Forever Hunted

by Kathleen Brooks

  “You have such a wonderful young man here. Carter was telling me that you two have been dating over a year already.” Mrs. Bristol smiled as Mick walked away to talk to Diego and Paul.

  “That’s right,” Reagan smiled. It was nice being able to talk openly about their relationship. “Did Carter tell you we fell in love on a flight just like this?”

  “He sure did,” Suzanne beamed. “But now I’m going to let you two young people have some time together while I go snuggle my girl.”

  Reagan protested, but Mrs. Bristol held up her hand and smiled kindly as she walked the five feet or so to see Miss Mambo. Reagan watched as she and Mick began talking while Miss Mambo nuzzled Mrs. Bristol’s neck, rubbing her scent all over the older woman dressed elegantly in a white pantsuit. Not the most appropriate for a horse transport, but Mrs. Bristol didn’t seem to care as Miss Mambo rubbed her nose and head all over her shoulder and neck.

  Carter turned to join Reagan in watching the horse’s antics. “It’s nice being here with you. It amazes me how you can fly such a large plane so confidently. I remember when your father sent you to the wilds of Alaska to learn to fly on those small planes.”

  Reagan smiled at the memory. She’d spent one fall going into winter flying with bush pilots to learn what a plane could really do and how to handle anything Mother Nature threw at you. “I enjoyed it. There’s something about flying that feels right to me.”

  “Is there something that feels right about me?” Carter asked, dropping his voice so she could barely hear it over the engines.

  “More than right. Perfect,” Reagan said back to Carter before kissing him on his lips. The kiss wasn’t heated. It was one of ease between two people who were in love.

  Reagan’s brow creased with confusion as Carter took a step back and then went down on one knee. “What are you . . . oh my God, Carter.” Reagan gasped as Carter pulled out a black velvet box and opened it. Inside was a cushion-cut diamond ring. It was perfect. It wasn’t too big, and it wasn’t overly flashy. And that was good because she didn’t like huge rings. It was simple, just like her.

  “I fell in love with you on a plane and I want to get engaged to you on one too. For over a year I have watched you grow, take risks, and expand your business. I couldn’t be more proud of you than I already am. But I also was lucky and saw the other side of you—the side that loves fiercely and deeply. The side that loves lying in bed holding each other and talking about our dreams. So, with your father’s blessing, I want to ask, Reagan, will you marry me?”

  Reagan blinked through the tears and nodded. “Yes, oh my gosh, yes!”

  Carter reached for the ring and slipped it onto her finger. She saw the love in his eyes, the happiness in his face, and knew it mirrored her own. She heard her name being called in celebration as Carter stood and wrapped his arms around her.

  “I love you with all my heart and soul,” Carter whispered to her as the plane suddenly went quiet.

  “Reagan!” Stewart yelled from the doorway of the metal divider. The shout pulled her from her fairy tale. Reagan looked around before sprinting for the cockpit. She didn’t need him to tell her what was wrong. She already knew.

  “Buckle up! Secure the cabin!” she yelled over her shoulder as she leapt into her chair. “Get Paul up here!” Her eyes read all the gauges before she disengaged autopilot and took control of the plane. “It’s like we’re out of gas, but that’s not possible.”

  “The gas level reads full.” Daniel said before looking at her with fear. “It shouldn’t still be reading full.”

  “What the hell?” Paul asked, squeezing into the cockpit.

  “We’re out of gas,” Reagan told him.

  “We can’t be. I tested the fuel early this morning.” But there was no denying it. They were going down. “Dammit,” Paul cursed before running from the cockpit to see if there was a leak or something he could fix.

  The fear of crashing should have frozen her. Daniel sat unmoving as the reality of the situation hit. But Reagan’s mind was already in full motion. They were going down. “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Keeneston Air flight 1217. I am flying at 25,000 feet and the fuel is out.”

  “Should we try to start the engines?” Daniel asked as he tried to hide the panic in his voice.

  “No time. Look for someplace to land. Stewart, see what you can do,” Reagan ordered as Stewart tried flipping the fuses to see if that would kickstart the engine. The time spent trying to restart the engines would be better spent trying to find a good place to land.

  “We’re over a national forest, what’s a good place to land?” Daniel shouted, the fear causing his voice to crack.

  “This is Atlanta Air Traffic, we see you on radar. You are one hundred and seven miles from the airport. Can you make it?”

  Reagan shook her head and tightened her grip on the controls. “We’re not going to make it. We’re gliding, but based on my altitude and speed, I can only glide for about eighty miles.”

  “What’s going on?” Carter asked as he stood in the open doorway. Reagan couldn’t turn to look at him, she was too busy looking for someplace to land a plane in the middle of nowhere. Somehow she had to force the fear that was trying to strangle her back into the pit of her stomach. She had a job to do and the lives of everyone on the plane to try to save. “We’re going to make a crash landing. Try to help Diego secure Miss Mambo the best you can. Pack her in with hay, blankets, and anything you can find. Then buckle up and prepare for a crash landing.”

  “Shit,” Carter cursed as the reality of the situation set in. He placed a quick kiss on the top of her head and Reagan felt like crying. She wanted to shout at him to come back and hold her, but she was stronger than that. She had a job to do and she was going to do it. “You can do this. I love you.”

  Reagan’s throat tightened. “I love you too,” she said, forcing the words through her constricted throat. She hoped to God this wasn’t the last time she told him those words.

  “We’re in contact with Chattanooga and Knoxville airports. Based on the calculations you’ve given us, you won’t be able to glide to either airport. There’s a small private airfield thirty miles from your location,” air traffic control told her as he gave her the location. The airfield was for small, single-engine planes, but it was better than nothing. “Emergency services, on the other hand, will not be able to meet you there in time. This airfield is on the top of a mountain and not near any real city. The closest fire and ambulance have been notified and will be there in forty-five minutes.”

  Reagan looked out over the mountains in the direction of the airfield. She was coming in on a deadstick landing, on top of a mountain, and on a runway that was going to be too small. It was every pilot’s worst nightmare. She’d practiced this, but it was something she wished she’d never have to do.

  “We can’t land there!” Daniel almost yelled in fear.

  “Stay calm. Remember your training. I can land this plane anywhere that’s flat. Just keep looking for the freaking runway,” Reagan ordered as she white-knuckled the controls. She thought in a situation like this her life would flash before her eyes, but it didn’t. Instead, every ounce of brainpower was focused on how best to land the plane.

  Reagan ignored Mrs. Bristol’s fearful screams. She ignored Miss Mambo’s nervous whinnies as the ride became rougher. Reagan ignored everything as she kept scanning the mountaintops for the landing strip.

  “There it is!” Daniel shouted. “One o’clock,” he told her as Reagan locked onto it. Relief flooded her as she saw that the end of the runway ended in a heavily wooded forest heading slowly downhill and not a sheer rocky drop off. The trees would hurt, but they’d stop the plane. That is, if they could make it to the end of the runway without flipping. The runway was awfully narrow for a plane of this size and one wrong hit of the wing or a tire could send the plane tumbling.

  “Diego and I got Miss Mambo packed in like a china doll,” Carter said from behind her. She hadn’t kn
own he was there. “Is that the airport? It looks small.”

  “That’s because it’s more of an airstrip than an airport. We’re going to land hard and hit some trees to stop. Is everyone buckled up?” Reagan asked as she lined up for her landing.

  “Yes,” Carter said, taking the small seat behind Reagan. She heard him buckling up as he continued to talk to her in a very calm voice. “You’re the best pilot I know. You’ve got this.” His confidence in her had her nodding to herself. She could do this. She could do this. Reagan let out a breath and didn’t know if she remembered to take a new one as the ground came fast and hard toward her.

  * * *

  Carter’s heart was beating out of his chest in fear. The runway Reagan was approaching was small. Even he could see the plane wouldn’t fit on it. Prepare for a crash landing. He’d never wanted to hear those words. The idea that their lives could end very soon made him feel like vomiting. Just when everything in his life was looking up, it could be snatched away in a split second.

  “Brace! Brace! Brace!” Reagan yelled at the top of her lungs.

  Carter covered his head with his hands as he saw Stewart, his back facing him across the small cockpit grabbing onto his desk with both hands. Carter turned his head to the side briefly to check on Mrs. Bristol through the flapping cockpit door. It hadn’t really closed when he’d taken his seat and now swayed open. In the last moments before the plane hit the runway, he saw Diego make the sign of the cross and he saw Mick reach for Suzanne. Except he didn’t reach over to hold her. Mick’s hand slipped into Suzanne’s lap, unbuckled her seatbelt, and shoved her forward out of the chair and head first into the metal wall of the cockpit moments before the plane attempted to land.

  “Suzanne!” Carter yelled and Mick looked right at him as the plane hit the runway with a jarring thump that slammed the door shut. The plane skidded, the wing hit something, sending the plane spinning, the door flying open, and Suzanne’s body tossed around the narrow entranceway of the plane. Suddenly there was another jarring hit as the spinning plane hit something else on its trip down the airstrip, dipping the far side of the plane toward the ground.

  The last thing Carter saw before the breath was knocked out of him was Suzanne’s limp body sliding past the door. He was able to notice she was no longer screaming, but then the plane slammed into something, probably the trees, and everything went black.

  15

  “Is anyone alive?”

  Carter blinked his eyes open at the unfamiliar voice yelling from somewhere off in the distance. The cockpit was fuzzy as it slowly came into view. They were leaning heavily to the far side, leaving Carter slightly elevated in the air. There was movement and noise coming from inside the plane. Miss Mambo was alive. She was screaming in panic and possibly with an injury. But it was the movement just outside the cockpit door that caught Carter’s eye. He turned his head and blinked, trying to focus on it.

  Mick was reaching to feel Diego’s pulse. Then he opened up the bag he had been carrying and pulled a metal crowbar from it. In one quick motion, he swung a metal crowbar like a bat and slammed it into Diego’s head. The fear Carter felt when they crashed was nothing compared to the feeling he got when Mick turned and their eyes locked.

  Carter frantically battled his seatbelt. He was in pain, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to remain a sitting duck for this man to kill him. He had to get free and he had to protect Reagan.

  “Reagan!” he yelled as he unlocked his belt and crashed to the floor of the cockpit. “Reagan! Mick is a killer!”

  “I’m a businessman,” Mick said as he stalked toward Carter. “A businessman who can’t afford anyone looking too closely at the claim I’m making for Miss Mambo.”

  “You did all this for an insurance payout?”

  “No one will question a dead horse or a dead girlfriend after a plane crash, even if I did sabotage the plane. Plus, Suzie was so sweet to add me to her life insurance policy two months ago. No one will question or know the truth because I’ll be the sole survivor. I’ll talk about our love, our dreams, and the guilt of surviving when no one else did, all the while collecting the insurance and not having a single person question me.”

  Miss Mambo was growing frantic as Carter looked around for something to defend himself with. Nothing. Stewart was slumped over his small desk, not moving. The door partially obscured him from view. Daniel was similarly unmoving, but Carter could see blood dripping down his head. Then the back of the plane creaked and shuddered. The back steps under the tail opened and lowered to the ground. Mick turned when Miss Mambo kicked down her stall door and frantically scrambled into the back of the plane. And that was when Carter made his move.

  * * *

  Reagan heard her name being called. It sounded as if it came from a far off distance as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head was pounding as she reached a shaking hand to her forehead and felt something warm and sticky there. Looking up, she saw her window was cracked and all she could see were trees.

  “Carter?” Reagan asked, turning her aching neck and seeing Daniel slumped in his chair as if he were a rag doll. She heard noises, but she couldn’t figure them out. Grunting, flesh hitting flesh, and the far off sounds of a panicked horse fading from her ears.

  “Carter?” she cried out a bit more frantically as she worked her unsteady hands on her seatbelt. When it finally gave way, she slid off the side of her seat. On unsteady legs, she reached over to feel Daniel’s pulse. Dammit. She couldn’t feel anything. Her own body was pulsing with fear and pain, and she couldn’t tell if he were dead or alive. But one look at Daniel and Stewart told her if they weren’t dead, they would be soon if they didn’t get help.

  “You son of a bitch! You won’t get away with this.”

  Reagan turned her head to Carter’s shouting. Carter and Mick were going at it, hand-to-hand, as they rolled on the uneven cabin floor in the small entryway near the main door of the plane. Diego was limp in his seat, blood dripping from a nasty cut on his head. Suzanne was crumpled against the wall, completely unmoving. Oh God, she’d killed them when she crash-landed. Reagan’s gut clenched as she forced back the waves of nausea.

  She could see light coming from the back of the plane. Someone, probably Paul, must have opened the exit steps down to the tarmac. It was then she noticed Miss Mambo was gone. A heavyset man in overalls climbed his way inside and she could see Paul using his hand to steady himself in the back of the plane as he moved toward them.

  Reagan felt as if her brain couldn’t function. It was frozen as though nothing made sense. But when Mick landed a hard punch that snapped Carter’s head back, her body moved quickly on pure instinct.

  Reagan jumped on Mick’s back, sliding her arm around his neck and going for a chokehold. Carter scrambled to his feet and landed a hard punch to Mick’s face. “He killed Suzanne and Diego. He sabotaged the plane!”

  Rage filled Reagan. But rage and a fuzzy mind were no match for Mick’s strength. He grabbed her shoulder, bent at the waist, and tossed her over his shoulder and right into Carter. They crashed to the ground and slid to a stop against Mick’s duffle bag. Reagan’s hand felt something familiar in the bag. A rifle. She had to get to it, but Mick was already reacting. He reached behind him and pulled a 9mm from his waistband.

  “I don’t think so, babe. Hands up, both of you.”

  Reagan swallowed hard. They’d survived the crash only to die now? “Why?” Reagan asked as Carter’s hand covered hers. There was so much she wanted to do in her life. She wanted to marry the man she loved. She wanted to have his children. She wanted to see her family again. She wanted to live.

  “Suzanne was smarter than I gave her credit for. She was going to go to the police after she had Carter confirm her suspicions. Do you know how many millions I’ve made doing this? I couldn’t risk it. There’s too much on the line,” Mick said as they heard Paul at the back of the cargo hold calling out.

  “Are you hurt? This guy says emergency services are on t
he way!”

  “Run!” Reagan screamed as Carter leapt forward. He drove his shoulder into Mick’s stomach as he wrapped his arms around the man’s waist, driving him to the ground.

  “Run, Reagan!” Carter yelled.

  Reagan grabbed the duffle bag and scrambled to her feet. Holding the rifle barrel through the bag, she raised it above her head and slammed it down on Mick’s head. Carter went for the 9mm, but Mick refused to let it go even in his dazed state. Reagan slammed the rifle down again, causing Mick to groan and blink his eyes as if battling unconsciousness.

  “Come on,” Carter yelled as he grabbed her hand and ran as fast as they could through the narrow aisle for the open cargo door.

  “Call the police!” Reagan yelled at the confused, round man standing next to Paul. “Hurry!”

  The man and Paul stood there staring blankly at her, and Reagan yelled again. “He has a gun. He killed Suzanne and Diego. Call the police!” Reagan hated leaving Mick armed, but right now they needed to get as far away from him as possible.

  The man finally moved as Carter and Reagan leapt from the plane, hitting the paved airstrip hard. They heard a primal roar from inside the plane and forced themselves up.

  They heard Mick bellow as he began to move toward them. “You’re not getting away from me!”

  “Come on,” Carter yelled, grabbing her hand and pulling her around the plane to hide behind the slanted wing. Before losing sight of the mountaintop as they rounded the plane, they saw three small hangars and a tower off to the side of the runway, but they were a good distance away. The man in the overalls ran for the main building, and Paul ran to the other side of the plane as Mick emerged from it.

  “We can try to make it to one of the hangars,” Reagan whispered. Before Carter could answer, three shots rang out. Reagan’s eyes went wide. She didn’t need to see the old man being shot to know what had happened.