Falling by T.J. Newman
CHAPTER THIRTY
CARRIE WATCHED DIRECTOR LIU PACEwhile she barked questions into the van.
“What do you mean the first officer was in on it the whole time?” she demanded.
Agent Rousseau cut the rope around Scott. The boy collapsed into Carrie and wrapped his arms around her body, Elise sandwiched between them. He squeezed his mother hard and the baby whimpered.
“Gentle,” Carrie said. “It’s okay, baby. We’re safe.”
“I need to know—”
“Liu,” Rousseau said softly. “Give them a minute.”
“We don’t have a minute!” Liu screamed.
“She’s right,” Carrie said, climbing out of the van awkwardly while holding Elise. Turning, she took Scott’s hand before he jumped out. “What do you need?”
“The first officer—”
“Is friends with Sam.” Carrie motioned down the beach. She thought for a moment before thinking better of what she was about to say. Sighing, she kissed Elise and held the baby out to Rousseau. “Would you? I think they’ve seen enough today.” She dropped down level to her son. “We’re safe now, baby. But Mommy still needs to take care of some things to help Daddy. So I need you to stay with your sister and go with the agents, okay?” She kissed him on the top of his head, and watched them walk out of earshot before turning back to Liu. Wiping her face, she was suddenly exhausted. “His name is Ben. He’s Syrian too. Or Kurdish…” Her voice trailed off in embarrassed uncertainty. “And he has a gun.”
“Why didn’t he just crash the plane himself, then?” Liu asked.
Carrie shook her head. “Because that wasn’t it. They wanted to make Bill choose. Us or the plane.”
“And now that there isn’t a choice? Is he still going to make Bill crash?”
Carrie looked down the beach. In the distance she could make out agents circling Sam’s body, taking pictures, making marks, documenting, recording.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But we just killed the only family he had left. So I’d imagine anything’s possible.”
Carrie couldn’t decipher the look on Liu’s face as she turned away, bringing her phone to her ear. Carrie strained to hear what she was saying.
The young man with the gun who had chased Sam and allowed Carrie to escape approached, extending his hand. He introduced himself and asked if Carrie was all right.
Carrie took his hand in both of hers. “I will be once the plane lands.” She was about to thank him for what he’d done earlier when Liu returned. The two FBI agents stared each other down silently.
Finally, Liu spoke. “Don’t say ‘I told you so.’ ” She stuck out her hand.
The man looked down at it for a moment before extending his. They shook hands—but both their faces remained stony and guarded.
“Theo,” Liu sighed. “We’re not done here. There’s a problem.”
Carrie thought the woman seemed slightly hesitant as she explained that the first officer was involved. Theo’s face twisted painfully as he realized the plane was still in danger. Carrie was confused by how personally the young agent seemed to take the news. He put his hands on his knees for a moment before shooting upright, reaching into his pocket.
“She doesn’t know,” he said, typing furiously on his phone.
“Who doesn’t know?” Carrie asked.
Liu ignored Carrie’s question. “Do you know the specific location in Washington that’s the target?”
Carrie shook her head. “They never said.”
“And the gas attack,” Theo broke in, pausing his typing. “Did it happen?”
Carrie dropped her gaze and nodded. “The camera was in the cockpit, so we couldn’t see what happened in the plane. But we could hear it.”
He stared vacantly for a moment before turning back to his phone. “They need to know about the FO,” he muttered, frantically resuming his typing.
“Who’s he texting?” Carrie asked, growing impatient.
“The crew,” Liu said. “The flight attendants. His aunt Jo is one of them. She texted Theo. That’s how the FBI got involved.”
Carrie turned to Theo in disbelief. “Jo Watkins?”
He looked up.
“You know my aunt?”
Carrie couldn’t believe it. She told him that Bill and Jo had been flying together for years, and that she and Jo were friends. A new degree of anguish washed over her at the realization that Jo was on the flight. “Bill’s never going to be able to live with himself,” she said. “He gassed his own cabin, he gassed Jo…”
“With all due respect, ma’am,” Liu said, “we don’t know that’s all he’s going to do.”
Carrie’s head tilted slowly, her eyes narrowing.
“You think he’ll crash the plane.”
Carrie said it not as a question or a statement, but as an accusation. Liu looked up.
“He’s got a gun to his head, I don’t think we can—”
“And I had a gun to my head,” Carrie said. “I knew exactly what Bill would do.”
“You don’t know what—”
“I know exactly what choice my husband would have made, and will make.” Carrie’s body shook with rage. “You don’t know my husband. I do. He will land that plane.”
Liu studied Carrie. Flicking her head to Theo, she said, “Get her out of here.”
Theo guided Carrie away, his arm wrapping around her shoulder. As they walked off, they were almost out of earshot when Carrie heard Liu say quietly to another agent, “Get me the Situation Room. I’m recommending secondary protocol.”
Carrie whipped around before Theo could grab her.
“What’s the secondary protocol?” she demanded.
Liu refused to make eye contact. None of the agents would.
Carrie wheeled around to Theo. “Tell me. What’s the secondary protocol?”
Theo held her gaze, but didn’t speak. She could see the muscles on the side of his neck twitching.
Carrie was the wife of a seasoned airline captain, a pilot who’d been flying on September 11th. She understood the situation at hand; she knew what the military’s response was supposed to be.
She knew. She wanted to hear them confirm it.
Theo looked away, toward Liu, his eyes burning with betrayal.
Carrie understood.
“You are not going to shoot down that plane,” she said, her voice rising with each word.
“Ma’am, you need to let the professionals handle this. Ma’am—” Liu indicated to agents to restrain her.
“You have to give him a chance!” Carrie screamed, hysterical now. Two agents fought hard to pull her away. “You don’t know him! He’ll land the plane! I swear on my children’s life, he’ll find a way!”