Kelly said, “I’m nervous.”
“Me, too.” Hunter said.
Ike said, “If shooting starts, you keep your head down.” He looked at Kelly as he said it. She nodded.
They ate the remainder of their peanuts and soft drinks, with Kelly breaking one of the large Peanut Butter Cups into thirds and handing both the adults a piece.
The airport seemed quiet, with no plane traffic and no suspicious vehicles in the parking area. Minutes passed.
Hunter licked the melted chocolate from her fingers and said, “I’ve got an idea.”
“What?”
“I’m going to drive out to the airport and park by the hangers, the ones closest to where the planes stop.”
“And do what?” Ike wasn’t arguing, but interested.
“When it stops and opens the door, I’ll run up the stairs and tell them to leave immediately.”
“Or what?”
“Or I’ll shoot their plane to pieces.”
“You gonna show them your pistol?”
“If I have to.”
“Let me do it. Suretta doesn’t really know you, so it might buy you a little extra surprise time when she drives in here.”
Hunter nodded, “When the plane leaves, it’ll put us right there with Suretta and her gang, and the kids. I can come up behind them while you hold their attention. What do you think?”
Ike didn’t have a chan
ce to answer as Kelly said, “There’s the plane.”
Ike said, “Time to rock and roll.”
Hunter drove the short distance to the airport entrance and, rather than park by the few vehicles there, maneuvered to the hangers and parked close beside the first one, which still left them able to see the plane and the entry to the airport.
As the Beechcraft King taxied closer, Hunter could see there was only a single person flying it, no copilot. Ike had moved between the first and second hangers, and she caught sight of his profile as he peeked from the hiding place, so focused on the plane he was like a cat watching a bird.
Kelly sat in the Cherokee, excited and a little scared watching the two grown-ups working to save the children. As the plane taxied almost to a stop and made a circling turn to be in front of the hangers, she glanced in the other direction at the airport entrance and saw three vehicles coming in close together. Suretta’s vehicle led two dark blue Suburbans, and Kelly saw people in each of them. Her stomach felt like it did when she had a sudden unexpected drop from a height.
Touching Hunter’s shoulder, she said, “Suretta’s here, and she’s got help.”
Hunter glanced at the vehicles and her mouth opened in surprise. “No.”
Ike rubbed his forehead, feeling the fever there, and watched as the plane stopped and the propellers feathered down. As the door opened and came down, Ike ran up the stairs and into the plane.
Hunter knew he hadn’t seen Suretta or her men.
Ike checked the plane’s interior, with the pilot the only one on board; a small, trim guy of about fifty, with white hair. Ike said, “You need to get this plane out of here, right now.”
“I have passengers to pick up.”
“No, you don’t. That would be kidnapping. You want that hanging over your head in court?”
His face paled, “No. They said a bunch of kids, that’s all.”