Keeping Gemma (Holiday Cove 2)

“So you came here?” I jumped up and looked out the blinds that hung over the large window over my desk. I dropped the slats closed again and turned to face Talia again. It was hard to hold on to my grudge when she was so obviously broken over it. “Talia, do they know you’re here? Did they follow you here?”

She shook her head. “No. I lost them. But…”

I waited, holding my breath.

“He knows about us, so it’s not a stretch to think he’ll send someone to come looking. That’s why you have to get me out of here. Tonight.”

“Why me? And why do you think I’d take you somewhere?”

“Because you can fly me somewhere. If I go through an airport, he’ll find me. He’s probably got his private dicks checking local train stations too. I don’t know. It’s like he’s everywhere!”

“Okay, okay. Hold on.” I paced across the office, stirring through a pot of ideas in my head. I snapped my fingers when the right idea cycled through. “I know what to do. I know a guy who takes charters down to Mexico. He’ll keep you off the record. Not to get into it, but he’s…got experience with that.”

If she was scandalized, she didn’t show it.

“I can take you up to him, he’s outside San Francisco, and first thing tomorrow, he can take you down to Mexico. I trust that from there you can disappear?”

She nodded. “I have cash, and I had a friend make me a new ID. Henry won’t be able to track me there, and I can get on a plane to Europe. I have family in Italy.”

“Good. Good. Don’t tell me anything else.”

I didn’t want to know any details in case O’Keefe’s men came sniffing around. I didn’t know the lengths they would go to get information. And I didn’t want to find out.

“Thank you, Aaron,” Talia’s voice cracked. I went to the couch and sat down beside her. She leaned against me and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Once she was in my arms, she released the tears she’d been holding onto and cried into my chest. “I know I don’t have any right to ask you for help. After what I’ve done. But…somehow I knew you would…you’re a good person, Aaron.”

I chuckled into her hair. “I don’t know if I’d go that far.”

After a few minutes, Talia managed to pull herself together long enough to go retrieve her bag that she’d dropped in the foyer of the museum while I made a call to my buddy Fitz who ran the…questionable…charter service to Mexico.

“You ready?” I asked, sliding my eyes over to Talia as she adjusted herself in the co-pilot seat. It was impossible not to let my thoughts drift back to the last time I’d taken her up for a flight. Granted, it had been a helluva lot more fun than the trip we were about to embark on.

She offered me a small smile and I saw a glimmer of her former self—the unstoppable powerhouse I’d initially met—shining back at me. “Ready.”

We pushed off and began our trip down the runway, lifting off the ground at the exact moment, and took to the sky. It had been a while since my last nighttime flight. All of the tours at the museum were day tours, the sole purpose revolving around the spectacular views of the ocean and shoreline along the Californian coast. Flying at night brought me back to some of my memories from the missions I’d flown overseas, most of which had been carried out in the dead of night.

“I’m really sorry I got you tangled up in this, Aaron,” Talia said, using both of her hands to push her hair back as she leaned her head against the seat. “But I do appreciate it, you know.”

“It’s fine. I—”

The rest of my sentence died on my lips at the flashing lights and alarms blaring in the cockpit. We were a few hundred feet off the ground, but I was losing power. Warning lights lit up like dominoes falling, one after another.

“What’s wrong?” Talia demanded, snapping up straight in her seat.

I ignored her, channeling all my focus on keeping the plane in the air. We didn’t have enough airspeed and then, it hit me, we’d lost power. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get more throttle.

“Aaron!”

I tore my eyes from the panel to look over at her, wishing I could impart some confidence. She was as white as a ghost and I was sure I didn’t look any better. “Talia, hold on! We’ve lost power,” I said, keeping my voice as calm as possible. A skill my years in the Navy had taught me. No matter what happened, you stayed calm.

“Oh God! Aaron! Can’t we jump? Parachute?”

I shook my head. “We’re not high enough.” I glanced at the panels again, my mind spinning with calculations. “I got this. Just hold on tight and don’t let go. I’ll get you—”