Shielding Gillian (Delta Team Two #1) - Susan Stoker
Chapter One
Gillian Romano closed her eyes and rested her head on the seat. She was exhausted…but in a good way. The event that had taken months of her life to plan had gone off without a hitch. She’d been extremely nervous as it had been in Costa Rica, but because everything had gone smoothly, she knew she’d most likely have a lot more business coming her way.
The CEO of Pillar Custom Homes out of Austin, Troy Johnson, had contacted her almost a year ago to inquire about her organizing all aspects of an appreciation trip for the company’s most prestigious clients.
She’d said yes—then immediately freaked out. As an event planner, Gillian was used to organizing weddings, birthday parties, and nonprofit galas in the Killeen and Austin areas. Mr. Johnson had gotten her name from the president of a local animal shelter, who’d hired her the year before to throw their annual fundraising dinner. The president had been using Pillar Custom Homes to build his house, and he’d passed her name along.
Mr. Johnson had invited a dozen of his esteemed clients and their families, as well as some of the most influential names in Austin real estate. Gillian had been responsible for all aspects of the trip. From flight and transportation arrangements, to booking the private hotel suites and selecting entertainment options for the four-day trip. It had been the most difficult thing she’d ever done—especially considering the fact she’d done most of her planning remotely—but everything had turned out beautifully, if she did say so herself.
Smiling, Gillian let out a long sigh of contentment. She’d seen the last of the guests off the day before and had spent one day in the beautiful Costa Rican resort soaking in the feeling of a job well done and getting in some well-deserved R&R.
She was now heading home and couldn’t wait to tell her best friends—Ann, Wendy, and Clarissa—all about how beautiful Costa Rica was and how well the event had gone.
Her eyes popped open when she heard an odd sound up in the first-class section of the plane. Looking over the seat in front of her, she saw that almost all of the passengers in first class were standing. She wasn’t alarmed—until she heard one of the women let out a sound that made the hair on Gillian’s arms stand up.
It was a keening mixture of disbelief and terror.
Before she could do more than furrow her brow, a man appeared at the front of the coach cabin. He was holding a rifle. He pointed it up in the air and said something in Spanish, which made people all around Gillian shout out in horror and several began to cry.
Frozen in fear, Gillian couldn’t believe what she was hearing when the man switched to English and said, “On behalf of the Cartel of the Suns, my name is Luis Vilchez, and my friends and I have taken over the plane and will be landing in our homeland of Venezuela. Stay calm and don’t do anything stupid, and you might live to see another day.”
Gillian blinked. Her plane was being hijacked? How was this happening? She never in a million years would’ve thought after 9/11, when airlines had tightened security, that this would happen.
But then again, she wasn’t in the United States. Hadn’t she been surprised when she realized that she’d forgotten to put the small pocket knife Clarissa had given her for protection into her checked luggage, and she’d made it through the Costa Rican security with the knife in her purse?
But how did he get a rifle onboard? Was he a passenger?
Looking closer, Gillian realized he was dressed like one of the flight attendants. Though, now that she thought about it, she figured he could’ve probably smuggled the weapon onto the plane any number of ways…especially if he had help from someone who worked at the airport.
He nodded at someone in front of him, and when Gillian turned to look behind her, she saw there were three other men standing in the aisles with wicked-looking rifles as well.
Shit, shit, shit.
Swallowing hard, Gillian startled when there was another scream from the first-class area, and she whipped her head back around. The man who’d addressed the plane looked behind him then turned to face the coach passengers again. He pointed his rifle at a woman sitting in the first row. “You. Collect everyone’s passports.”
The woman stood up and looked visibly shaken.
“Get your passports out now!” the hijacker said loudly. “You will give them to this