Page 46 of Midnight Hunt
As she teetered on the edge of another meltdown, I pulled her into my arms again, hugging her fiercely. She trembled against me, her body shaking with silent sobs. I held her close for several moments, offering my comfort as well as seeking my own.
When she no longer trembled, I murmured against her damp hair, “I’m sorry. This is no laughing matter. Jokes just help me cope.”
A shuddering sigh left her. “I know. I was just really scared.”
“Me too,” I whispered, tightening my hold even more.
She let me hold her for another minute, then sniffed back tears and pulled away. “Do you have your phone? I think I lost mine.”
I felt in my back jeans pockets but came up empty. “Guess we should head back to the crash site and have a look around.”
She shivered but nodded in agreement.
We walked in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. Whiskey kept heckling me to kiss her again, but now wasn’t the time. She was clearly traumatized by all that had happened, and it would be selfish of me to pursue her right now. Instead, I continued to offer her my comfort and support, sticking close to her side the entire way back.
When we reached the crash site, I released a low whistle. “Well, that explains why I ended up so far away.”
“Yeah,” she said, looking everywhere but at the broken plane. “I didn’t see our stuff inside, so I’m gonna look around out here. Holler if you find anything.”
She took off before I could say anything, her gait stiff and decidedly nervous. Knowing she needed some space to process, I forced myself not to follow her and veered toward the jet. The rain continued to beat on my head, harder than it had a few minutes ago. A flash of lightning lit up the crash site, followed closely by a rumble of thunder.
We were in for a very wet night. The ground had already grown saturated, and it was only then that I finally noticed my feet were bare.
Guess Vi was right about the flip-flops, I thought wryly, carefully avoiding a shard of glass. No need to impale myself a second time.
A few minutes later, I was standing in the cockpit, looking down at Randy’s body. Hesitating, I finally moved to check his pockets for a phone. Relieved when I found one, I pulled it out only to sigh in disappointment when it wouldn’t turn on. Everything was too wet. Even if we did find our own phones, they were probably in the same condition due to the rain. I checked the radio, but it too was fried.
With the realization that help probably wasn’t coming anytime soon, I started to unbuckle the pilot. He deserved a proper burial, not to be picked apart by wild animals.
I was just about to hoist him over my shoulder when a noise above the rain caught my attention. It was faint, but there was no mistaking the sound. Voices.Severalof them.
Whiskey immediately rose up, growling quietly. Heeding his warning, I left the pilot in his seat and silently slipped from the cockpit. As fast as I could without making noise, I made my way out of the plane, pausing every few seconds to listen.
There were at least four of them. Maybe five. All male by the sound of it.
A part of me wanted to call out to see if they were friendly, but a bigger part cautioned me not to. We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from any form of civilization. And I’d been replaying Vi’s words from earlier about the jet. Ithadbeen in mint condition. The engine shouldn’t have gone out like that.
I suspected foul play, and these males could be involved.
Problem was, I was in no shape to confront them at the moment. My chest wasn’t fully healed yet, and there was no way I would put Vi in danger without knowing what we were up against.
But as I landed on solid ground, a voice from behind me said, “Found my bag. My phone was inside, but it’s not—”
I lunged for Vi, quickly silencing her with a hand over her mouth. She instinctively tried to pull away, but I pressed her tightly to me and softly hissed in her ear, “Listen.”
She stilled.
A few seconds later, pounding footsteps reached our ears.
“Run,” I said. In a flash, I grabbed her hand and took off. Thankfully, she didn’t argue, keeping pace with me as I led us away from the crashing footfalls. Less than a mile later, a sharpcrackrended the air and something smacked into the tree beside me.
“Move!” I roared at Vi, not bothering to keep quiet anymore.
“What’s happening?” she cried, now running beside me at full tilt.
Another crack cleaved the air, and I veered sideways just in time to avoid being shot in the back.
Yup. Definitely not friendly.
