Chapter 3 #3
“Call and let him know about the plane wreckage.” Ethan watched for clues in the surrounding terrain while she snatched up the phone and dialed, listening. Nothing stood out in the video. “Any response from Howard?”
“The call went straight to voicemail.” She replaced the receiver in the cradle.
“Keep trying him, please.”
Roberts and Montgomery sprinted through the office door, eyes wide, panic written across their faces. Adam held a pastry bag from the Pie’s the Limit and tossed it on the desk.
“Did you see it?” Liam glanced between Ethan, Aubrey, and Adam.
“Yeah, we saw it,” Aubrey said.
Ethan said, “The plane might be one used by the Marshals. How did you find out about the post?”
“Some teenagers were in the coffee shop, talking loudly about a prison transport plane that crashed,” Liam said. “We asked them some questions, but they didn’t know who the kids were that found the plane. Said that the video popped up on their feed.”
“How can we be sure it’s a Marshals transport plane?” Adam looked as confused as Ethan felt. “And we have no idea when the video was recorded. The post is from a few days ago, and it seems like it was live at the time.”
Ethan didn’t like being behind and having to catch up. “There’s a partial US Marshals emblem on the tail, but we’re going to have to do some research. It looks outdated.”
“Okay then. Maybe it’s not ours.” Adam grabbed a giant chocolate chip cookie out of the bag. “Decommissioned, probably. Whatever it is, tragic that it crashed and all.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s a Marshals transport plane, and it could still be in service.” Liam clapped Adam on the back. “It’s one of the smaller planes that’s used to transport high-value targets, I think.”
“But that still doesn’t tell us who was on the plane, where they were going, or why they were being transported.” Adam brushed some crumbs off his shirt front. “Or if it was even official business.”
Ethan pointed to the computer screen. “The US Marshals office in DC is supposed to inform us whenever there’s a transport headed our way. We typically receive an encrypted email, and I haven’t seen anything this week.”
“So then how can it be ours?” Aubrey asked.
“Procedures weren’t followed, which makes me suspicious.
But it isn’t out of the question that it was a real transport.
” Ethan forced the words out, his jaw tight.
“The Marshals are the best at keeping prisoner identities a secret, and I have a gut feeling this wasn’t an ordinary transport.
We need to find out who was on that plane and where they were headed. ”
On the screen, the teenagers crawled all over the plane, touching surfaces, contaminating whatever evidence was left. The environment would have washed away a lot of forensics too. This was going to be tough to figure out.
“At least there aren’t any bodies,” Aubrey said.
“Yet,” Ethan and Adam responded at the same time.
Aubrey’s face drained of all color. “Yeah, of course.” She closed her eyes for a moment, exhaled, and turned to look at Ethan. “So what are you going to do?”
“First, we contact the DC office and see if they can help us figure out the destination for this plane and who requested it for their operation. Roberts and Montgomery, see if you can track down those kids from their social media accounts and ask them some questions.”
Adam swallowed his bite of cookie. “On it, boss.”
Liam and Adam headed down the hall, and Ethan turned back to Aubrey, who sat in front of her screen with her gaze glued to the days-old post, her lips tightened in a flat line.
“Aubrey, see if you can find a location attached to this video. Keep trying Howard’s phone.
I’ll look for a landmark. I’ve hiked these mountains.
We need to know where the plane went down. ”
“Are we in danger?” Her voice was a whisper as she swiveled in her chair and stared at him, her eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. “I mean, if there was a dangerous fugitive on that plane, they could have escaped. Or someone could be in real danger.”
He reached out, wanting to offer some bit of comfort, but instead shoved his hand in his pocket. “Let’s save the worry for when we know for sure there’s something to worry about.”
“Right.” Aubrey nodded once, then returned to the tasks he’d assigned her.
Ethan sat in his office and pulled up the post. The kids were climbing all over the wreckage, the wings, and even sitting in the cockpit. There was no one else in there—so where had the passengers gone?
They had to find those kids and that plane. Only problem was, he had no idea what he was looking at or even where this plane could be.
It was smaller than their typical prison transport.
The kids had zoomed in on a pair of discarded manacles, so someone was being moved on that plane.
Not broken, the cuffs were simply open and lying on the floor.
Someone on the plane had released the prisoner?
A few blood splatters covered some of the seats, but nothing to indicate that anyone was seriously hurt.
Where were the passengers and the pilot? The bodies?
He only prayed they could find out what was going on before anyone else was injured. Or worse.