Jay paced in the small cell, hoping that Charlie had been fast enough and reached the airstrip before the plane carrying Tara could take off. And that he’d come up with something to stop the plane from leaving.

Jay wrung his hands, feeling powerless in his current situation. For all the money he had, all the worldly goods, they meant nothing when he couldn’t be with Tara. He realized that now. It didn’t matter that they’d only known each other for a short time, less than three weeks in fact, but just like Paul had felt that Holly was the right person, so did Jay know that Tara was that person for him. And nobody would come between them, not after Tara had finally accepted him the way he was.

“You’re free to go.”

Jay pivoted and stared at the police officer who suddenly stood outside the cell. He took a key from his pocket and unlocked the door.

“Everything checked out, Mr. Bohannon. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

He nodded and stepped out of the cell. He’d known that once his papers arrived, it would only take minutes to verify that all was in order. But he wasn’t relieved yet. “I need a ride.”

The police officer walked toward the reception area. “You can call a taxi from the phone up front.”

“Hey, Dan, we’ve got an altercation at the Max Cannon airfield. Let’s go,” the other policeman called out from the dispatch area.

“Ah, shit, what’s wrong today? We never have that many incidents in one day!” the officer replied and rushed to his colleague.

“Wait! Take me with you. I need to get to that airfield,” Jay called after him.

The officer looked over his shoulder. “We’re not a taxi service.”

“It’s my girlfriend. She’s been kidnapped.”

The police officer frowned and exchanged a look with his colleague. He seemed to contemplate his next action.

“Please,” Jay added. “I can help clear everything up if you take me with you.”

Finally the officer nodded. “Let’s go.”

~ ~ ~

Tara heard the engines of the chartered Learjet being throttled back. She felt the brakes being applied and the jet slow instead of speed up on the runway. It finally came to a halt in the middle of it, engines idling.

“What the hell?” her father griped, already loosening his seatbelt.

Before he could jump from his leather seat, the pilot’s voice came through the intercom. “I’m sorry for the delay, but there is an obstacle on the runway. I’m radioing the tower for assistance.”

“Obstacle?” her mother muttered and looked out her side of the plane. “I don’t see anything. Allen, what’s going on?”

“I know as much as you do, Elaine,” he ground out and jumped up.

Tara looked out through the window next to her but couldn’t see anything either. Had an animal wandered onto the tarmac by accident? Truth be told, she hoped it was the case. Any delay in returning to New York was welcome.

Her father banged on the door to the cockpit. When it opened a few seconds later, Tara leaned out of her seat to catch a glimpse through the large cockpit window to see what the pilot was seeing. But her father blocked most of her view.

Tara released her seatbelt.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t we taking off?” her father barked at the pilot.

“There’s a truck on the runway,” the pilot replied, pointing to the nose of the plane.

Tara jumped from her seat and rushed to the cockpit door, peering past her father. What she saw put a smile on her face. A sign saying Charlie’s After-School Boating was painted onto the side of the truck. The hood was open and an old man was leaning over it as if he was trying to repair something.

“Charlie,” she murmured to herself. If Charlie was here, trying to stop the plane from taking off, Jay couldn’t be far.

Her father pivoted and pinned her with a furious glare. “You know who that is?”

Involuntarily, she stumbled back a few paces, but her father grabbed her upper arms, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh. “Who is this?”

“Damn it, Tara, what’s going on here?” her mother added, her voice shrill and impatient. “What have you done now?”

Tara smiled involuntarily, looking over her shoulder. “I’ve done nothing.” She turned her head back to face her father. “That’s all my boyfriend’s work I believe. So I guess you lost this round.”

“How dare you—”

Her father’s voice was drowned out by a voice coming from a megaphone from outside. “This is the police. Pilot of aircraft N37PAR, please turn off your engines. This is an order.”