Chapter 37
LAUREL
From the moment we’d pulled up to the sleek, private jet, I had been sure I was going to throw up. This was the right choice, but it was such a struggle to control the enormous emotions flooding through me.
My shaky legs carried me away from my newly minted boyfriend, who’d professed his love just two hours ago. As soon as I was on the plane, an eerie acceptance washed over me.
Jason could do this.
He would get Frey, and then he’d join me. All I had to do was endure the next week or two until that happened.
Looking at the cabin of Shawn’s plane, it seemed like I’d endure in style. Large, leather chairs were spread throughout the front of the space, then an elegant desk, and beyond that, a pair of couches faced each other.
It should have been me, but he was the one who looked stunned, and it temporarily ripped me from my thoughts.
“What is it?”
“I guess I was wrong,” he said, “about him having a hard time finding the words.”
I pulled my lips into a sad smile. “Yeah.”
The flight attendant was young and beautiful, and shortly after she pulled the cabin door closed, the plane’s engines whirred to life.
My heart bottomed out when I looked through an oval-shaped window to see Jason’s large form waiting beside the SUV.
He stood in the wind, watching the plane as it prepared to taxi away.
Shawn gestured to the open seating. “Can I have Elsie get you something before we take off?”
“No, thank you.”
I took a seat closest to the window and kept my attention fixed on Jason. Once the wheels beneath us began to roll, the man I loved yanked the car door open and climbed inside.
Seconds and a lifetime passed before the plane turned and he was gone from view.
Shawn sat at the desk, opened a sleek, thin laptop, and set his phone down beside it. “Are you comfortable? Those couches convert into a bed large enough to accommodate me.”
I buckled my seatbelt, not sure what to say.
He made a face, realizing how his words sounded, and for a fleeting moment looked very much like his brother.
“I wasn’t suggesting I was going to get into bed with you.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Perhaps you don't mention that to him.”
The plane completed its turn, and the roar from the engines turned aggressive as it geared up for takeoff. Then we were rumbling down the runway, the plane shuddering and nosing its way up. The ground faded. There was a mechanical whine followed by a thump when the landing gear tucked away.
His laptop was open, but he didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. Instead, he studied me. Like he was waiting for me to start a conversation.
I scrambled to come up with something. “How long of a flight is it?”
“Two and a half hours to New York where we’ll refuel, and then eight or nine hours depending on wind speeds.” His focus went to his computer, and his fingers moved rapidly to type out a long sentence. “Would you like some dinner?”
It was difficult to pull my gaze away from the window, where amber-colored lines crisscrossed the dark land below. The lines that grew smaller and smaller, until I could no longer make out the sets of headlights on cars.
I’d been unable to eat the meal provided before the show, my stomach in knots, so I knew on some level I should be hungry. When heavy clouds blotted out the last of the view, I turned to look at him.
“Yes, thank you. I’m sorry I was rude—”
“Nonsense. You weren’t rude,” he said. “I imagine that wasn’t easy, giving all that up.”
Did he mean my career, or Jason, or both? “No, it wasn’t.”
When Elsie served dinner, he shut his computer and took the chair across the way from me, making it clear he’d like to have dinner together. And after two glasses of wine and the emotional rollercoaster I’d been on, I had no issue answering any question he asked.
And it felt good to talk about it. A much-needed release.
I told him about the theater shooting, my first encounter with Frey, and the moment I’d seen Jason get shot.
I described slamming my fist into the neck of the man in the back of the van, fueled by furious revenge.
The frozen pavement under my bare feet and the gun shaking in my grip when I’d escaped from Frey a second time.
My heart hurt when I told him about the helicopter.
“But he went with you?” he asked.
“Yeah, that was when the decision was made to run. After the helicopter landed, we drove straight to your house.”
That wasn’t technically true.
We’d spent time getting sleep, and there were those twenty minutes beforehand in the car where Jason had put his hand down my pants . . .
I had to focus on something else because the memory flooded my face with heat. “Thank you for the flowers. Really, thank you for all of this.”
He smiled, pleased. “You’re more than welcome. It’s nice to be able to do something for him. He barely touches his bank account.”
I swallowed the last sip of my wine. He had access to Jason’s bank account?
Probably so he can put money in it.
The memory resurfaced of Caroline asking Jason how the hell he afforded the rent on his place.
The tall, German man was charming and a good listener, but my thoughts often strayed to his younger brother.
As time dragged on, my eyelids grew heavy. I wanted to fall asleep, only to be woken by him an hour later, telling me Jason had just called to tell him it was all over. That Frey was in custody, and he’d catch the next flight out to join us in Germany.
But Shawn’s phone never rang.
“It’s six a.m. in Munich,” he said. “I’ve got some things that need to be handled before we’re on the ground.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
He thought for a moment, then said something in German.
Elsie appeared instantly, and there was a brief discussion between them.
Then the flight attendant popped open a compartment and produced a large, white pillow.
The discussion continued while she pulled the pillowcase off and closed the edge of it in the compartment, so it hung like a drape.
“Please stand here, Frau.” She gestured to a spot in front of the makeshift backdrop.
I did so, not understanding why until the cabin lights brightened and Shawn stood, holding his phone up.
“You aren’t allowed to smile in passport pictures,” he said.
That was easy enough. I didn’t feel much like smiling right now.
He took several pictures, a few without the flash, and when he lowered the phone, Elsie worked to return the pillowcase.
“Do you want something to help you sleep?” he asked. “When we land in Munich, it will be mid-afternoon.”
Sleep didn’t seem like it’d be a challenge. “No, thank you.”
He said something to his employee, prompting the attendant to go to the couches and tumble the backs down flat into a bed. Compartments opened and clicked closed. Sheets, blankets, and pillows were installed, and a rather comfortable-looking bed appeared from almost thin air.
He lowered into his seat at the desk, his back turned.
“Shawn, this is your plane. I’m small. I can sleep in one of the chairs.”
He swiveled to give me the same expression he’d given me before, the one that said this wasn’t up for discussion. A half-second later, Elsie clipped a privacy curtain to the ceiling, separating me from them.
I could hear them talking to each other quietly, and although I didn’t understand the language, it didn’t matter. There was a seductive tone to Shawn’s words, and in response, the woman chuckled. He said something else, and the woman murmured back her words.
I climbed onto the bed, trying not to listen to their flirtatious banter, although it didn’t last long. Elsie’s footsteps grew quiet, followed by Shawn’s business-like German into his phone. Occasionally, I’d hear words I recognized.
American. Passport. Immigration.
It was one in the morning Central time when we prepared our descent into New York. Elsie opened the privacy curtain and asked me to take a seat with a seatbelt, and I glanced at Shawn at his desk as I buckled in.
If he was tired, he didn’t look it. He continued working on his phone throughout the entire thing, like he hadn’t noticed the landing, the refueling stop, or the next takeoff.
I broke down and took an offered sleeping pill, then returned to the bed when we climbed to cruising altitude.
What a cruel turn of events had led me to this moment. I’d woken with Jason beside me this morning. Tonight, I’d sleep on his family’s plane, a different Dunn only a few feet away.
Every second that passed took me farther away from him, and I wondered what Jason was doing at this moment. Was he at the marshals office, poring over evidence and evaluating every detail he could to aid in Frey’s capture?
God, I hoped so.
It didn’t take long for thought to become difficult. My brain was sluggish from the sleeping aid, and the roar of the engines helped lull me to sleep.
Shawn let out a sigh when we touched down on German soil, like he was relieved to be home. He tapped the screen of his phone and passed it to me. It rang, and then a familiar voice came on the line.
Jason didn’t bother with a greeting. “Are you on the ground?”
“Yeah, we just landed.”
“L,” he sounded startled. “I thought you were Shawn. How are you? Is he behaving?”
“Mostly.” My gaze flitted to Elsie, and I lowered my voice into a teasing hush. “He’s been flirting with the flight attendant.”
Shawn overheard and made a noise of amusement. “I have done no such thing.”
“That’s fine.” Jason’s tone was flat, even. “As long as he’s not bothering you.”
“No.” I shifted in my seat, eager for an update. “Have you made any progress with Frey?”
“Some, but I can’t discuss it at the moment.” There were other voices in the background. Voices that kept him from saying much. “I’m glad you had a safe trip. Get yourself situated and we can speak later.”
“Okay.” I wasn't sure what else to say since nothing was private. “Stay safe.”
“You, too.”
Once he hung up, I handed the phone back to Shawn.
Lines creased around his eyes, and his dark hair had grown unruly like he’d run his hands through it a few too many times. He looked tired, and guilt welled inside me. I should have refused the bed. He’d done so much for me and was about to do a lot more.
Couldn’t I have let him get a few hours of sleep?
He peered out the window behind me and grumbled it to himself. “Where the fuck is he?”
“Who?”
“The man who was supposed to meet us with your passport.”
There wasn’t time to dwell on it because Elsie opened the cabin door and cold air seeped in. The temperature plummeted further when two men boarded the plane, wearing black slacks and sweaters with official-looking white embroidery over the left breast.
Immigration.
He launched to his feet, taking a weirdly defensive stance in front of me. It set me on alert, declaring without words something was wrong. He spoke in German, but the man in the front was focused only on me, suspicion clear on his face.
“Shawn?” I tried not to panic.
“I’m trying to explain to them your passport is on its way from the U.S. Embassy, and that they should let you wait here on the plane until it arrives.”
The man in front had one of those faces that seemed incapable of smiling, and his discerning eyes narrowed at Shawn’s English. The German discussion between them continued, increasing until I was sure they were arguing.
The other officer, the silent one, abruptly took a step forward and latched a hand on my arm. It was aggressive, and from a stranger, and I instinctively pulled back.
“What’s happening?” My voice was high and tight, and blood roared in my ears.
“Your passport is coming, but you need to go with these men. They insist they detain you until it’s here.”
Detain? My heart skittered in my chest. “Wait, what?”
“Ten minutes,” Shawn said, “perhaps fifteen at the most. It’s all a misunderstanding. You’ll be fine.” It came out sounding confident, but the worry in his eyes hinted otherwise.
“Jason was specific that I stay with you.”
His expression turned dark. “I don’t have control over that right now.”
“You come with me, Frau,” the man said.
I stared up at Shawn’s dark brown eyes that were filled with doubt. Was it safe to go with these men? What would happen if I didn’t?
“Shawn, I don’t—”
“It’s all right. I’ll be right outside.”
The man grabbed me again, urging me forward roughly. I grabbed my coat and stumbled across the carpet toward the open door and out into the frigid afternoon.