Away From the Dark (The Light #2)(89)
“Benjamin, don’t take Raquel to the living quarters. Come with me.”
His quizzical expression asked more than his words. Still Benjamin tried, his voice unsure: “What’s happening? Who did you just call?”
“We need to move.” I pulled out Abraham’s phone. “Let’s pray this buys us some time.”
Benjamin didn’t speak as I began to text.
Abraham: HE JUST FOUND IT IN THE PLANE. I’LL BRING IT TO YOU, AFTER I TAKE CARE OF THINGS.
“What if we were wrong and there wasn’t a plan to do anything to you?”
I gritted my teeth. “If there wasn’t, after what they just learned, there is now. I’m sure of it.”
“Are you sure enough to bet our lives?”
I nodded and then inclined my head toward Raquel. “Benjamin, what you do is up to you. Take your chances with the dark up here, or come with me. I’m tugging the smaller plane out to the strip. It’s fueled and I’m getting out of here. Come with me and I’ll explain everything. First we can get Raquel in the plane, and then you can help me get the plane out.”
Confusion came and went in Benjamin’s eyes. “I don’t know. We . . . I thought . . . weren’t we friends? I don’t know what’s happening.”
I grabbed his arm. “Listen to me. Do. You. Want. To. Save. Her?” Before he could answer, I continued, “Because I sure as hell plan on saving Sara. I’m leaving now. Come with me or don’t. It’s up to you.”
His chest inflated and deflated. “Let’s go.”
Normal procedure was to return the tractor and tug to the hangar before taking off. I wasn’t worried about following normal procedure. Benjamin sat in the cargo section of the plane, strapped into one of the jump seats beside Raquel. She was now unconscious. It wasn’t the first time I’d transported an unconscious woman, but it was the first time I’d felt good about it. This was her only chance. Besides, Raquel’s state of unawareness was probably better. At least now she wasn’t in pain.
Just before takeoff, I looked back and he was holding her hand.
Benjamin and I had talked the entire time we strapped her in as well as while we got the plane ready. Our freedom of speech was no longer restricted. The black box that recorded all our words was within the plane. It didn’t broadcast. The physical box had to be removed to be analyzed. We’d be away from The Light before anyone learned what we’d said, and then it wouldn’t be The Light that learned it. It would be the FBI.
As we spoke I told Benjamin everything. I told him the truth of who I was and what I was. I told him about Stella, that Sara had gotten her memory back, and that she had agreed to play along until the FBI could organize enough force to raid all three campuses simultaneously.
Just as we were about to take off, Abraham’s phone buzzed. I looked back at Benjamin, our eyes met, and I tossed him the phone. It was my gesture of faith. He was letting me take Raquel and him out of The Light. With Abraham’s phone he could alert Father Gabriel, the Commission, and the Assembly to everything.
Catching it, he swiped the screen. As I flipped switches on the panel before me, he spoke through our headphones: “Father Gabriel told Abraham to wait at the hangar. He said Xavier’s on his way and should be here in less than ten minutes. He wants Abraham to drive him into the community.”
“It’s going to be a crowded airspace and landing strip,” I said.
If Agent Adler’s timeline was accurate, the FBI was twenty to twenty-three minutes out. I’d texted my handler the new code to the gates to enter the community, the one I’d gotten from Abraham’s phone.
“What should I text back?” Benjamin asked.
“That’s up to you.”
The roar of the engine grew louder as we rolled forward. I didn’t concentrate on Benjamin’s movements. I couldn’t be sure how long it took him to text back or what he texted. It wasn’t until we’d reached about twelve hundred feet that I had visual confirmation of Xavier’s descent. If we’d been in the dark season, I might not have seen his white plane with the blue letters and numbers, but it was the light season and I did.
For only a second, I thought I saw the nose of Xavier’s plane move upward, changing course toward me, but it was too late. In order to crash into me or send me off course, he’d need to be proficient in maneuvers most often seen at air shows. I was above and passed him. At that realization I closed my eyes and let out a long breath.
The Northern Light was behind me. With Xavier there, Father Gabriel would have two pilots; he could get away. Hell, he could get away in Xavier’s plane and leave Micah behind. I couldn’t worry about it. The drive to the hangar was over twenty minutes from the community. By my calculations the FBI would land before Xavier’s plane could be refueled and back in the air. My cheeks rose as I realized that with the emergency meeting and everything that had happened, we hadn’t refueled the Cessna Citation X. Assuming Father Gabriel would want to leave The Light and go into seclusion somewhere unknown via the luxury of the Cessna Citation X, the FBI had more than enough time to arrive first.
Now my only concern was Sara. I prayed that the FBI had already conducted the raid on the Eastern Light, and that agents had found her. With the increased altitude my phone was useless. I wouldn’t learn anything until we landed.