Chapter 34

Sam

“Adam! You son of a bitch!” I shout across the hangar.

I am fuming and nearly ready to punch him in the back of his two-bit backstabbing head.

“Sam? What the fuck are you doing here?!” he shouts as he whips around.

“What do you think? Making sure Lacey is safe, the money is safe, and everything goes off fine. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m…same thing, obviously!”

“Bullshit! You’re trying to steal the money and her for yourself, aren’t you?” I shove him.

“Why the hell would you think that? And don’t fucking touch me!” he postures. “The only reason you’d think that is if that’s why you’re actually here.”

People start to gather around to stare at us.

“Don’t pull that shit with me! Where the hell is she?” I say.

“What the fuck?” We both hear from behind us.

We spin around to see Charlie barreling at us from the bar.

“You, lying sons of bitches!” Charlie yells.

“What do you mean? You’re here, too!” Adam says.

“Yeah, but I didn’t lie about shit! You said you were at the fucking gym!”

“Look, I said that…you know what? Fuck you!” Adam shouts and turns away.

He looks up at the incoming flight screen and stares quietly.

“Her flight is in and says it’s offboarded, huh?” I say quietly.

People are trickling through the gate, but there’s no sign of Lacey. We all check our phones silently, waiting for anything.

“Think the plan fucked up?” Charlie says.

“Yeah, looks like. Maybe that fat fuck wizened up a little?” Adam says.

“Doubt it,” I say. “But it sounds like we all had the same thought, huh? Take the money, take the girl, and fuck off into the sunset?”

“Pretty much,” Adam nods.

“Yeah, sorry guys,” Charlie says.

“Hmph…” I plop down into a nearby seat as I stare around the airport.

I’d love more time to explore. Switzerland seems pretty nice. Maybe Lacey can show me around when this all blows over…if we’re not in jail, I guess.

“Well, at worst,” Charlie begins, “Denham has pieced it all together and is taking Lacey somewhere else, along with the money, to keep it all for himself. Frames us since he’s probably pretty pissed off, so we end up in jail, and we never see her again.”

“And at best?” Adam says.

“Well, as it stands, at best, she escapes from him and flees without a single cent into a random foreign country. I’m sure she can handle herself, but I’m also pretty sure Denham still figures out how to fuck us over and put us in jail.” Charlie sighs.

“What if it’s all of us?” I say suddenly.

“What?” the two of them say simultaneously.

“Well, she likes all of us, it seems. That’s what she expected from the start. And shit, this is pretty great, isn’t it?”

They nod in response.

I continue, “So…we go in together. Stop the plane, save the girl, and bring her home together? And if she doesn’t want to pick one of us herself then…we split the island and the girl, just like we said from the start. But no lying this time.”

“That…that’s an idea,” Charlie says.

“I guess I can put up with you assholes for a little bit more,” Adam smirks.

“Let’s give it a few more minutes, I guess. Maybe there are issues with the money,” I say. “And do a quick cheers to us all.”

I head over to the bar and order us a round of aged whiskey that I’ve never heard of, and we all give a toast to Lacey and to us.

I stare up at the screen as we sip our drinks and watch the numbers click over back and forth. Suddenly, Lacey’s flight status changes to “delayed.”

“Hey…” I point up at the screen. “That’s weird, right? It shouldn’t say delayed since it already got here?”

“No…” Adam says. “It shouldn’t.”

We stare at it, and it suddenly changes to “departing.”

“Fuck!” Charlie shouts.

We suddenly burst out, running through the gate. They try to stop us at the check, but Charlie flashes his wallet and mutters something about the FBI before shouldering past them. We duck into a hallway marked “Employees Only” and manage to find our way outside.

Lacey’s plane is starting to pull away, so Adam screams to a nearby tram driver.

“Here’s one thousand U.S. dollars. Drive this right in front of that plane right there and run away. We’ll take all the responsibility.”

The driver is dumbstruck but stares down at the stack of cash and nods. He speeds off, and in moments, the plane stopped as the young guy sprints away.

Someone moves the stairs next to the plane, touching an earpiece with a confused look on his face. He must be getting orders from Denham or his security. Good.

The door opens, and a handful of very burly security guys storm out with very angry looks for us. Not good.

“Any thoughts?” I shout.

“They’re in the way of our girl, right? Fuck ‘em!” Adam says.

We make our way up to the plane, and the security guys pose surprisingly little challenge for us. Charlie takes a solid hit to the shoulder, but they all go down with just a few swings from us.

“Cheap fuck even skimped on his security,” Adam pants.

Charlie and I laugh as we enter the plane.