"Shay, how about you?" he risked a side glance at her.
She held her composure, other than the sweat dotting her forehead. "One thirty-five."
"Yeah, we"re a bit uneven," he lied. "I need two people to sit all the way in the back seats and, Lewis, you need to be on the opposite side of me."
Lewis leaned forward in his seat. "What kind of bulls.h.i.t is that?"
"Sorry." Vince shrugged. "We need a stable center of gravity, or the plane won"t get off the ground."
Lewis studied him through narrowed eyes for what felt like for-frickin"-ever before rising. "All right, whatever." He waved the gun at Amber. "Move up to the front, and let me switch sides. No funny stuff, a.s.shole."
Amber moved out of the seat to the front and allowed Lewis to switch sides. "All right, b.i.t.c.h," he called to Shay. "Get back here and sit down."
Vince hated putting Shay so close to that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but they needed the pregnant girl as far away from Lewis as possible. Shay would want that.
And Shay could help him subdue Lewis.
Vince frowned. Now wasn"t that a kick-in-the-b.u.t.t revelation. When had he gone from seeing her as a fragile victim to valuing her as a strong woman who could hold her own?
Maybe there"d been reason for her to hold back from him after all. He hadn"t earned the right to look below that watch. He wouldn"t have seen the strength it took for her to survive.
It seemed he had a copilot for this flight, after all. She just happened to be riding in a seat behind him.
He exhaled hard and pulled his focus in tight. Vince called for engine start and readied the airplane to fly, all the while keeping an eye on Lewis in the mirror overhead.
Lewis kept his gun trained on Amber, while he instructed Shay to buckle his seat belt. He sagged back in his seat. "All right, Major Deluca, let"s get this plane airborne. I want the radio on broadcast. No sneaky maneuvers over a headset. One false move, and I"ll throw one of our hostages out the hatch without a parachute."
Amber whimpered, pressing her hand to her swollen stomach.
Vince mumbled low, "Hang in there, kiddo."
He checked the prop, cranked the engine, rolled the plane out onto the runway. As ordered, he kept his radio contact public and minimal. The engine rumbled louder and louder, the plane gaining speed, yoke vibrating in his hand as the wheels spun along the runway.
Whoosh.
The nose tipped upward. The Pilatus soared. Hogs and planes. He was in control here in the open sky much like on the open road, he reminded himself. His crew had come through in offering an edge.
He swept out over the water. He didn"t want to consider that they could die in a crash, but Lewis was a wild card with that gun. Vince couldn"t risk the Pilatus diving into a subdivision.
"Miss Ba.s.sett," Amber sniffled from beside him, "please don"t let anything happen to my baby."
"I"m going to do my best." Shay leaned forward in her seat.
Amber circled her hands over her belly. "I"ve spent so much time hating this baby for ruining my life, but I did this. The baby didn"t. Do you think I brought this on myself with all those bad thoughts?"
Vince wanted to bark that the a.s.shole with the gun was responsible for all of this. However, flying the plane and watching for a sign of weakness from Lewis seemed the better alternative.
"Of course not." Shay"s gaze flickered to Vince then back to the girl. "You didn"t do anything to deserve this. Your baby knows you love her."
"But I still want to give her away. Even if I live, I want her to be brought up by somebody else. Not that it even matters anymore, because I"m gonna die, aren"t I? And I deserve it."
Lewis groaned. "Good Lord, you people. Do I really have to listen to this s.h.i.t all the way to Central America? Hey wait. I have the gun, so that means I don"t have to listen to anything."
Shay jabbed a finger at their kidnapper. "Unless you want to deal with a hysterical pregnant teenager or a totally p.i.s.sed off me, you"ll let us talk so I can keep her calm."
Lewis chuckled low and dark. "d.a.m.n lady, you"re hot."
Vince"s fists tightened around the yoke as he imagined all the ways he would pummel that piece of garbage into the ground once he got the gun out of his hands.
Shay lowered her arm. "Amber, you have to forgive yourself."
Her chin quivered. "But I slept with Caden. He"s my baby"s daddy. If anyone in the Mercenaries knew, they would have killed me, maybe even my little girl."
Caden? That kid from Apocalypse. The kid who"d complimented Shay"s yellow kicks. The one Shay had said was banging some crack wh.o.r.e in a bathroom stall during the bomb threat. No wonder Amber was scared as h.e.l.l for herself and her baby.
He checked Lewis in the mirror and, well, look at that, it appeared even the jerk was actually getting wrapped up in Amber"s life story. Vince monitored that gun, waiting for just the right moment to pitch the plane.
Amber cradled her stomach, rocking. "Caden used to live next door. We walked home together in elementary school. I thought he was still my friend. Because of everything you were making happen for us, I thought maybe we all wouldn"t have to be enemies anymore. I was wrong about so many things."
Slowly, the gun wobbled, just a hint, then more until the barrel pointed toward the deck of the airplane.
Vince rammed the yoke forward.
Everyone jerked upward in their seats, restrained by their belts. Except Lewis.
The bolts snapped loose.
Lewis slammed into the ceiling.
The gun tumbled free.
Vince pulled out of the dive and slapped on the autopilot. Amber"s screams raked the air, along with Lewis"s guttural curses as the kidnapper crashed to the deck.
Vince launched out of his seat and on the gun. He leveled cold steel at Lewis. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d tried to elbow up. Vince"s hand fisted.
Shay"s foot shot out, and she kicked Lewis in the jaw.
Lewis"s head smacked the floor. His eyes rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness.
Vince grinned. "That"s the way to bring it."
She made one h.e.l.luva copilot.
Vince grabbed Lewis by the collar and rolled him onto his stomach. He opened a storage cabinet and rummaged around until he found the plastic ties used to hold wire bundles together. He restrained Lewis"s feet and hands, gathered the gun, and moved back to the pilot seat.
He buckled himself back behind the yoke.
Amber screamed again.
Vince jerked, and the plane bobbled. "It"s all right, kiddo. He"s not going to hurt you."
He steadied the craft just as Amber screamed again.
Shay lurched from her seat to the front. "What"s wrong?"
"It hurts." Amber rocked, tears streaming down her face. "It really hurts. It feels like the baby is coming."
Shay placed her hand on the girl"s stomach. Her eyes went wide. "Okay, it could just be a Braxton Hicks." She glanced up. "Practice contractions. Even if they"re real, this is your first baby. It takes a long time for your body to prepare itself for labor."
"But it feels like I gotta push."
Shay shushed the teen. "There will be plenty of time." She peeled off her watch and gave it to Amber. "Why don"t you start timing your contractions, and we can see how far along you-Oh no."
He didn"t like the sound of that. Vince"s stomach took the nose dive the plane hadn"t gotten to. "What"s wrong?"
"Amber"s water broke."
TWENTY-ONE.
Amber was going to have this baby now.
Shay knew stress could bring on labor early-in Amber"s case three weeks early-but it hadn"t even entered her mind that this baby would be born in an airplane. Likely Amber had been in labor since back at the university. The plane going into a dive probably moved things along.
Not that she could complain. Vince"s fast thinking and skill had saved their lives.
His broad shoulders in the front seat rea.s.sured her now. He watched in the mirror, steady as he radioed ahead for an ambulance to meet them when they landed back where they"d started-the closest airport, since they"d flown out over Lake Erie.
Lewis"s moans as he awakened mingled with Amber"s whimpers through another contraction. Shay"s wrist burned from where the rope had cut into her old scar, but she couldn"t let it distract her.
Only five minutes had pa.s.sed since Amber"s water broke, and Shay had realized the baby"s head had already crowned. There was no way to keep this baby in until they landed. She"d moved the teen to a more open backseat. She would have to deliver this child in an airplane with nothing more than the first aid kit spread open beside her. Her nurse"s training had covered emergency deliveries. She"d just never expected to use that part of her schooling.
This had to be one of the fastest first labors on record. Although maybe Amber had been suffering for hours and hadn"t shown it. The kid had been through so much that pain was nothing new to her.
Shay knelt in front of her, using the seat like a birthing chair. To think that empty center section had contained monitors the other time she"d been on this plane to receive the briefing from Vince"s crewmates a few short days ago.
Aircraft vibrating under her knees, she focused on her patient and making everything as sterile as possible with the limited supplies in the first aid kit. She"d already done a mental run-through of Amber"s chart, done a verbal review as well. Vince had a doc on standby on the radio to offer advice if Amber went into distress.
With the baby fully crowned, there was nothing left to do but coach Amber through another contraction. And holy cow, this one looked painful. Amber"s face contorted as her belly tightened and spasmed. The girl"s fist turned white-knuckled from clutching Shay"s watch.
"Hold your knees and push, Amber, push."
"I am pushing," she screamed, red-faced and panting.
"Hey," Vince called from the front. "Count with me while your nurse works her medical magic. Listen up, okay?"
His voice carried just the right blend of calm and authority, while Amber struggled with pain. "One, two, you"re doing great, four, five, come on, Amber, stay with me, seven, eight, you"re just about done, ten."
Amber gasped and sagged in the gap before the next contraction began. "You count too slow. Ditch the small talk."
"You got it, kiddo."
Shay dabbed the girl"s forehead with tissue from the kit. "It"s going to be over soon. Okay, it"s time for you to hold your knees again and push."
Amber"s scream built again.
Lewis groaned from his corner of the deck, his eyes flickering open. "Hey Shay, listen, I"ve got money here, fifty thousand dollars in an envelope in my jacket, and I"ll give it all to you if you"ll just pa.s.s me a parachute."
Shay held on to her calm. Barely. "Not a chance."
"Ah, of course you don"t want the money for yourself "-Lewis rolled to his side with a groan-"but I"ll bet this girl here could use the cash to take care of that baby. Just give me the chute."
"Go to h.e.l.l," she snapped at Lewis without looking away from her job. "I hope you know how worthless you and your whining are compared to what Amber"s going through. You"re a destroyer, while Amber is bringing new hope into the world and creating something-someone-with the potential to be better than all of us."
Shay steadied her breathing and focused on Amber who . . . Oh no. "The baby"s coming, Amber. Vince, are you ready to count?"
"We"re," Amber gasped, "already on four. Got that, Major?"
"Fair enough." Vince nodded in front. "Five, six, seven . . ."
Shay palmed the infant"s head in her gloved hands. Amber"s fingernails cut into the seat belt as her face turned crimson with her efforts. Pride seared through Shay as she watched the teenager fight to bring her baby into the world.
The head inched farther into Shay"s waiting hold. Turning, guiding shoulders, and the baby"s body slithered free. Shay went on autopilot, tending her new tiny patient. Sweeping the mouth clear just as the baby girl let loose a healthy wail.
She cradled the squirming miracle in her hands, tiny, but whole and healthy and screaming like a champ. Tears streaked down her face. How could she not cry? She held the newborn up for Amber to see, for Vince to look at, too, in the mirror above his head.
"It"s a girl," she said, "a perfect little girl."
Her eyes met and held with Vince"s as they shared the moment, the victory they"d pulled through together. As she looked at him and her own reflection, she realized, her arms were bare. Her wrist was bare.
That last barrier she"d tossed up between them had come tumbling down when she hadn"t been looking.
Finally, she was ready to embrace her future. Her happiness.
"Are you ready to call it a day?"
Vince looked over at Jimmy Gage in a Hawaiian shirt and with the start of a handlebar mustache. His crewdog buddies lined alongside Vince an hour after he had landed. Smooth looked preppy even in his fake airport personnel gear. Berg stood alongside the rest, not hanging back for once.
And Lieutenant Colonel Scanlon. The boss had a big, rare smile on his face.
Vince tugged at his uniform tie. "Most definitely ready."
They"d helped avert a bombing, a kidnapping, and even managed to provide the information needed to stop a major shipment of illegal munitions from being smuggled into the country. Jaworski was having a field day wrapping that one up over at the Port of Cleveland.