“What is it?” Ryker asked.
“Over there, mon.”
The Jamaican pointed to the floor behind the desk. Jessica was puzzled and at the same time she was afraid of what she would find. What if it was something really disgusting? She could feel the Dutchman tense up next to her but as was his habit he put on a brave face. He rounded the desk and looked down.
“Oh.”
Jessica was even more intrigued. “What?”
She didn’t wait for an answer and joined him. On the floor was a half-open velvet purse with dozens of the sparkly diamonds cascading out. She was agape at the mesmerizing sight. She looked sideways at Ryker and his widening smile.
Suddenly, there was a thud and the smuggler’s face changed completely. His eyes rolled back and his angled mouth translated sharp pain.
“Humph…”
She twisted her head as Ryker fell unconscious on top of the diamonds. She saw Vurnon raising his hand in which was a decorative marble dolphin.
“No, wait!”
It was too late. His hand came crashing down and he knocked her over the head. She didn’t feel any pain and everything went black.
Chapter 31
Jessica woke up extremely groggy. She had a massive headache that was several times worse than the last time Vurnon had knocked her unconscious. More importantly, she was shaking all over and her ears were ringing. She blinked before opening her eyes completely.
She was surrounded by darkness but as her eyes adjusted she saw moonlight around her. She was on a hard carpeted floor and that’s when she realized it wasn’t her who was shaking but the entire surface. She attempted to move but her arms wouldn’t budge.
Oh my God, her hands were bound behind her back!
She wiggled her legs and was relieved that they weren’t tied up. It didn’t give her an advantage but the smallest of freedoms was welcome at this point. She turned her body to the left and found Ryker lying on his side inches away from her. He was still unconscious.
She was about to call his name when she looked at him more closely. Just like her, his hands were behind him. However, that wasn’t what held her attention. There was something strapped to his back. Her first thought was a bomb. She watched enough news programs to know what suicide bomb vests looked like. That was thankfully not it.
No, on second look this was something else entirely. She racked her brain until it made sense, until she remembered where she had seen that contraption before. It was a parachute. She glanced down at herself and sure enough she spotted the same straps on her shoulders and around her thighs. As she moved her arms she did feel there was something cushy behind her.
That means…
Everything was coming together, it was making sense. She wasn’t on a boat or in the back of a truck or even on a train. No, she was on a plane! She recognized the rumble of the engine and that’s when her body began shaking for real.
“Oh Jesus, oh my God…”
Her breathing came in short bursts as fear washed over her. She hated flying, loathed being off the ground in any capacity. This was worse than getting knocked over the head, worse than being shot at. This was something against which she couldn’t fight.
“Ryker, wake up!”
She rolled sideways and bumped into him. She did her best to shake him awake.
“Open your eyes, Ryker! Look at me! Please, I need you!”
She continued trying to nudge him awake and shouted with mounting volume. He had to wake up, he had to save her! She could hardly breathe and found herself covered in sweat.
“Ryker, please!”
By now she was kicking him but the Dutchman was out cold. Or maybe he was dead? No, it couldn’t be! He couldn’t do this to her!
“Welcome back, Jessica!”
She froze. That wasn’t his voice. She quickly scanned the rather small cargo area but it was only Ryker, her, and a stack of plastic crates taking most of the rear. Then she realized the voice had a metallic twang. It came from the loudspeaker.
“I’m sorry about the headache, mon. I gave both of you roofies so you would stay out longer.”
She lifted her head and stared at the cockpit. The lighting conditions weren’t ideal but there was no mistaking the pilot’s deadlocks. Vurnon gave her a little wave of the hand. She had been drugged? That had to account for the extra headache and wooziness. Her fear of flying made it even worse.
“What’s going on?” she shouted over the roar of the engine.
“New management. With Baiz dead, Ryker has no more competition. But at the same time, he’s going soft. You are making him the soft! So I’m taking over.”
“You won’t get away with this, Vurnon!”
“I already have. Hubrecht will die of his wounds and your Daphne friend doesn’t know who I am. That leaves you and Ryker for sole witnesses. I took the diamonds as well as the 100 kilos of pure Colombian cocaine that was in Baiz’s hangar. I will start my own operation back in Jamaica.”
“What did you do to Daphne?”
Jessica was enraged about the poor girl getting hurt once again just when she had been rescued. She felt bad about letting her down.
“Nothing. She didn’t see me drag you out of the house. She doesn’t know my name anyway. But you two, that’s another matter.”
“You’re gonna kill us?”
“No, you’re gonna fall to your death, there’s a difference. I’ll knock you unconscious again so you can’t open your parachute. They’ll chalk it up to recreational drug users being foolish and irresponsible, an inconsequential skydiving accident.”
Jessica shuddered at his speech. She knew there was a reason she didn’t enjoy flying and now she was about to die falling from an airplane. How could this be avoided? She didn’t know and she couldn’t think. She was torn between crying and screaming and downright giving up.
Yet she wanted to live. She wanted all she had suffered this week not to have been in vain. She wanted Vurnon not to get away with his crimes and for justice to prevail, no matter how simplistic it sounded. But how could she resist? She was tied up and a fraction of the Jamaican’s size. She would never win a fight against him even if her hands weren’t bound behind her back.
And that’s when she remembered she had stolen a switchblade on the boat!
Doing her best to push her fears aside, she squirmed until she was on her flank. She bent her legs and stretched until she could grasp her ankles. There was something there, a bump. It was the knife!
Gritting her teeth, she reached under the cuff of her khakis and into her sock. The angle was so odd that her fingertips did the majority of the work. But then… Yes, she had it! She pulled and closed her fist around the plastic grip.
She twisted the knife a few times trying to understand how to hold it. The last thing she wanted was to have the blade pop up and cut her veins open. She felt the button and then explored the ends until she found the opening. Once she was more than 50% sure she was holding it correctly, she hit the release and swiftly felt the blade emerge.
She intuitively looked at the cockpit. Vurnon was still there. She made abstraction of the fact that she was thousands of feet above the Earth and began sawing at her restraints. It was awkward and she had no idea if she was making headway. Simultaneously, she moved her wrists to try and loosen the rope, anything to give herself an edge.
Abruptly, Vurnon rose from his seat and turned toward the cargo area. “The time has come, Jessica. The autopilot will take over for me while you take the plunge.”
The fact that no one was flying the plane didn’t scare her in the least, not anymore. All she could focus on was that she had less than a minute to live. She went faster, making the blade go up and down as best as she could between her wrists.
“I hope you like fresh air.”
When he was next to her, Vurnon reached down and grabbed the door handle. Once it was unlocked, he rolled up the shutter door and cool air rushed in, whipping at both of them. The calm Caribbean Sea
was visible down below. The Jamaican steadied himself by using the sturdy metal bar welded to the bulkhead.
“This will only hurt for a second, mon.”
He came toward her and she went into overdrive. Up and down, back and forth, and all over again! She had to cut herself loose. She had no idea what she would do afterwards but this was the first step.
“You won’t feel it when you die.”
He was almost above her when her hands were finally free. She shook the ropes away but there was no time to turn the knife around to have a proper grip.
“I don’t know why Ryker didn’t kill you days ago. But I’ll fix that mistake.”
He wound up to strike her and she glimpsed an opportunity to counterattack. She swung in a wide arc to slash him but he saw it coming and jumped back.
“Bitch!”
His comment was followed by a brisk kick directly on her hand. The shock of the impact made her lose the weapon and it bounced on the cheap industrial carpet until it was out of sight.
Nothing could keep her alive anymore.
Chapter 32
Jessica’s fear of flying took a backseat to her fear of being murdered. She climbed to her feet as Vurnon came once again to deal with her. He lunged headfirst and tried to choke her but all he managed to do was rip the necklace from her throat. She watched in horror as her most prized possession fell from his hand and bounced off the aircraft.
“Nooo!”
Filled with rage, she moved toward him. She wanted revenge for being here, for all everyone had done to her. She charged, not necessarily with a specific goal but determined to hurt him as much as possible. Being smaller than he was, it was to her advantage. She wasn’t bent in half like him given how low the ceiling was.
She raked her fingernails across his face, across his bandaged nose, and he howled with pain. He shoved her back and she lost her footing, falling on top of Ryker.
“Ryker, wake up!”
It was more for the form by now, she knew that she could only rely on herself. As expected, the Dutchman remained unconscious. She pushed herself up and turned back toward Vurnon as he drew a pistol.
“I’ll go to Plan B if you won’t go down quietly!”
Surprising herself, Jessica didn’t hesitate. She rushed forward into him again. His eyes widened and he hastily pointed his gun toward her.
Her bloodstream pumping with adrenaline, she felt stronger than ever, bolder too. She used both hands to slap his hand sideways, away from her. At the same time, Vurnon fired.
Jessica had already done the most important part. The bullet missed her. The Jamaican was far from being in a perfect shooting stance and the recoil put his body off balance. Because of her scientific mind and training, she recognized this momentum instantly.
Without missing a beat, she pushed on Vurnon’s broken nose until he tipped over. He staggered back, his arms flailing helplessly, and she then kicked him in the shin for good measure.
“Ooooohhh!”
That was all he had time to say as his torso fell out of the plane. Less than half a second later, his entire body was tumbling through the air while he screamed. She didn’t have to look down to know that the drop would be fatal.
The thought that she had just killed a man made her feel bad, but only for a moment. It was self-defense and she had likely rid the world of a homicidal maniac. Her disgust quickly morphed into joy.
We’re finally safe, she thought. Now it was only a matter of waking Ryker up; he undoubtedly knew how to land a plane. He knew how to do everything! She had allowed herself to smile with relief when her plan was annihilated.
The aircraft started to climb unexpectedly!
She glanced at the cockpit where the instrument panel was plagued by sparks. The bullet, that’s where it had ended up! The autopilot was toast and that meant the aircraft would soon be out of control.
As the plane climbed up even more sharply, making the cocaine crates slide next to her, she knelt and stirred Ryker robustly.
“Wake up! Wake the hell up! We’re gonna die if you don’t wake up!”
There was a point when dying had been acceptable but that day has passed. Now she wanted to live, whatever the cost. She had to get both of them out of here.
Her eyes were drawn to Ryker and the parachute pack that contrasted with his black wetsuit. She had one just like it! She knew nothing about skydiving aside from what she had seen in movies and was even less inclined to try it, but she had no choice.
What made her quake with terror was that Ryker, being unconscious, wouldn’t be able to pull his parachute. After all, Vurnon had counted on this for his skydiving mishap ploy. She didn’t think he had tampered with the release mechanism of the parachutes; it had to look like an accident after all.
It didn’t matter, if they stayed on the aircraft death was a certainty. They had to escape as fast as possible. That’s when Jessica remembered Ricardo at the parasailing escapade. Hadn’t he told her it was possible to hook two people together?
She saw a bright orange pouch labeled Emergency Raft. They were over the ocean so this was a necessity given every possible outcome. The instructions consisted of one sentence and she threw the whole thing out the door.
With renewed hope, she used Herculean strength to flip Ryker on his side and then slinked right behind him. She essentially straddled his butt and hooked the D-rings from her parachute to the straps of his.
And the plane kept climbing.
Jessica used her legs to push both of them and her arms to pull his heavy body. The angle of the aircraft made this incredibly challenging. A voice in her head said that she should give up, they would never make it. She told that voice to shut the hell up.
She heaved until her eyes were ready to pop out of their sockets. She thought about how Ryker made her feel when he looked at her. He was a hard man but she alone could see the goodness lying beneath. She wanted just one more moment of tenderness with him before she died.
“Come on…”
She pooled every last ounce of energy she had and dragged both their bodies to the door. She was keenly aware that outside was akin to a bottomless pit. She refused to cry, she denied herself the right to freeze with stress. What convinced her to go through with this was knowing that Ryker would do the same for her.
Holding him under the arms, she hurled herself out.
Her mind went blank as she fell into the dark emptiness. It was two parts fear and one part relief. The two of them were so heavy that they dropped like a rock. Their bodies tumbled as if they were in a washing machine and she had no sense of direction.
And they kept falling.
The few tidbits she knew about skydiving could be summarized as this: open your parachute before you hit the ground. She was aware that this had to be done after a certain distance and you couldn’t do it too late either. In any case, she had no idea where she was or what their altitude was.
She had to do something or they were going to die. Out of the blue Jessica remembered something ubiquitous in skydiving movies. People stretched out their arms when they reached terminal velocity. She had always thought this was a trivial thing, like the kamikaze was mocking gravity, but now the technical aspect of this method was clear to her; it was a way to stabilize the descent.
She let go of Ryker and outspread her arms. After a couple more spins the exasperating gyrations stopped and she found herself on her stomach with the air whooshing past her head. It was brighter now, almost dawn, and she could see the ocean coming at her at 200 miles per hour!
It was water, yes, but it would be deadly if they rammed into it at this speed. She had to deploy the canopy even though she didn’t know how. She was afraid that if she moved her arms from their extended position she would whirl out of control again. But she had to take a chance or they would be dead anyway.
Fuck it.
She pulled back her right arm and pawed the harness across her chest. She didn’t trust herself to glance down and merely felt a
round blindly. As a result, their two bodies began rotating again and flipping upright. This made them plummet even faster.
They were going to die a lot sooner!
Finally, her fingers felt a thick plastic ring. This had to be the ripcord! She pulled on it with all her strength and immediately let go. At the same time, she felt things move on her back and sure enough the parachute slipped out of the pack.
It seemed like an eternity but it caught wind at last. Her body was jerked upwards with so much force that it was like being in a car wreck. Her shoulders felt as if she was being quartered by wild horses and the pain in her thighs as the straps dug into her flesh brought tears to her eyes.
“Oh kut!” Ryker swore in Dutch as he came to, awakened by the shockwave.
Jessica peered down and took hold of his shoulders, half worried and fully ecstatic. “Ryker, you’re back!”
Chapter 33
“What is going on?” he asked, his head swiveling frenziedly as he tried to get his bearings. “Are we skydiving?”
“Yes, there was an issue with our plane.”
“Our plane?”
As if on cue, the aircraft was heard and it was much louder as it nosedived with increasing speed a few hundred yards away from them. They both watched with astonishment as it crossed the remaining distance and hurtled into the ocean. It broke up instantly in a million pieces, sending water in every direction.
Sending the diamonds to the bottom of the sea.
“That was our plane. Are you okay? For a while I thought you were dead.”
“You hooked me to you? You know that this is not a harness for tandem jumping, yes? This parachute is too small for two people.”
“Sorry I didn’t do things according to your high standards but we were a little pressed for time. I’ll try to do better next time, okay?”
“Excellent.”
Jessica didn’t want to look down but it was hard to miss the ocean coming at them. They were falling much slower now, maybe 15 miles per hour. Objectively, it appeared almost leisurely but they were essentially heading into a concrete slab, which the ocean essentially was at that speed.
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