As Anna and Nate stepped off the plane in Knoxville, Tennessee, she immediately went to her phone. To her dismay there were no calls or messages.
“Do you think it made it?” Nate said sliding in next to her. His voice brought her back to contemplate her own part to play.
“I certainly hope so,” she said quietly. The airport traffic in Knoxville was moderate. Many of the terminals were left empty and the short walkway was easy to navigate. But something felt awkward as they strolled towards baggage claim. She felt eyes following them. Or it could be just the continued paranoia of the last week in Western Shore.
Anna did her best to stay calm and kept alert. Everything was moving normally when a man came up next to her and kept an even stride. She looked over at him. He smiled back. He was a skinny guy, slightly older than her, with a goatee, baldhead and thin glasses. He didn’t have any baggage. His smile said he knew her. When she found his green eyes, she placed it. Skylar Reed.
“I thought you’d never recognize me,” he said.
“You look…different, the bald head, facial hair, even your clothes, and glasses, I never knew you needed glasses.” Skylar had aged dramatically since the last time she had seen him. It had been well over ten years now. He was much smaller, but still toned, she noted silently. He used to be a scary sight but looking at him now, he appeared more akin to a high school guidance counselor.
“I don’t,” he said. “But it makes me appear a little more harmless.” She knew that was far from the truth. He may look meek but that would be where it ended. She didn’t know much of his background, only that he was retired special forces. Rock hired him for a dig in Nicaragua back in the 90’s. She was never told what happened but from then on, Rock never used anyone but Skylar when he needed security. “Hold on now,” Skylar grabbed her forearm tight. “I can’t allow you to go to baggage claim. The reason Rock called me is waiting for you down there. I had to buy a ticket to get in here to get to you first. They even have small pictures of you on their phones. And four more are patrolling the various exits.”
Anna wanted to scream. What was she in the middle of? “But we have a case that we need. It’s the entire reason we’re here,” she told him.
“Ok,” Skylar said. “I can get that for you. They’re not looking for me. But we need to somehow get you out of this airport in one piece.”
“What about the employee entrances or emergency exits,” Nate asked.
“I’ve been here awhile, the airport is extremely small, two short wings, that’s it. Security is tight and everything is watched over cameras. I’ve been over just about every scenario and the only real way out is to go through them.”
“Through them.” Anna said back to him. “I know you’re good but there’s only one of you.”
Skylar chuckled. “And I don’t have any weapons since I had to come past security. From what I saw, they are all armed. The last thing I want is to get into an open contest in the airport, that’s not going to end well for anyone. What I mean is that we need to just walk through them without flinching. They are going to see you, that part is something we can’t help, but if we can get moving before they can close on us, we have a good chance.”
“Do you have a disguise for us,” Nate asked.
“Disguise?” Skylar shook his head at the boy, “you really need to stop watching so many movies. From where I come from disguise is just short for dramatic interpretation solely guarantees uselessness, idiocy, and self-elimination. Suck it up schoolboy, you’ll be fine. Here’s what’s going to happen.” Skylar walked them towards the wall. “You both are going to go to the restroom for twenty minutes. I’m going to get your cargo and get it out to my car. Then I’m going to drive up to the second level, which is where we are now, and stop in front of door one as though I will drop someone off. After twenty minutes, both of you come out individually, don’t even look at each other and stay away from one another. Head for door one. The fucker there looks the most incompetent. Walk on through and get in my car, it’ll be parked right up front, it’s red.”
Nate sneered. “That’s your plan? Just walk right by him, he’s not going to see us, recognize us and stop us at all. Just walk by him.”
“Kid, I just told you what you’re going to be doing, don’t worry about doing anything but that, I’ll take care of the rest. Now stop being a fucker and shut up.” Anna held her hand out and touched Nate’s shoulder. She could see him starting to get red. Skylar had that effect on most people. “One last thing,” he said. “If anything goes wrong, the keys are in the car, get in and get out of here. If shots are fired, don’t look, just go. If you hear screams, don’t look, just go. If someone tries to take you anywhere, don’t let them, it would be better to be taken in by the police here and we’ll sort it all out later. I don’t know how bad these people want you or what you have, so we should be prepared for anything. All clear.”
Anna nodded her head. “We got it, twenty minutes.”
“And you,” Skylar looked at Nate.
“I got it,” he said.
“Ok what kind of baggage am I looking for?”
Anna quickly described the case to him and what flight number it would be under. Then she and Nate headed for the restrooms.
Chapter 18
Knoxville, July 2012