Chapter 39

39

Hand out, Paige lunged across the aisle, her fingers digging into the supple leather of Cody's seat.

The video revealed a man bound to a straight-backed chair, a hood obscuring his features. The sound of feet scuffing across cracked cement sent chills down her spine. A figure in full tech gear, his back to the camera, stepped forward. With a swift motion, he whipped off the hood. Paige's breath caught in her throat.

Jason.

A disguised voice crackled through the speakers, demanding the key to the drive. The threat hung in the air, heavy and oppressive: Jason dies if they don't comply.

The screen went black. The deep, machine-altered voice continued. "Land at the coordinates that follow. Bring the key. Further instructions will come once you touch down. You have one hour. No sense calling your team. As of now, your sat phones have been cut off. Don't try using the plane's radio. We're listening."

She turned to Cody. Their eyes met, a silent communication of fear and determination passing between them.

He pressed his hand atop hers, the warmth of his skin a stark contrast to the cold dread seeping through her. "I know. It's bad. But we got this. We got this, Penderson. You hear me?" He rose. "I'll inform the pilot of our new course."

She managed a small nod, her throat too tight for words.

"Dear Lord, please help us," she lifted a whispered prayer and sank back down in her seat.

A minute later, the plane banked steeply, her stomach lurching in tandem with the aircraft's sudden change in direction.

"South of Southport, North Carolina. An executive airport," Cody reported as he headed back down the aisle. "Even at 300 knots per hour, we're almost an hour away flight time. And it's in the opposite direction we were going."

Paige's mind raced, calculating the implications.

"The meeting place will be close to the airport," he speculated, voicing her own thoughts. "They won't give us time to regroup."

"Or call in my team," she realized, a chill running down her spine. Even if she dared reach out, the team would never get to the rendezvous in time.

Clearly by design.

Cody's eyes met hers, understanding passing between them. "They'll have eyes on us from the second we land."

"For sure." Another wave of nausea washed over her.

Without a word, Cody pulled their go bags out from beneath their seats and began checking inventory. "We've got tactical vests, plenty of live ammo, and flash bangs."

Her heart sank. She was no soldier, no matter how many hours she'd logged at their private range. Cody would be carrying them on this mission. The thought both comforted and terrified her.

As she watched him methodically sort through their meager arsenal, Paige couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking into a trap with nothing but determination and a prayer to see them through.

Cody's handgun gleamed in one hand, a full magazine in the other. His eyes were hard. Cold. "You know this is a trap, right?"

She dragged the pad of her index finger back and forth across the creamy leather of the armrest. Back and forth. Side to side. "Understood."

"We can't afford to take you anywhere near the Consortium. Not when you're the key to unlocking the drive."

"They could get me anytime," she countered. "Besides, they don't know I'm the key. They have no idea what's in my father's papers."

Cody's eyes lit up. "You're right. They don't." He leaned forward. "Could you rewrite your father's notes? Maybe in code to make them seem authentic? There's a printer in that back cabinet."

"Not a bad idea, Lassiter."

He winked at her. "I have my moments."

Yeah. He did.

While Paige reconstructed her father's virus documentation in a simple code, Cody made sure the printer was booted up.

It took twenty precious minutes for her to reconstruct her father's notes, adding in a few fatal errors. Hopefully, she'd hidden them well enough to buy them time to escape before Jason's kidnappers realized she'd altered the instructions.

She hit the PRINT key. "Ready."

They shared a long, intense look. Cody swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I'm doing this alone."

"Not gonna happen." If anyone was going alone, it was her. The Consortium could grab her anytime. Her team wasn't infallible. No one was. She might as well fight them now.

The coldness in Cody's eyes turned to steel. "I'll take you down if I have to, Penderson."

She folded her arms over her chest. "Bring it on."

He opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off. "Two against however many is way better than one, even if one of those people is me," she pointed out. "I can buy us time. I'm good at that."

She refused to be a liability. Her father and Cody had sacrificed too much to let the bigger mission fail.