The Omega Team: Spurs (Kindle Worlds Novella) (10 page)

“I have orders to remain on the island until you finalize your investigation. As you can imagine, Senator Hannigan is quite distraught over Scott’s demise. He’s not convinced it was an accident.” Her voice tightened. “His fiancée never met the Senator’s approval.”

“As long as you don’t get in the way.”

“I can assure you, Mr. Ames, I am never regarded as in anyone’s way.”

“I don’t see any mention of your being here in my notes. Did Omega approve your coming along?”

Ernie drew a deep breath and crossed fingers on both hands. Encouraging. “Here we go.”

The nose of the little craft tipped forward and they descended, bouncing and jouncing, into the blackest clouds he’d ever dreamed possible. Visibility decreased to—so far as Carson could tell—inches. The sides of the plane rattled, the vibration chattering his teeth until they emerged into open air over an island shaped like a barbell with one long road running its length and all its foliage bent low to the ground under the force of a wind that….

“Ernie we can’t land there.” He’d been in worse, but the craft he’d occupied had been in was built within the last fifty years. Even with whatever tech Omega had managed to load onto this thing, it was still a rattletrap puddle jumper.

“Sure we can.” The pilot brought the plane around in an arc to approach a long strip of cleared land almost obscured by the trees whipping back and forth to either side of it. “In fact, we’re going to right now.”

The roar of the wind intensified, the closer they got to the ground, until he could barely hear his own voice as he shouted, “It’s not safe.”

“Nope, not at all.” They closed in on the strip, nose feet above the ground. “But here we go.”

Carson gripped the harness, for lack of an oh-shit bar, and, for the first time since the Middle East, remembered to pray.
Please don’t let this thing belly flop.
Or worse, flip over. Burst into flames. The wheels touched down, bounced, and landed again to stay down this time, and they rattled along the dirt strip for a few hundred feet, slowing to a stop. They’d survived.

Carson crawled behind the front seats and opened the door to outside. He hopped to the ground, tempted to kiss it in gratitude. “They don’t pay me enough for this.”

Ernie jumped down behind him and helped Julia out, her low, elegant heels and business suit incongruous in the stormy islands. “I heard they pay you plenty.”

True
. “And a life insurance policy. But I’d rather not earn that benefit.” And, truth, he had nobody to leave the money to, not anymore. Once, it would have been the woman who’d raised him, “Aunt” Rosie.

Ernie unloaded Carson’s duffel and a suitcase and makeup case then waved over a young man hovering a few yards away. “This is your contact. He’ll get you to your hotel, and I’ve got to get out of here.” A bolt of lightning speared through the clouds, and thunder crashed just a few seconds later. Then the skies opened and rain poured in a deluge, soaking them all instantly, and Ernie slumped. “Plan B.”

He spoke to the thin black man who arrived at their sides, and the man nodded and lifted a radio to his mouth.

Ernie stepped back and reached inside the plane. He withdrew another duffel, shoving his wet hair out of his eyes. Beside them, Julia shifted from foot to foot, her low, elegant heels sinking into the rapidly soaking soil. “Looks like I’m not going anywhere.”

“What about your plane, Ernest?” Julia asked, frowning. “Is it safe to leave it here?”

He smiled and patted her hand. “Armand will get someone out here to tow it under cover. It’s a small island, but they get more air traffic than seems necessary and he can get it tucked into the hangar the rich vacationers use. None of them are here now. They can handle it.” He lifted his duffel strap onto his shoulder, handed Julia her makeup case, and grabbed the suitcase, taking her arm. “I guess you’re stuck with me for the duration, Julia. Lucky you.”

She snorted, a surprisingly unladylike sound from such an elegant woman. But with every bit of fabric stuck to her slender body, revealing more curves than he’d suspected, and glossy red locks of wet hair stuck to her face and neck, he supposed she deserved a pass on the Miss Manners routine. She and Ernie followed Armand to a golf cart and they piled in, along with Carson, and wheeled off the landing strip and to whatever dive of a hotel they’d be spending their time in after a quick stop at Customs to declare their firearms. Grey would have arranged the special license necessary. Amazing how quickly the man could handle every detail.

His pity for the pilot ended when he caught the sparkle in Julia’s eye as she leaned close to Ernie in the backseat and whispered something to him. Looked like at least someone would be making the most of their downtime. Pulling out his phone, Carson tried to call the office, but he had zero connectivity. Damn hurricane.