He came to sit back by Miranda a few moments later. "You did a good job bandaging the stewardess, she's not bleeding through the bandage."
"Yeah, it was just a skim across her arm, she'll be okay."
"Have you wound a lot of bandages before?" he asked her.
"A few, I took some medical classes," she shrugged.
"You know you saved everyone today. It was brave but stupid."
She chuckled. "I know, it was, but I didn't want to die, and I know no one else wanted to."
He nodded. "I could have handled them."
"Could you?" she said. "There were more men than you could handle alone."
"I would have thought of something."
"I am sure you would have," she sighed.
He looked back at the captives and shook his head. They were squirming on the floor. He stood up and went to sit down opposite them, his gun out.
"Don't make me finish the job," he growled at them.
They quit struggling, and the passengers cheered.
He ignored them, wondering how Mandy had taken down so many men and without shooting up the plane. That woman had to have had some serious training. He wondered then if she was in the military. That would make sense.
He walked to the back of the plane where he had stashed his captives and dragged them up to join their friends, howling all the way, and making the passengers laugh.
"She did good work," the military guy said as Cole dumped the two men by their friends.
"Yes, she did," Cole agreed.
"Only one casualty," the man said.
"Two, actually," Cole frowned. "They killed the guard."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, it does."
"Are you her boyfriend?" he asked, referring to Miranda.
Cole shook his head. "We just met on this flight actually."
"She must be a cop."
"She didn't say she was."
"Must be military then," the man grinned. "She knew where to shoot them without putting holes in the plane, and how to incapacitate them."
"I was thinking the same," Cole nodded.
"You a cop?"
"I am."
"Good. I wonder why these scum wanted this plane."
"I don't know, but I felt like it was going to be 9/11 all over again."
The man nodded. "Yeah, me too. I just wonder how they got past security with those guns."
"Ceramic," Cole said, nodding at the one the military guy had in his hand. "They were able to put them in their carryon bags without causing suspicion when it went through x-ray."
"But wouldn't it have looked like a gun?"
Cole shook his head. "No, I'll show you why," he said. He picked up one of the men's guns and took it apart like it was a lego set.
The man whistled.
"So they get on board and put them together, but how come no one noticed?"
"Because they probably assembled them in the bathroom."
"You are probably right," the man said. He then leaned over and shook Cole's hand.
"I'm Jett Patterson."
"Cole Ipson."
"Nice to meet you, man."
"You too."
"Say, think I could get that lady's phone number? She is seriously hot stuff. She took down all these guys and saved the plane."
"I don't know, you would have to ask her," Cole shrugged, even though he was thinking the same thing. He didn't want Jett to ask her out, he wanted to ask her out. He wondered then if she was involved with someone already, although he didn't see a ring.
They felt the plane start to descend then, and the two men buckled in but kept an eye on their prisoners.
As soon as the plane touched down, all of the passengers cheered.
Miranda looked outside the window as the plane landed. Several cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks sat on the runway. Knowing that there were criminals on board, the plane was surrounded by cops and their weapons out. Stairs were pushed to the plane, and then moments later the door opened and cops stormed the airplane.
The cop in front yelled, "Everyone okay?" The passengers nodded. Cole stood along with Jett, and they walked to the officers. "Are you in charge?" the officer asked him.
"I am Detective Cole Ipson, and yes, I helped subdue these men," he said.
The officers noticed the pile of men on the floor.
"These are our hijackers?"
Cole nodded. "Yes, all of them. I don't speak of word of Iranian so I don't know what they wanted."
"You shot them all?" the main officer asked.
"I had help," he said.
"We will need your statement, detective, and whoever helped you."
"Of course," he nodded.
At the front of the plane, the paramedics stepped on board. They eyed the stewardess and two of them headed to her, and then one of them saw Miranda. He headed to her. "Miss, you were shot?"
She nodded.
"Okay, can you walk?"
"Yes."
"Do you think you can make it off the plane so we can get you to the hospital?"
"Yes, but I will be fine, it is just a scratch," she assured him.
"Your arm is bleeding pretty heavily for just a scratch, Miss," he frowned.
Miranda shrugged. "I will be okay. There are others injured worse than I am," she said.
The man shook his head like she was crazy. "There are others?"
"Yes. The terrorists shot the guard. I think he is dead in the bathroom, and I know the terrorists themselves are injured."
"We will attend to them later. We need to attend to all of you first," he replied and helped Miranda to her feet. She grabbed her purse and he tucked an arm about her waist, walking with her to the stairs. He looked at the other paramedics who were attending to the stewardess. She had passed out from the pain.
"Let the cops know I am attending to this young lady," the paramedic said.
They nodded at him and he led Miranda off the plane. She sighed. How was she going to escape? If her chief found out about the whole mess, she would be in so much trouble.
Outside the fence, the media had shown up, and Miranda ducked her head.
"Sir," she whispered, as he led her to an ambulance.
"Yes?" he asked, wondering why she was hiding her head.
"I can't let the media see me."
"Why not?" he asked, making her sit in the ambulance.
"If they do, then my ex-boyfriend might find me," she lied.
"Ex-boyfriend?"
"Yes, that was why I was on the plane headed to San Francisco, I was running from him. He was really abusive."
She showed him the scar on her stomach, and he frowned. "What did he do?" he ground out.
"He slashed me with some glass a few months ago. There are other scars too."
"So you need to stay hidden."
She nodded. "I do, I really can't be seen."
"I understand," he nodded. "I will make sure you are safe, okay? And I will make sure the media doesn't get any pictures of you."
She nodded as he lifted the sleeve on her shirt. "You were bandaged already?"
"The man who saved us all," she smiled. "He bandaged me."
"Only one guy took down all those dudes?"
"Yes. He said he was a cop, and there was a military guy too. He helped subdue them. But the cop shot the terrorists."
"Good for him," the paramedic said. "I can't stand scum like that."
One of the other paramedics approached the ambulance then.
"Barry, sorry, but we need some help," he said, looking at Miranda apologetically.
Barry looked at Miranda. "Stay here, okay? I'll be right back."
She nodded and he hopped out of the ambulance. Now was her chance to run.
She peeked her head out and looked around. Everyone was occupied, good. The media was paying attention to the passengers who were now being let off the plane. Miranda climbed out of the ambulance and hurried between vehicles. She had an extra shirt in her purse because you never know when your luggage might be lost. She took off her bloodied shirt, tucked it into her purse, and put on the clean shirt. She then hurried to the building and inside to the luggage carousel. The carousel was starting to spit out luggage, which she was grateful for. Seeing that her suitcase was one of the first ones on the carousel, she grabbed it and hurried into the elevator, ignoring those who were staring out the window at the plane that was surrounded by all kinds of emergency vehicles.
"I wonder what happened?" someone asked, as he hurried to a window with another woman.
If they only knew, Miranda smirked as she went up the elevator and out into the main airport. She hurried up to a car rental agency.
"I need to rent a car," Miranda said, pulling out one of her fake I.D.'s and the credit card she was given.
"Sure thing Miss," the man smiled at her. He then said. "I heard there was something crazy going on out on the tarmac."
"Oh yeah, I heard that too. Someone said it was terrorists."
"Crazy stuff then."
"Yeah, glad I wasn't on that plane."
"I am sure," he said, taking Miranda's information and then he asked. "What kind of car would you like?"
"Any compact is good, a convertible would be awesome."
"Convertible it is," he said and typed in more info. He then handed her a paper to fill out for insurance, and what her destination was, then he then smiled and pulled out a set of keys, handing them to her. "Just take a left out the door. Our lot is right there. Your car is in row three. A BMW convertible."
"Thank you, sir," she smiled.
"Anytime Miss, have a good trip."
"Thank you," she smiled, and headed out the door, hoping that Cole wasn't looking for her, but of course he was. When he didn't see her in her seat, he looked outside the plane, from the stairs.
"Detective, who are you looking for?" one of the paramedics asked.
"A woman, she was injured. I wanted to see if she was okay."
"Barry took a lady off a few minutes ago. She looked to have been shot in the arm."
He sighed. "Good."
"Is she your girl?" he asked.
"No, we just met, but she was shot by one of those guys. I just wanted to make sure she was okay."
Speaking of the devil, Barry hurried up the stairs, a worried look on his face.
"Barry, what's wrong man?" the other paramedic asked.
"I lost my patient," he frowned. "Did you guys see a lovely brunette with a gunshot wound to her arm come back on board?"
Cole frowned. "No, where was she last?"
"I had her in the ambulance, but a few of the other EMTs needed my help subduing those hijackers, so I told her to stay there and I would be right back. When I got back she was gone."
Cole cussed. That was not good. Where could she have gone?
"I'll go inside and check at the luggage carousel, she might be picking up her luggage," Cole said.
Barry nodded. "Thanks, that would help, and if you do, will you make sure she comes back to me? She was more injured than she let on, and she told me she didn't want anyone to see her because she said she had a crazy-ass ex after her and he could come after her if he saw her face on the news. You should have seen the scar on her side, man. She said he had cut her with glass. It was wicked-looking, so I guess if she ran, I don't blame her, but if she is still here, I want to patch her up."
That made Cole growl in anger. He didn't know she was running from an ex or was that just a story? What was her deal? She acted professional, like a cop, or military, she didn't act like she was running scared. He was going to have to find her, she was supposed to be headed to San Francisco too. He hurried off the plane and into the airport, watching other passengers collect their luggage, and the passengers on his plane head down a hall to catch another flight. He would have to fly out later since he was still helping out with the whole situation. He knew his boss wouldn't be happy about the mess, but it couldn't be helped.
All of the luggage was now gone off the carousel, and he wondered if Mandy had already gathered her luggage and was heading for the next flight. He hoped she was. He sighed and went back outside to the plane. The officers were done interviewing people and the officer in charge turned to Cole. "Detective, a lot of the passengers are telling the same story, that a brunette woman shot all of those men. Is that true?"
"She helped," Cole agreed.
"What do you mean, she helped?"
"I took down two of the men, back in coach. She took down the men in first class and the three in the cockpit."
"So, where is this woman?"
"She was supposed to be in the ambulance on her way to the hospital to be patched up, but now no one can find her."
"We need to find her, quickly. If she did save all the passengers, the president himself will want to give her a medal. She was a hero if she did what everyone is saying she did."
"I didn't see all that happened, so I am not sure," Cole shrugged.
The man ran a hand through his hair. "If we don't find her, my chief is going to kill me. How do you lose someone like that?"
"I don't know. I checked inside, but she wasn't there. Most of the passengers were headed to the next flight."
"I suggest we go and see if we can find her on that flight, and if we don't, we had better check all the security tapes. We need to find her."
Cole nodded. He agreed, they needed to find this woman who had saved them all.