Archer paused for a second. “That wouldn’t be different circumstances.”
“You don’t give up, do you?”
He gave her that crooked smile again. “It’s what makes me so charming.”
“You should get a second opinion.”
“Fair enough,” Archer settled back.
Kate was surprised. “Don’t tease me.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re just going to stop?”
“Isn’t that what you wanted?” he asked.
“Yes, but I didn’t actually expect you to listen to me,” she said.
Archer smiled. “I make it a habit to do the unexpected.”
“Apparently, I spoke too soon.”
“Did you request this assignment?” he asked.
“Did I-?” Kate started. “Don’t flatter yourself. Ray and I drew the short straw.”
“Ah,” Archer nodded. “So you were on assignment elsewhere?”
“As a matter of fact, I was due for some vacation,” Kate said.
“Really? And where does the beautiful Marshal Sharpe go to unwind?” Archer asked.
“The beach.”
Archer ran his eyes over her body, taking in her curves. “I can see that,” he said. His voice got a little husky.
“Well, un-see it,” Kate snapped.
“It’s not an easy thing to do,” Archer said. “You are an attractive lady.”
“This is going to be a long flight,” she muttered.
“Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?” he suggested.
“And why would I want to do that?”
“Because you’ve made it quite clear that you know everything there is to know about me,” Archer said. “So I have nothing to talk about.”
“Then why don’t you meditate in silence?” Kate suggested. She caught herself studying the definition in his exposed forearm. It was tight and muscular. He could probably even lift her over his head if he wanted to.
Archer started to say something else when there was a scream followed by the unmistakable sound of a gunshot.
Chapter 3
The black man was clearly the one in charge. He did all the talking.
“Allah be praised and all that jazz,” He stood in the right aisle, his arms held out with two semi-automatics in each hand. His partner, a younger white man stood in the left aisle, equally armed.
Kate watched from the flight attendants’ area, peeking around the corner. Her Beretta was already out of its holster and in her hand. Her headache didn’t seem that much of a problem anymore.
“Of all the airplanes,” she muttered. Across from her one of the flight attendants sat huddled in the corner, tears already streaking her cheeks. Kate raised a finger to her lips. The message was clear. Keep quiet and live.
“Nobody move, okay? You behave, you live. It’s pretty simple,” the black man said. He was bald and dressed in a casual suit, his collar open. He was older, probably in his late forties. His eyes were constantly shifting, trying to look everywhere at once. He kept his voice loud enough to be heard over any crying. “And for those of you who are visual learners,” another man came forward from the front of the plane. He was Middle Eastern looking and dressed in an expensive suit. He dragged in a bleeding Ray Phillips.
He dropped her partner in front of the black man.
Kate’s breath caught in her throat.
Ray was bleeding from a nasty cut on his cheek and a bullet hole in his shoulder.
There were three of them in the main cabin. One was one of the Middle Easterners that Sharon was so concerned about. Which meant his partner was still in the front of the plane. That made at least four all together. Had they gotten to the pilots yet?
Kate ran her odds. She was a decent shot, but any stray bullets could pierce the exterior of the plane and then they would have to worry about decompression in addition to a highjacking.
Then the black man made things worse. He lowered one of his guns to Ray and pulled the trigger twice.
The grizzled old veteran jolted as the bullets struck him, then fell still.
“Everybody understand?” The black man asked. Nobody had to respond. It was a rhetorical question.
Kate’s first reaction was to scream. Instead she bit down on her lower lip, hard enough to draw blood, but she kept silent.
“Now,” the black man continued. “If you will all remain seated, we can finish this up without any further incident,” he looked at the Middle Easterner. “Get back to the pilots. Make sure they don’t do anything stupid. You,” he said to his white partner, “Check the back of the plane. I think we’re missing a few people here.”
Kate felt lightheaded. Ray was dead and she was stuck on an airplane with four terrorists. A thousand questions ran through Kate’s mind. Ray had a wife and two grown children. Who was going to tell them? And how did these guys get guns onto the plane?
But now wasn’t the time for thinking.
The white man, he was dressed more casually than his black partner and was well into his five o’clock stubble, walked through the open doorway into the flight attendants’ area. He was right handed and his gaze immediately drifted to the right, where the young flight attendant was huddled. His gun followed his gaze.
He realized his mistake a second too late.
Kate slammed the butt of the gun into his throat. His free hand clutched at his throat as he felt his windpipe close up and he started to choke.
He swung his gun around wildly. Kate caught his wrist and punched him across the face with her gun hand. That did the trick. He dropped to the ground and bullets whizzed by her, implanting themselves into the plastic cabinets.
Kate snatched up the other gun and rolled out of the way.
“I don’t know who are you back there,” the black man shouted. “But you clearly missed today’s lesson. I don’t want to repeat it, so until you come out here with your hands up, I’m just going to kill someone every two minutes.”
Chapter 4
The black man looked at his watch. Only a minute and thirty seconds had passed. Close enough, he decided and yanked some redhead from her seat. He pushed her to her knees in the aisle and shoved the muzzle of his gun against her temple. Her hands clutched at her shirt as she sobbed uncontrollably.
“Okay, hero, time’s up,” he said.
“It hasn’t been two minutes yet,” Kate said from around the corner. Her mind was racing, searching for any solution. Hostage negotiations had never been her strong suit.
“I have ADD,” he said. “Now, get out here, pretty lady, or this girl’s hair isn’t going to be the only thing red on her!”
“Okay, don’t shoot, I’m coming out,” Kate set both guns on the floor and slid them out into the aisle for everyone to see. Then she stepped out with her hands up.
The black man sized her up, running his eyes down her body, lingering on her curves. He smiled and nodded approvingly. Kate felt her skin crawl.
“Frank, get out here,” He called. “You’ll forgive me,” he said to Kate, “if I don’t search you myself. I do have a plane filled with hostages.”
“Of course,” Kate said. She kept her hands up, palms open. She checked the passengers. They were all too scared to do anything. She tried not to look at Ray’s body.
Frank stepped out into the cabin. He was the one from before who had brought out Ray. His suit was expensive looking, easily costing high six figures. He kept his hair slicked back and carried an AK-47.
“Check on Paul first,” said the black man, nodding at his unconscious partner. “Make sure she didn’t kill him.”
“I’m flattered,” she said. “But I’m not that talented.”
“I didn’t expect you to be,” the black man said. “But there is such a thing as blind luck.”
Frank knelt and checked Paul’s pulse. He looked at the black man. “He’s still alive,” he spoke with a New York accent.
The black man nodded at Kate. “Check her for
any more weapons. I’ve had quite enough surprises this flight.”
Frank ran his hands up both her legs. She felt embarrassed and humiliated as this stranger felt her up. But she was more worried about the very large gun he was carrying.
He checked her torso. Satisfied that he found nothing he said, “She’s clean.”
“Well, now we can have ourselves a proper conversation,” said the black man. “What’s your name, pretty lady?”
“Kate.”
“Kate what?”
“Kate Sharpe.”
A brief flicker of surprise crossed his face and he nodded. “Okay, that makes sense,” he said as though Kate had explained something of great detail and importance to him. “Look, this isn’t personal, you understand that? I want you to understand that.”
“Well, why don’t you take a moment to explain it to me,” Kate suggested. “You did just say we could talk now. And besides, it’s not like you have anywhere to run off to.”
He laughed. “You’re funny, too. That’s good. Sorry, baby, I’m not much of a teacher,” then he quickly swung his gun from the redhead and towards Kate. His finger squeezed the trigger twice.
The bullets streaked towards Kate’s head. It happened so quickly that she had no time to register any of it.
Then she was falling forward as a body slammed into her from behind, the bullets narrowly missing her head.
She rolled over to find Archer jumping back to his feet. He swung his cuffed hands together as a single fist at Frank. They collided with his jaw with a loud crack.
The terrorist stumbled back, stunned. Archer grabbed the AK-47 and yanked it around, trying to shoot the black man. But the gun strap was still around Frank’s shoulder and Archer’s hands were still cuffed. His aim was wild. The bullets struck the ceiling but they caused plenty of confusion.
Kate grabbed Archer and pulled him back into the rear of the plane. They ducked into one of the empty rows.
“That was stupid,” the black man growled, lowering his arms. He looked around. Where had they gone? He yanked the redhead her to feet and wrapped a hand around her neck. Using her as a shield he stepped through the flight attendants’ area into the rear of the plane.
“I’ll say,” Archer replied from the floor. “Was this supposed to look like a terrorist highjacking, Stevens? I hate to say it, but you guys don’t make very convincing terrorists,” he glanced out into the aisle where Stevens’ partner was lying. “Half your team isn’t even ethnic.”
Stevens shot several wild rounds into the first two rows, but Kate and Archer were farther back. Foam and thread from the seats filled the air.
“I told you to stay put,” Kate hissed, brushing the hair from her face.
“You were about to be shot,” Archer replied. “A thank you wouldn’t be out of order,” he held up his cuffed hands. “Would you mind?”
“Yes I would,” Kate said. “You’re still my prisoner. Saving my life doesn’t get you a get out-of-jail-free card. And what in the world were you doing with that gun? We don’t want to start a gunfight on a plane filled with innocent passengers.”
“Excuse me,” Stevens called out, slowly working his way down, row by row. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I do have a job to do here.”
“You know this joker?” Kate asked.
“Archer, are you even still alive?” Stevens asked.
“Oh, I’m still here,” he answered. To Kate he said, “Yeah, I know him.”
“Good,” said Stevens. “I want to see your face when I kill you.”
“I aim to please,” Archer replied. He turned to Kate. “Clearly, we’re on the same side right now. It’s not unheard of for a good guy and bad guy to put aside their differences and work together for the common good.”
“No,” which was another lie. All she wanted do was unlock those cuffs and let him wrap his arms around her. Tension and stress looked good on him. If it weren’t for the psycho with the gun, she’d let him take her right then and there.
Kate rubbed her face. What was wrong with her? All of sudden she just wanted to lean on someone else and not be in charge.
“Hey, Archer, let me ask you a question,” said Stevens.
“Shoot,” Archer replied. Kate glared at him. “Poor choice of words.”
“How does it feel to sell out Bragan for a prison sentence? Isn’t immunity normally part of these deals? What’s the matter? You can’t even stab somebody in the back properly?”
Kate stared at Archer silently. “He’s a hitman for the Bragan family. He comes highly recommended and even more highly paid,” Archer explained. “Suddenly forty-five thousand feet in the sky doesn’t seem so far away, does it?”
“I don’t believe this,” she muttered. “All this just to kill you?”
Archer shrugged. “Like I said, the man’s been known to hold grudges.”
“Come on, Archer,” Steven said, coming to another empty row. “Let’s not make this anymore painful than it has to be.”
“If we’re not going to shoot the guy, what are we going to do?” Archer asked her.
“Stevens and his group are just paid hitmen, right?” she asked. “All they want is you. It’s not going to do them any favors to kill everyone on the plane.”
“Right.”
She looked over her shoulder. They were in the emergency exit row.
Gunshots echoed through the cabin as Stevens shot up another empty row.
“Archer,” he growled. He was getting closer.
Kate checked under the seat. A parachute was strapped in beneath the cushion.
“Okay,” she said.
“Okay, what?” Archer asked.
She pulled out the parachute and looped an arm through Archer’s. Her other hand went to the emergency hatch release.
Archer raised his eyebrows. “This should be interesting.”
“You know what, screw this,” Stevens said, he pushed the redhead to the side and pulled out his second gun. “I’ll just kill everyone and sort it out later. Either way, I get paid,” he started unloading bullets everywhere as the emergency hatch suddenly popped open and the cabin began to depressurize.
“What the hell?!” Stevens shouted as Kate and Archer were sucked out of the plane.
Chapter 5
Their parachute was broken. Stevens had jumped after them, determined to make sure they didn’t make it to the ground alive. They had no weapons. And all Archer could think about was how nice it felt to have this beautiful woman wrapped around him so tightly.
Her hair whipped about in the air, lashing against his face. He had felt instantly attracted to Kate since he had laid eyes on her this morning. He had wanted nothing more than to sweep her curvaceous body into her arms and kiss her. That was hard to do, though, when your hands were cuffed.
He had seen it in her eyes. She had felt the same pull, the same burning. She had touched him only once that morning and when she had, he had felt an intense spark. He knew she had felt it too. And now they were finally wrapped together, falling from the sky and all he wanted to do was kiss her.
Suddenly, Kate shouted, “I’ll be right back!”
“Back?” he repeated. “Where are you going?!”
Then she let go of him and tumbled through the air alone.
_____
Kate let go of Archer and everything turned upside down.
Without his added weight she flipped uncontrollably through the air. She tried to right herself but she had no sense of direction and her center of balance was completely gone.
Then Stevens slammed into her.
The air was knocked from her lungs.
He tried to push off from her but she wrapped her arms around his torso.
“You know the funny part is if you hadn’t jumped after us we’d have died!” she shouted, then slammed her knee into his groin.
His face contorted with pain and he swore.
He tried to bring his gun around but Kate jabbed at his wrist as they roll
ed through the air. His fingers flew open and the gun was loose in the sky.
That was fine, he figured, there were other ways to kill someone.
Stevens managed to get one hand around her neck. She jabbed her head forward. Their foreheads slammed together with a loud crack.
Stevens was dazed for only a second, but that was all Kate needed. She reached for the parachute’s buckles. In his haste he had only fastened one.
“Don’t take this personally!” she shouted, staring into his dazed eyes. “I just don’t want to end up splattered across the Florida coast!” Then she undid the buckle and the parachute slipped free.
Stevens dazed look turned to one of shock and horror as he realized that he was about to die.
“No!” he clawed at Kate.
“Get off!” she pushed away from him, flipping over and slammed her feet into his chest. The impact knocked them apart.
Stevens spiraled away into the sky.
Kate pulled the parachute on and secured it. She slipped around and spotted Archer beneath her.
She pressed her arms to her sides and angled herself in Archer’s direction. She dropped like a bullet.
The ground was quickly approaching. Her window of opportunity to use the parachute was rapidly closing.
But Kaitlyn Sharpe was nothing if not determined.
_____
Archer closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see his death. He was relatively sure it was going to be quick enough that he wouldn’t feel anything. He didn’t need to see it coming. He was satisfied with the way his life had turned out. He had a few regrets. He wished he had read more. He wished that he wasn’t going to die alone, of course. But it had been a good life, he certainly couldn’t say otherwise.
Then he felt an object slam into him.
He twisted as arms wrapped around him. Kate smiled at him.
“I’m back!” she shouted, then pulled the parachute free.
Chapter 6
The parachute cut out much of their speed but they still hit the ground hard. They stumbled, Kate cutting the parachute loose. Momentum kept them moving, dropping them rolling into the grass.
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