sudden feeling of guilt for not having trusted her. He edged over to a
corner and waited.
At the counter, Faith displayed her new ID and purchased three tickets.
Two tickets were in the name of Suzanne Blake and Charles Wright. The
woman barely looked at her photo. Thank God for that, although Faith
supposed people rarely looked like their ID photos anyway. The flight
to Norfolk International left in about forty-five minutes. The third
ticket she purchased was in the name of Faith Lockhart. It was a
flight heading to San Francisco with a stopover in Chicago. It left in
forty minutes. She had spotted it on the monitors. West Coast, big
city. She could lose herself, drive down the coast, maybe even sneak
into Mexico. She wasn’t sure how she would accomplish that, but she
just had to take it one step at a time.
Faith had explained that she was buying the ticket to San Francisco for
her boss, who would arrive shortly.
“She’ll have to hurry,” the clerk said. “She still has to check in.
And they’re going to begin boarding in about ten minutes.”
“It won’t be a problem,” Faith assured her. “She doesn’t have any
luggage, so she can check in at the gate.”
The clerk handed her the ticket. Faith figured she was safe using her
real name on the ticket because she paid for all of them with her
Suzanne Blake credit card. And the only other ID she had to check in
with was her real one. It was Faith Lockhart or nothing. Everything
would be okay.
She could not have been any more wrong.
As Lee watched Faith, a thought jolted him. His gun! He had to check
it before going through security or all hell would break lose. He shot
across to the counter and next to a startled Faith.
He put his arm around her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Hey,
babe. Sorry, the phone call took longer than I thought.” He looked at
the ticket agent and said casually, “I have a pistol I need to
check.”
The ticket agent raised her eyes slightly at this.
“You’re Mr. Wright?”
Lee nodded. She went about processing the necessary documents. He
showed her his fake ID and she stamped his passenger ticket
appropriately and entered the information in the computer. He turned
over the gun and ammo, and filled out the declaration form. The agent
tagged the container and they left the ticket counter.
“Sorry, I forgot about the gun.” Lee looked up ahead to the security
gate. “Okay, they’re going to have people posted at the gate. We’ll
go through separately. Be cool; you don’t look anything like Faith
Lockhart.”
Although Faith felt her heart in her throat the entire time, they went
through the security gate without incident.
As they passed the flight information monitors, Lee spotted their gate.
“Down this way.”
Faith nodded as she noted how the gates were configured here. The
departure gate for the San Francisco flight was close enough to easily
get to, but far enough away from the Norfolk gate. She hid a smile.
Perfect.
As they walked along, she looked over at Lee. He had done a lot for
her. She wasn’t feeling good about what she was about to do, but had
convinced herself it was for the best. For both of them.
They reached the gate for the flight to Norfolk. The plane would be
boarding in about ten minutes, they were told. There was a good crowd
waiting.
Lee looked at her. “You better call that commuter service for the
flight to Pine Island.”
Lee and Faith walked over to the phone bank and she made that call.
“All set,” Faith said. “Now we can relax.” “Right,” Lee said dryly.
Faith looked around. “I need to use the rest room.” “Better hurry.”
She hustled off while Lee looked after her thoughtfully.
CHAPTER 22
“BINGo!” THE MAN SITTING IN FRONT of the computer screen said. He was
in a van outside of the airport. The FBI had a designated liaison with
the airlines to monitor the travel of persons the Bureau was looking
for. With more than one airline sharing reservation systems and data