JAX
Madoc was quick to react. He knelt in front of the captain, pressing gauze to the man’s thigh. The cockpit was blaring alarms. Each one pierced my head: run, run, run.
I was paralyzed. Save the captain or save the girl.
Fuck.
“Madoc!” I hissed, dropping down. “I have to—”
“I got it,” Madoc said, his jaw set, his breath already ghosting white as the temperature plummeted. “The bullet hit his femoral artery.”
“What does that mean?”
“He’ll bleed out.” Madoc pressed down, blood spilling between his fingers. Constant pressure was needed to keep him alive.
We needed him alive to land the plane. He was our last chance.
Madoc looked up at me, eyes hard. “She told them.”
“What?”
“The seat numbers. She announced them over the intercom. Ryle and Nate are waiting there.”
I should’ve known Madoc would’ve cooked up a plan. Announce the seat numbers, plant Ryle and Nate in the prime location to ambush.
I just had to make sure neither of those idiots got shot doing it.
I looked at the captain again, his face rapidly losing color.
“Go,” Madoc said.
I didn’t need to be told again.
I hit the button and opened the door, not looking back. I sprinted into the cabin, which already looked like a gruesome scene from a space horror. The passengers were huddled in their seats, masks on, eyes darting frantically around the cabin. Ice was already webbing across the windows and walls.
I’d barely survived this the first time.
I charged down the aisle, chest rattling, brain pulsing behind my eyes. The plane shuddered violently, causing the overheads to pop open, luggage spitting out. One clipped my shoulder, but I was already jumping over the next one.
I could taste my lungs. I made a silent vow to quit smoking if I survived this. After I smoked a pack and drank myself into a well-deserved coma.
The air became thinner every second. It was like breathing through a straw as I sucked in as much air as I could. I bashed into the next galley, ignoring the startled cries of the flight attendants strapped in their jump seats.
No time, no time, no time.
Then I saw them.
Up ahead, approaching the rear door. The Viper knew better than to expose his back. They were shuffling sideways, with the gun pressed to Olivia’s head. His eyes swung around the cabin, expecting an ambush.
He’d fucking get one.
I ducked low and slipped between the middle row. A stray foot kicked out at me. I bared my teeth before I looked up into the petrified face of a woman and her toddler.
The toddler was screaming. Red-faced, fighting his mask. The mother stared down at me like I was her worst nightmare.
She’d be right. A dull throb echoed in my chest, pulling at my seizing lungs.
They deserved better. Madoc had better save that pilot.
I sucked in a pained breath and pointed behind her, so she knew I didn’t intend to stay. She surprised me by reaching up and pulling off her mask. I shook my head at her, but she was already extending it toward me.
Damn.
I jammed it over my mouth and took a harsh, grateful breath. Then I thrust it back at her and made sure she had it secured before I moved on.
It wasn’t quite anger that surged through me at the unexpected kindness. It was something else. Something that burned away any last shred of exhaustion or pain.
Keeping low, I edged closer to the rear door. I inhaled sharply. Used the extra oxygen to close the distance between us.
There was movement ahead of me.
It was Ryle, crouched low about six rows ahead, ready to spring. I flashed him a quick signal, and he nodded. His hand cupped his mouth, a desperate attempt to trap more air.
We had two, maybe three minutes.
Ryle pointed ahead of him, where I assumed Nate was also crouched in the next row of seats, closer to the door. I held up three fingers, then pointed at myself and made a fist.
Ryle pouted.
He hated this plan, but I didn’t care. It had worked in the past, usually when we were cornered and had no other options.
Distract. Rush. Ambush.
It was a delicate balance between timing, coordination, and sheer dumb luck. Ryle made the same signal to Nate, and then we moved forward from our respective positions, crawling closer to the emergency door.
I peeked over the rows of cabin seats. The Viper was dangerously close to the exit. He was shouting something at Olivia—I couldn’t hear it over the hurricane roaring through the cabin. She was nodding along, her face scrunched up.
The Viper lowered the gun and reached for the door’s emergency release.
Now!
I popped up like a whack-a-mole. “Hey fucker!”
The Viper swung around in alarm. Olivia gaped at me, then screamed when the Viper whipped his gun up to shoot me.
Then Ryle jumped up from his position to my far right with both middle fingers waving. The gun swung to him instead.
Then Nate launched from his hiding spot on the Viper's left. His blind spot. With the Viper focused on Ryle, Nate tackled him to the ground.
There was a struggle, Nate landing a few hard blows as the gun slid down the aisle, beneath the seats.
A victorious Nate straddled the Viper’s chest, shooting me a thumbs up like a fucking moron. I exhaled through my teeth.
But he dropped his guard too soon.
The Viper snapped up, headbutting him. Nate folded, gripping his broken nose. I was seeing spots, the air so thin that I could barely take a half breath, but I kept moving. Kept pushing.
The Viper knew he was losing. He didn’t bother searching for the gun as he scrambled back to the exit. He shoved Olivia aside, who’d been clinging to nearest seat, reaching for a mask. Her face was bone white.
I crawled forward, gritting my teeth. The Viper pulled on the handle. The door cracked inwards, then slammed open under the immense force of the outside air. The roar of the plane’s engines filled the cabin.
Olivia barely dodged the door in time. She grabbed onto the handle and pressed herself flat against it, her mouth open in a silent scream as the whole cabin was suddenly sucked toward the door.
I was sucked with it. Unrestrained, I gripped the bottom of a seat, anchoring myself as the passengers screamed. Luggage and other loose items shot through the air like shrapnel. The roaring that battered my eardrums was painfully familiar.
Then something smashed into the side of my face, knocking one of my back teeth loose. I spat it out, then quickly grappled when I realized what hit me.
The fucking gun.
Turned out, the universe decided it owed me some good fortune after all.
I picked up the gun and searched for Ryle. I found him a few feet away, crawling toward me, his face white. When he was within arm’s length, I gripped his collar and dragged him to my face. “Cockpit!” I shouted in his ear. “Madoc! Go!”
Ryle scrambled away as fast as he could. He’d help Madoc repressurize the cabin and keep the captain alive. We couldn’t fucking die like this.
I turned back towards the rear exit. The Viper was still there, one hand gripping the doorframe as the wind tore through the cabin. Olivia was pressed up against the opposite side of the opening, her hair whipping across her face. He had her exactly where he wanted her.
I knew what the Viper was going to do. He was going to grab her and drag her out of the plane with him.
I had one shot.
Timing and sheer dumb luck. My specialty.
I lifted my arm and aimed. Luckily, I was a pretty good shot, even under pressure.
The Viper shifted, dragging Olivia with him. For one terrible second, my line of fire disappeared.
Then he turned, and my clean shot returned.
I levelled the weapon and held my breath.
Then I exhaled and my pulse slowed. One shot. One clean shot, and the last Viper would be dead. Olivia would be safe. It all came down to this.
I fired.
The bullet tore through the Viper’s arm. Blood splashed across the walls, then streaked like wet paint toward the opening. The Viper crumpled, his grip breaking. For one second, he hung there. Then the wind took him. He was sucked straight into the morning sky.
Gone.
I dropped the gun and dragged myself toward Olivia. She’d managed to hook her hands and one leg around the door. Just a bit further and I’d be able to grab her.
Come on!
I got to my feet, bearing down against the vortex as I gripped a loose seatbelt. I reached for Olivia. She was just a foot away. I could see the white of her eyes, her rapid blinking as she stared at me in fear.
I ignored the searing pain in my ribs. I had the rest of my life to recover. If I could grab her, I could strap her into the seat. I could save her. I could keep her. I could…
“Take my hand!” I shouted.
She heard me. I knew she did.
But she didn’t take my hand.
Instead, Olivia stared at me, and for a moment, the world stopped. The roaring stopped. The plane stopped.
Olivia didn’t take my hand.
Her eyes fluttered, not in shock, but in something else. It took a few seconds for my oxygen-starved brain to understand.
No.
No fucking way.
Her lips moved, but no sound came.
I’m sorry, Jax.
Her hands loosened. She turned toward the door.
“No!” I screamed at her. The roar splintered through my ribs.
She let go.
Not slowly, but sudden. She allowed herself to be sucked into oblivion, the device strapped to her wrist. One blink, and she was gone.
I stared at the place where she had just been. My knees gave out, and I came down hard, the seatbelt cutting into my hand as it pulled taut in my grip.
Betrayal bled onto my tongue.
The world turned white. The sky was burning.
And somewhere out there, the princess was falling.