does what I tell her to do. Isn’t that right, Jessie?”
“Whatever you want. It wouldn’t be the first secret I’ve kept for you.” Jessie wasn’t sure if she was quite as convincing as Dee. Any more than she was sure that no matter what Noah said, he’d actually give Dee what she asked. Dee had never been more beguiling, and Noah wanted to believe her. Not only was he convinced he was always right, but the bastard had already proved to be a psychopath. His attitude could change in a heartbeat.
“See?” Dee stepped closer to him and looked up at him. “And do you really need that gun?”
“I’m afraid so. Be for real, Delilah. At least until we get into the air.”
Dee moistened her lips. “I understand. But you’ll let Jessie go?”
“I’m thinking about it.” He was silent a moment. “It’s a big risk. But it might be a way that I can give you final proof that I really do care about you. That’s important to me.”
“And proof that you don’t if you kill her,” Dee said.
“Then I’d better make the grand gesture, hadn’t I?”
Noah turned back to Charlotte. “Let Jessie go after Delilah and I are on the plane. We’ll wait for you there.”
Charlotte hesitated. “You’re sure this is what you want?”
“I said it, didn’t I?” Noah motioned for Dee to walk in front of him. “The plane is this way.”
Dee hesitated after glancing at Jessie and then hurried ahead of him. “Thank you, Noah.”
Jessie watched Dee and Calderon disappear into the darkness and turn to the right, in the direction of his still-idling private jet. After a few moments, Jessie turned to Charlotte. “You’re not going to let me go, are you?”
Charlotte smiled. “Why on earth would I do that? Since we’re being honest with each other. There’s no way you would keep quiet about all this. You and I both know that, even if Noah doesn’t.”
“I think he knows. And he also knows you’ll clean up his mess. He never would have taken that chance if he didn’t.”
“I’ve been cleaning up his messes since he was a boy. This is a particularly nasty one. But once he’s over this temporary insanity, he’ll stop believing the bullshit she’s handing him. Then he’ll let me step in and take care of her, too. I almost had him persuaded before we left you before.” Charlotte raised the gun. “Just another minute or two. It wouldn’t do for me to ruin his play if I let his beloved Delilah hear a gunshot right now, would it?”
“Depends.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed on her. “Depends on what?”
“If you really believe Dee was fooled by either one of you. Personally, I think that up to the last minute she was working at getting him away to the plane to give me my chance.”
Charlotte’s smile was a sneer. “Your chance to do what?”
Jessie’s left hand flew to a lightning underchop of Charlotte’s wrist! Her right hand caught the barrel of the gun and twisted it.
BLAMM! BLAMM!
Charlotte squeezed off two more shots as they fought over the gun. Jessie elbowed her in the face three times, brutally breaking her nose. Blood spurted from her nostrils.
Jessie finally wrestled the gun from Charlotte’s grip and struck her head with it repeatedly.
Charlotte collapsed onto the ground, blood from her nose and head oozing onto the desert floor.
Jessie cocked her head. Someone was coming. One of Noah’s men?
She gripped the gun and whirled toward the sound, preparing to fire.
“Jessie!”
It was Kendra and Lynch.
Then Kendra was next to her, giving her a quick hug. “Are you all right?”
“Fine.” She was already whirling away from them and running toward the jet. “But Noah is taking Dee to his plane. We’ll have to hurry.”
“Right.” Kendra started at a run back toward the row of planes from which she and Lynch had just come. “We saw it land. This way.”
The moon had now risen full in the night sky, casting the entire Boneyard in a bluish glow. Noah’s idling jet still roared in the distance, echoing through and around the rows of old airliners.
“Noah’s totally lost it,” Jessie said jerkily. “Dee’s trying to use his feelings for her, but he’s not buying it. She’s playing a dangerous game.”
Lynch nodded grimly. “There’s no way we can let that plane take off with her.”
They rounded a corner and were met with a volley of gunfire! Kendra and Jessie dove behind a row of barrels and Lynch hit the ground just beside them.
The gunman was twenty yards ahead,