Chapter 7
The flight attendant gave loud, definite instructions. “Locate the nearest emergency exit now! Do not evacuate until ordered to do so by a uniformed crewmember!”
Kasey, who had ignored the routine safety briefing while taxiing out in Macau, clung to every word.
Her lap belt was cinched as tight as she could get it.
She’d stowed her table. She memorized the layout of the emergency floor lighting and pointed it out to Chen.
She counted the number of seats to the nearest exit.
If the cabin filled with smoke, she could get them both out by feel if necessary.
Her attention shifted to the passengers around her. She saw a frail older woman who might need help. A muscular young businessman appeared fit and capable. She would enlist his help if needed. She thought about the pregnant woman in the mid-cabin. Walter will take care of her, she told herself.
Suddenly, the plane was violently buffeted.
A collective gasp erupted and morphed into people screaming, crying, praying.
Kasey stole a glance out the window. All she could see was a milky haze in the wash of the landing lights.
The monitor in front of her, which had been displaying a map of their journey, had blanked minutes earlier.
She tried to recall where they were. Somewhere over the Arctic.
Was there even land below? An airport nearby?
“Bend as far forward as you can with your face down! Wrap your arms behind your knees!”
Kasey couldn’t stop planning. She grabbed the full-size pillow and thick blanket they’d given her and wedged them at her sides.
She caught the eye of the older woman across the aisle.
There was panic in her face and her seat belt was dangling free.
Kasey mimed buckling it and that seemed to snap her out of her rattled frame of mind. The woman complied.
She glanced back over at Chen. He was wedging his black briefcase between his seat and the bed. It had been beside him the entire flight. The one time he’d gone to use the bathroom, Kasey had kept a constant watch on it.
The flight attendant’s instructions kept coming.
“After landing, release your seat belt and go to the nearest exit! Do not take any possessions with you!”
Kasey hoped she lived long enough to break that rule. There was no way in hell she was getting off this plane without Chen. Or without Sky Fire.