Shannon turned her back to the field agent.
Now she was facing her supervisor, the head of USI: Gregory Paige. The man's gray hair and stern face were lit by a bit of moonlight that had just now decided to slant through the windows near the ceiling. The rest of him was etched in dark shadows.
Shannon wanted to help Virginia.
But it was over.
*****
"It's not over, Shannon," said Virginia.
"Yes, it is," Shannon replied, in a very low voice.
"You're talking to Virginia. You need to stop," a voice said. Virginia recognized the voice—Supervisor Paige. He was there. That was bad.
Virginia faced Jake. She needed to talk to Jake and Shannon at the same time.
Jake was listening, and also placing his ear chip back in his ear.
Virginia stood so close to Jake that she knew he could feel her breath on his face as she spoke:
"The CIA and USI are talking. That's confirmed. Don't let them take you in. You know very well how USI treats prisoners. And if USI and the CIA are working together, they're going to try to bury our intel and progress. They're afraid of Calvert. You know it's true. They're not going to be nice to you, Shannon. They can see to it that you never get another job ever again, anywhere. They can lock you up. You know it's true. Right-to-trial—they'll hang you with a grand jury. They won't let you speak. We waived our rights when we signed up to USI. You know it's true."
Jake's face turned pale, and it wasn't in response to Virginia.
"What's wrong?"
"Shoot-to-kill," he said, putting his ear chip back in his pocket.
"What?"
"USI put out orders. They've dispatched a team after you, and they've passed orders to the CIA. They're after you. Priority one. Shoot-to-kill."
Virginia steeled her jaw.
Shannon had to get the hell out of there.
That was all Virginia knew in this moment. If USI was prepared to kill Virginia over this, they wouldn't go light on Shannon.
"Shannon, USI has me on a shoot-to-kill list. CIA and USI are after me." Pause. "I'm sorry, Shan. I got you into this. But I can't let you go. I can't lose you. You're my best friend. I'm going to need you to have some courage. Just a little. And I'm going to get you out. But you have to trust me." Pause. "You can do this, Shannon."
"Okay," said Shannon, lightly.
Virginia breathed out, relieved.
Good.
Shannon was going to try. Virginia knew Shannon's capabilities. The girl was shy. The girl was an introvert. The girl dotted all of her I's and crossed all of her T's and felt bad when she didn't. But the girl was deadly as fuck.
The rain wrecked itself against the nose of the plane, threatening it seemed to shatter the window. It seemed as though the rain hated it out there and zealously wanted to get inside the cab. Pounded, pounded, pounded.
Brandon Keith was turned in his seat, watching everything unfold.
Chad was flying, locked in.
That's when a loud knock came on the door to the cockpit.
"We know the blonde is in there. We'd like to speak to her."
But it didn't sound like they wanted to speak.