The Pact (A Sarah Roberts Thriller Book 17) (34 page)

Ben Wilson would not wither away and die like his mother had.

He had more dignity than that.

And more brains.

Chapter 51

A small crowd of people stood by and watched at least a dozen security personnel chase Sarah. To see Sarah run like that, pursued by so many airport security on some trumped-up claim that she was on the no-fly list was preposterous.

And there was nothing he could do.

Except make his way to the plane.

He had promised Sarah he would. There had to be a solid reason for her making him promise he would get on the plane no matter what happened. Whether it was something she knew or was quite positive about, Parkman had no choice but to get on that plane.

It pained him to think he was leaving her behind. What would Aaron say when he landed in Toronto without her?

When Aaron found out Sarah had died and Vivian had written Parkman a letter telling him to go to Skanderborg, what then? He was just happy no one knew he had been drinking the night of the Burning of the Witch.

Shoulders slumped, he started along the wide corridor toward his gate just as the announcement came over the speakers above that boarding was commencing for his flight.

Two more officers raced by him on an airport vehicle. He turned to watch them, knowing they were after Sarah and feeling absolutely useless as he could do nothing to help her. Stepping in now would only get himself detained as well.

He slowed by his gate. A line had formed. They were boarding the front half of the plane and at least forty people waited to have their passports scanned, ID checked. He waited on the side for fifteen minutes until the final boarding call was announced and the line was down to a few people.

After one more glance over his shoulder, he pulled out his passport and opened it to the page with his picture.

The Danish girl in front of him wore a horrid perfume. When the line moved forward, Parkman stayed back. He turned sideways and breathed deeply. It wasn’t that the girl had bathed in the stuff, it was just the smell wasn’t to his liking.

After a maddening few minutes, he made it to the KLM attendants, got his passport checked, and was waved through to the access tunnel.

Parkman turned around and stared back at the interior of the airport before entering the tunnel.

No Sarah. The waiting area was empty.

He had to leave her behind.

He’d promised.

Head dipped, shoulders slumped, Parkman started down the ramp to enter the plane that would take him out of Denmark.

Chapter 52

The hand covering Sarah’s mouth was large and firm. He moved below her and whispered in her ear.

“Friendly. Stay quiet.”

Her nod was a short burst, suppressed by the hand holding her head back against the man’s chest.

The officer who had talked to her inside the terminal was talking to someone at the back of the van, describing Sarah, asking if they saw which was she went. Another worker moved closer.

“Yeah, I saw a girl,” the maintenance worker said. “She ran that way.”

“That way?” the officer asked, incredulity in his voice.

The man holding Sarah lightened the pressure on her mouth. She took a deep, quiet breath in through her nose and lifted her head enough to stare at the feet of the people talking. With her forehead an inch from the chassis of the van, she surmised it had been parked there for a while as no heat resonated off it.

“You mean to tell us she ran toward the runways?”

“Ahh, yup,” the man said. “But she turned and headed that way after.”

“Toward the parking lot?” the officer asked.

“Yeah, that girl ran fast.”

The officer stepped away.

“All units,” he said, the sound of the radio’s feedback answering him. “The female suspect appears to have gone toward the parking lot. All units report to the parking lot and stop all vehicles leaving. I want the exits cordoned off.”

The feet scuffled away from around the van leaving the legs of two men as they continued to unload boxes onto a small skid.

The man below her released her mouth.

“Wait,” he whispered. “Don’t move.”

They waited, her palms sweaty, her back soaked as all her body weight pressed down on the man below her. His abdomen was hard, like a bodybuilder fresh from the gym. They had slid under the vehicle on one of those square pieces of wood on wheels that mechanics used to get under cars.

The word
creeper
popped into head. The board was called a creeper so mechanics could
creep
under vehicles.

Vivian, useless facts are great, but getting me out of this mess would be more useful.

Two words flitted through her mind like the echo over a canyon.

I am.

Someone slapped the side of the van twice.

“Go.” The short word burst from the man’s mouth under her. The creeper slid sideways and the Danish sun blinded her momentarily.

Hands latched onto her and dragged her to her feet. She blinked and tried to see who it was, but didn’t fight them. The man on the creeper had said they were friends. It was either them or airport security.

She was shoved into the back of the van, her eyes acclimating instantly. The bodybuilder who had dragged her under the van jumped up with her shaking the van with his weight, and the man outside slammed the van’s back doors closed.

The man outside smacked the back door twice.

“Sarah?” a man said behind her, his voice familiar.

Sarah turned to look into the eyes of Darwin Kostas.

“It seems I received a strange letter from your sister about a week ago,” Darwin said, his grin wide and warm. “Thought I’d do what she asked.” He shrugged. “It’s worked for you all these years.”

Tears welled up in her eyes. “Oh Darwin, it’s so good to see you.”

“You too, Sarah, but there’s no time. You need to leave.” He held out his hand. A passport protruded from his fingers. “Clara Olafson’s passport. I received it via special delivery this morning from Toronto.”

“What?” Sarah said, staring down at the Danish passport. After a moment, she took it from him. “How?”

“Aaron sent it to me. Must be part of his letter from Vivian.”

“But how?”

“He said you’d ask. Told me to tell you to remember when he took Clara to her hotel room and got clothes for you before you flew here.”

“I remember.”

“He snatched her passport and after you went to the airport that night to fly to Denmark, he Fedex’d it to a mailbox I rented here in Billund. According to Vivian, he was supposed to protect the Danish girl and mail you her passport. My letter told me to be by door A3 here at the airport and give it to you when you come running out with the authorities on your ass.” He shrugged again. “So here we are.”

“But how could Vivian have seen such detail all those years ago?”

The same as you often do now, Sarah.

She tilted her head as she listened to her sister.

“Vivian talking?” Darwin asked.

Sarah looked down at the passport in her hand. “Sometimes this shit still surprises me.”

“Me too, man, me too.”

She raised her head and stared into his eyes. “It’s so good to see you, but it appears I have to leave again.”

“I know. Bruno here will see that you get to the plane on time.”

The bodybuilder nodded his head once. The man had to be seven feet tall and as thick as a tree.

“He’ll stand out too much,” Sarah said.

“He’s also the only way through a pack of security guards if you’re stopped again. Don’t worry about Bruno. He’ll take the heat. He wants to. There’s a huge bonus in it if he gets arrested.”

“Bonus,” Bruno whispered.

Darwin grabbed a bag beside him and held it out to Sarah.

“Take this. Put it on. It’ll help you appear more Danish.”

Sarah rifled through the bag and pulled out a top and new jeans. Bruno turned away when she started to change. Darwin didn’t have to ask her to remove the clothes the security officers saw her in. They were the clothes she’d died in. It was good to be rid of them.

Once she was changed, she placed a large hat on her head and smiled for Darwin.

“All good?” she asked.

“Almost.”

He pulled a small amber colored bottle out of the bag and sprayed copious amounts of disgusting perfume on her neck.

“What’s that?”

“To complete the package.”

“It’ll bring attention to me,” she gasped, trying not to breathe herself in.

“You’ll be fine. Now go. And Bruno, take care of my girl here.”

Bruno grunted and grabbed the handle of the van’s door.

Sarah didn’t know if the grunt was derisive or an agreement.

“Bruno?” Darwin said.

Bruno turned back to look at Darwin.

“I’m serious. Watch over her with your life.”

“Understood, Boss,” Bruno said, his voice as solid as his biceps. In that one word, Sarah felt the man’s commitment as much as heard it.

Darwin slapped the inner wall of the van once.

They waited. He took her hand, clutched it tight, then let it go.

“Stay safe and we’ll see you soon, Sarah. I love you like a sister, only more.”

“You know I love you too, Darwin.” She planted a kiss on his cheek and moved back to crouch beside Bruno.

Someone slapped the van’s outer wall twice.

The coast was clear.

Bruno slammed the door open and hopped out. He raised a hand to help Sarah out and then walked her to the door she had exited from earlier when being chased. The door was propped open, the alarm from earlier silenced.

Back inside the terminal, Bruno ushered her along the wide corridor, blocked her from view of the security agents who were checking people at the metal detectors, and walked her toward her gate. With her clothes different, the large hat, and the new smell, Sarah walked through the Billund airport with a seven-foot tall bodybuilder as if he were her boyfriend.

At her gate, she didn’t see Parkman anywhere and felt the first pangs of fear. What had he done? Where was he? Could he have gone against his promise to her and chased after the officers?

Bruno leaned down to her ear.

“I leave now. Stay here. In line. I watch from over there. When you board, when plane leaves, then I leave. Otherwise, your life is in my hands and I won’t let go. Understood?”

Sarah looked up into the steely determined eyes of a man built for the Greek Olympics of old, and an honor-bound system most men wouldn’t understand today.

“Understood,” was all she said to him, a warmth spreading over her.

That was all he wanted to hear. A one-word answer. The corner of his lips lifted in a half smile. Then he moved to the left and disappeared behind her.

If a brawl erupted around her on any given day, that was the kind of man she wanted in her corner.

The line edged forward. She looked over her shoulder to watch Bruno retreat to a small coffee kiosk.

That was when she saw Parkman sauntering toward her.

With the brim of her large hat pulled down, she faced forward and waited. Parkman stepped in behind her, just as he should.

Good man. Kept his promise.

Sometimes it’s better to not have the whole story and just follow your word, do what’s right anyway. Isn’t that the definition of honor? Doing what’s right when no one was looking?

The line edged forward. At the small kiosk, the flight attendant took Clara’s passport, checked the photo, glanced at Sarah, then swiped the passport and handed it back to her. Sarah produced the ticket she had bought in Clara’s name with the boarding pass and the woman waved her through.

Sarah walked the ramp and entered the plane. Once seated, her stomach still mixed with acid to the point where she held a hand over it. No matter how much she’d been through, this high-tension shit still got to her. Reminded her she was human. Which was the reason it didn’t bother her that she wasn’t jaded, and probably never would be.

Minutes later, Parkman shambled down the aisle toward her. She lowered her head so the hat would cover her face. Not until they took off would she speak to him. They could have been seen together at the airport earlier before they bought their tickets.

He sat across the aisle from her in the same row.

The captain’s voice emitted from the speakers. They were ready to leave. The doors closed moments later and the plane taxied out to the runway.