by A and E Kirk
“How long until it goes off?” Matthias asked her.
When she didn’t reply, he swallowed hard and lifted the lid. He’d only just opened it when someone swore loudly and they all jumped.
The pilot stood frozen in the doorway to the cockpit, gaping at the suitcase bomb.
“They’re going to blow up the plane!” Renard screamed.
“No!” the Hex Boys screeched with varying levels of hysteria.
The pilot’s eyes widened. He kicked at Matthias. The Aussie dropped the lid on the suitcase and fell back to avoid the blow. The pilot ducked back inside the cockpit.
“She’s lying!” Matthias called after him and scrambled to his feet just as the pilot reemerged with a pistol aimed at the Hex Boy leader.
“Whoa!” The Boys all froze, arms flying up.
Renard pushed away from Jayden and lurched to her feet. Blake used the commotion to close one meaty paw around the gun as his other punched the pilot’s skull. The man’s head cracked sideways. He thudded against the doorway, then slid down with a shrill squeak and thumped to the floor, unconscious. Renard ducked into the cockpit and slammed the door behind her.
“Dammit.” Ayden tried the door handle. “Locked. Let’s get it open.”
Blake gaped at the weapon clenched in his fist. “Since when do pilots have guns?”
“Who cares about guns. We have a bomb!” Tristan said.
“And an assassin in the cockpit.” Ayden stomped over and kicked the door but its reinforced construction held firm.
The plane nosedived. Hex Boys crashed into the ceiling of the jet. So did the bomb. Their screams filled the space. Outside the window, the world below grew closer as the aircraft plunged fast and steep.
“Blake!” Logan braced his legs against the ceiling.
Blake reached out a hand. Logan sprung forward with a burst of air. The cockpit door crumpled and flattened to the floor just before Logan shot through. He smashed into the controls.
Strapped into the pilot’s seat, Renard gasped. She tried to swing at him, but needed two hands to shove the steering wheel into their death spiral. Logan crashed a fast kick across her face, and she went slack.
The plane still plummeted. Fighting the G-force that wanted to rip him out of the cockpit and to the back of the plane, Logan struggled halfway onto Renard’s lap and pulled the jet’s wheel back. Muscles strained. Alarms screeched.
The plane slowly angled flat. Hex Boys hit the floor with thuds and groans. Logan panted, took a few calming breaths, then climbed out of Renard’s lap. He dumped her unconscious form on the floor and tied the seatbelt around the steering wheel to hold it straight.
“Everyone alright?” Matthias sat up, blinking a lot, touching the bleeding lump on his head.
“Way to go, little dude!” Blake gave a thumbs-up from the floor.
Tristan clutched his chest. “Is she insane?”
Ayden patted hands all over his brother. “She just tried to kill us and herself. She’s beyond insane.”
“Technically, insanity would require a supportive psychological evaluation by a trained professional.”
“Not the time, Jayden.”
Something rolled off a seat and into the aisle in between the Boys.
The bomb.
Matthias went very still. “No one panic.”
“About the bomb? Normal people panic around bombs!”
“I think he was referring to the attempted assassination.”
“Oh, right. The poison.”
“How could you forget about the poison?”
“Because of the bullets! We don’t do guns!”
“We do guns.”
“Since when?”
“What do I do with the gun?”
“You’re still holding it?”
“Guns are not the problem. We don’t have a pilot.”
“Pilot won’t matter if we blow up.”
“Oh, right, the bomb.”
“Oh, right the bomb? What is wrong with you!”
“The bullets!”
“Someone take the gun. I don’t want it.”
“Shut up!” Matthias snapped. “Enough! Tristan’s right. We take care of the bomb first.”
“We don’t have experience with bombs,” Logan said.
“Jayden?”
“I will familiarize myself with bomb deactivations upon our return home.”
“Perfect. Because that’s a big help right now.”
“You know, in movies—”
“This is real life, Ayden!”
“Let’s just throw it out the plane.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“That seems good.”
“We can’t do that.”
“We don’t have any other options.”
Logan pointed out the windows. “We’re over a city.”
“Throw it out,” Tristan said. “Then Ayden can shoot it with fire and make it explode.”
“What if he doesn’t make it explode and it hits the ground and explodes?” Logan licked his lips. “Or, or what if pieces of the exploded bomb fall to the ground and hurt someone?”
The Hex Boys looked out the windows. Then groaned at the twinkling lights not as far below as they would have liked.
Matthias pinched the bridge of his nose. “New plan.”
“Guys, in movies—”
“Stop with the movies, Ayden!”
“The clock is always counting down,” Ayden said in a rush. “I don’t think it’s activated.”
The Hex Boys blinked in surprise and glanced at each other. Matthias dropped on all fours and crawled over to carefully lift the lid. The timer read one minute.
And didn’t change.
Matthias heaved a disbelieving sigh. Tristan chuckled nervously and dropped his head in his hands. Jayden stopped popping his knuckles. Ayden blew out a long breath as he ran a hand through his hair. Blake hugged Logan off the floor.
“And there’s usually an off switch,” Blake said.
“Yes.” Jayden knelt and held back his hair with one hand to inspect the bomb. “Those detonating the bombs usually do not possess the knowledge to deactivate a bomb should things go awry and, therefore, safe-switches are built into the device.”
“Oh sure,” Ayden said. “You know that, but you don’t know how to disarm it.”
“My knowledge was ascertained from the action films we watched together,” Jayden said.
Matthias shut the bag and zipped it closed. “Out of our realm of expertise, mates. It’s not ticking. Let’s not gamble. Blake, Ayden, get Renard secured in a seat. Jayden, Logan, search the plane for any other devices, weapons, or anything suspicious. Tristan—”
“I’ll gather medical supplies.” Tristan grabbed the first-aid kit that had broken open in the chaos.
“Not what I was going to say, but that’s fine.”
The Hex Boys quickly followed orders while Matthias carefully lifted the bomb bag, carried it to the back of the plane and stowed it in one of the cabinets. Tristan collected scattered medical supplies he found and stuffed them into a backpack that had belonged to the pilot. Blake and Ayden tore seatbelts from seats to secure Renard.
“What about the pilot?” Tristan inspected the unconscious man’s injuries. “And why isn’t there a co-pilot?”
“Don’t worry about a pilot,” Matthias said. “We’ve got Logan.”
“Oh,” Tristan said. “Right.”
On his knees looking under a seat, Logan froze. “Why did you just say that like that’s a solution?”
“You can fly the plane,” Matthias said.
“No, I can’t.”
“You can’t fly a plane?”
“But you’re the air hunter.”
“You fly.”
“You’re like a mini Superman.”
“Exactly. So why would I need to learn how to fly a plane?”
“Oh.”<
br />
“Jayden?” Matthias turned to their cleverest member.
Ayden shook his head.
Jayden came out of the cockpit with a grimace. “The same logic applies to myself. I lack the need for a plane to be airborne and therefore saw no reason to acquire the skills to pilot an aircraft.”
“So, we’re on a plane with no pilot,” Ayden said. “Fantastic.”
“What?” Tristan tried to shake the pilot awake. When that didn’t work, he shoved his way into the cockpit.
“Dudes, it’s cool.” Blake finished another knot on Renard’s restraints.
“Yes.” Matthias picked up the Director Renard’s other bag. “Yes, it is. We have one parachute.”
“We don’t know how to use a parachute,” Logan said.
Ayden shrugged. “How hard can it be? Jump. Scream. Pull cord. Scream some more.”
“If I take the parachute, Logan and Jayden can fly you three down,” Matthias said.
Jayden and Logan glanced nervously at each other.
“But the plane will just crash into the city,” Ayden said. “With the pilot and Renard in it.”
“Okay,” Matthias said. “So we aim the plane at a forest. I strap Renard into the parachute with me. Jayden and Logan fly the pilot down with you three.”
“That is not a plausible plan,” Jayden said. “Firstly, we lack knowledge of the local geography to locate a place to crash with no civilian casualties. Second—”
“Dudes! Relax.” Blake muscled his way into the cockpit and plopped in the pilot’s seat. “I’ve been taking flying lessons.”
Ayden rubbed a hand across his forehead. “So this is how I die.”
“No, seriously, I’ve been practicing on flight simulators. Even been up in the air.”
Tristan looked doubtful. “How many times in the air?”
“Ahhhhhhhhh, once. And they didn’t actually let me land.”
Tristan turned bugged eyes on Matthias who wiped a hand over his mouth to cover his alarm.
“Hmm,” Blake squinted at the controls and hovered his hands over switches only to withdraw them quickly with a frown. “This is different than what I’m used to.”
“What kind of plane did you fly?” Ayden asked.
Matthias grabbed Ayden and Tristan’s arms and pulled them out of the cockpit. “Until you have a better plan, stop poking holes in the only one we’ve got.”
Blake slipped on a headset. “Hello? Hello? Is anyone—Oh. Bonjour, uh, do you speak English?”
“Jayden!” Matthias said.
“Wrong twin!” Ayden rushed into the cockpit and grabbed a headset. “What do you want me to tell them?”
“That we’re going to die!” Tristan said.
Matthias whirled, but Logan was already shoving Tristan into a chair.
“We should consider procuring you anxiety medication,” Jayden said.
“Oh, hey, great,” Blake said, then told the Boys. “It’s okay. She can speak English. And she sounds sexy.”
“And she can hear you,” Ayden snapped. “I’ll stay to help out and keep you focused. And not insult the woman who can help us land this plane and stay alive.” He put on a headset.
“You want to know what happened to the pilot?” Blake said to the traffic controller. “He, uh, um.” The big guy looked to Ayden for help.
Ayden covered the headset’s microphone with his hand and turned back toward the cabin. “Any suggestions?”
“Lie,” Matthias said.
Ayden rolled his eyes. “Obviously. I meant, what lie do you prefer?”
The plane shuddered and dropped. In the cockpit, alarms wailed and red lights flashed. Ayden slammed against the ceiling of the cockpit. Blake’s hands moved frantically over the controls. Tristan clung desperately to his seat as the other Hex Boys bounced around the cabin. Cabinet doors slammed open. Luggage and supplies spilled out.
Suddenly, the plane righted. The Hex Boys thudded to the floor. Alarms silenced, and were replaced by a chorus of groans and swearing.
Blake chuckled nervously. “Sorry. Wrong button. Everyone got their seatbelts on?”
The Hex Boys shared wide-eyed looks and scrambled for their seats, yanking belts tight.
“The pilot passed out. We don’t know what happened,” Ayden said. “Can you just help my friend land the plane? Merci.”
Blake moved with slow and meticulous care as he followed the instructions Ayden helped clarify and offered support when necessary. After a few minutes, the jet descended over an airport decked out in blinking lights.
“That’s weird,” Ayden said. “There aren’t any emergency vehicles waiting for us.”
Blake grinned. “That’s because they know I can land this baby with no problem at all.” A moment later, he said, “French babe-ette said they are on their way.”
“I can hear her,” Ayden reminded him.
“I’m sorry,” Tristan said.
Matthias turned from his intense stare toward the cockpit. “For what?”
“For everything. I dragged you guys into this. I killed the demons at Novo, got captured.”
“What are you babbling about? This is all that moron’s fault.”
Ayden inhaled sharply and turned around.
Matthias pointed a fast finger. “Yell at me after you’ve landed this plane.”
Ayden rolled his eyes and focused back on the cockpit.
“Aurora didn’t do this,” Logan said.
Matthias groaned. “Not you too.”
“The point is valid,” Jayden said. While he looked and sounded calm, his thumbs popped in and out of joint. “Technically, action we have taken proceeded in line with Mandatum standards. Defending the Divinicus. Protecting the world, and the society, from evil. The case could therefore be made that the Mandatum dragged us into this.”
“Oh, maybe you’re right,” Tristan said with a small smile.
“So,” Jayden continued. “Following that legitimate logic, Tristan should feel no guilt for allowing himself to be captured and garnering us the unprecedented and certainly undesired attention of the Mandatum due to his lack of control.” Jayden patted Tristan’s head.
Tristan’s smile faded. “Thanks,” he ground out.
“You are most welcome.”
The brightly lit tarmac came into clear view through the windows. The plane wobbled gently from side to side.
“You’re too fast,” Ayden said.
“I know.” Blake white-knuckled the shuddering control wheel.
The ground rushed to meet them. The plane shook. A metallic creak rang ever more steady and loud. Logan sighed, unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped into the aisle.
Matthias grabbed at his friend. “What are you doing?”
Logan shook him off, closed his eyes and clasped his hands in front of his chest as if in prayer. He released a slow breath and simultaneously spread his hands apart, slowly stretching his arms wide.
A shrill whistle howled outside. Metal groaned. After a moment, the plane stopped swaying. The engines whined and suddenly the plane lurched slower. It threw Logan forward. Matthias, Tristan, and Jayden all caught the little guy’s jacket and righted him. Logan didn’t respond. His concentration absolute, his breathing labored, the blood drained from his face and turned him paler than usual.
With a screech of rubber, the plane bounced onto the tarmac.
“Boo-yah!” Blake yelled in triumph.
Matthias wrenched Logan into the seat next to him as tires squealed on pavement. Tristan and Jayden screamed. The plane swerved and fishtailed. Then began to tip over. One of the wings touched down. Metal screeched. Sparks flew. Logan flicked a wrist. The plane jolted and bounced back on all wheels. After what seemed like hours, it rolled to a stop.
“Everyone okay?” Blake hastily unbuckled himself.
“Yeah!”
“We’re alive?” Tristan patted himself. “We’re alive!”
Matthias smirked. “Well done, mates, well done.”
Ayden stayed in his seat, panting, one hand over his heart. “Anyone else vote we take a cruise back home?”
“I wholeheartedly second the motion,” Jayden said.
Blue lights flashed outside as black SUVs zipped across the tarmac toward them.
Logan crawled over Matthias’ lap to peer out the window. “It’s Mandatum. What do we say?”
“Truth,” Matthias said.
“Whew.” Blake wiped his brow.
“You seriously think they’re going to believe us?” Tristan asked.
“Don’t give opinions,” Matthias said. “Just facts. Mandatum will draw their own conclusions. We’ve got the advantage of exposing the Novo corruption.”
“And now we’ve just given them someone to pin that fiasco on.” Ayden nodded at the unconscious Renard.
Matthias laughed, a somewhat delirious sound. “This actually couldn’t have worked out better.”
“Couldn’t have worked out better?” Tristan grabbed the backpack he had stuffed with mostly medical supplies and shoved open the jet’s door, swinging down the stairs. “You clearly hit your head on the way down.”
“Wait!” Matthias said. “Stay in here.”
“On the plane with the bomb?” Tristan clambered down the stairs. “I don’t think so.”
“Right behind you, dude.” Blake ducked out of the cockpit and raced out the door too, the other Boys following with trepidation.
Blake dropped to his knees and hugged the ground. “I’ll never leave you again.”
“We’re alive!” Tristan punched his fists high.
The black SUVs screeched to a stop in a semi-circle around the Boys. Men and women jumped out and positioned themselves behind the open car doors and pointed firearms. Red pin pricks of light collected on the Boys’ chests. Shots pffted through the air.
Tristan yelped as his body jerked from hits. Blake went limp and laid out flat. Logan jumped into a twisted backflip. Darts whizzed inches from his body. Knives iced into Jayden’s hands as he slashed through several projectiles. Ayden punched flaming fists. The darts exploded on contact, liquid splattering his skin. Shadows inked to cover Matthias’ palm as he caught the dart meant for him, its long needle crumpling under the dark shield concealed in his fist.
Speaking in French, a voice boomed from a megaphone.
