hurt anyone, dude. I’m sure we can make sure you get what you want.”
The guy cackled. “Right now, I want a Goddamn drink. What about you, CJ?”
“I could go for a drink,” the second guy said over his shoulder. He’d taken up a position at the front of the aisle with his gun panning the entire plane. “Everyone stay in their fucking seats. Nobody moves. You move, I shoot you.”
Bex glanced at Raeann, who was still in a ball on the floor. She jerked open the liquor drawer and found the whisky. “Neat?” she asked the man as calmly as possible while she twisted off the cap.
“Just give me the fucking bottle, bitch.” Scar reached out and grabbed it, immediately downing it, and then holding Shayla once again. At no point did he lower his gun from her temple.
Bex grabbed a second bottle, opened it with shaky hands, and set it on the outstretched palm of the second hijacker. Some of it sloshed out, but he downed most of it. Was this going to help the situation? Probably not.
“You,” the man holding Shayla shouted toward Bracken. “Get the fuck out of the way.”
Bracken kept his hands up, smashing himself against the galley. Bracken was a big man though. Getting out of the way in an airplane galley was a joke.
Bex took a step forward. “Why don’t you let her go,” she nodded at Shayla. “You’re scaring the passengers.”
The man cackled. “You think I give a fuck about the damn passengers?”
Bex swallowed, wincing as the man pressed the barrel of his gun into Shayla’s head.
Shayla was crying, her hands gripping the man’s arm around her waist.
He held her tighter. “Stop whining, bitch.”
Bex forced herself to remain calm. “Listen. Tell me what you want, and I’ll start working on it.” She had no idea where her instinct to pull her shit together came from, but she was glad.
“What I want is for you to shut the fuck up and sit down,” he shouted. He jerked Shayla’s body so hard that she screamed.
For a moment Bex thought he was going to shoot her, and panic set in. Think, Bex, think. “Listen, let her go. Take me instead.”
The man stared at Bex for a second and then shoved Shayla hard toward the seats and grabbed Bex by the arm. He nearly yanked it out of the socket, tugging her against his chest before holding the gun against her head now. “Fine, but if you make a single sound, I’ll shoot the other girl.”
Bex nodded. She was scared out of her mind, but this wasn’t her first rodeo. She was relieved to have gotten Shayla away from imminent danger. When she glanced at Bracken, he was growling. There was a good chance he was going to read her the riot act later, but right now what mattered was saving her friend. Surely, he could understand her reasoning.
Bracken finally spoke. “What do you need, man?”
The man ignored Bracken and turned to his buddy, CJ. “Get to work on the door. I’ll watch the passengers.”
CJ nodded and spun around, then crouched down in front of the cockpit.
Bex couldn’t imagine what his plan was, but if they intended to take over the plane, they undoubtedly had the means to get past the door. She wondered again if the pilots knew what was happening.
Suddenly the plane dropped so fast and so hard that everyone not buckled in was thrown hard against the walls. Loud screaming filled the aircraft.
Bex somehow managed to watch CJ as he lost control of his bag of tricks, most of the contents flying into the air and landing all around. She didn’t recognize anything but worried he had the makings of a bomb. How the fuck had these two managed to board with so many weapons?
Her arm hurt where she’d taken the brunt of the impact against the door handle.
Bracken was gripping one of the drink carts. Raeann was behind him, rubbing her head. She must have gotten slammed into another cart.
Two of the carts were loose and dislodged, sticking out a few inches, and Bracken was staring at them, hopefully coming up with a plan.
The question about whether or not the pilots were aware seemed obvious now. Bex had to assume one of the flight attendants in the back of the plane had called into the cockpit to alert them. Sudden drops in altitude were a standard practice to disrupt any kind of disturbance.
The cold barrel of the gun was pressed against Bex’s temple