She finished her pleas and reopened her eyes as the dark-haired security operative began walking back toward the plane.
“Where are you going?” Lucky hollered after him.
Archer stopped, facing the group once more. “Shit hit the fan at the same time the pilot initiated the landing gear. I’m going to go around to the other side to see if there’s anything obvious that I can see.”
As he turned and walked away, Kaamisha asked Logan, “What is it he hopes to find?”
“Nash knows planes,” the former SEAL team leader explained. “He’s checking to see if he can figure out what happened.”
“Shouldn’t we be calling for an ambulance?” She frowned.
The question had no more left her lips when a deep, male groan came from the man they’d carried off the plane.
Donovan!
Her eyes flew back down to him as he began to open his eyes. His confused gaze met hers. Almost as if new life had just been breathed into him, the former SEAL sucked in a breath and sat straight up before putting a hand to the back of his head.
When he pulled it away and saw the blood on his skin, Donovan shot her an angry glare. “What the…” Fire raged in his clouded eyes as he started to push her away. “What the hell did you?—”
Taken off guard by his reaction, Kaamisha started to fall backward. At the last second, she shot her hands out to her sides, her palms landing on the cool grass in the nick of time.
“Whoa, it wasn’t her, man.” Chase quickly came to her defense. “Fuckin’ jet crash landed.” He glanced at the wreckage from over his shoulder before bringing his focus back to his injured teammate. “Kam helped us get you out.”
She watched his scowling face closely as he stared past them to the crumpled plane. Almost instantly, the lines created by his angry and confused expression began to shallow as his mind finally caught up to their unbelievable situation.
“You were thrown out of your seat, and you hit your head.” She felt compelled to remind him. “It took all five of us to carry you out. You probably have a concussion, but from the way you’re moving now, I’m guessing you are going to be okay.”
Donovan’s focus remained on the downed aircraft a moment longer before slowly turning her way. His dark eyes searched hers. For what, she wasn’t exactly sure. And then…
“Thank you.”
Kaamisha smiled softly, releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “You’re welcome.”
A few seconds passed before he blinked away their momentary connection. Clearing his throat, Donovan pushed himself to a knee before carefully rising up to his feet.
“Anyone else hurt?” He grunted as he straightened his spine.
Kaamisha stood along with him as his teammates lifted their hands in case he started to fall.
“The pilot didn’t make it.” Logan’s handsome face appeared grim, his hands falling back down to his sides. “As for the rest of us, we got lucky as hell. Aside from the gash in your head, we walked out of that mess with little more than a few new scrapes and bruises.”
“He’s right.” Archer returned, his steps more purposeful as he marched toward them. “We were damn lucky.”
“What happened?” Chase frowned. “Could you see what caused us to crash?”
Rather than answer right away, the dark-haired member of Eagle’s Nest held up something she hadn’t realized he’d been holding so everyone could see.
“Best guess?” He looked down at what appeared to be a mangled mess of metal clutched in his hand. “This is part of what’s left of the bomb that took out the front landing gear and caused our plane to crash.”
CHAPTER 7
Thirty minutes later…
“You sure youdon’t want to let a doctor take a look at that?”
Van stood on the pavement near the ambulance’s back bumper, but his eyes were locked on the woman standing a few yards away with the rest of his team. “I’m good,” he told the paramedic who’d already treated the wound at the back of his head.
The scene around them began to fill with others as law enforcement and first responders began trickling in. Flashing lights shone brightly in the mid-day sun, and it was only a matter of time before the place became filled with investigators from the FAA.
