did so and slid the end of the seatbelt under his armpit. He pulled the rest of it around him and tied the ends together. “We don’t have time to switch and give me the chute, so wrap your legs around my waist and lock your ankles. Don’t let go of me when it deploys.”
“I won’t.”
“Then here we go. Let gravity work for us. I’ll tell you when to pull the cord.”
Sarah quit trying to resist and let gravity work.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
While the wind rushed past his ears, Gavin held onto control of his mind-numbing fear by a fingernail, reminding himself they had a parachute and they weren’t going to die. He glanced at the ground, then up at the plane. “Pull the cord, Sarah!” For a moment her hands stayed locked around his upper body and he was terrified she wouldn’t be able to do it. “Sarah!”
“Got it,” she said in his ear. “I can do this.” One hand closed around the cloth of his shirt, the other released him. He heard the rip of the chute as it deployed, felt the yank that jerked him back and upward. Sarah’s grip tightened and the seatbelt strap held strong.
Fear left him. Memories swarmed him. He loved this. Always had. Always would. As long as he got Sarah to safety. He prayed the cops were tracking McClain and would have him in custody by the time he and Sarah landed. “Good job!”
“Are you okay?”
“As long as you’re safe, I’m just fine.”
“I’m worried about my father. I don’t want him to die, Gavin.”
“Let’s worry about getting on the ground and then we’ll find out about your father.” He paused. “He hired me.”
“What?”
“To be your bodyguard. He hired me and told me not to tell you.” She went silent and Gavin prayed she wouldn’t untie the seatbelt. “He was afraid for your life with all of the threats against him.”
“So, that’s why you stuck around.”
“Yes. And no. I would have stuck around even if he hadn’t asked me to. Please don’t hate me, Sarah.” He didn’t know why he’d picked this moment to confess the very thing that might cause her to send him away, but he didn’t want to keep the secret one second longer. “I’m sorry.”
“You should have told me.”
“I wanted to, but I was afraid you’d make me leave, and then I’d be arrested for stalking because I couldn’t leave you alone. I’d have followed you everywhere.”
She choked. Or laughed. He wasn’t sure what the sound was. “Why?”
“Because I’m in love with you. I have been since our first date. Now pass me the steering lines and let me land this thing.”
“Where?” She handed him the lines.
“Do you know where we are?”
She went silent for a few seconds. “Over a high school. Not sure which one. We can land in the football field.”
“Exactly.”
“We’re coming back to this conversation if we live.”
“We’ll live. We have too much to live for.”
Gavin worked with the wind to drift as far as he wanted, then used the lines to pull left, then right, then over the field.
The occupied field.
“Gym class?” Sarah asked.
“Football practice. They’ll move.” Hopefully.
Two men dressed in black shirts looked up, watchful. Pointing. As Gavin and Sarah got closer, it seemed to finally dawn on them that they were aiming for the field.
The kids and adults scattered, giving Gavin plenty of room to land.
His feet touched the ground first and he ran a few steps with Sarah attached to his back, stopped, and went to his knees. Her grip never loosened. “Sarah?”
“Yeah?”
“You can let go now.”
“Right.” Her fingers released.
Gavin looked up to find the entire football team and coaches surrounding them.
“Y’all okay?” the nearest teen asked.
“I think so.” There was no way Gavin would be able to get the knot out of the seatbelt strapping Sarah to him. “Sarah? Can you undo the buckle?”
“Um . . . yeah.”
He felt her hands working between them and then the buckle released. Gavin pulled away from Sarah. His legs weakened and he wilted to the grass and rolled on his back.
“Gavin?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah?”
“We’re alive, right?”
“Feels like it.”
“You’re alive,” a gruff voice said. “Wanna tell me why you had to land on my field in the middle of my practice? You couldn’t land on the empty baseball field like your friend?”
“Friend?” Gavin rolled to his feet and pulled Sarah up with him.
“Yeah, he came down not five minutes ago.”
“The plane,” Sarah said. “Where did it go down?”
“Not sure. We heard the plane crash and then you landed.”