JAX
It had to end here.
The Viper looked like death. His skin was bone-white, his lips tinged blue from shock. He held himself stiffly, his free arm pressed tight to his ribs. The bullet had embedded in his shoulder, almost exactly where Madoc had his bullet scar.
Madoc would call it a fun little synchronicity. I called it fucking karma.
“What now?” I snarled at him. He had the gun pressed to the captain’s temple. The large man was zip-tied to his seat, including one around his throat, gagging him. A cruel restraint, and clearly a personal one.
“The terms are the same,” the Viper mused, like it was funny. A hilarious joke. I was sick of being the fucking punchline. “Give me what I want, and we all live.”
I held the first aid kit in my fist, the strap digging into my open cuts. “You need this more than I do.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”
“You showed your hand. We both know you want out of here alive.”
I heard him swallow. Despite his visible decline, the gun was steady and unwavering in his grip. An assassin to the end.
I went on. “Your crew are dead. You’ve missed the boat. You have nothing left but your life.”
He shifted, wincing again. Then he laughed, which threw me off. It also sent chills down my spine.
That was never a good fucking sign.
His laughter was just as unsettling as the silence on the other side of the cockpit door. The Viper had called off the manhunt, but I didn’t trust it. What if I had been too late?
Madoc wouldn’t let them touch her.
“But it is not just your life you care about,” the Viper said, as if reading my mind. “It is hers. And the rest of your crew. We come full circle to the same question. Is one life worth all of theirs?”
Heat burned through my veins.
“Is she truly worth it, Jax? Her, of all people?”
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“So she hasn’t told you her little secret. Sadly, we don’t have time to unpack it now.” He coughed, his face tightening with pain. “Ah,” he hissed. “You better make a choice soon, or we are all dead, including her.”
I took a breath, forcing myself to find patience I’d long since lost. “I’ll give you the kit,” I said. “You take it. Stop the bleeding. Patch yourself up. Then get the fuck off this plane.”
The Viper smirked. “Or I could just shoot you here and take the kit?”
“Yeah?” I jutted my chin at him. “Then why haven’t you?”
He said nothing.
I bared my teeth in a feral grin. “Your gun is compact, probably custom-built to get through security undetected. Not a lot of bullets in that magazine. You’ve fired at least two rounds.
You got, what? Two left? One? You shoot me, my guy out there will rip your fucking head off the moment you step foot out of here. He’s a hell of lot smarter than me.”
The Viper sighed, caught. “This is getting tedious.”
There was a knock on the door.
I froze, my chest tightening. Madoc.
The Viper eyed me sharply, then nodded. “Perhaps we give the girl the choice.”
“No—” I sneered, but it was too late. He reached back and pressed a button. The light turned green, and the cockpit door opened.
Madoc swooped in, immediately assessing the scene with his clever eyes. He was covered in blood like he’d just swum through an alligator-infested channel. I was relieved to find Olivia appeared marginally less butchered, though her eyes were wet and her lip was swollen.
My fists clenched again, stinging.
Before anyone could speak, static filled the cockpit, followed by a tinny voice: “SN482, Zurich Tower, radio check.”
The Viper laughed again. “You hear that, Jax? We’re flying too low. They’re about to raise the alarm, and the poor captain here can’t respond in his current condition.”
I glanced at the captain, who was purple and swollen, his watery, beady eyes drilling into me.
“SN482, Zurich Tower, if you read, acknowledge.”
The Viper cocked the gun at the captain, causing him to thrash in alarm. “What is it going to be, Jax? The girl, or everyone else?”
My blood roared in my ears. I considered my options—one gun, one round left. He could shoot one of us but the other would rush him. His only leverage was the captain. And, well…
“I’ll go.”
I whirled on Olivia, who’d stepped forward with a determined look. Fuck, I knew that look. That look was the reason she was in this mess. That look meant she wasn’t going to do what she was told.
When had she ever?
I bared my teeth at her. “You. Shut up.”
“No.”
“Liv—”
“No, Jax. Not this time.” Olivia stepped closer, too close. The Viper was looking at her like she was the fucking crown jewel, and it made me sick. “We’re running out of time, and no one else is dying for me.”
“Fuck everyone else,” I said. Keeping the Viper in my line of sight, I closed the distance between us and gripped her chin. “Those pricks out there didn’t fucking hesitate to sacrifice you. You don’t owe them anything.”
Olivia’s eyes sparkled as they flicked to Madoc, whose face was unreadable in the shadows. “There are kids on board, Jax. People who don’t deserve this.”
Madoc’s mouth turned down.
He agreed.
Fuck.
“I’ll be okay,” Olivia said, reaching up to tug at my hand on her face. I didn’t let go. I wasn’t fucking letting go. “They won’t hurt me. They need me for some reason, even if I don’t totally understand it.”
I shook my head. “It’s not happening. You’re staying here.”
“Jax.”
“No!” I snarled, dropping the kit and grabbing her. She felt cold in my hands, distant. “I’ll fucking destroy it. The prototype. I’ll—”
Olivia covered my mouth with her hand. A big tear rolled down her face. “You’ll give up everything for me,” she said, her voice cracking. “I know you will, Jax. Which is why I’m doing this.”
I almost bit her. The temptation to sink my teeth in and force her to stay was overwhelming. I was burning, burning.
“I’m not letting you do this.”
She smiled wistfully, that spark of defiance in her eyes making my chest throb. “You’re not going to stop me.”
She was wrong.
I would stop her.
There was no fucking way I was letting her go just like that.
My eyes snapped to Madoc, whose eyes were trained solely on Olivia. Evaluating. Considering. When he looked up at me, I saw the same conclusion.
It wasn’t fucking over.
We were Crows. We always had a plan.
Stepping back, I kept my face deliberately blank. “Fine.”
Olivia’s brow furrowed slightly at my easy submission. Then the suspicion crept in, and I resisted the urge to snarl at her again.
Olivia turned to the Viper, her face hardening. “I’ll patch you up. You let the captain go. We leave together and everyone makes it home.”
The Viper grinned, his teeth bloody. “Almost. You’re forgetting something.”
Her eyes narrowed. “The prototype.”
I was prepared to cut in again when Madoc stepped into the light, already reaching into his pocket. “Here.”
No fucking way.
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut at the quick stab of his eyes. Right.
Madoc handed the watch to Olivia. She accepted it gingerly, like she expected it to explode in her hand. I didn’t blame her.
Madoc’s head dipped down, as if he was going to kiss her. My gut clenched hot, but I couldn’t figure out why. Jealousy? Anger?
Excitement?
Nope. Anger. It was always fucking anger.
Olivia froze, apparently caught in the same thread of disbelief. Madoc hovered above her, his lip quirking. “Scared, mouse?”
She glared at him. “I told you not to call me that.”
That just made him smirk. He reached between them and closed her fingers over the watch, sealing the deal.
Then he stepped back, his face blank again, as if nothing had happened. I knew I was missing something important.
Olivia took a deep breath and extended the watch to the Viper. He snatched it up like a snake, his eyes lapping over it reverently. Olivia swallowed, her shoulders tense.
The plane shuddered, windows rattling like a warning.
The Viper said nothing for a moment, then winced and shoved it back at Olivia. “Put it on,” he said. She fastened the watch to her wrist. Then he nodded at the kit. “Time to move.”
For the next five minutes, I watched in furious silence as Olivia stripped off his shirt and patched up his wound. It was only a temporary fix. The Viper paled even more, but his aim on the captain never faltered.
The captain made a wet, gurgling sound that put my teeth on edge. His eyes were starting to bulge.
We had to get this fucker off the plane right now.
I crossed my arms as Olivia stepped back to admire her work. “So what’s the plan, asshole?” I asked.
“I’m going to depressurize the plane,” the snake said casually. Judging by the captain’s sudden stillness, that was no small feat. “Olivia and I are going to walk to the rear emergency door. We are going to open it, jump, and disappear into the horizon.”
I sneered. “Oh, is that all?”
The Viper smiled as he pointed to something behind Olivia. “The parachutes, if you wouldn’t mind. I’m feeling a bit lightheaded, and my finger might just slip.”
His finger tensed on the trigger.
“Why the rear door?” I asked, watching Olivia as she bent down to retrieve the packs. She wasn’t crying. That was good. I needed her sharp.
“They wouldn’t want to be sucked into one of the engines,” Madoc said, looking amused at the imagery. But his eyes were also tracking Olivia. His fingers tapped restlessly against his biceps.
We were like prison guards, watching Olivia being dragged to the gallows.
The Viper lifted his arm with a wince so that Olivia could strap the pack onto him. It wasn’t until she attempted to secure her own that reality dawned on her.
“Oh my god,” she whispered, her hands shaking on the straps. “I’m really doing this. I’m jumping out of a plane.”
I bit my tongue hard enough to draw blood. Over my dead fucking body.
Her eyes bounced to mine, so wide they reflected the entire cosmos of flashing buttons. “I might have a heart attack.”
“You won’t,” I forced myself to spit out.
“I might.” She pressed a hand to her chest, as if to capture her heart and squeeze it into submission. “Holy shit.”
The Viper lost his patience. “Enough. We’re leaving now.” And then he lifted the gun and pointed it directly at Olivia’s head.
She froze.
My fists clenched against my ribs. I resisted the urge to rip her away and eat a bullet. Madoc clearly didn’t trust my restraint (rightfully so) and ghosted up beside me. His elbow jabbed pointedly into my side. Cool it.
“Just so we’re clear,” the Viper said, moving up behind Olivia like a parasite. “Just because I need her doesn’t mean I won’t shoot her. It wouldn’t be ideal, but I’m a desperate man. I might do something drastic.”
I didn’t buy it, not after the fuss he’d made to get her. But I also wouldn’t take the risk.
The Viper reached behind him to press another button.
“Wait,” Olivia said. Her voice wobbled. “What happens when the plane depressurizes?”
The Viper paused. “It will be like flying exposed through a tornado.”
I inwardly groaned. We were familiar with the sensation.
Olivia flinched and lifted her chin determinedly. “I’m not moving unless you let me warn the passengers first.”
Beside me, Madoc snorted quietly. Me? I wasn’t fucking laughing.
The Viper clearly wasn’t amused, but he seemed to relent, if only to speed things up. He grabbed the intercom mic and shoved it under her chin. “Try anything, and it will be the last thing you do.”
Olivia swallowed, but her voice was steady. “Passengers, please fasten your seatbelts and brace for impact. Staff, please secure rows eighty to eighty-one. T-Thank you.”
He ripped the mic from her and shoved her forward. She made a small sound of protest. Madoc’s hand clawed into my shirt, preventing me from moving.
The Viper reached back and pressed a button. Then he flipped a few switches, his movements rehearsed.
A long, low hiss filled the cockpit like a pierced balloon. The plane shuddered as if gasping. Every button and screen suddenly flashed red: WARNING!
“Let’s go,” the Viper said, but then he looked over at me. I didn’t like that look.
That look usually meant I was about to be screwed, and not in the fun way.
“You will have five minutes,” he said. “Then everyone, including yourselves, will lose consciousness and suffocate.”
Already the air felt thinner. The plane rattled as the first sounds of panic bled through the cockpit door. Not soundproof, then.
“Then what the fuck are you waiting for?” I snapped at him.
I needed him out of the cockpit. As soon as he did, I’d have my chance to take him down. My blood roared in anticipation, even as my lungs started to hurt.
“I need to make sure we reach the door, Jax,” the Viper said. He smiled. “No interruptions.”
Then his arm snapped out, and he fired a shot.
Directly into the captain’s thigh.
The man screamed around his gag. Both Madoc and I moved forward, but the Viper was quicker, pressing the gun back to Olivia’s skull. She froze, her eyes widening in alarm.
“Better patch him up before he bleeds out,” the Viper said, and pressed the button to open the cockpit door. The air rushed in, fierce and cold. “Clock is ticking, Jax.”