“Dropping the landing gear now, gentlemen,” the other man announced. “We should be back on the ground in just a few?—”
A loud boom sounded from somewhere beneath the plane. The aircraft shook violently before the nose of the jet dipped down into a sharp and sudden dive.
Kam’s screams became lost in the sounds of struggling engines as Van was thrown out of his seat and onto the floor. He landed with a hard thud as his teammates appeared to be struggling to maintain some semblance of control.
The lights above him began to flicker, and the oxygen masks were released from hidden panels above each of the seats. From his peripheral, he spotted Kam’s attempts to climb back into her seat.
He started that way, pushing himself first to his knees and then back onto his feet. Around him, his teammates were all trying like hell to hang on for dear life.
A sense of relief Van didn’t fully understand rushed over him when he saw Kam buckling herself into place. He reached out, his fingers only a few inches away from the aisle-side arm of his chair when the jet’s nose lifted abruptly, the unexpected movement knocking him right back down onto his ass.
Son of a…
“Donovan!” Kam’s big eyes widened as she looked down to where he’d landed. Her hands went to the buckle she’d latched mere seconds before.
“Don’t!” he called out to her, giving a hard shake of his head. He lifted a palm into the air to help further convey his message.
The jet chose that exact moment to drop viciously once again. Before he could even attempt to steady his gate, gravity yanked Van backward with such force he was thrown completely off of his feet.
Pain radiated along his shoulders and back as he landed on the thin carpet seconds before the jet banked sharply to one side. The sudden change in position caused his body to roll toward the lowest portion of the plane.
“We’re going down!” the pilot’s alarming voice boomed through the jet’s speakers. “Everyone stay buckled in and prepare for a crash landing!”
The smell of smoke reached his nostrils as, yet another severe shift took place. Once again, Van’s entire body was veered off its course, and there was nothing he could do but wait for the tilting to stop.
Without conscious thought, his focus slid back to where Kam was still sitting. She was watching him with a look of terror so profound it was as if he could feel her fear deep inside his own soul.
The urge to shout out to her became so strong, it was almost overwhelming. In that moment, it wasn’t his death on his mind, but rather the inexplicable need to ease the woman’s worry.
But before he could open his mouth to lie and say everything was going to be okay, Kam’s terror-filled eyes grew as big as saucers. Her lips parted as she screamed out a warning he could barely hear.
“Behind you!” She stretched a hand toward him, as if she could somehow reach him.
A flash of pain filled his skull as the back of his head struck something that felt a lot like metal. Everything around him grew dark, and he no longer heard the whirl of the jet’s powerful engines.
Van’s eyes fell shut, and after that…nothing.
CHAPTER 6
Kaamisha satin her seat with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands gripping the leather-bound arms with a white-knuckled hold. Remnants of frantic thoughts and prayers echoed through her mind.
Her lungs refused to evenbreathefor the terror still coursing through her veins despite the fact that it was over. No more shaking. No more screaming. No more gut-wrenching sounds of metal ripping apart at the seams.
The high-pitched squeal of the jet’s massive engines vanished, and the uncontrollable shaking finally subsided. The jet she and the men of Eagle’s Nest were on just made an emergency crash landing, and by some miracle, she managed to survive.
Praise be to God.
One minute, they’d been falling in a fast and unsteady descent and the next, her entire world had been forced into a sudden and bone-jarring stop. Kaamisha knew she needed to open her eyes, but she was still being held hostage by an unrelenting fear.
Fear of what she could hear. Of what she might see.
In her mind’s eye came the image of Donovan’s muscularform being thrown around the cabin at the will of the falling plane. She’d tried reaching for him and had even started to unbuckle her seatbelt so she could help him return to the safety of his seat.
But then the front of the jet had dropped so abruptly seconds before the aircraft struck the ground. She’d had no other choice but to watch in horror as his body slammed violently against the small table bolted to the floor several feet away.
They hit the ground before sliding across the runway with such speed, it was as if they had landed on unbreakable ice. Smells of fuel and fire reached her nostrils, reminding her of those terrifying moments in the hotel.
You’re still alive, but the others may be injured and in need of your help. You must move. Donovan might need your help!
