”
“A private field north of Baltimore. We’ll transfer to the jet there and by morning we should be in Antwerp. We drive from there to Amsterdam.” He grimaced. “I told him that’s the first place they’ll look for him. He said it was necessary.”
She shook her head in wonder. “You talk as if flitting around the world is going to be so easy. I don’t even have my passport with me.”
“ That’s okay. I have all kinds of documents for you. Part of the service. Of course, you’ll have to get used to a new name. I think it’s Mary or Marilyn or something like that. You won’t have to use it very often. We sort of skirt around immigration. Piece of cake.”
False documents. Illegal entry. Piece of cake? The casualness with which he spoke made her think that for him criminal activity was a simple fact of life. To her it was a new and frightening world. “That’s hard for me to believe.”