Page 101 of Mile High Heist

“Not at all.” He sounded amused. “This is a negotiation, Jax. We can both get what we want.”

“And what do you think I want?”

“To live—” He paused, then, as if out of breath. I listened, focusing on the sound. Inhale. Exhale. It sounded wet. Too wet.

A barbaric grin spread across my face. “You’re hurt.”

He sucked in a measured breath. “Just a flesh wound. No need to worry about me.”

He was lying. Olivia said the gun went off twice. We’d assumed it was a misfire, or the captain took the hit. Madoc had mentioned the man was ex-military. He was probably skilled enough to wrestle a gun and turn it around, but not enough to fully combat a trained assassin.

“But since you mentioned it,” he went on, his voice tight. “A first aid kit wouldn’t go astray. Bring me one.”

Got him.

I leaned into the wall. “Yeah? What’s in it for me?”

“Your crew lives to see another day.”

I barked a humorless laugh. “They’re not the ones currently bleeding out.”

“Not yet.” His voice dropped low. “That could change in a moment, Jax. It takes nothing to go nose down. Are you willing to risk them?”

I stared at Madoc. Visions of him dead flashed through my mind like a grim projector—him, and Ryle, and even Nate, lost in a wreckage of twisted metal and fire.

We’d been in bad situations before. We’d been up against the wall. But my crew didn’t bend over. Not then, and definitely not fucking now.

We wouldn’t leave unscathed. But at least if we died, it wasn’t because we gave up fighting.

“You know you’re the last Viper standing,” I said, my voice even. Unbroken. “You could’ve landed the plane and slithered away undetected.”

“That changed the moment I saw her.”

I grimaced, familiar with the feeling. Olivia was a wrecking ball. She changed everything.

“You can still walk away,” I said. “Give it up. We won’t touch you.”

He chuckled, then rasped: “I’m not the one who is giving up. I’m the one flying the plane. I’m the one holding a gun to the captain’s temple.”

My jaw clenched. At least the captain was still alive. “If you kill him,” I warned, “all bets are off.”

There was a beeping sound. Then a harsh, muffled thump. “Funny thing about planes,” the snake mused. “They can cruise on autopilot, but they can’t land on it. Just one of those fun facts I learned a few weeks ago.”

My anger surged. I swallowed it back.

“Just so we’re clear.” He added, coughing. “I need the prototype. And I need the girl. I need both, or I’m a dead man walking. Like you.”

I fought the urge to rip the phone clean from the wall. His ragged breathing echoed in my head. I knew the sound of a man dying. I’d heard it more times than I cared to admit.

“There’s blood in your chest,” I pointed out. Madoc’s eyes sharpened on me, his smile a deadly thing. I angled toward him, then made a shooting motion with my hand. Madoc clutched his own chest in understanding. “How long do you think you have before you bleed out?”

“Not long,” the snake finally admitted. “Which is why you’re going to get me that kit. You have ten minutes, or we all go down.”

He hung up.

“Fuck,” I spat and smashed the phone back into the bracket. Both Madoc and Nate watched me silently. I braced my hands on the wall, thinking.

Thinking.