by Gail Koger
You crashed in your flight simulator training.”
The cockpit door shook violently.
I wasn’t the best pilot in the world but there was no need for her to rub it in. “It was either hijack the airplane or become a member of the mile high club.”
Granny wrapped cold, slightly slimy fingers around my arm. “You must lose your virginity or you will die.”
Horror roiled my stomach. “My God, Aunt Sophie actually plans on sacrificing me?”
“Asmoday gave her a week to bring you to him.”
“That explains the million dollar bounty. What happens if she fails?”
“She dies.”
“Then we make sure she fails.”
“Perhaps it is best if you allow Dixon to make love to you. He is hung like a stallion.”
I rolled my eyes. “I thought the fates had decreed Derek was the one and only for me?”
Gangster’s Paradise suddenly blared from my purse. Was this someone’s idea of a joke? Cuz the Valley of the Shadow of Death was looming large in my future. I reached in and pulled out my cell phone. “Hello?”
Derek’s voice was a gravelly growl. “Did he touch you?”
My pride shredded, I snapped, “Dixon’s quite the lover and you know what? He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about my inexperience.”
“Don’t play games with me, Angel.” The cold menace in his voice sent a chill down my back.
“Is this some kind of territorial shit? Cuz I don’t belong to you.”
“You’re mine until I say otherwise.”
Say what?! “I think your tiny little brain got fried when they tased you.”
Sloan roared, “Did he touch you?”
Omigod! He was dead serious. Where in the hell had this possessiveness come from? He’d made it pretty damned clear, he didn’t want me. Maybe he was afraid Dixon would beat him to the gold. Would he actually kill his cousin for the treasure? Did I want to be responsible for him hurting or killing his cousin? No, I didn’t. “He kissed me. No big deal, okay?”
“That’s it?” Was there a trace of relief in his voice?
“Yeah and why do you care? I have virgin cooties, remember?”
“Put him on the phone,” Derek snarled.
“Sorry, I can’t. He’s taking a nap.” I disconnected.
Gangster Paradise sounded again . I let it ring.
“Derek is quite an accomplished pilot,” Granny announced.
“Why am I not surprised?” I answered the phone, “You a fly boy, sugar?”
The cockpit door shook violently. “You’re a dead woman. Do ya hear me?”
Derek demanded, “Who is that?”
“The pilot. He’s a bit angry at being locked out of the cockpit.”
“My God, you commandeered the aircraft!?”
“Surprised?”
“You don’t know how to fly a Learjet.”
“True, but how hard can it be?”
His voice was a low growl. “Angel.”
“I have a pilot’s license.”
“For a single engine Cessna.”
My temper flared and I snapped, “I’ve had over twenty hours of simulator training on the Learjet and I only crashed once.”
“Not funny.”
Granny Annabel warned, “He’s trying to pry the door open.”
“Sic ’em, Granny.”
She vanished and ten seconds later the pilot started shrieking, “Stay away from me. Oh God! Oh God! Stay away. What are you?”
“I am death,” Granny answered in a monstrous voice.
There was a loud thump and the screaming stopped.
Derek inquired grimly, “Did she kill him?”
“If he had a bad heart, maybe, but mostly likely he just fainted. Granny can morph into some pretty damned scary creatures. Believe me I know.
Every time I had a date with someone she consider unsuitable, she’d pop in and scare the living bejeesus out of them.”
“Good to know. Let’s get this bird on the ground. I need you to input these coordinates into the navigation system.”
“Hold on.” I looked over the console. Where the heck was the navigation system?
“It’s on your left,” Derek, the mind reader, said.
“Oh! Right. It’s been awhile.”
A very anxious Granny appeared in the co-pilot’s seat. “Dixon’s awake.”
“What! He can’t be.”
The cockpit door crashed open to reveal a woozy Dixon. He dropped the handcuffs in my lap.
“The next time you cuff someone, sweetheart, you need to make sure they don’t have the key.”
I gulped at the rage simmering in his gray eyes.
“I’m not apologizing. I have the right to defend myself.”
“Do you now? We’ll discuss your punishment later.” He sat down in the co-pilot’s chair, right on top of Granny and held out his hand. “Give me the phone.”
Granny Annabel materialized on his lap. “You will not harm my granddaughter.”
Dixon stared at her for a long moment. “Lady, I’ll do whatever I want. Now get the fuck off my lap.”
Granny let out an indignant huff and vanished.
Color me surprised. She hadn’t even tried to freeze his nuts off. Oh wait. He needed them to service me.
“The phone,” Dixon commanded.
I handed it to him.
“Her price just went up to a million dollars,”
Dixon said calmly before disconnecting. “I want my gun and knife back.”
When I hesitated, he roared, “Now!”
“I have them in my purse.”
“Give me your fucking purse.”
“Yes, sir.” I quickly gave it to him, watching warily as he reclaimed his property and the Glock.
Granny hovered anxiously in the doorway.
His voice a purr of menace, Dixon added, “You’re payin’ for ripping up my seat, too.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dixon disengaged the auto pilot and put the aircraft into a sharp dive.
As I watched the altimeter drop rapidly from twenty thousand feet to two thousand, I noticed Dixon’s eyelids were drooping. “Dixon? You awake?”
His head dropped to his chest. “Dixon!?”
The jet rolled over and plunged towards the jagged mountains below.
“Holy Mary Mother of God!” I grabbed the yoke and pulled back. “C’mon. C’mon.” The jet leveled out, barely missing the mountain top. “Granny where’s my cell phone?”
“In his lap.” The cell phone levitated up and over to me.
Using one hand, I flipped it open and pushed last call.
Derek demanded, “What happened?”
“Dixon went back to sleep.”
“What did you drug him with?”
“Hydroxyzene HCL.”
“You continually surprise me, Angel.”
Thud! Feathers exploded across the windshield.
“Fuck! A duck!”
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Splat!
Feathers and blood flew in every direction and the cockpit window cracked badly.
“Omigod! It’ a flock of geese!”
The control panel suddenly lit up with warning lights.
“Shit! I have a fire in engine two.”
“Shut off the Gen/Bat Master switch,” Derek calmly responded.
“Check. It’s off.”
“Shut off the fuel valve.”
“Off.”
“Shut off the fuel pump.”
I looked frantically at the console. “Shit!
Where’s the fuel pump control?”
“On your right.”
“Kay, done.”
“Cabin heat off.”
“Okay, it’s off,” I responded, flipping a switch.
“What’s your air speed?”
“ knots and dropping.”
“Get the nose down and increase your speed.”
“Cop
y, nose down.”
“Altitude?”
I took one look at how close the desert floor was and started hyperventilating. “Omigod!
Omigod!”
Derek barked, “Give me your fucking altitude.”
Okay, I was a little freaked out but that was no reason for him to be so nasty. “Four hundred feet.”
“Come about ten degrees north and you should see a highway,” Derek instructed.
I pushed on the left rudder and brought the jet around ten degrees. “Got it but there are too many cars to land.”
“I’m taking care of that.”
Several police cars, lights flashing raced down the highway. I was seriously impressed.
“Extend the flaps eight degrees.”
“Copy.” I pushed the lever to eight degrees.
“Air speed?”
“ knots.”
“You need to drop your airspeed to knots for landing.”
“Okay.”
“Wheels down.”
“Crap, where’s the freakin’ button?”
“On the center console,” Derek responded testily.
“Got it. Wheels down and locked.” The aircraft shuddered, groaned and flames licked at the windshield.
“Flaps at degrees.”
“Done.” I lined up with the roadway. A hysterical laugh escaped from me. I could see the freaked out faces of the drivers as they swerved wildly off the highway.
“Keep it together, Angel,” Derek snapped.
“Easy for you to say, you’re not thirty seconds away from being flamed broiled,” I snapped back.
Dixon shook his head and sat up. “Fuck a duck!”
“No, geese.”
The jet skimmed over the top of a semi-truck.
Derek demanded, “Are you in the glide slope?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Deploy spoilers.”
“Deployed.” The jet began to shake violently.
The jet’s tires hit the pavement with a teeth rattling jerk. “I’m down.”
The big, bad biker let out horrified gasp as we careened down the highway. “Good God woman, you trying to kill us?”
“You try seeing out that friggin’ blood covered, smashed all to hell windshield.”
“Shut up Dixon,” Derek commanded. “Thrust levers in reverse, Angel. Your speed should be knots.”
Dixon knocked my hand out of the way, slammed the reverse levers back and hit the brakes.
The jet veered sharply to the left. “Shit! Watch out for the car!”
“I see it,” Dixon snarled and smoothly brought the aircraft back to the center of roadway. The wing missed the car by a scant inch.
“The pilot is trying to get the hatch open,”
Granny warned.
“Crap!” I scrambled out of my seat.
Dixon yelled, “Where the hell are you going?”
“Your idiot pilot is trying to open the hatch.”
“Stand down, Jackson,” he bellowed. “Grab the fire extinguisher we’ve got a fire in engine two.”
Granny materialized by the pilot. “”You heard your boss. Get the fire extinguisher.”
Jackson screamed like a little girl, heaved the door open and jumped.
Through the billowing black smoke, I caught a fleeting glimpse of him rolling down the highway.
Ouch! That had to hurt.
The jet skidded to a stop.
One look at the animosity on Dixon’s face, I slung my purse over my shoulder and bolted down the ramp.
“Dammit, Zelda, don’t make me chase you.”
I increased my speed praying the sedative would slow him down. “Leave me the hell alone.”
“Not a chance,” he shouted furiously. “When I’m done with you, you’re gonna be one obedient little girl.”
“Fat chance,” I yelled and glanced over my shoulder. Shit! He was gaining on me.
Two cops appeared out of the smoke and tackled Dixon.
They hit the pavement hard and rolled over and over in a tangle of arms and legs.
To my utter amazement, Dixon made Jackie Chan look like an amateur. The officers were no match for his ferocity or skill.
Three large, burly cops joined the fray and succeeded in dragging the big, bad biker to the ground. They piled on top of him and lit him up with a stun gun.
If he ever caught me, I was so dead.
The hair on the back of my neck stood at attention. Derek. I scanned the skies. There. A tiny black dot on the eastern horizon morphed into Black Hawk helicopter. The Genghis Khan wannabe hadn’t wasted any time coming after me. I fled into the desert.
Gangster’s Paradise blared from my purse. I yanked out my cell phone and snarled, “What?”
Derek answered, “Do you really think you can outrun a helicopter?”
“I can try.”
“Angel, we don’t even need binoculars to spot you in that neon orange jumpsuit. If you’re thinking of waiting until dark to make your escape, think again. That jumpsuit is florescent.”
I looked around frantically for a hiding place.
Crap! Nothing but flat, sandy desert dotted with a few scrubby Palo Verde trees and cactus. In the distance, wind scoured mountains rose sharply from the desert floor.
The helicopter hovered overhead, whipping the sand into a mini dust storm.
I caught a brief glimpse of Derek grinning like a hyena as the chopper dropped lower and lower.
The jerk was sand blasting me on purpose. I flipped him the bird and kept walking.
“You really don’t want me to chase you down, now do you?”
A wave of weariness swept over me. No, I didn’t. Sweat slithered down my face, I was covered in sand and the relentless sun was giving me one hell of a headache.
“Come and get me, sugar.” I disconnected and ambled over to a rusty telephone junction box shaded by a scraggly tree. Making sure it was free of critters I sat and watched the helicopter land.
Derek jumped out wearing his black tactical jumpsuit and as usual, was armed to the teeth.
What? Did he think I was going to attack him?
Okay, I was. His cocky walk had me gritting my teeth. I really, really wanted to hurt him.
Hank climbed out the helicopter with his gear.
His bald head glistening in the sun, Ed trailed after him.
I hunched my shoulders, allowed my weariness to show and tried to be the picture of defeat.
Believe me it wasn’t that much of a stretch.
The relentless CIA agent came to a halt a good six feet away and surveyed me intently. “Whatever you’re planning, it isn’t going to work.”
What a suspicious bastard! I allowed tears to run down my cheek and sobbed, “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. It’s too much. I’m tired of being bullied and chased. I’ll give you the gold. Please, just leave me and my family alone.”
The suspicious bastard crossed his arms and commented drily, “A bit overplayed but the tears are a nice touch.”
I glared at him.
A nasty little predator’s smile curved his mouth. “That’s more like it.”
“Go fuck yourself.”
Derek’s smile got bigger. “Toss me your purse.”
“You want it, come and get it. Or is the big, bad CIA agent afraid of little ole’ me?”
Sloan laughed, genuinely amused. “You need a keeper.”
“Applying for the job?”
“I am the only one capable of handling you.”
“Prove it.” I’ll admit it’s really stupid to taunt a predator but I needed him closer. I triggered my tranquillizer ring into the ready position.
Derek’s scary index suddenly shot off the charts. “Let me see your hands.”
I held them out. “See? No guns, knives or brass knuckles.”
“Is that the ring you used on Dixon?”
I automatically glanced at my right hand and in that instant, he pounced. “Eeep!”
Hard hands spun me aro
und and the next thing I knew I was wrapped in a Derek straitjacket. “Slick move.”
His breath warmed my left ear. “Thanks.
Subduing bad guys is my specialty.”
“I’m not a bad guy,” I retorted.
“Taking things that don’t belong to you, makes you a bad guy.”
“I’m going to return the medallion.”
“And my car?”
“That’s entirely your fault. If you hadn’t flattened my tires, I would have never had to borrow it.”
“Blaming the victim?”
“You have never been a victim. Oh wait. That’s not entirely correct. The Mexican government did rob you blind.”
“And you’re going to help me get that gold, too.”
“Like hell.”
Effortlessly, he held me immobile as he removed the ring and examined it. “Aldo make this?”
“No, I borrowed it from Aunt Sophie.”
“Do you think I’m stupid or careless enough to let you to use this on me?”
Tilting my head, I smiled up at him sweetly.
“Dixon never saw it coming.”
The steel bands of his arms tightened and Derek’s merciless mouth swooped down, devouring mine in a hot, possessive kiss.
Every nerve in my body started doing the Cha-Cha. Yes. Yes. Yes. More. More. More.
He lifted his head and murmured against my lips. “I accept the job.”
Dazed, I repeated, “Job?”
“As your keeper.”
I squawked, “What?”
His eyes were oh so amused. “Having a psychic at my beck and call will be handy.”
“Handy!?”
Derek’s sinful mouth took mine in series of a slow, intoxicating kisses. Omigod, he made my bones melt and want that fairy tale of happily ever after.
A thunderous explosion shook the ground.
Sloan raised his head, surveyed the fireball rising high into the air and sighed. “Dixon was right fond of that jet.”
“I’m a dead woman.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” Derek commented with a grin.
“Hallefrickinlujah and who is going to protect you from Dixon? Granny?”
“I won’t need her help. Once I’ve fucked you senseless, he won’t touch you.”
“Who said romance was dead.”
Derek cocked an arrogant eyebrow. “Romance has nothing to do with this.”
“Obviously.”
“You have a problem and I’m going to fix it.”
“You know, I think I’ll take my chances with Asmoday.”
He gave me a hard shake. “That’s not an option.”
