Code Black (2 page)

Shocked at seeing her, Donovan had tried to remain calm as he walked casually past his assigned seat. As he’d passed, Audrey had looked up at him briefly. He’d wanted to turn away, but couldn’t help himself as he searched her blue eyes for any hint of recognition. She’d gazed out her window, then back at Donovan again, as if she were about to say something, then changed her mind. Donovan had hurried through first class into the relative safety of coach. He’d quickly explained to a flight attendant that there was a business rival in first class, and that he’d prefer to sit back here. She’d shrugged and gestured rather indifferently toward several rows of empty seats.

Donovan often wondered what those who had known him before would think of him now, of all that he’d accomplished. When Audrey had known him he was quite literally a different man—very little about his former self bore any resemblance to who he was today. In all the years since he’d made his fateful decision, Audrey represented his first contact with someone from what had been the inner-circle of his previous life. He looked down at the paperwork he’d planned to finish on the flight, but the proximity to Audrey made it next to impossible to concentrate. He remembered her as being extremely intelligent and resourceful, somewhat feisty, and perhaps even a little over-ambitious. She’d been fresh out of law school, a junior attorney who had been assigned as part of an acquisition team he’d outsourced for the take over of a rival company. Donovan’s thoughts tumbled back through the years as he dredged up the images of their last contact. It hadn’t gone well.

Playing through his mind, he recalled how she’d caught him completely off guard by making what was clearly an overt sexual advance—and he winced at the memory of how poorly he’d handled the situation. How abruptly he’d dismissed her. It all seemed so long ago. He thought of how he looked now, as opposed to then. At forty-five years old, he was still in pretty good shape, though his six-foot-two frame wasn’t as lean and muscular as it had once been. The normal changes of growing older hadn’t escaped him either. The creases on his angular face were getting deeper and his short brown hair was peppered with gray. When he looked in the mirror he still found his deep blue eyes looking back at him, but his forties had seen the onset of full-fledged middle age. But unlike most men, Donovan welcomed the subtle changes—even relished them. Anything that distanced him from the man he used to be was a plus.

Had Audrey already dismissed him, or was she up there trying to decide where she knew him from? Would she connect him with a man she thought had died eighteen years ago?

He looked out his small window and studied the line of thunderstorms that marked the leading edge of the cold front. The cloud tops rose far into the stark blue sky. Donovan’s usual place in an airplane was up in the cockpit, and he imagined himself there, threading the plane through a narrow gap in the weather. He’d been a pilot for half of his forty-five years—never an airline pilot, but he flew jets and had logged thousands of hours flying around the world. It was his one true passion, one he’d used to escape parts of his life that had proven far too difficult. His other passion was the company he’d formed. Eco-Watch was, in a word, everything Donovan had been searching for his entire life. In the eight years since its inception, Eco-Watch had grown from humble beginnings to become one of the leading private research organizations in existence. Eco-Watch’s collection of specialty aircraft and ships were in constant demand and booked months, if not years, in advance. At any given moment, Eco-Watch teams and equipment were crisscrossing the globe helping governments, universities, and other recognized groups study the planet. The primary mission objective was to help facilitate an understanding of both natural and man-made events that presented any kind of threat to the world’s population. Donovan liked to think that what he’d created was making a difference in the world.

Very few people knew that he’d founded Eco-Watch. Donovan operated under the title of Director of Aircraft Operations; it took him out of the spotlight and gave him far more freedom than he’d have otherwise. For the better part of the last two decades he’d carefully rebuilt his life, and at the same time, fiercely guarded his identity with every resource at his disposal, and his resources were vast.

A figure came through the curtain that separated first class from coach, and Donovan tensed, then relaxed, as he recognized one of the young flight attendants. So far, Audrey was up front, and the longer she stayed there the better. Donovan knew that once they landed, he would simply stay onboard until Audrey was well off the plane. After that, it would be easy to vanish into the terminal and disappear once again.

Donovan’s thoughts turned to his fiancée. They had only been apart for two days but he missed Lauren terribly. Once he made it to Chicago, he and Lauren would meet up with Michael Ross, Donovan’s best friend and colleague, and they would then fly the brand new Eco-Watch Gulfstream jet back home to Dulles.

From the beginning, she’d captivated him with her startling beauty and his pure physical longing for her had never ebbed. He imagined the subtle expressions she’d radiate, a flash of her emerald-green eyes, a smoldering glance over her shoulder as she absently brushed her auburn hair away from an inviting neck. He’d been instantly attracted to her, but it was her warmth and intellect that had won him over. They’d met several years earlier on a mission to study an Atlantic hurricane; Donovan had been the Eco-Watch pilot flying the sorties out of Florida. Lauren served as the lead scientist and he quickly learned she held a number of degrees, including a doctorate in Earth Science from MIT. She was one of the smartest, most complex, and most exciting women he’d ever known. He imagined her smooth skin, the faint scent of juniper when he kissed her, and found himself even more impatient to get to Chicago. It had taken him years to finally reach a kind of negotiated peace with himself, and now he’d finally met the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with. Lauren was the reason that, against his better judgment, he’d stayed on this airplane instead of quietly turning around upon seeing Audrey. Lauren was one of four people in the world who knew the truth about who he’d once been. His secret had nearly cost him his relationship with her, and though their relationship had been at times tumultuous, it now represented the most important part of his life. Lauren, and their daughter Abigail, meant everything to him. Donovan removed his wallet from his pocket and extracted a credit card, then pulled the phone from the seatback and swiped the card through the slot. Moments later he had a dial tone and punched in the numbers to Lauren’s cell phone.

“Hello.” Lauren’s firm voice was amazingly clear despite the airborne connection.

“Hey you, it’s me.” Donovan smiled. He knew she’d checked the caller I.D. on her phone and hadn’t known who was calling. She was in “Dr.” mode.

“Where are you? Please tell me you’re about to land. It’s snowing so hard right now.”

“I should be there in less than an hour. Where are you?”

“I’m in the restaurant at the O’Hare Hilton having a cup of coffee. Do you want to just meet me here when you get in? From what I’ve seen of the terminal it’s probably a mess. I was tempted to reserve us a room.”

“Oh really. What have you got in mind?” Donovan said.

“Not that,” Lauren said, laughing easily “I’m worried we won’t be able to get down to Midway airport. I’ve talked to Michael, and he says the airplane is ready and we’ll be able to leave when we get there. It’s the roads I’m concerned about.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Chicago knows how to deal with a little snow. How was the conference? Were you brilliant as always?”

“It went fine. I’ll tell you all about it when you get here.” Lauren paused. “So, did you get everything finished?”

Donovan knew she was probing. He’d been rather vague as to why he’d needed to dash back to Washington. Donovan thought of the small triumph he’d pulled off just before he’d raced to Dulles airport to catch this flight. Earlier today, he’d signed the papers to buy a house that they’d looked at last weekend. It had been a warmer-than-usual winter Sunday, and the three of them had been out for a relaxing drive. As they’d wandered the tree-lined roads of northern Virginia, they found themselves in a tranquil sub-division with stately homes situated well back from the road. There was an open house in progress and on a whim they’d stopped and taken the tour. Lauren had fallen instantly in love with both the house and neighborhood. They’d talked about it and finally decided it was perfect, but when they’d called the realtor, they discovered that the house had already been sold. Lauren was heartbroken. It had taken Donovan nearly three days of negotiations to finally convince all parties to drop the deal so he could purchase the house. Thankfully, he hadn’t had to use any assets from the huge fortune he controlled; one of the keys to his secret existence was to hide what amounted to one of the largest personal fortunes in the world. While expensive, the house would just fit in with his and Lauren’s known combined income, and no eyebrows would be raised. It would be his wedding present to Lauren. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he told her what he’d accomplished. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“You haven’t got anything else better to do at the moment. Later we might be too busy to talk.”

“Nice try.”

“That’s right. Leave me hanging, mister—and maybe all you’ll be doing later is talking.”

Donovan glanced up as someone emerged from first class. He stiffened as Audrey Parrish swept aside the curtain. She slowly worked her way down the aisle, glancing at the seated passengers. It would only be a matter of seconds before she reached him.

“Donovan, are you there?” Lauren asked. “Can you hear me?”

“I’m here,” Donovan whispered. “There’s someone on this flight I used to know—from before.”

“Oh no. Who is it? Is there any chance they might recognize you?”

“I can’t say much right now.” Donovan kept his voice low. “She just came out of first class and she’s coming this way.”

“You’re in coach?” Lauren’s said, her voice filled with disbelief.

“Yeah,” Donovan admitted. “It was the only way to avoid her.”

“Don’t you think the chance of her recognizing you after all these years is pretty remote—especially after all the changes that have taken place?”

“We’re about to find out.” Donovan shifted the phone to his other ear to help block his face. Audrey seemed to be taking in each passenger as she walked by. Donovan turned and looked out the window. The thunderstorms were far closer now.

“Donovan. What’s happening?” Lauren said.

“Nothing. I’m fine and I miss you,” Donovan replied.

“Is she gone yet?”

Donovan was about to reply, but he was distracted as several passengers on the right side of the plane began pointing frantically out the window. Others moved across the aisle to see what was happening outside. Murmurs suddenly turned to cries of alarm.

Donovan felt nothing wrong with the plane. He leaned forward to look outside at the wing and right engine. Everything seemed fine. Then, impossibly close, he caught sight of a dark shape bearing down on them. Another plane was in and out of the clouds, appearing only briefly, but he recognized it as a military KC-135 tanker.

Donovan’s practiced eye told him instantly they were on a deadly collision course. “Oh my God,” he whispered, bracing himself for the evasive maneuver he was sure the pilots were about to make. His muscles tensed, but neither plane made any attempt to avoid the other.

“Donovan! What’s going on?”

“Everyone sit down!” one of the flight attendants yelled from behind him.

Donovan looked up at Audrey. She was standing next to him, her attention locked on the growing chaos in the cabin.

“There’s another airplane—I think we’re going to hit.” Terror swept through him as he realized there was no way the two planes were going to miss. The unthinkable was about to happen. Every pilot feared a mid-air collision. It was one of the few things you were powerless to stop no matter how good you were. Driven by a surge of adrenaline, and in a desperate attempt to do something, anything, he reached out and grabbed Audrey by the wrist and yanked her down into the empty seat next to him. Her small scream of protest was drowned out by the cries of the other passengers.

“Donovan, talk to me!”

Lauren’s voice seemed to fade away—he didn’t know what to say, there were no words to tell the woman he wanted to marry that he was going to die. All of his carefully thought-out plans for their future were now pointless. After all the times he’d risked death in the cockpit, he was going to die in the back of a plane—as a passenger.

Donovan dropped the phone, gripped Audrey’s arm and held her in place. He stared helplessly as the KC-135 bore down on them. He found small bitter comfort in the realization that at least he wouldn’t die alone.

CHAPTER TWO

Lauren McKenna’s hands began to shake as she stared at her phone. The signal had been lost. Tears formed in her eyes and a giant void built in her chest and begin to spread. She fought the impulse to jump up and cry out that there’d been a plane crash—that the love of her life had died as she’d listened. Her breaths came in sharp jagged gulps.

“You’re a scientist,” she whispered, trying to get control of herself. “Deep steady breaths.” Lauren blinked through her tears and managed to gather herself enough to sift through the numbers programmed into her cell phone. She needed to find Michael.

Michael was across town at Midway Airport. He’d stayed to oversee some repairs to the
Galileo II
. The plan was for her to call Michael as soon as Donovan’s plane landed so Michael could start getting the Gulfstream ready for departure. Michael was the number two man at Eco-Watch, as well as Donovan’s closest friend. Lauren loved Michael like a brother. As the phone began to ring Lauren closed her eyes and willed Michael to answer.

“Hello,” came Michael’s usual upbeat voice.

“Michael, it’s Lauren.” Her throat threatened to close off as she battled her emotions.