CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE MAKAYLA
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
M AKAYLA
Makayla scrolls through her seemingly endless text conversations with Cori. An airport police officer stands guard at the door to the large room where Makayla and the rest of the passengers have been sequestered for the last hour. Makayla’s gaze darts to a middle-aged man who gets up to stretch.
Every time she spots movement out of the corner of her eye, she looks up—unable to keep herself from clinging to the false hope of one of the FBI rushing in carrying Liam. The image returns, as if on a loop, even though she knows in the pit of her stomach that Liam went out the sawed opening of the plane along with his abductors.
Her leg jiggles nervously as she returns her attention to her phone. She texted Cori after getting off the plane but still hasn’t gotten a reply. Throughout their exchanges, Cori has always responded right away. Her sudden silence is damning.
She stops scrolling, seeing a text Cori sent three weeks ago. I can’t wait to catch up when I get home from the Hamptons! What are the dates of your Alaska trip again?
Makayla scrolls down to Cori’s reply after Makayla gave her the dates. Perfect! I’ll be back on the 6th. Is your flight nonstop? What time do you get in on the 7th?
Makayla lowers her phone, the taste of betrayal fresh on her tongue. She told Cori all about this trip, not long after they “met.” Since then, Cori had asked her about the trip a few times, probably needing to make sure her trip was still on as planned. Naively, Makayla gave Cori all the details. Cori had been playing her all along.
Pacific Air is the only airline that offers a nonstop flight from LaGuardia to Anchorage. They started doing the route earlier this year when Makayla booked her ticket. There is only one flight a day, so Cori would’ve known her flight number from what Makayla told her.
Her phone rings in her hand, startling her. It’s Jack. She called him on the way to the waiting area, but he hadn’t answered. She wonders if he knows about Liam’s abductors jumping out the side of the plane.
“Makayla? Have you landed?”
“Yes.” She swallows. “But Jack, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“I know about the kidnappers jumping out of the plane.”
She leans forward, relieved she doesn’t have to say those words out loud. She brings a hand to her temple. “Have you heard anything more from the FBI? Have they found him?”
“Not yet. But the FBI is here. A man broke into our condo. I’m not sure when, but he was already inside when I got woken by the FBI earlier. He held me at gunpoint and threatened to kill Liam if I didn’t transfer money from my biggest client accounts. You were right. Liam was taken for a ransom because of my job.”
Makayla drops her hand to her mouth.
“I did everything he asked.” Jack breathes into the phone. “But the FBI barged in and shot him before I could finish the last transfer.” His voice cracks. “If I’d had a little more time ...”
Makayla lets his words sink in. “It’s not your fault, Jack.”
“Sabrina’s dead.”
“What?”
“The guy that broke in, he shot her in the head.”
Makayla sits up straight. “What was Sabrina doing in our condo? And in the middle of the night?”
A few heads turn in her direction as she waits for Jack to respond, knowing there could be only one reason Sabrina was at her home in the middle of the night.
A barrage of questions swirl in her mind. How long had it been going on? Had there been something between them the whole time they’d been married? And how could she be so stupid not to have suspected something sooner?
“You were having an affair.” More heads swivel toward her. Makayla ignores them, her gaze dropping to the floor after finally verbalizing the thing that’s been haunting her for months.
“No! Of course not. The FBI interviewed Lionel after coming to see me. He told Sabrina, and she called me from our lobby, wanting to come up after hearing the news. I didn’t realize,” he breathes into the phone, “that a man with a gun was already in our condo.”
Makayla watches a plane take off out the window to her left as she absorbs what Jack said.
“Are they sure Liam went out of the plane with his kidnappers?” Jack asks.
Makayla’s lower lip quivers, wishing she could say no. “Yes.”
The door to the waiting area opens. Agent Ruiz marches inside, heading straight for Makayla.
“I have to go. I’ll call you back,” she says to Jack, lowering her phone.
Ruiz stops a foot in front of her. “The female kidnapper’s body has been found suspended in a tree near one of the Finger Lakes. She was wearing a parachute, but she didn’t survive.”
Makayla stands, flooded with relief and terror at the same time. “What about Liam? Did they find him?”
Ruiz shakes her head. “Not yet. But we’re still looking. And we have a good idea of the area where he should be now.”
Makayla squeezes her phone in her palm.
“I’d like you to come back to our field office with me to answer some questions while we wait to hear more from the search. CSI is still processing the plane, but there’s no sign of Liam still being on board.”
Makayla nods and follows the agent out of the room and into the terminal.
She keeps stride with Agent Ruiz as they move through the busy terminal, her relief over the parachute dissipating with each step. If Jemma didn’t survive, what were the odds that Liam did?