Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

“I was following Jimmy Lawrence.”

"What the hell was Jimmy doing out here?” Mr. Grahamdemanded.

“One of the guys at the warehouse got sick.”

“So they sent the idiot stock boy out here.  Why were youfollowing him anyway?”

“We traced some cocaine back to him.”

“So?”

“We know there’s cocaine coming in from somewhere.  One ofour guys made a buy off of Jimmy.  It was too pure for street cocaine so wefigured he must be pretty high up in the supply chain.  I was following him inhopes of finding his source.”

“That son of a bitch!  How did he come across the cocaine? Jorge is going to kill him.”  Mr. Graham paused and braced himself against theother seat as the plane started to taxi.

“Now, who knows you’re on Catalina?”

“My boss.”

“Who knew you were going to the airport?”  Mr. Graham pressedthe gun against Matthew’s knee again.

“Nobody.  I was following Jimmy.”

“What about backup?”

“I didn’t have any.  I was just supposed to make inquiries.”

“Now, what about you kid?  What’s your name?”

“Jason,” Matthew lied.

“Jason what?”

“Jason McGregor.”

“What were you doing at the airport?”

“I like planes.”

“You like planes.”  Mr. Graham looked like he didn’t believeMatthew.

“Yes.  I want to be a pilot and I saw this plane coming in,so I wanted to check it out.”

“What were you doing sneaking around the shed?”

“Civilians aren’t allowed on the tarmac unless they’reboarding or deplaning.  I wanted to get a better look at the plane.”

“Well, kid.  You should have stuck with parasailing andplaying at the beach.  Jack, once we’re in the air, take us about twenty miles northwestof the island.  Brad, we need to get ready to dump them.”

The copilot opened the door between the main cabin and thecargo bay.  When Mr. Graham gave him a questioning look, he explained, “Can’topen the main hatch while we’re in the air, ladder gets in the way.”

He dragged Agent Peters into the cargo bay then came back forMatthew.  Matthew was desperately trying to think of what he could do to gethim and Agent Peters out of this.  The parasailing comment had given Matthew aglimmer of an idea.

Mr. Graham punched the intercom, “What’s our status?”

“We’ve just been cleared for takeoff.”

Once Brad dumped Matthew in the back and turned his attentionto Agent Peters, Matthew started to look for some way to cut his ties.  It tookhim five minutes to find a clasp-knife in the cargo hold.  Probably used toopen boxes and such.  Then it took him another five minutes to move it tohimself.  He had to move it five or six inches at a time, the range of motionremaining in his zip-tied arms.  Once he had it, he used it to cut through thezip-ties, but only enough that he would be able to break them when the timecame.

By then the plane had taken off and was just reachingcruising altitude.

“Where are we?” Mr. Graham demanded.

“Just approaching the 20-mile limit you asked for.”

“What altitude?”

“Ten thousand feet, that’s about as high as we want to go andopen the cargo door.”

“Good, can you come back and help?”

“Sure, autopilot’s on, it’ll give us a ten-minute sweep ofthe area.”

“Why do we need help?” Brad asked.

“I want to remove the zip ties before we dump them.  I’drather not find out about Agent Peters’ hand-to-hand skills.”

“Why don’t we put a bullet in her before we dump her?”

“I don’t want any forensics pointing back to us.  We’ll letthe sharks take care of them.  Besides, I want them to enjoy the ride down.”

The pilot made his way back into the cargo bay.  He had hisgun drawn.  “Do you want me to cover the kid, or is there another agent backhere somewhere?”

“Don’t be a smart ass.  Better safe than sorry.”  Mr. Grahamobviously didn’t appreciate the sarcasm.

“Time to fly,” Mr. Graham said as he cut the zip ties onAgent Peters’ ankles.

As soon as her feet were free, Agent Peters rammed hershoulder into the copilot.  Mr. Graham grabbed her around the throat and putthe gun against her head.  “Do you want to fly, or should I just shoot younow?”

Agent Peters looked at Matthew; although she was about to getshoved out of an airplane, she looked surprisingly calm.  She nodded her head;Matthew nodded back and gave her a smile.  She looked puzzled at that.

“Does that mean you want to fly or that you want a bullet? Or I could just have Brad knock you out, but what fun would that be?”

“I’d rather make a different deal,” Agent Peters said.

“Like what?”

“Agent Peters gently twisted herself out of Mr. Graham’sgrasp and backed up to the open hatch.  “We might be able to come to anarrangement, I have a lot of inside information that might help you and yourcocaine trade.”

“You obviously don’t have very much information if you thinkthis is about cocaine,” Mr. Graham said as he backed away to a safe distancefrom Agent Peters.  Matthew could see her gently moving her arms against theedge of the hatch, trying to cut the zip ties or loosen them.

“We didn’t realize that the cocaine was such a small part ofyour operation.”  Agent Peters shifted so her shoulder was against thedoorframe.

“Now I think you’re guessing.  And how could I ever trustyou?  You’d turn on me as soon as you could.”

“Why would I?  If the money’s good enough, then I couldretire early.

By this time, Matthew had broken his zip ties and was slidingto position himself where he had a clear shot at the hatch.  He opened hisportal in front of Agent Peters to protect her from being shot.  He placed theother end in front of himself, too, but only big enough to protect his head andtorso, he needed his arms free.  Then he leapt up and slammed into the copilot,knocking him into the pilot.  Then he slammed into Agent Peters, carrying themboth outside the plane.

“You idiot!” Agent Peters screamed.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Mr. Graham said, shakinghis head.  “Let’s get out of here.”

Matthew had his arms wrapped around Agent Peters as theyfell.  She was struggling against his hold.  He had to push his legs betweenhers, then he brought his knees up.  He brought his portal up under his buttwith the other end above them expanding.