With Nancy silently beckoning to show the way, they ran the length of the corridor and burst through the door into the stairwell. They started down but almost immediately heard a door opening three floors below them on the ground level.
Jesse, who was now in the lead, made a snap decision and detoured into the corridor of the third floor. Everyone followed.
They dashed to the stairwell at the opposite end. Jesse held up until Sheila brought up the rear. As Jesse was about to open the door, he caught a glimpse through the door’s window of someone coming up the stairs. Quickly he ducked down and motioned frantically for the others to do the same. They all heard the heavy footfalls of several people charging up the stairs, heading to the fourth floor.
The moment Jesse thought he heard the stairwell door above close, he pulled open the door in front of him. He looked up. Satisfied the stairwell was now empty, he motioned for the others to follow him down to the ground level.
They regrouped in front of a door that said it was armed and was restricted for emergency use only.
“Everybody here?” Jesse whispered.
“We’re all here,” Eugene said.
“We get in that van and we’re out of here,” Jesse said. “I’ll drive. Let me have the keys.”
Nancy gladly passed them to him.
“Okay, go!” Jesse said. He burst through the door, setting off the alarm. The others followed closely at his heels. They ran half bent over. Within a few seconds they were inside the car, and Jesse had the engine roaring.
“Hang on,” he warned. He gunned the engine. With a screech of tires they rocketed out of the parking lot. Jesse didn’t bother to stop at the security gate. The van hit the black-and-white wooden bar and snapped it cleanly off.
Jonathan turned and looked out the rear window. Glancing up at the darkened windows of the fourth floor, he saw several pairs of glowing eyes. They appeared like cats’ eyes reflecting the beam of a headlight.
Jesse drove rapidly but purposefully within the speed limit. He’d passed a few squad cars and didn’t want to attract their attention.
At a traffic light everyone began to calm down enough to discuss who it could have been that had tried to corner them in the Serotec building. No one had any idea. Nor did anyone know who would have tipped them off. Nancy questioned whether the night security man might be one of “them.”
At the next light, Pitt happened to glance over at the car alongside them. When the driver turned to look at Pitt, his face immediately reflected recognition. Pitt saw him reach for his cellular phone.
“This sounds crazy,” Pitt said. “But I think the guy next to us recognizes us.”
Jesse responded by ignoring the red light. He surged forward between cars, then turned off the main street. They bumped down a back alley.
“Aren’t we going the opposite direction from the airport?” Sheila asked.
“Don’t worry,” Jesse said. “As the expression goes, I know this city like the back of my hand.”
They made a few more surprising turns down small, out-of-the-way streets. Then to everyone’s surprise they sped up an entrance to the freeway that no one in the car besides Jesse knew existed.
They drove the rest of the way to the airport in silence. It was becoming clear to everyone the extent of the conspiracy and that they could not let down their guard.
Jesse drove up to the departure level of the airport and pulled to a halt at terminal C. Everyone piled out of the van.
“We can take care of ourselves from here,” Sheila said, grabbing the briefcase containing the hastily assembled report. “Why don’t the rest of you get back home to safety?”
“We’re going to see you three off,” Jesse said. “I want to make sure there is no more trouble.”
“What about the van?” Pitt asked. “Do you want me to stay here with it?”
“No,” Jesse said. “I want all of us inside.”
The interior of the terminal at that hour was all but deserted. A cleaning crew was polishing the expansive terrazzo floor. The Delta counter was the only one occupied. The monitors said that the Atlanta flight was on time.
“All you people head out to the gate,” Jesse said. “I’ll get the tickets. Just be sure to have your picture IDs handy.”
The group hurried across the terminal and approached airport security. There were a few other passengers who were waiting their turn to put their carry-on baggage into the X-ray detector.
“Where are the black discs?” Cassy whispered to Pitt.
“Eugene has them in his knapsack,” Pitt answered.
At that moment Eugene dropped the knapsack on the conveyer, and it disappeared inside the machine. He stepped through the metal detector.
“What if they set off an alarm?” Cassy said.
“I’m more worried that the security personnel might be one of ‘them’ and recognize the image on X-ray,” Pitt said.
Both Pitt and Cassy held their breath as the woman security guard halted the machine. Her eyes were glued to the X-ray image. It seemed like a full minute before the woman restarted the conveyer belt. Cassy sighed in relief. She and Pitt stepped through the metal detector and caught up with the others.
They all avoided locking eyes with any of the other passengers as they walked out the concourse. It was nerve-racking not knowing who was infected and who wasn’t. As if reading everybody’s mind, Jonathan said: “I think you can tell who they are by either their smiles or their eyes.”
“What do you mean?” Nancy asked.
“It’s either a fake smile or their eyes glow,” Jonathan said. “Of course you can only see the eyes in the dark.”
“I think you are right, Jonathan,” Cassy said. She’d witnessed both.
They arrived at the gate. The plane was already mostly boarded. They moved to the side to wait for Jesse.
“See that woman over there?” Jonathan said while pointing. “Look at that stupid grin. I bet five bucks she’s one of them.”
“Jonathan!” Nancy whispered forcibly. “Don’t be so obvious.”
Vince Garbon pulled the unmarked police car over to the curb, directly behind the Sellerses’ minivan.
“Obviously they are here,” Captain Hernandez said as he got out of the car. A second car pulled up behind the first. Candee, her parents, and the other plainclothes officers emerged.
Like iron filings being drawn to a magnet, a number of infected airport workers immediately drew around the captain and his group.
“Gate 5, terminal C,” one these people said to the captain. “Flight 917 for Atlanta.”
“Let’s go,” Captain Hernandez said. He stepped through the automatic door into the terminal and waved for the others to follow him.
“Now where’s Jesse?” Sheila asked. She looked for him back along the concourse toward the main terminal. “I don’t want to miss this flight.”
“Eugene,” Nancy whispered to her husband. “With all that’s going on, I’m having second thoughts about leaving Jonathan. Maybe one of us should stay here.”
“I’ll watch out for him,” Jesse said. He’d come up behind the group in time to hear Nancy’s comment. “You do your thing in Atlanta. He’ll be fine.”
“How did you get here?” Sheila asked.
Jesse pointed toward an unmarked, locked door just behind them. “I’ve been to the airport so many times investigating various crimes that I know the place better than my own basement.”
He handed tickets to Nancy, Eugene, and Sheila. Nancy gave her son one last hug. Jonathan remained stiff with his arms at his side.
“You be careful, hear me?” Nancy said, trying vainly to look Jonathan in the eye.
“Mom!” Jonathan complained.
“Let’s go,” Sheila said. “It’s last call.”