Page 36 of Mile High Heist

Was it an act?

I stood next to Madoc and watched in confusion. Peter made it to the middle of the aisle before he collapsed. He groaned like a wounded animal. Then he started convulsing, a full on possessed-by-the-devil seizure, his mouth frothing and eyes rolled back into his head.

Okay, so he definitely wasn’t faking it.

I felt Madoc staring at me. I met his gaze and saw suspicion lurking behind those unnerving, all-seeing green eyes. I knew he didn’t trust me, but did he really think I was capable of whatever this was?

Then the panic hit.

Passengers rushed to Peter’s side, trying to help him. Lucille and Marcus joined the fray, calling for a doctor.

It wasn’t until I couldn’t see Peter anymore that my brain snapped out of its panic-induced fog and I remembered.

“Watch!” I hissed at Madoc. “It’s in the watch!”

Madoc nodded and moved toward the chaos, but he didn’t get far. The plane shuddered, and for a heart-stopping second, it felt like the whole world had tipped to its side.

A panicked cry rang out: “He’s dead!”

My heart sank in dread.

No.

No, he couldn’t be.

I shoved myself forward on unsteady legs, squeezing down the aisle between onlookers. Lucille was trying to order people back into their seats. By the time I shoved through the bodies, Peter’s face had turned a violent purple, as if all the blood in his body had collected in his head. He was unrecognizable to the man he’d been just minutes ago. His face was puffy, eyes beady and bloodshot. White foam spilled from his slack mouth.

Across the cabin, I spotted Julie, staring back at me with wide, confused eyes.

And when I looked back down, unable to help myself, one more thing became glaringly obvious.

The watch was gone.

11

JAX

Iwas standing in a den of vipers. Thirty thousand feet in the sky. No exits.

Man, I couldn’t catch a fucking break.

I was a paranoid asshole by nature, and for good reason. I should’ve listened to my gut. I should’ve told Preacher where he could shove his good-willed bullshit plan. As I left the bar, my phone clenched in my fist like a weapon, I came across Martha watching me from the doorway of her suite.

Everything was different now. Before, I didn’t suspect her, but now I knew I was dealing with professional killers. The kind who had perfect camouflage.

If Martha was a snake, she’d done a bang-up job of hiding it. I narrowed my eyes, taking in her silk pink robe and designer pajamas. Noticing my attention, she curled her hand in a suggestive gesture.

“Looking for me, Noah?”

For a second, I imagined taking the tie off her robe and strangling her with it. Snake or not, she was testing my last remaining shred of restraint.

Before I could act on it, my phone buzzed in my hand. Without taking my eyes off her, I lifted it to my ear. “What?”

“Something happened,” Ryle said, sounding unsure. “Um, so, Princess—”

That was all I needed to hear. I hung up and stormed through first class, ignoring the startled looks. I’d shed the jacket and the tie, and with it, the pretense of civility.

I was a rogue thief again, out for blood.