Page 107 of NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority

“If you give us what we need, and if no harm comes to that hostage, you can get out of prison by your seventieth birthday. Don’t bother doing the math. It’s twenty years, and it’s a gift.”

Before she could negotiate, Owen looked at his watch. “I have a meeting in two minutes,” he said. “My generous offer expires as soon as I walk out the door.”

I remember seeing a documentary where an old lioness was surrounded by a clan of twenty hyenas, and the camera moved in on the pitiful look of defeat in her eyes when she realized she couldn’t survive the ordeal. Sonia’s eyes welled up with tears and that same mournful look of resignation. The queen of the jungle knew that her reign was over.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I accept the deal.”

Owen responded with a look that was part contempt, part pity, and he walked out of the room.

“Where are Megan Rollins and Wayman Tate?” Kylie said for the thirdtime.

“I don’t know where they are right this minute,” Blakely said, “but I have a plane on the way to get them out of the country.”

“Details,” Kylie said.

“It’s a Gulfstream G650. Pickup is at Monmouth Executive Airport in New Jersey. Eighteen hundred hours.”

“Where are they going?”

“Bogotá, Colombia.”

“Who will be on the plane?”

“Just the two pilots. They’ve worked for us for years. I pay them enough so they don’t ask questions. They’ll land, pick up the passengers, and take off.”

“What about Theo Wilkins?” I asked.

“He’s with them. Sheffield told him a lot. They’ll interrogate him in flight.”

“And what happens to him when he gets to Colombia?”

“I don’t know,” she said, turning away from me.

I grabbed her chin and turned her face toward mine so she could see the rage in my eyes. “Don’t... you...fucking... lie to me,” I said, spitting out the words. “What happens to the boy after they’ve beat everything out of him?”

She began sobbing, lowering her head to her chest.

I dropped to my knees and screamed in her ear. “answer the fucking question! Where are they taking Theo when he gets to Colombia?”

She looked up. “I’m sorry,” she said, whimpering, gasping for air. “I’m really, really sorry. They’re flying over the Atlantic Ocean. He’s never going to get to Colombia.”

CHAPTER 71

Sonia Blakely knewher craft. The airport in rural central New Jersey was the perfect choice for getting two wanted killers and a hostage out of the country. No tower, no air traffic control, no flight delays, and a 7,300-footrunway. Just touch down, load up, and take off.

It was a balmy July evening, ideal for flying. No wind, ceiling and visibility unlimited, and the sun wouldn’t set till after eight p.m. The sleek Gulfstream landed exactly at six, and I could almost picture Megan and Carol checking their watches, thinking they would be out of US airspace in minutes.

Megan and Carol.The relationship baffled us. We’d learned a lot about Carol. Wayman Tate was asixty-eight-year-oldmarine-trainedsniper who had served his country with honor and then, along with four other men from his generation and his military background, spent the next two decades disproving thetime-wornadage that crime doesn’t pay.

Martin Sheffield’s ramblings about the Sorority had sounded more like fantasy than fact when Theo first told us about it, but little by little, every inconceivable piece turned out to be true. It all added up.

With one exception. Megan Rollins. How did thishigh-profilemillennial news reporter become part of this clandestine band of baby boomer assassins? Sheffield never mentioned her. It could be that he forgot about her. But Megan was onlythirty-fouryears old. More likely, he never knew she was part of the team.

If we’d been able to spend more time with Sonia Blakely, we’d have interrogated her until we got what we needed to connect the dots. But as soon as she told us the Sorority’s plans for Theo, everything else that Blakely knew could wait. Kylie and I bolted from the AUSA’s Office and headed for Jersey.

The G650 taxied to the end of the runway and turned around to get ready for takeoff, and the cabin door opened.

Megan, Tate, and Theo were nowhere to be seen.

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