Tanner turned to Quinn, eyed his opponent, and calculated the odds of wrestling the gun from him now that Kathleen was gone.
Then it hit him. How ironic that by the end of this mission, she had being a team player down pat. He was the one screwing up. Not Kathleen.
He'd missed the big picture. The plane was being tracked. It was almost certain Quinn wouldn't get away. What did it matter if he was taken when he landed or in the air? Or who dispensed the justice?
If anything, Tanner needed to be on the ground with Kathleen. A real team player didn't leave his wingman.
And, damn it, she was even more than that to him. Kathleen was special. He'd known it when he first saw her twelve years ago. He knew it now as well.
Being with Kathleen was like swinging from a chandelier. Unpredictable. Exciting. Hell on his heart-rate.
But he loved her and wouldn't have her any other way.
Tanner stepped away from Quinn. "Go easy on the stick. Remember this baby's a newer model. It's a fly-by-wire, not like the C-130."
Arms tucked in tight, Tanner thundered down the belly of the plane toward the open ramp. What the hell. Control had become a thing of the past around Kathleen, anyway.
He flung himself out of the plane into the blanket of stars.
Kathleen whipped her parachute free and stared up into the murky sky, not that she expected to find the big lug, anyway. Damn him. Why hadn't she made him jump first?>Focus never more important, never tougher to find, Tanner glided through his smoothest takeoff to date. Fear for Kathleen offered a hefty motivator.
Fighters would probably be on their tail soon, but wouldn't shoot down the C-17 as long as he stayed well clear of the no-fly zones around major cities.
Already a new plan began to form in his mind while the plane gained altitude. If only he could get her off the aircraft. Hell, he would settle for tossing her out…
Out of the plane.
His plan solidified as Tanner leveled the cruising plane.
Quinn exhaled a laugh. "See, I told you I could handle the big guy. Now kick back, ladies and gentlemen, and enjoy your nonstop flight to Central America."
If Tanner had his way, and he damned well intended to, Kathleen would be safely on the ground long before they landed.
Chapter 17
An hour later Tanner scanned his control panel, then the inky night sky outside his windscreen. Luminescent green from the instruments lent an eerie glow. Quinn sat in the seat behind Kathleen with the gun trained unwaveringly on her head as they crossed the Mexican border.
The hour of routine had steadied the throbbing in Tanner's temple. He didn't even want to think about the bullet that had glazed him, that could have been embedded in Kathleen's soft body.
She might be subdued now, but Tanner knew that at the first hint of threat to him, she would start yanking that gun toward herself again.
A trembling started low, too much like the one that had gripped him back at the abode mission after the car explosion.
He forced his focus on flying and hammering out the specifics of his plan. Under the cover of regular flight tasks, he'd managed to flip the setting on the silent transmission of the IFF. The Identification Friend or Foe radio frequency was now indicating a hijacking situation.
So far, Quinn hadn't noticed. Air security had tightened since Quinn's active duty days, and Tanner was counting on the older aviator not knowing that air traffic controllers were undoubtedly tracking them. Likely a DEA jet had vectored in from the border, racing up as U.S. fighters peeled away. Quinn would be apprehended on the ground by federal agents.
That was where things could get tricky.
Thus the need to get Kathleen off the plane. Now. He'd failed to protect his sister years ago, but by God, he wouldn't screw up this time.
Tanner flipped the autopilot switch.
Quinn jolted in his seat. "What are you doing? Keep your hands where I can see them. Don't move."
Kathleen's brow furrowed, her eyes blazing her question across the cockpit. What the hell are you doing?
Tanner ignored her for now. She would know soon enough, and she wouldn't like it one bit.