Shielding Gillian (Delta Team Two #1) - Susan Stoker Page 0,19

barrel of a rifle jammed into a woman’s side as he forced her to jog toward the Beechcraft.

Then Trigger saw Gillian.

Her blonde hair stood out, even in the low light of the rising sun. A man had an arm around her neck and was attempting to walk backward toward their escape plane while randomly shooting at the retreating hostages and Trigger’s team.

Something inside Trigger shifted, and a feeling he’d never experienced while on the job swept over him.

Fear.

Suddenly, he was terrified the man would get on the small plane with Gillian, and he’d never see her again. Never hear her voice.

Not. Happening.

His eyes narrowed and he focused on the man. Tunnel vision. Trigger knew what it was, but he didn’t try to snap himself out of it. He had faith in his team. They’d cover him and take care of the other hijackers. The asshole who was hurting Gillian was going to die.

Gillian’s head was reeling. When the hijackers had suddenly rounded up all the women and forced them to the back of the plane with the men, she’d thought they were going to let them all go. That the plane had finally been refueled and they were getting ready to take off. When they’d opened a hatch, her conclusions had been confirmed. She couldn’t help but smile.

But then Luis had spoken into a handheld radio she hadn’t seen before and started pairing up the hostages. One man with one woman. He shoved the first couple out of the door and down a slide, without giving them any warning. Then he did the same with the next. And the next. Then Henry grabbed Alice and jumped out behind one of the pairs of hostages.

What in the world was happening?

She looked out the hatch and saw a small plane coming toward them—fast.

And it clicked.

The hijackers weren’t going to leave in the larger aircraft. They had a buddy who was picking them up and taking them away in the twin-engine plane.

Gillian was so stunned, she’d stopped paying attention to what was going on around her, so she wasn’t prepared when Alberto grabbed her arm and hauled her against his body. He squeezed her arm so tightly, Gillian couldn’t help but cry out in pain.

“You’re coming with me,” Alberto hissed. “And if you run, I’ll shoot you. Understand?”

Gillian could only nod.

He pushed between some of the other hostages waiting anxiously for their chance to escape the plane and hauled her up behind Luis and Andrea. The other hijacker had a small pistol against Andrea’s temple and was saying something to her in Spanish. When she and Alberto appeared behind them, Luis straightened but didn’t remove the gun from Andrea’s head.

“We’re having fun, no?” he asked with a malicious smile. Then he leaned into Andrea and licked up the side of her face. “I’m taking this one with me. She sucked my cock so good, how could I not? Me and her are gonna have a lot more fun, aren’t we?”

Gillian shuddered as Andrea closed her eyes.

“Come on,” Luis ordered. “We don’t have much time. Is everyone out?”

“Si, Isaac is behind me,” Alberto said.

Gillian turned to look and saw Isaac was indeed standing behind them. Next to him was Leyton, the Hispanic man who’d helped with the boxes earlier.

“I’ll go with her,” he said when their gazes met.

She frowned in confusion.

Leyton reached for her arm. “I’ll take her,” he repeated.

Gillian had no idea why Leyton offered to go with her when it seemed obvious Alberto planned to use her as a shield. Then she saw Wade, Alice’s husband, who’d been sitting in the same row as Gillian when everything had started.

“No, I’ll jump with her,” Wade said.

Gillian finally realized the men were doing what they could to try to help her. To get her away from the hijacker.

Leyton even reached forward and grabbed hold of her arm. For a short second, he and Alberto had a kind of tug-of-war with Gillian between them.

“You want to come with us too?” Alberto sneered, then put a hand on Leyton’s chest and shoved. Hard. The young man fell back, but he didn’t take his eyes off the hijacker. “Back off,” Alberto said sternly. “And that goes for the rest of you,” he continued, talking to the others who were gathered around them. “Do what we tell you, when we tell you, and you might live through this. Grow a brain, and I’ll kill you right here and now!”

“We need to get out of here,” Luis interrupted impatiently,