Page 117 of Mile High Heist

Seeing the resolve on my face, Madoc stepped back. There was almost a glint of his approval in his eye. I knew better than to look for it twice.

“Pay attention,” he said, leaning down to whisper in my ear. “This is what’s going to happen next.”

33

JAX

It had to end here.

The Viper looked like death. His skin was bone-white, his lips tinged blue from shock. He held himself stiffly, his free arm pressed tight to his ribs. The bullet had embedded in his shoulder, almost exactly where Madoc had his bullet scar.

Madoc would call it a fun little synchronicity. I called it fucking karma.

“What now?” I snarled at him. He had the gun pressed to the captain’s temple. The large man was zip-tied to his seat, including one around his throat, gagging him. A cruel restraint, and clearly a personal one.

“The terms are the same,” the Viper mused, like it was funny. A hilarious joke. I was sick of being the fucking punchline. “Give me what I want, and we all live.”

I held the first aid kit in my fist, the strap digging into my open cuts. “You need this more than I do.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

“You showed your hand. We both know you want out of here alive.”

I heard him swallow. Despite his visible decline, the gun was steady and unwavering in his grip. An assassin to the end.

I went on. “Your crew are dead. You’ve missed the boat. You have nothing left but your life.”

He shifted, wincing again. Then he laughed, which threw me off. It also sent chills down my spine.

That was never a good fucking sign.

His laughter was just as unsettling as the silence on the other side of the cockpit door. The Viper had called off the manhunt, but I didn’t trust it. What if I had been too late?

Madoc wouldn’t let them touch her.

“But it is not just your life you care about,” the Viper said, as if reading my mind. “It is hers. And the rest of your crew. We come full circle to the same question. Is one life worth all of theirs?”

Heat burned through my veins.

“Is she truly worth it, Jax? Her, of all people?”

“What the fuck do you mean?”

“So she hasn’t told you her little secret. Sadly, we don’t have time to unpack it now.” He coughed, his face tightening with pain. “Ah,” he hissed. “You better make a choice soon, or we are all dead, including her.”

I took a breath, forcing myself to find patience I’d long since lost. “I’ll give you the kit,” I said. “You take it. Stop the bleeding. Patch yourself up. Then get the fuck off this plane.”

The Viper smirked. “Or I could just shoot you here and take the kit?”

“Yeah?” I jutted my chin at him. “Then why haven’t you?”

He said nothing.

I bared my teeth in a feral grin. “Your gun is compact, probably custom-built to get through security undetected. Not a lot of bullets in that magazine. You’ve fired at least two rounds. You got, what? Two left? One? You shoot me, my guy out there will rip your fucking head off the moment you step foot out of here. He’s a hell of lot smarter than me.”

The Viper sighed, caught. “This is getting tedious.”

There was a knock on the door.