Page 73 of The Easy Way
“You’re a pilot, from what I understand,” Drew said, almost sounding bored. “You can pick any plane you want from this hangar and leave.” He didn’t even glance in Cam’s direction. His posture was relaxed and almost friendly, and Cort suddenly understood how the sullen man could be such a good attorney. “You can take my mother’s plane and disappear. I promise you, we won’t even report itmissing.”
Jack’s eyes crinkled as he chuckled, and Cort thought once again this guycouldhave been good-looking, if he wasn’t a total psychopath of course. “God, you guys are funny.Take my money, take my plane.Hilarious. Naive and trusting, just like your parents.” He moved his arm, jiggling Cam slightly. “They were saps,too.”
Cam didn’t answer, and Cort realized it was because he couldn’t. His face was turning red as Jack slowly cut off his air supply, and his feet scrambled for purchase against the hard, concretefloor.
“Let him go,” Cort said, stepping forward, “and I’ll go withyou.”
Jack turned the gun on Cort. “You back the fuck up right now,” he said. “But that’s sweet, friend. Real sweet. I’m sure your man here really appreciates thoseheroics.”
Cort took a step back, and Jack returned the gun to Cam’s temple. “Here’s how this is gonna work, boys. I’m gonna take Cam along with me when I leave.” Cort’s heart sank as he stared at Cam, who was clawing at the back of Jack’sforearm.
Cam’s blue eyes were firmly fixed on Cort’s face, as though he was trying to send him a message.I love you, he could hear Cam saying.I loveyou.
“And now I’m thinking I’ll also take Damon along for theride.”
Cort’s jaw fell, and he saw Damon’s had, too. “Me?” Damondemanded.
“Yep. If I’m going to keep an eye on my hostage, I’d better have someone else at the controls, and I remember you being an excellent pilot before you had that whole plane crash debacle.” He smiled broadly and nodded at the plane, banging the side of it with the edge of his gun, as though to get their attention. The plane’s clamshell door was open, forming a small set of steps, and Jack began to back towards them. “I already prepped the plane an hour ago. All fueled up. Of course, you’ll have to trust I did the proper checks.” He laughed. “Better than last time,anyway.”
He put his heel to the bottom step, keeping Cam in front of him as a shield. “Cam and I are gonna go up first and you can follow after,” he told Damon. “And you,” he said, exchanging glances with Cort, Drew, and Sebastian. “You won’t alert a single soul, you hear me? Or I’ll kill Cam and tell the authorities it was allhisfault for kidnapping us.” He nodded at Damon. “I work for a well-connected Senator, if you recall. And he’ll be none too happy when he finds his plane is gone.” His drawl was smug, but carried a thin thread of wildness to it, like he had been driven to theedge.
That hint of madness caused sweat to dot over Cort’s brow. He’d been in worse situations than this thousands of times, but he’d never been more afraid. He’d honestly never had so much to lose. His eyes were locked on Cam’s as Jack dragged him up the stairs, and he willed Cam to read his mind, to understand all the things he hadn’t said but shouldhave.
“I willnotlet this happen,” Sebastian said, running at Jack. He hadn’t gone two steps before Jack sent a bullet flying toward Sebastian’s feet that hit the floor inches away. Sebastian stopped in histracks.
“Stay back,” Jack warned, his eyesglinting.
“I’m not going with you!” Damon called. He folded his arms over his chest and stared at Cam, his jaw working. “This is ridiculous. You’ll kill us both the second weland.”
Jack smiled, a leer which was not even a little sane. “So suspicious, lover. Alright, have it your way. I’ll kill your brother’s boyfriend right now and fly myself out ofhere.”
He placed the gun more firmly against Cam’s head, and Cort realized the safety was off. Cam’s tear-filled eyes burned into Cort’s, one finalI love you, as he struggled against Jack’s choking hold but couldn’t break it. Then Cam squeezed his eyes tightly shut, preparing for theworst.
“No!” Cort cried, taking a step forward. “Cam!”
Damon pushed Cort out of the way, sending him sprawling to the floor. “Fine,” Damon told Jack, rushing toward the steps. “Fine, I’llfly.”
Jack smiled. “Always sopredictable.”
“Jesus! Damon!” Cort cried, pushing himself up on hishands.
Cam opened his eyes as Jack heaved him backwards, and Cort saw Cam try to shake his head, telling Damon to stay back. Damon either didn’t understand or purposely ignored him. He mounted the steps after them and drew up thedoor.
Belatedly, Cort saw the blocks had already been removed and the plane had been prepped for flight - Jack had obviously been planning forthis.
Sebastian ran toward the plane, banging on the door before Cort had even pushed himself to his feet. “No! Cam! Open the goddamn door, Jack!Cam!”
Still, he wasn’t prepared for the way the plane flared to life, the engines firing up while the plane was still in the hangar. He coughed as a storm of dirt and debris whirled around him, tiny shards of stone and sand from the floor pinging against his skin and eyes. He covered his eyes with hisforearm.
“He’s insane!” Sebastian yelled. “What the hell is he thinking, starting up inside likethis?”
“He’s thinking I would have climbed up the side of the damn plane if he’d waited thirty more seconds,” Cort said, coming to his feet to stand beside Sebastian. Damon quickly guided the plane out the open door of the hangar, barely pausing before picking up speed and taxiing over to therunway.
“Now what?” Drew demanded of no one in particular, throwing his hands in the air. “We can’t call theauthorities.”
“The local authorities would know nothing anyway,” Sebastian said, running a hand through his hair. “We need American authorities involved. I’m asking Uncle Shaw to call in a favor.” He panicked for a second. “Unless Jack hurt Shaw, too. Let’s find Lucy,and…”
“No! No, I’ve got this.” Cort licked his lips and pulled his phone from his pocket - not the burner phone Damon had given him, but his space aged, FBI phone, the one with the important phone numbers. “I have someone I can callinstead.”
“Hey,” he said into the phone a minute later. “It’s Cort. I need yourhelp.”
