Falling by T.J. Newman

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

THEO LOOKED UP AT THEsound of a helicopter’s propellors droning above the strip mall as its searchlight illuminated the streets of southwest LA. Back and forth, it searched for a needle in a haystack.

“Three-mile radius?”

The agent pulled up a map, the screens inside the comms van brightening. Aerial and street views of the area surrounding Los Angeles International Airport popped up.

“No, let’s start with two,” Liu said.

Theo stood with his arms crossed next to Liu outside the van as they looked over the other agent’s shoulder, images on the map narrowing and refocusing in response to the buttons he pushed. Even with only a two-mile radius, the vantage points for spotting LAX traffic could take days to search. Neighborhoods, hotels, shopping centers, parking garages. The range of possibilities for where the family could be was overwhelming. The one bright spot was the fact that they only had to search three sides. The entire west end of the airport butted up against the ocean.

“I want our units north, east, and south of LAX,” said Liu. “Start as close to the perimeter as possible. Sweep every street and continue out. Have airport police search the garages and review their tapes.”

Theo and the other agents nodded and began talking into radios, tapping on their phones.

Liu glanced up at the helicopter. “Air cav will get the bird’s-eye view,” she said. “And we’re going to hang back and try to put the puzzle together.”

Across the lot the bomb squad was still working over the Hoffmans’ SUV.

“You guys got anything for me?” Liu said into her radio.

Theo looked across the parking lot. One of the agents near the car turned and flashed Liu a clear thumbs-down.

Liu’s phone beeped. She read the message before sharing it with the group. “Phase one evacuations are almost complete in Washington.” Theo knew that meant the top-ranking government officials had been evacuated, the line of succession secured, and that the Secret Service was ready to move the president to the White House bunker at a moment’s notice.

No one said anything. Theo thought about the logistics of that operation. The whole situation was expanding, the web of people affected growing at a wild pace.

“What about… regular people?” Theo asked. “Does the public know? Is there an official statement?”

Liu shook her head. “And there won’t be—if we can find the family.”

A noise suddenly came through their earpieces.

“A moving van! Another Morse message—he says they’re in a moving van!”

The fingers on Theo’s bad arm tingled as a hopeful shot of adrenaline pulsed through the injured nerve endings. Liu turned to him. “Get on the phone with every moving company in the area and see what you can find.”

Stepping away from the group, Theo took note of the time and made a quick calculation. He figured the plane was less than an hour out from its final destination.

The gas attack would be happening soon.

Bill’s heart thumped with a newfound hope. He couldn’t zero in on his family’s exact location, but he was narrowing it down. If the FBI hurried, if they found the moving van soon, maybe Bill wouldn’t have to throw the poison into the cabin. Yes, there would still be a gun pointed at his head—but one thing at a time. He needed his family safe first. He could figure out the rest after that.

He looked to his family, but had to shut his eyes. It was unbearable to watch his wife, her hands bound, struggle against a ten-month-old in the throes of a temper tantrum. With his eyes closed, Elise’s incessant screams only intensified; his child, his defenseless little girl. The fact that she had no idea what was happening was unfair, her ignorance anything but bliss. Bill wondered if her diaper needed to be changed.

Hearing Carrie’s shushing intensify, he opened his eyes. Her forehead wrinkled with anxiety as she rocked the baby, but it made no difference. Scott put his hands on his sister’s feet and tickled lightly, sticking his tongue out at her. The baby’s eyes were screwed shut. Wide tracks of tears ran down her cheeks.

“It’s okay, Leesee,” Scott said, using the nickname he’d given her, the timbre of his voice rising with the baby talk. “Shhhh, it’s okay. Do you smell that? That campfire? Let’s pretend we’re camping. With Dad. In the woods.”

Bill caught his breath.

“We’ll make s’mores and look at the stars,” Scott said. “Pretend, Leesee. Pretend.”

Bill slowly dropped his left arm. Taking hold of his hand mic, he made sure it was below the chair where Ben couldn’t see. Methodically, he began tapping.

Elise screamed louder.

Sam took hold of the baby. Carrie gasped, pulling the child closer to her body. But Sam’s hands were laid gently; not as a threat, but as relief. The child, in a stabbing betrayal, pushed away from her mother, toward the man. Reluctantly, Carrie let go.

Bill’s skin chilled watching his daughter lay against the man’s chest, her cheek pressed against the suicide vest. Swaying from side to side, Sam became a metronome while Elise’s body throbbed in time with her gasping screams. Making small circles, he rubbed her back, the detonator intertwined in his fingers.

Sam began to sing. A soft melody, melancholy but sweet. The words were foreign, but to the baby, no words held meaning anyway.

Ben began to sing along, just loud enough for Bill to hear, but even then, barely.

Elise’s screams slowly turned into cries, surrendering shortly thereafter into whimpers. Her tiny body gradually stopped shuddering as she eased into relaxation. As he sang the final note of his song, the only movement was Sam’s gentle swaying.

No one said a thing in the peculiar moment of peace.

Bill wondered if the men regretted their choices. Regretted putting this baby, this little boy, this woman in the position they had. Perhaps it wasn’t too late. Even with everything that had already happened, maybe Bill could find a way to talk them out of it. He went to capitalize on the moment but Ben got there first.

“Bill. It’s time.”

Theo pressed the red button ending the call. It was the seventh moving company he’d contacted. Seven dead ends.

Looking across the lot, he saw Liu and the agents moving with purpose but no urgency.

The bomb squad was packing up and all the doors of the Hoffman car were wide open as agents went over it. Watching both teams at work, he knew their actions had been as fruitless as his.

Clenched in his hand, his phone vibrated.

The attack up here is about to start. But I wanted to tell you how proud of you I am. It’s all going to be ok, Theo. I love you so much.

Theo didn’t want to be in control. He didn’t want to be a part of this mission. He didn’t want to be the little boy who declared himself a man anymore. Adults handle situations; they fix things. Theo had been trying to do that ever since his mother drove them away from their home in the middle of the night. But he didn’t want to do it anymore.

You’ve got this, Aunt Jo. We’ve got it down here. Now you handle it up there. I love you too.

A thought floated up: I hope the captain chooses to sacrifice his family. Theo’s head drooped with shame and guilt.

Across the lot, Liu and the agents burst into movement. Something was happening. Theo broke into a run. By the time he reached them, the team was almost done packing up.

“…look up any public area in a two-mile radius that allows campfires. Think parks and…”

“What’s up?” Theo asked Rousseau.

There had been another Morse message. The pilot said the family could smell smoke. Campfire-type smoke.

Theo tried to picture the airport’s surrounding areas from above. To the east, the line of hotels on Century Boulevard. Maybe one had a courtyard fire pit? South was pretty much all residential. And too far from the runways. North, also residential and—

“Dockweiler!” Theo yelled as it came to him. He took off running toward the nearest vehicle but seeing no one follow, he stopped.

“What’s Dockweiler?” Liu said, without turning away from the screens in the comms van.

“It’s a beach,” Theo said, speaking quickly. “It’s at the end of the runways—look, I’ll explain on the way. But we gotta go.”

The agents went to finish packing up but Liu stopped them with her hand. After directing the agent working the screens to pull up all of the information they could find about the beach, she turned back to Theo.

“We’ll see. Look,” she said, indicating the information beginning to pop up on the displays, “we are seeing. But we don’t have the resources to send agents to every location you have a hunch about.”

“But, we don’t have time—”

“What we don’t have time for are mistakes. Got it?” Liu’s tone was final. She turned back to the van.

Theo gaped in disbelief. He was absolutely certain he knew where the family was. Dockweiler was a public beach located at the west end of LAX’s runways. The planes took off directly overhead and there were fire pits on the beach. He knew Liu would discover all that through her research and he knew she’d come to the same conclusion he already had. Eventually they would head in that direction—but once they got there, Liu would still want to do reconnaissance before they could surround the area and establish a perimeter.

There was not a doubt in Theo’s mind that by then it would be too late.

He tried to sound calm. “Ma’am, I really think—”

One of the other agents stepped in front of him. “Dude,” he said to Theo, his voice low, “I know. But you gotta chill. Just let her do her thing.”

Theo stared, momentarily confused, before he glanced around him. The other agents stared back at him. He knew they didn’t have the responsibility Liu did or the personal connection to the case that he did. They had no reason to stick out their necks, which made it easy to go along with the boss. Taking orders was safe.

“Theo.”

He turned to the sound of his name. It was Rousseau. The agent glanced down at Theo’s shaking hand, which was still clutching the cell phone.

“Sorry,” Theo said. “It’s just, my aunt, you know?”

The agents murmured their understanding and Theo stepped away from the group. After a few moments, he glanced back over his shoulder. No one watched him. They’d all returned to their own business.

Theo set his jaw and walked to the nearby SUV. No one tried to stop him because they’d never imagined an agent would do what he was about to do. As he sat in the driver’s seat and started the engine, he felt no hesitation. His desire to be elsewhere and not in control was gone entirely. He knew this meant the end of his career. But inaction and cowardice weren’t what he signed up for anyway.

As Theo sped out of the parking lot, he didn’t look back.