Ali played with the pendant on her necklace as she stared at the computer. She only had a few classes left before she graduated culinary school, but Ali had no urge to finish those classes. She knew where she wanted to be. She wanted to be back home with her family and back at her diner cooking the food that she loved. Ali bit her lip and hesitated. Would going home now admit defeat? When she realized she really didn’t care about the answer to that question, Ali logged on to the internet and booked a ticket. For the first time in a long time, she felt happy. She was going home to her family where she belonged.
* * * *
Ali lifted her backpack higher on her shoulder as she pushed her way down the narrow aisle and made her way to her seat. She smiled at the butterflies she felt in her stomach. Barring any problems, she would be home in about twenty hours and she couldn’t wait. She knew she had made the right decision to return home because it had felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders when she booked the ticket. Ali hadn’t told anyone she was coming and couldn’t wait to surprise everyone, especially her brothers, who had been against her moving to Paris on her own in the first place.
When she found her seat, Ali tucked her backpack under the chair and sat. It looked like the flight wouldn’t be crowded and Ali was glad when the doors finally shut and no one had sat next to her. Spending hours touching elbows with a stranger wasn’t her idea of fun. She put her seat belt on and listened as the flight attendant gave the standard safety instructions. When the flight attendant was done, Ali sat back in her seat and relaxed while she waited for the plane to take off. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, hoping that if she slept it would make the flight seem shorter.
Before Ali could drift completely to sleep, a scream had her sitting straight up. She looked toward the front of the plane to see a man with his arm wrapped the throat of the same flight attendant. The man had a gun held to the side of the woman’s head, but what scared Ali the most was the vest of explosives the man was wearing. He was sweating profusely and had crazy eyes, and Ali knew she was in deep trouble.
Ali cursed as she looked around the cabin of the plane. Wasn’t there supposed to be an air marshal on board? When no one looked like they were getting out of their seat to help, Ali knew they were on their own. Trying not to panic, she took deep breaths to calm herself. Okay, there is a crazy man with a gun and a bomb strapped to his chest. What do you do? Ali knew she wasn’t going to play hero by jumping the man or anything like that, but there was something she could do. As much as she hated the fact that she was going to be essentially asking the two men she never wanted to see again for help, Ali knew she couldn’t be stubborn. Her life and the lives of the other people on the plane depended on what she was about to do.
Taking a deep breath and not making any sudden movements, Ali lifted her hand to her chest and grabbed the pendant on her necklace. It had been a gift from Gavin and Angel on her eighteenth birthday and she had only taken it off once since they had given it to her. Now she was glad that she had gotten over her fit of rage and put the necklace back on. Ali rubbed her thumb across the back of the butterfly pendant until she felt the small bump. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered to herself as she pushed the button and activated the GPS tracker in the necklace. Now that she had alerted them that she was in serious trouble, there was nothing else she could do but sit back and wait for the two men she had walked away from three years ago to come and rescue her and hope she didn’t get blown up before they arrived.
THE END
WWW.KEYONNADAVIS.WEBS.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When I am not driving my son to karate, or one of the many activities that he participates in, you can find me curled up reading a romance novel, watching a movie, or writing.
For all titles by Keyonna Davis, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/keyonna-davis
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Second Chances [Pine Valley 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 11