Page 2 of Deception

“Is it money?” She had some savings. Maybe she could offer it to him.

“They’re getting Noah for me.”

Madison stared at him. Chad’s ex taking his son away had sent him off the rails. “What Jeannie did to you was wrong, but—”

“You don’t have a clue. You never had your son moved out of your life, two thousand miles away. Now do what I said, or I’ll shoot you myself.”

She knelt and placed her service gun on the concrete walkway, then removed the smaller semiautomatic from her back holster.

“This isn’t the answer.” When Madison stood, she inched closer to him, something he didn’t seem to notice. “I know you,Chad, and there’s no way you can live with yourself if you kill me.”

Her heart sank when his hard eyes didn’t soften. “I’ll manage. At least I’ll have Noah.”

“You won’t get away with it.”

“But I will. I have it all planned out. The plane is bringing Noah and then flying us to a little fishing village where we’ll disappear.”

A light bulb went off. Her informant was working with the cartel, feeding her just enough information to gain her trust. “There’s no shipment coming in tonight. You wanted to get me out here.”

Chad laughed. “Give the lady a gold star. They’ve moved on from here, anyway. It was getting too dangerous to use the airfield.”

He planned to kill her, probably take her body with them and dump it over the ocean, and everyone would assume the traffickers had kidnapped and killed them both.

“But why kill me?”

“I know you. After I was presumed to be dead, you would’ve tried to track down my ‘killer.’ I couldn’t take the risk that you might actually find me.”

How had she let herself be duped by him? “How many times did you tip them off that it was safe to bring a load in?” Had to be a lot for this kind of payoff.

“Enough to get my son.”

“Are you sure they’ll come through with their end of the deal? You can’t help them any longer if you’re hidden away in some fishing village in Mexico.”

“Shut up.” For the first time, doubt crossed his face. When he shifted his eyes toward the airstrip, she used the distraction to move a little closer.

Chad checked his watch. Sweat beaded his face.

“They’re late. Maybe they’re not coming at all.” Almost within range. Her standing flying kick wasn’t as good as the running one she usually practiced, but she had to work with what she had.Madison prepared herself mentally for the maneuver, but at the same time, she had to keep him off guard. Maybe if she pushed his buttons a little harder ...

“And Noah ... Have you thought about what this will do to him?”

“I said to shut up.” The gun wavered in his hand. “He’s four—he’ll get over it.”

Madison’s heart lurched when she heard the faint drone of an airplane. Chad jerked his head toward the runway, and Madison pivoted, jumped up, and kicked both feet into his chest.

Time slowed. He turned toward her, his eyes wide, mouth open. As she knocked him off his feet, he brought the gun around and fired. The bullet went wide and came nowhere close to her. Madison landed on her feet and scooped up her gun.

Chad fired again. The bullet whizzed close enough to her head that she felt the heat. Madison returned fire, hitting him squarely in the chest. He dropped his Glock and crumpled to the ground. She kicked the pistol away and knelt beside him, pressing two fingers against his neck. His pulse was weak and thready. He’d be lucky to make it to the hospital. Her heart hurting, she turned her attention to the small corporate-type jet that had just circled the airstrip to land. She and Chad had been partially hidden by the hangar, and she was pretty sure the pilot hadn’t seen what just went down.

It didn’t matter if he had. If Noah was on that plane, she had to get him safely off. A plan came to her, but if she couldn’t pull it off, they both might be killed. First she called the sheriff. “I need help.” She quickly explained what happened as the plane came in for the landing.

“I have a unit five miles from you,” the sheriff said.

“But I thought Chad called you.”

“He did, but I’d already notified the FBI response team. When I called for them to abort the mission, they informed me Chad was under investigation. The team is on its way in a helicopter.”

“No! You have to stop them. Chad’s son is on the plane, and they might kill him if they hear a chopper.” The plane taxied to a stop. She had to get out there before they took off again. “I gotta go!”

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