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I took careful strides, moving to the front of the plane before shifting around to the side.
“Fuck.” The dripping sound hadn’t been a leaky valve. The employee of the airport was hanging from a rope attached to one of the tail wings of the plane, blood from someone slicing hisneck open before hanging him finding its way down his arms, dripping onto the concrete.
“Maddox.”
I heard Zoe’s voice a split second before she burst into a scream. My reaction was the same as before, immediate. I turned and grabbed her, pressing her face into my chest.
“Jesus. You need to start listening to me,” I told her, muffling her scream. After a few seconds, I pulled her head back enough to be able to look into her eyes. “What are you doing in here? Did something else happen?”
“I thought I saw someone dressed in black. I got scared.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Okay, baby. This is getting dicey.”
“Is he dead?” she asked, her voice small.
“Yeah, he’s dead. I need to check the plane. Just turn around for me. I won’t be a second. Can you do that?”
She lifted her head, nodding.
I kissed her forehead, waiting until she’d turned around. I moved toward the plane, looking around me before opening the door. There was no sudden movement, no oddity when I climbed in. I glanced at the console, trying to determine if the plane had been tampered with.
Seeing nothing, I moved to start the airplane. As soon as I did, I heard a distinct clicking sound. This time, I allowed my instinct to take over, jumping from the plane and running toward Zoe.
There was no time to waste. I threw us both out the door, half carrying her as far away as I could get us from the hangar.
She struggled in my hold but didn’t try to get away.
As soon as I looked over my shoulder, I sensed the explosion before it happened.
Yet I wasn’t ready for the power of the bomb.
Until it was too late.
Boom!
CHAPTER 23
Zoe
“Goddamn it. There must be a plane on this godforsaken island,” Maddox said, barking into the phone.
I leaned against the wall, trying to remain calm when I couldn’t stop shaking. In the several hours since we’d returned, the wind had kicked up tremendously, the weather system he had squawking several times in warning. He’d already tried to get a commercial flight out. There was none coming in or going out given the increasing windspeed.
The sky was turning pitch black, ominous and dark. At least we had power, but I had a terrible feeling that wouldn’t last long. The black clouds weren’t only outside. They were surrounding us like demons attempting to drag us straight to hell.
Laughing, I moved toward the drinks I’d made for us, preferring scotch to dull the pain. He’d barely touched his, pacing the floor as he’d tried to make as many outgoing calls as possible. At least he’d managed to get through to Francois. My father was stable although he’d yet to waken from the coma.
Maddox had tried to hide the details of the news from me, but I’d been able to read between the lines. He’d tried to pass off the infection running its course through my father’s body as run of the mill, as if it could easily be cured by antibiotics. Maybe he’d forgotten my nursing training. But I knew if the doctors didn’t get the situation under control, my father’s organs could start shutting down one at a time.
While I trusted Uncle Louie implicitly, infections of that nature could easily get out of hand within hours. I pressed my fingers against my forehead, trying not to think the worst but it was so hard. I was an emotional wreck, longing to have one last chance at telling my father what he meant to me.
“No. I need to talk to a supervisor,” Maddox snapped and jerked his drink off the table, eyeing me carefully. While he offered a smile, there was no hiding the intensity of his concerns. He was as haunted and angry as I was.
I knew him far too well by now, the loss of control he was feeling derailing a portion of his mind. Plus, he suffered from the ache of potentially losing his best friend. I took another sip of my drink, barely easing it to the table without dropping it.
With one last connection on the verge of failing, we’d be forced to hunker down in the middle of what was now expected to be a category one hurricane.
