Falling(15)

The faucet leaked. One by one, drops of water fell into the sink. Rhythmically, one after another like a drum. A pause. Then one random drop. Then another. There seemed no pattern to the flow.

Bill watched the water drip, his pupils dilating as the pieces in his mind moved closer together. His hands stopped shaking. His breathing slowed. He stood up straight.

It was a Hail Mary of an idea. But it was an idea.

Sliding the lock to the left, Bill went back to work.



* * *



Theo’s boss stared at the phone for a long time before tossing it across her desk. It landed to the side of her nameplate, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR MICHELLE LIU reflecting brightly in the screen’s glow. Running her hands across the crown of her head, she slicked her thick black hair into a tidy ponytail. Forcibly pulling it taut, her arms came to rest, crossed, across her body.

“You’re serious,” she said.

He nodded. “Unfortunately.”

She began to pace behind the desk. Liu had been at the Los Angeles field office for three months already, but it had been a relatively calm three months and Theo hadn’t had a real opportunity to see her act under fire. He knew she’d been with the bureau for twelve years and that the reputation of her short temper preceded her. But what he didn’t know was why she seemed angry about the situation he’d brought her. Or maybe she was pissed at him? He couldn’t tell which.

“You know it’s not just us,” she said. “Homeland Security. The Department of Defense. Metropolitan Police Department. FAA. TSA. NORAD. The White House.” She paused. “Theo, if we go—the president will be in the Situation Room.”

He could feel his heartbeat in his ears. “I say we go,” he said.

She scoffed.

“You want me,” she said, eyes narrowing, “to raise the alarm on an impending terrorist attack on Washington, DC. You want me to send Hostage Rescue into a suburban LA neighborhood in broad daylight. And all of this, based off intel you and you alone got in a text message. From your aunt.”

Theo didn’t respond but he didn’t look away either. He felt his face flush as he watched Liu chew at the inside of her cheek. He knew he was being sized up.

His test scores were off the charts and his ambition unmatched—but surely Liu had been told the full account of the night of the raid. An “intuition first, intelligence second” kind of agent was a liability, not an asset. That’s what he’d overheard her say to another agent, and though he couldn’t know for sure, he’d sworn she’d glanced at him after she said it. Keeping him buried under paperwork until she could get a better bead on him seemed to be her tactic so far.

But now this.

Maybe that’s why she seemed so angry.

“Look,” he said, “I know this situation is… insane. I’m asking you to trust first and verify second. Which, coming from me, is a lot to ask. But I know my aunt. Believe her.”

“Her? I don’t know her.”

“Fair. But what’s her motivation for faking this? She has everything to lose. Her job, her reputation. Liu. This is real.”

“And if it’s not?”

“And if it is?” he said a bit too forcefully, quickly adding, “Ma’am, you’re taking a risk either way. But only one option ends with people dying.”

She continued to pace. Theo glanced at the clock on the wall.

“Ma’am, with all due respect—that plane is midair. The pilot and the passengers are running out of time. So is the family.”

Closing her eyes, Liu took a deep breath, swearing on the exhale.

“Code it,” she said. “FBI SWAT move in immediately, we’ll consult with HRT en route. Get everybody in. And Theo?” she said, stopping him as he left the office. “Don’t forget. You’ve already got two strikes.”



* * *



Jo flipped through the passenger manifest scanning the logistical snapshot of everyone on board. She was just finishing poring over the last page when Bill came out of the bathroom.

“Anything?” he asked.

She picked up her phone, checking to see if Theo had replied. “Not yet. And no passenger is also a Coastal employee.” Opening the drawer under the coffeepot, she laid the manifest on top of her lipstick and book, closing it with a metallic click. Bill had asked her to check if anyone on board was traveling on company privileges. Perhaps they had another internal mole on board? Maybe that was the backup? But it was a dead end.

Jo knew assumptions were dangerous in a situation like this, though. Bill crossed his arms and stared into the dim cabin, his eyes narrowing toward the back galley.

“Do you trust the other flight attendants?” he said.

“Absolutely. Well, I mean, our third, Kellie, is junior as hell. We just met. She was assigned the trip off airport reserve. But my intuition says yes.”

Bill nodded. “Okay. Then we go with that.”

“Do you trust Ben?”

“Completely. But that’s my intuition.”

Jo nodded. “Then we go with that.”

“Wait to tell the other two until after the break. And don’t mention it to Ben when he comes out.”

“I thought you trusted him?”

“I do. But how can he help me?”