Allan Leverone - Mr. Midnight

“Oh no!” Cait exclaimed, standing up in the aisle. “I’ll explain it to you later. Right now, we have to get off this plane!”

A flight attendant rushed down the aisle. She was middle-aged and harried and looked as though her patience had reached the breaking point, despite the fact the flight hadn’t even gotten off the ground yet. “Miss, you’ll have to take your seat. We’re ready for departure.”

“No, you don’t understand, you can’t depart! We have to get off the plane right now!”

“Miss, please, I’ll have to insist you sit back down. Do it now. Don’t force me to call the captain.”

Cait tried to squeeze past and the flight attendant leaned into her, grabbing her by the upper arm. Cait shook her arm free. The other passengers watched the developing altercation with a mixture of shock and resignation as it became increasingly clear the flight would not be departing anytime soon. “That’s it,” the flight attendant snarled through gritted teeth. “I’m calling security.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Kevin said.

Cait turned in surprise to see him standing behind her, his body half in the aisle, head lowered to avoid bumping it on the overhead storage bin.

“Is that so? And who are you?” All pretense of politeness and professional courtesy were gone. It was clear the flight attendant had bypassed “harried” and was now spoiling for a confrontation.

“My name is Kevin Shaw. Officer Kevin Shaw.” He flashed his Tampa P.D. shield at the woman and continued. “This is my partner, Caitlyn Connelly. We’ve just received information critical to an ongoing investigation, and it is imperative this plane return to the gate immediately and we be permitted to disembark. I’m afraid I’ll have to insist.”

The flight attendant—her name was April, Cait could see the shiny name-plate pinned to her blouse—took a step back, clearly caught off guard by this unexpected development. By now the plane had pivoted away from the jetway and was bumping slowly along a taxiway. Cait wondered how much longer it would be before they reached the runway and accelerated smoothly into the air, forcing her to miss what might be her only chance to take advantage of her mother’s unexpected change of heart.

“Please, miss,” Kevin pushed, utilizing his authoritative law-enforcement voice, the one Cait rarely got to hear. “Every moment counts. Please advise the captain that we need to return to the gate.”

The woman took a deep breath, blowing it out hard. Cait caught the scent of cinnamon. “Lemme see that badge again,” she said.

Kevin retrieved it from his pocket and she studied it carefully. “It says Tampa police.”

“That’s right.”

“What are you doing in Boston?”

“We’re cooperating with the Boston Police Department on an investigation, and if we miss out on an arrest because you were too timid to make a decision, I’ll be sure to let the D.A. know who to thank. Let’s see…” He made a show of squinting at her name tag. “…your name is April. And your last name?”

The flight attendant gave him a frosty glare and marched down the aisle at double speed, stopping at the cockpit door and knocking. She stepped onto the flight deck and Cait could see her talking quickly, gesturing angrily back toward them. A head swiveled around the door and looked back at them and when it did, Kevin held his badge up in response, although they were much too far away for it to be read. The captain shrugged and said something to the flight attendant and she returned, closing the door firmly behind her.

“The captain says he will be happy to return and allow you to disembark.” She emphasized the word “he,” doing her best to make it clear she disagreed with the decision. “Please take your seats and stay in them until we’ve come to a complete stop at the gate.” She turned her back on them without another word and marched back up the aisle, refusing to acknowledge the “Thank you” Cait lobbed at her as she retreated.

Moments later the plane made a left turn, followed a quickly by another left. Cait began to relax as it became clear they really were returning to the terminal. Kevin whispered, “What the hell is going on here?”

Cait squeezed his arm and said softly, “Wow, you were awesome!”

“Let’s see if you still think so when the TSA and the Boston police surround us and stick their guns up our asses when we get off this big tin can.”

“Do you really think the police will be waiting for us?”

Kevin shrugged. “I don’t know. They take airplane disturbances very seriously since 9/11, but the captain seemed pretty cool, and he’s the one in charge, thank God. If it was April the Airline Nazi, we’d definitely be screwed. We’ll just have to wait and see. Now, could you please explain to me why we’re risking imprisonment to return to the very place you couldn’t wait to leave not twenty minutes ago?”

“That was my mother on the phone before.”

“Yeah, I figured that much out on my own. What did she say to you?”

“She wants to see me again.”

“And?”

“And nothing. She changed her mind for some reason and wants to see me right away.” Kevin stared at her long and hard and she felt her face begin to redden. “What?” she asked defensively.

“Why would she do that?”

“What do you mean, ‘why?’ I’m her child and she wants to see me. Isn’t that enough?”

“It would have been enough if we hadn’t gone through one of the more painful meetings I’ve ever attended earlier today. The kiss-off she gave us as we were leaving sounded pretty clear—and pretty permanent—to me.”

Cait said, “But you were the one who said she might change her mind given a little time.”

“Sure I did, and I meant it. But by ‘a little time,’ I was talking about months or even years, not a few hours.” Kevin glanced out the small window next to him. In the distance the Boston skyline moved slowly past.

Cait watched him without speaking as the airplane taxied slowly up to the same jetway they had left just a few minutes before. Finally she said, “Something’s bothering you. What is it?”

He turned his attention back to her, his intense blue eyes clouded with concern. “I don’t know, exactly,” he answered. “But something’s not right.”

It seemed to take forever to get off the damn airplane once they had nosed into the terminal. Cait had expected to leap out of her seat and hurry out the door the moment they stopped moving. Their unscheduled return to the gate had meant the flight would depart at least fifteen or twenty minutes late, so she assumed it would be in the airline’s best interest to move things along.

Her assumption was wrong. The plane rolled to a stop and Cait rose immediately, but the harried flight attendant rushed down the aisle before she could take two steps. “There’s no one available inside the terminal to operate the motorized jetway,” the woman said, smug satisfaction written all over her face. “You’ll just have to take your seat again until dispatch can send someone over.”

The unscheduled detour had annoyed most of the passengers in addition to the now-maddeningly polite flight attendant, and the next few minutes passed uncomfortably slowly, as all around them people muttered under their breath, leveled hard stares, and shook their heads in frustration.

At last they were allowed to leave. They walked off the airplane and into the otherwise empty tunnel leading back into the terminal building, passing the flight crew without acknowledgment, not that Cait cared.

She could feel Kevin’s body tensing as they approached the mouth of the jetway tunnel. He had put his career on the line to convince the captain to return to the gate by claiming to be working with the BPD and identifying Cait as his partner. If the police really were waiting for them to exit, as he had said they might be, a call to Tampa would undoubtedly follow and the ruse would be discovered. What would happen then, Cait didn’t know, but she suspected it would not be pleasant, particularly for Kevin.