Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 44: Rescue

Airstrip near the Hudson. Monday afternoon. March 8, 2004.

Jones and Graham waited in the shadows while Peter approached the hangar. He'd given Jones his badge and gun, taking instead the weapon Jones had arranged. He'd practiced with it once before, but that had been months ago. He hoped like hell this worked. If it didn't, someone was probably going to die.

Kate and her dad weren't murderers, as far as he could tell. Henry described them over the feed as more venal than criminal masterminds. But you never knew what a desperate person might do. The pilot was another matter. Neal had found the pilot's name in the paperwork in the cockpit, and Peter had run it. The guy had a reputation for violence on two continents, and ran with a dangerous crowd. The pilot probably knew how much information Neal and Henry and Mozzie could gain about him and the flight destination while locked up in the plane. He'd be motivated to silence them permanently.

Mozzie had eaten his long-awaited lunch and then returned to the plane to "finish" cracking the second code and to get caught up on the plan. Now he was back with Kate, Gil and the pilot, explaining the frequency and the code phrase, convincing them that he hadn't missed anything. Neal and Henry were still inside the plane.

Peter pounded on a door to the hangar with a half-empty bottle of Scotch. "Henry!" he yelled. "Henry Allen Winslow! I know you're in there. I tracked your phone. Get your ass out here right now, or so help me I'll shoot the lock off this door!"

Instead of opening the door he'd knocked on, they raised the massive door the plane would pass through. Gil and the pilot hung back with Mozzie. Kate approached Peter, taking care to look very innocent and bewildered. Her nose wrinkled as she couldn't help but smell the Scotch Peter had purposely spilled on his suit. Before she could try to sweet talk him, Peter said, "Think he can get me fired? You tell Henry it's time for a reckoning. Daddy's here. Henry!" After yelling Henry's name, Peter sneered at Kate. "I remember you. Saw you meeting Neal at that café last month when I was following him. You're that tramp of a girlfriend of his. So he's here, too." He stepped forward with a speed and purposefulness that took Kate by surprise, grabbing her around the neck so that she stood in front of him like a human shield. He pulled out the special gun and pointed it at her. "Henry! Neal! You got ten seconds before I shoot Kate."

The door to the plane opened. Gil seemed to be telling the pilot to let them pass, and Neal and Henry climbed down to the ground. While everyone else was distracted, Mozzie disappeared.

The pilot had the gun now, instead of Gil. Kate's father was arguing and gesturing, obviously wanting the pilot to stop pointing the gun in Kate's direction.

Kate went limp. To Gil and the pilot it would look like she had been choked into unconsciousness, but it was really the chemical mix on Peter's suit jacket sleeve that had knocked her out. Gil stepped forward, but paused when Peter started yelling again. "Damn it, Caffrey! You're worse than your old man. You turned my son against me, and no one I've sent has been able to kill you. Some jobs you have to do yourself." He raised his gun and fired at Neal.

He should have hit Neal in the shoulder. That was the plan, and Peter had excellent aim. But it couldn't be that simple. Henry had another plan in mind. He pushed Neal out of the way and the bullet hit him in the chest. Henry fell to the ground, a mass of red blossoming on his white shirt. His hands had reached toward the wound, but slipped away when he hit the ground. Neal knelt beside him, and looked desperately up at Gil. "Call 911!" he demanded.

The pilot had climbed into the plane and started the engine. He was taxiing out of the hangar.

"Wait!" Gil ran parallel to the plane, stopping beside Peter. "I know who you are. You're Robert Winslow. Kate told me about Henry and a little about you when she was dating Neal. We're not part of this. Just give me my daughter and we're out of here. You can do whatever you want when we're gone. We're not telling anyone. We're leaving the country and not coming back."