"What do we do?" Brandon asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine. Any ideas?"
She was only trying to buy time for Jake to collect a parachute.
She hoped he was alive.
"We land somewhere?"
"Not fast enough."
"We jump from the plane?"
Virginia kept the yoke up, kept them in a rapid descent.
"We fight," said Virginia.
"I don't know what that means."
"Neither do I. Just trying to make you feel better."
Virginia noted the other plane was still chasing them.
She would give Jake a little more time.
*****
The woods sheltered them from the rain. Shannon had to ease up on the gas because the car was bouncing through potholes. The path here was small—one-way. Not a problem, though, since no one was out here in the rain.
The path took a sharp left, and she flew into it, the car fishtailed. She kept up a good speed and was gaining distance from these guys. The trees were blowing hard all around, bending in particular directions. Loud and unsettling.
Then she came out the other end of the woods, back into the open, back into the wind and rain. The water came through the opening in the window once more.
She leaned forward, applying more torque to the vehicle.
The hard-packed dirt started to loosen here and the back tires slipped a little. She saw that the path, which was a straight shot from here up to the hills, looked to get increasingly muddy.
She reached the bottom of the hills when the Suburbans emerged from the small woods. She kicked the Camaro into a lower gear, sped up the hills, tires slipping a few times in the mud.
Have to be careful, Shannon.
*****
Jake shot one of the two warlords in the head and then took the other from his seat and held him as a human shield. Sufficiently protected, Jake reached for the overhead bin above his head. Unlatched it. No parachute. He moved to the next.
A bodyguard down the line moved his head above a seat slightly. Jake took the shot. Bullet went into the seat's headrest.
Thunder cracked, per usual.
For half a second, Jake looked out the back of the now opened-up plane. A wide piece of lightning unfolded just beyond, slicing through the rain. He thought he saw steam on the skeins of the rain. Could be imagining. Still, it was a crazy sight.
And a crazy situation.
All for this girl. Virginia Hart. He asked himself, Why was he doing this for her? Why not follow the order? Perhaps she was endangering innocent Americans in a quest for Calvert. She clearly didn't have her steps planned out carefully. This situation was unlike any in which he'd been.
CIA and USI shouldn't have been talking.
That's what tipped him off.
That and Virginia's eyes.
He knew she couldn't be lying, and he wasn't about to kill her.
It was treason, of course. To disobey his government.
As he moved to the next bin, he grinned, because he realized they might die right now anyways, and it would all be for nothing. It was some kind of weird grin—the kind that happens in rare moments when you are truly amused by the tragedy of life to the extent that you throw all caution to the wind. But in a way that inhabits confidence and not apathy.
"Stay down," he yelled, reminding the men of his dangerous presence.
He stepped in front of another set of seats containing one of the drug lords. Jake shot him through the head.
*****
"They're closing in," said Brandon.
"I can see that," said Virginia. Lightning from a little off to the right flashed into her eyes. She had to blink against the white noise.
"What are you going to do about it?" asked Brandon.
"You're a talkative guy."
"You're way too calm."
"I'm always calm."
"I believe you."
But Virginia thought back to earlier. Losing her calm over such a simple thing as hiding Reynolds' body in the bathroom. It was such a simple thing and her heart had risen. No, she reminded herself, her heart had risen because of the stakes of this mission in its entirety.
But now, this moment, she shut down all thinking. If she thought of the endgame, she'd become nervous. She could only focus on the moment.
"How do you stay calm?" he said.
"By choice," she said.
"I don't work that way."
"Honey," Virginia said, paused. Then turned to him for a moment and smiled. "I can tell."
He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Listen," said Virginia, indicating the radar screen, "there's no way we can outrun them. There's no way we can outfight them unless you have an RPG you didn't tell me about." He was shaking his head. "We have to ditch." She looked at him. "You have an insurance policy on this plane? I hope it's better than my friend Jennie's on her Honda Civic. She got nothing but bills in the mail and a broken leg and a lot of time to watch Netflix. And no car."
He couldn't help but smile, despite the shakiness in his hands now.
"I made all that up," she said.
He undid his seatbelt and got out of his seat. "I've never jumped from a plane."
Feeling encumbered, Virginia threw off her jacket so she was only wearing the red dress. Then she reloaded her gun, and Brandon followed her out of the cockpit.
*****
Shannon rolled over the top of the first hill. Rocky though it was, the Camaro handled fine.
Continuing down the dirt path, the road steepened down the hill.
Touching the brakes, she kept her hands tight on the wheel.
The car lost traction at a few points and tried sliding sideways, but she always corrected and continued straightforward. Then she reached the nexus of the next hill and began the ascent.
The soil out here was inconsistent.
When she was halfway up this hill, she adjusted her side mirror and saw the Suburbans coming down the previous hill. Only two that she could see. Maybe she'd lost one of them so far.
But she was dealing with the thought that USI had plenty of resources, and these muddy hills wouldn't slow down the helicopters. They wouldn't slow down the backup that would arrive on the other side of all this if she didn't get through fast enough.