Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
She knew I was going to do something.
I was stupid.
Kai had security guards.
They had a better chance of handling this, but where was Kai? Had he already been hurt? How had this happened?
The curtain moved an inch, and I almost gasped when I saw one of the guards watching me. He shook his head too. His face was deadly serious.
I mouthed to him, “What’s going on?”
He shook his head, closing the curtain.
“—you want.”
That was Kai. Some of my fear eased, just a bit.
“I want you to die!” Another strangled scream.
He must have a gun or a weapon if they weren’t rushing him. God. What weapon? Was it pointed at Kai?
“I know, but there are people on this plane who don’t deserve to die this way.”
“That’s where you’re wrong! YOU’RE WRONG! They all deserve to die. They work for you. They should all perish. It’s been deemed. YOU.”
A thud.
“MUST.”
Another thud. I could feel his footsteps through the plane.
“DIE!”
There was a rush of thuds, as if he ran forward or someone ran at him.
I looked under the curtain, my heart in my throat, and the wall of men was gone.
Jumping up, I peered through to make sure, and I was right. They’d all rushed him.
“No, no.” A clammy hand grabbed my arm. The attendant tried to pull me back. “Don’t go out there. Please.”
“AGH!”
I’d never forget that sound. It was like the bleating of an animal dying slowly, asking for help in its last moments of life.
I didn’t think.
I tore my hand away from hers and rushed out, going to my seat and huddling down for cover. I could peer around it, just one eyeball.
The men were on top of a guy I didn’t recognize. His skin had a green tinge to it, soaked from sweat, and his eyes were wild. One guard held a gun, just by the end, and two others patted the man down.
Kai stood over him, staring.
I recognized that set in Kai’s shoulders. I knew what it meant. He was furious. But he was keeping it reined in.
One of the guards looked up at Kai. He gave him a firm nod as both of them stepped back. The others who had been pinning the man down stepped back too. All of them gave him a wide berth until only the man and Kai were left in the center of the plane.
Slowly, so slowly, Kai reached over and took the gun from his guard.
The man’s eyes darted from it to Kai. They were almost vibrating in his head.
His lips parted. “What—what are you doing?”
That’s when I saw that Kai had gloves on. And he was wearing a jacket, not one I recognized from before.
The man didn’t have a jacket. He wore just a shirt.
A sick feeling rose in me.
Kai was wearing that man’s jacket.
He had gloves on.
He was holding that man’s gun.
“This is the third time you’ve tried to kill me and my men,” Kai said calmly.
What? Shivers went up my spine. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
“The first time, you went to prison. I let the police handle you.”
Kai’s hand fit around that gun like his own glove, like he’d been holding guns since he was three, like it was second nature to him.
“The second time, you went to a psychiatric hospital,” he continued.
The guy began crying, shaking his head, moaning. He crouched down, covering his head with his hands the way the flight attendant had been moments earlier. He rocked back and forth on his heels.
“No. No. Please, no,” he repeated. “Don’t do this.”
Kai crouched down close to him. “You lost your family to a drug deal. You blame me for those drugs. I took pity on you. I understand how grief can make you do bad things. I gave you mercy the first time, and the second time my sister pleaded on your behalf. She knew your wife, said you were a good man. You were a janitor at a hospital where she volunteered. My brother remembered you too, said you were a good worker there. That was the last time.”
I sat back, no longer cowering behind the seat.
“No, no, please no. Don’t do this. No, no, please no.” He spoke faster, the words running into each other until he looked up and saw me. He stopped speaking.
Kai looked.
His eyes darkened.
He was mad at me. I didn’t care.
I couldn’t look away from this man. He was skinny, his face gaunt as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Seeing me changed something in him. The crying stopped. He sat up. He no longer cowered.
Kai stepped back to give him space, stepping back again as the man stood.
The man never looked away from me.
Kai stepped to block me, but the man yelled, “No! No. I am about to die. I want to stare into the eyes of a woman.”