“Not that I saw,” Nhiari said. But there could be more people in the cabin.
“Do we want them alive?” Sherlock asked.
Sam looked at her.
She nodded. “Yes.” Questions still needed to be answered.
“Sherlock, you take the front. We’ll take the rear.”
He nodded. “I’ll get eyes.” He moved down the belly of the plane and Nhiari and Sam took position on either side of the stairs.
Her heart beat in her ears as she gripped the warm gun.
It would be easy for Lee to shoot them as they climbed the stairs into the plane. She would go up first. If he wanted to kill her, he’d aim for her head this time.
She held up her fingers. Three…two…one.
She stormed the plane.
Chapter Twenty
Leesawthetruthin his mother’s eyes. She would kill Nhiari. Only one thing he could do. Lie. He smirked at her. “Let me do the honours.”
Her confusion gave him the split second he needed. He prayed as he adjusted his aim and shot Nhiari in the side.
His mother ducked as the shot reverberated and she swore as she spotted the round hole in the cockpit window. Nhiari stared up from the ground, disbelief in her eyes. Hopefully she would understand he’d done it to save her.
Lee pointed the gun at his mother, ignoring the throbbing in his right shoulder and the blood soaking his shirt. “Drop your weapon.”
Sam dragged Nhiari under the plane. She was safe.
“You traitor!” His mother raised her gun, and he squeezed the trigger, shooting her in the shoulder.
“Drop it.”
The gun clattered to the ground as she slammed her other hand over the wound. “You shot me.”
Why was she so surprised? Did she actually think he had any loyalty to the woman who had done nothing aside from giving birth to him?
She had killed the one person who had ever loved him and showed him any support.
He strode forward and flicked off the engines, picking her gun off the floor. “You threatened the woman I love.”
Footsteps pounded up behind him and he turned as Nhiari ran up the stairs, gun in hand. She pointed it at him. “Don’t move.”
He shifted away from his mother, raising his hands as the engine faded. Sam pushed into the cabin behind Nhiari, taking position next to her, pointing his gun at Lee’s mother. He glanced around the cabin, obviously satisfied it was empty. “Just two,” he said. “We’ve got them covered.”
He must have comms with Sherlock. Maybe Sherlock had Lucas contained.
“Are you all right?” Lee nodded towards Nhiari’s side where the bullet was still lodged.
“Slowly put both guns on the ground.” She kept her gun pointed at him.
He did as she asked, wincing as the movement pulled on his bullet wound. “The pilot is my mother.” He pressed the wound to stem the bleeding. “Lucas reported to her. She killed my father.”
Sam swore and Nhiari’s aim shifted past him to his mother and then back again, as if not trusting he was telling the truth.
“He shot me,” his mother cried. “I need a doctor. I don’t know what he’s talking about. All I did was fly the plane here like my brother asked me to.”
