Mary Alford - Framed For Murder

His hands clutched the handlebars in a tight grip. It seemed like forever before the lights appeared from his makeshift airstrip. He’d smoothed the area out himself. Under normal conditions, there would be no problem taking off or landing, but these weren’t normal weather conditions. It had been snowing for a while. Clouds blanketed the mountains from view, and it was still dark out. He dismounted the snowmobile and headed for the hangar. With just the two of them, would he be able to protect her? He didn’t dare call in backup; Liz would never make it to Black Bear and her chances of staying free would vanish.

Liz was his friend and he’d seen how violent these men were. They’d gone after Sam in a heavily guarded facility. They’d killed a federal agent. They had nothing to lose. Liz wouldn’t stand a chance on her own. He wasn’t about to let her fall victim to these monsters.

Like it or not he was all-in, which meant they were on their own.

Something disturbing tore his attention to the edge of the landing strip. Additional vehicles were closing in. Now he understood why the men hadn’t followed them. Whoever was behind Michael’s and Sam’s murders wasn’t taking any chances. They’d stationed men where they believed Liz would go for help. Michael’s place and his. Which meant they knew about his friendship with Liz. They’d anticipated this move.

“We have to get airborne now if we stand a chance at escaping. I need your help,” he yelled over his shoulder.

She didn’t hesitate. Once they reached the hangar where the plane was stored, Aaron threw open the doors. Liz helped him unpin the jet and then they got inside. Aaron fired the engine and taxied down the runway.

More than half a dozen vehicles charged the airstrip trying to cut them off. Aaron dodged the two lead vehicles, then swerved hard and managed to keep a somewhat steady path in spite of multiple rounds of gunfire coming their way.

With a silent prayer for their safe assent, Aaron throttled the plane sharply and they were airborne. Once he’d reached a safe height, Aaron veered right, and headed over Painted Rock Mountain while the men below continued firing to try to bring them down.

He grabbed his phone.

“Who are you calling?” Liz asked on edge. It hurt that she thought he’d betray her.

“Jase needs to know what just happened back there.” He squeezed her good hand. “Please trust me.” She stared at him with those worried eyes before slowly nodding.

Nothing about what happened over the past few weeks made sense. He’d imagined once Sam was in custody, they’d locate the missing weapons and everything would be finished. Yet reality hadn’t proven that to be the case.

Time was quickly running out for the investigation to remain with the Scorpion team. If they didn’t figure out what was going on soon, Liz would be left to take the fall for everything and they might never find out who was behind the killings or locate the missing weapons.

It took forever for the call to finally go through and once it did the service was so sketchy that he lost it several times.

When he could hear Jase clearly enough, Aaron quickly updated him on what had taken place at Michael’s hunting cabin and then again at the landing strip. He didn’t mention Liz.

“I know she’s with you, Aaron. You need to bring her in for her own safety. This thing is escalating and there’s more. We have uncovered some financial records that show a large amount of money was transferred into Liz’s bank account recently.” The moment he heard those words the bottom fell out of Aaron’s stomach. Coupled with what Jase had texted him earlier, things looked bleak.

“I’ll get Gavin and some men on the way to your place and Michael’s. Whatever else is going on here, bring her in for her own protection, Aaron. And before the stink of this thing lands on you.”

Aaron disconnected the call without answering, his thoughts reeling. Jase was smart. It wouldn’t take long before he realized Aaron had disobeyed his orders and they’d both gone rogue.

He needed to go dark and soon. Aaron slipped off the back of his phone and took out the battery. They could trace the phone easily enough when it was on. Taking the battery out would make it more of a challenge. The first opportunity possible, he’d destroy it.

“Where’s your phone?” he asked when she stared at him without understanding. “They’ll keep coming after us. They’ll find a way to track us. We won’t have much time.”

“It’s my burner, Aaron. I left my personal phone at the house. No one on the team has this number,” she assured him.

He remembered what she’d said about the text message. “Someone knows it. They texted you the warning.”

She squared her shoulders. “We need some way to contact Rick Evans when we get close to Talkeetna. In the note, Michael mentioned he could help us. And how else are we going to reach this Jessie Chena we’re to get in touch with in Black Bear?”

He blew out a sigh. She was right. They’d have to risk it. “You’re right. But keep it off. We’ll only use it as necessary.”

She touched his arm. “Thank you, Aaron,” she said humbly. “Thank you for believing in me.”

He managed a smile...for her. In spite of everything, Liz was a good person. She’d shown that to him time and again. He’d walk through fire to protect her, but he just hoped they could stay alive long enough to figure out who was behind the murders and how the attack tonight was connected to the missing guns.

“What I don’t understand is why are they trying to kill me? They’ve planted enough evidence to make me appear guilty. Wouldn’t killing me only shed suspicion on that theory?”

He spared her a searching look. “Not if you’re discredited already. And if you’re dead, you can’t defend yourself.” He watched her shiver at the implication.

“These people are cunning, Liz. If they were able to kill a federal agent and get to Sam in a secure prison, once they realize you’re still alive and not in prison, they’ll be worried you might know something. You’re better off dead to them. Hopefully, they don’t know about the cabin in Alaska or we’re in big trouble.” He shook his head and tried to rally his confidence.

They’d been so sure Sam was acting alone. Transporting the weapons to the US for his own diabolical purpose, but what if Sam were just the supplier? How did Michael’s death fit into any of this? The note he left Liz seemed to implicate him. The only question was, in what?

He knew Liz was watching him closely and he didn’t want to show his doubts. “We’ll figure it out,” he said with as much conviction as he could muster and then focused his full attention on the task of flying the plane in high-altitude weather conditions while trying to make sense of the last twenty-four hours. Nothing about the murders added up. He had to be missing something key.

“I need you to tell me everything you and Michael discussed and what your last minutes were like with him. I know you said he was acting out of character, but did anything unusual happen?” he asked.

She hesitated and his internal radar went ballistic. Why did she have to think about her answer?

Stop it—this is Liz.

“Beyond his wanting to speak with Sam in prison, you mean?” She glanced his way.

That certainly had been unexpected, as was the outcome of the visit.

He nodded. “Go on.”

“After we left the compound, we went straight to his house...” She stopped as if she’d remembered something. “The car. The one that looked the same as the car last night. It was behind us in his neighborhood. Michael kept watching it. I could tell it made him uneasy, but when I asked if he recognized it, he said no.” She turned in her seat to look at him. “Aaron, I’m almost positive it was the same car.”