Chapter 3 - THE DIVERSION
The announcement came nine minutes later.
“Ladies and gentlemen, due to an operational concern, we will be making an unscheduled landing in Kansas City.”
Murmurs spread through the cabin.
Claire knew immediately that it was a lie.
There was nothing operational about the problem.
The flight attendant had taken Daniel’s credential and the sealed envelope to the front galley.
Margaret remained in 11B under the watch of two crew members.
Emma had been moved beside Claire.
Oliver slept through everything.
Claire envied him.
Emma leaned close.
“Mom, did Dad really work for the government?”
“I don’t know.”
“But that was him.”
“Yes.”
“Could the badge be fake?”
Claire looked toward the front.
“I don’t know.”
Emma swallowed.
“What if he isn’t dead?”
Claire almost told her not to say it.
But the thought had already entered her mind.
The accident had been horrible.
Daniel’s car had plunged nearly two hundred feet before catching fire.
The remains recovered from the wreckage had been badly burned.
Dental records were used for identification.
Claire had never seen his body.
She had been advised not to.
The funeral had used a closed casket.
At the time she had been grateful.
Now she felt sick.
Margaret turned around.
Their eyes met.
Claire stood.
A flight attendant immediately blocked her.
“Please remain seated.”
“I need answers.”
“We’re handling the situation.”
“My dead husband’s federal credential was under that woman’s body.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.”
The attendant lowered her voice.
“The captain contacted authorities on the ground. They’re meeting us.”
“What authorities?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire stared at Margaret.
“She knows my baby’s name.”
The attendant’s expression tightened.
“I heard.”
“Oliver wasn’t on the original booking.”
That mattered.
Claire had purchased her ticket and Emma’s nearly four months earlier.
Oliver had been added as a lap infant only eleven days ago.
His name would not have appeared on old passenger lists.
Margaret knew current information.
Someone had been watching them.
The realization crawled across Claire’s skin.
She thought back over the previous month.
The dark sedan outside their house.
The man at the grocery store she had seen twice in one week.
The unknown caller who hung up whenever she answered.
She had dismissed all of it.
Grief made people paranoid.
That was what she had told herself.
Maybe it hadn’t been grief.
Emma whispered, “She keeps looking at Oliver.”
Claire noticed.
Margaret wasn’t looking at the baby with anger.
She was studying him.
Searching his face.
The airplane began descending.
Margaret suddenly laughed.
Claire stared at her.
“What’s funny?”
“You still think they’re coming to protect you.”
“Who?”
“The people meeting the plane.”
Claire’s heartbeat accelerated.
Margaret leaned closer despite the attendant between them.
“When we land, don’t give Oliver to anyone.”
The attendant snapped, “Stop talking.”
Margaret ignored her.
“Not police. Not airport security. Not anyone.”
Claire felt cold.
“Why?”
“Because if Daniel’s badge is on this plane, they already know where you are.”
“Who are they?”
Margaret looked toward the front of the aircraft.
“People your husband spent three years trying to stop.”
Then the plane touched down.
As they taxied toward a remote section of Kansas City International Airport, Claire looked through the window.
Three black SUVs were waiting.
Beside them stood six men in dark suits.
One of them held up a federal badge.
Margaret saw him.
May you like
She whispered one word.
“Run.”
