16. Viktoria
16
VIKTORIA
I climbed out of the limo behind Katrin, absolutely exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. Thanks to Lee calling ahead, the pilots were already deep into their takeoff checklist. I hadn’t said anything else the entire ride back.
“The show was amazing.” I beamed at my friend.
“I’m so glad you got to come.” Katrin kissed me on both cheeks. “It was good to see you. Let’s do get together again soon.”
Lee fell in step behind me when I let go of Katrin. Mike and Andrew had already boarded, and after saying our goodbyes, I hustled up the steps. I’d wanted to stay later, in hopes Marks would show up, but I’d promised Lee we’d fly out tonight. I’d keep that promise, disappointment be damned. I’d kept all my promises, so why hadn’t Lee spoken to me since I’d gotten in the car?
Nervous energy filled me, and I wasn’t sure what to do with the foreign feeling. Striding down the aisle, I passed Andrew seated in a recliner. Mike was helping the copilot seal the door closed.
Lee dogged my steps but remained suspiciously quiet. Had something happened? I’d have thought he’d be celebrating—for once, our outing hadn’t ended in a kidnapping attempt. And the after-party had been a big success for me, despite Marks’s absence. I might not even need him with the connections I’d made tonight.
Katrin had been wrong, I thought, about me losing my relevance. Everyone had wanted to meet me and shake my hand. To strike a deal with me—not Father, but me .
My steps slowed, and I frowned. Katrin had been wrong—about Marks showing up, and about my standing. It wasn’t like Katrin to be wrong about these things.
“Sit down,” Lee said. “We’re about to take off.”
I sat down and tried to catch his eye. Lee didn’t look at me, just stared straight ahead. Had he been offended I hadn’t spent the evening with him? But that would be silly. It hadn’t been a date . And the gossip, if it’d looked like one… Surely he understood that.
“Lee?”
“Buckle in.” He gestured at my seat belt. I fumbled it on. He was angry. I could tell. Maybe he had expected I would include him more. Introduce him around, maybe, at least to my friends. But what could I have introduced him as? My security? Everyone would have just been confused if I’d paraded my bodyguard around like a show pony. My boyfriend? I wasn’t sure if we were ready for that kind of label. Frankly, I wasn’t sure what Lee and I had between us. It didn’t need to be dissected by a bunch of high-society blabbermouths who’d seize the opportunity to put him on the spot.
I glanced at him, almost pleading, but Lee’s gaze stayed stony. His frown made my heart hurt, and I looked away. I’d fallen for him—I knew that—and I had no clue what to do. I’d be expected to make a strategic marriage, which meant whatever I had with Lee had no long-term potential. But my heart rebelled at the thought of throwing him away. Lee wasn’t just some fling, some passing amusement.
The plane rocketed down the runway, then lifted into the air.
Unable to take the silence, I stood up. I hurried to my bedroom, and Lee got up and followed. I started babbling, afraid of what he might say. If I could explain, he’d forgive me, I knew. I just had to show him what tonight had meant to me, why I’d needed to focus on networking rather than spending time with him. “The party went great—I can’t thank you enough. I don’t know if you noticed, but a few of my friends from university showed up.” I cringed at my voice, all high and tense. Clearing my throat, I continued. “They’re interested in contracting with us, which would be a coup. Not only that, but Burt Frinkel was there. He’s huge in textiles, and if I could strike a deal…” Excitement pumped in my blood. “This could make my career, and all thanks to you.”
Lee hovered in the doorway, still as a statue. His fists clenched at his sides, and his face gave nothing away.
Dread leaked through my excitement, and I edged back toward him. “Thank you so much for agreeing to stay.” I set my hands on his delicious shoulders, then I leaned forward to thank him more intimately. My lips brushed Lee’s tight ones…but then he pushed me away.
Oh. He is angry. Angry with me.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “What did I do? I did all you asked of me. I left early, stayed safe?—”
“I’m not a toy you can play with when it’s convenient for you,” he answered, his voice devoid of emotion. “But don’t worry, I won’t forget my place again. Back in my cave, isn’t that right? Because you can screw the help, but God forbid it matters .”
A quick, stabbing pain lanced through my heart. Oh no . He’d overheard Katrin. And he’d thought I agreed. “Lee?—”
He jerked his chin back to avoid my touch. His amber eyes flashed, then hardened again. “I’ll keep you safe. Deliver you to your father. But beyond that, we’re done. There’s no you and me anymore.” A muscle jumped in his jaw. “You should get some sleep. I’ve ordered the pilots to fly straight through to New York. Once I hand you over to Jon Aronsson or his security, we won’t have to see each other again.”
I couldn’t breathe. My chest had gone tight. Wrong. This was wrong—he had it all wrong. But everything he was saying, Katrin had said first. And I hadn’t corrected her. Was it any surprise that he’d assumed the worst? Assumed I felt the same as Katrin?
We won’t have to see each other again? The pain intensified. No…
Twice, I tried to call his name, to say something to stop him from closing the door, but nothing came out, and then he was gone.
Lee
I dropped into the recliner and shut my eyes to avoid conversation. I should have been filling out an After-Action report for Boom, but I could barely see straight, let alone write anything down.
Goddamn it . I clenched my fists. How the hell could I have allowed myself to fall for Viktoria? I hadn’t even realized I’d fallen until she’d ripped my heart out.
My teeth hurt from grinding them, and I forced my jaw to relax. If Boom found out just how many lines I’d crossed on this assignment, I’d be out of a job, and then what would I do with myself? I had nowhere to go. Nowhere I belonged.
Would Mike or Andrew rat on me? Those two were trained observers. They had to have figured out at least some of what had happened, if not all of it. How had I been so stupid as to let my heart get involved?
“We’ve reached our cruising altitude,” said the pilot, in my earpiece. “Our flight plan has been submitted on a secure frequency and accepted. Our next stop is New York.”
I turned my mic on. “Thank you,” I said. Clicking the mic back off, I slumped in my chair.
At some point I must have fallen asleep because I snapped back awake to a head splitting bang, and the plane bucking violently, one wing pitching up.
“Mayday,” yelled the pilot. “Mayday! MAYDAY! ”
My oxygen mask dropped down, and I clutched it to my face. From the bedroom, Viktoria cried out. The cabin was smoky, the noise of rushing air almost deafeningly loud. Flames leaped from a spot where two seats had once been, sparks trailing into the black night beyond.
“Bomb,” shouted someone—Mike or Andrew.
I staggered to my feet, mask tight to my face. Air rushed from the plane, a huge, gale-force scream.
“Viktoria,” I yelled, into the wind. She didn’t cry out again, and my stomach turned over. If she hadn’t grabbed her mask, if she’d passed out?—
Focus. I tuned out the pilot voice in my earpiece, giving the plane’s tail number and flight details on the emergency frequency. At least he was conscious. We still had a chance.
I didn’t waste my breath yelling again. Instead, I lurched up the aisle, moving from mask to mask, grabbing the plush seats to stay upright. The plane was hurting, pitching wildly. If the hydraulics were damaged?—
Don’t think about that.
I gulped air from the last mask, inhaling as deeply as I could to fill up my lungs. Then I barreled into the bedroom and found Viktoria on the bed, eyes wide, white-faced, gasping into her mask.
She reached for me—just as the lights cut out. They blinked on, then off again, in a seizure-inducing rhythm. “I smell smoke,” she said. “What’s happening?”
I fell to my knees and crawled to the bed. I grabbed onto the mattress while she grabbed onto me. My lungs screamed for air, and I felt my head spin. Then the plane banked sharply, slamming me into the nightstand. Viktoria tumbled against me, and I caught her with a grunt, tightening my hold on her as the plane leveled off.
Static crackled over my earpiece before the pilot spoke. “Lee, we’ve just had an explosive decompression.”
Ya think, Captain Obvious?
Metal screamed on metal, and the jet dipped again.
“We’ve lost the port engine,” the pilot said.
“BOSS!” Mike yelled in the comms at the same time as Andrew.
“The left engine’s literally gone,” Andrew shouted, peeking his head into the bedroom on his hands and knees.
“And we’re breaking up,” Mike tacked on. “Pieces of plane flying off, seats?—”
“We’re going down,” the pilot announced. “Everyone in your seats—assume crash position.”
I gulped oxygen from Viktoria’s mask, then pressed it back to her face.
“Deep breath,” I said. “Then get ready to run.” Flashes of combat missions streaked through my head, and I immediately clicked into Ranger mode. My mind entered a calm zone, like before an engagement.
“What’s our altitude and rate of descent?” I demanded, muscling to my feet with Viktoria in my arms.
The copilot rattled off the information. I hustled Viktoria back to the cabin, and I felt my heart plummet. We weren’t going to be able to land—not before the plane fell apart. The tear in the fuselage had widened, enormous and black. Fissures webbed the cabin like cracks in a pot.
“Everyone, prepare to evacuate,” I ordered. “Captain, can you get us down to twelve thousand feet? Slow as you can, under two hundred knots?”
“I’ll try,” the pilot said. “But we might not have time.” The jet took a steep dip. I crouched low to keep from falling, cushioning Viktoria as she crumpled in my arms.
“Mike, Andrew, you jump as soon as it’s safe. Don’t wait for us.”
“We’re jumping from the plane?” Viktoria shouted above the wailing alarms, her voice thin with terror.
“Only way to survive.” I guided Viktoria back toward the galley. “Follow me, but be careful. Stuff’s blowing all over. And don’t forget to keep breathing. If we pass out, we’re done.”
Viktoria grabbed one of the oxygen masks hanging from the ceiling like gruesome decorations. She took a big gulp of air, then passed it to me. I led the way forward, fighting the turbulence and the roaring wind. I spotted my duffel bag sailing across the aisle and snatched it before it could tumble out of the plane.
“We can’t jump yet,” I shouted over the alarms. Viktoria seemed to calm at the sound of my voice, so I kept going as I hurried her on. “We’re moving too fast, and we’re up too high. We’d freeze to death before we hit the ground. We’re going to get down to twelve thousand feet, then the pilot’ll tip us out, through that big hole.”
“What? Is that safe?”
It wasn’t. I couldn’t think of a way to sugarcoat that, so I said nothing. Viktoria was dressed all wrong for the jump, in her thin little cocktail dress and bare feet. Her lack of shoes was a blessing and a curse: those suicide heels could break her ankles on landing, but she’d have nothing to protect her feet once we started walking. A problem for later, not for now.
I grabbed two parachutes and two portable oxygen tanks from the closet in the galley. I got Viktoria set up, then fixed my own gear, started our oxygen flowing and tightened our straps. The jet didn’t have a proper tandem harness, so I did the best I could to latch us together. Not that we could stay that way long. These chutes weren’t rated to hold two people, and we’d get tangled if I pulled them while Viktoria and I were still attached. I kept that bit of information to myself.
With her back secured to my front and my duffel bag dangling on a short lead by my side, I herded Viktoria as close as I dared to the rip in the fuselage. Her body shook violently, but I couldn’t do anything to help her. The whole plane was groaning now, like a great, dying beast.
“Fifteen thousand feet,” the pilot said. “You need to go now. We’re about to bust up.”
“Now?” Viktoria’s voice was small, but she didn’t struggle. She squeezed my thigh once, then dropped her hand. The jet banked steeply, and my mouth went dry. I slapped at my ankle, verifying my knife was still there, then marked the time on my watch so I could calculate when to pull the chutes.
“We’re going,” I said.
Wind roared and pulled us toward the opening. If Viktoria screamed, I didn’t hear her. I wrapped my arms around her, and we fell into the sky.