Page 84 of The Boss

And they were closer than the water. What the hell was going on?

“What is…” My voice faded off altogether.

Dimitrios banked to the right, dipping even lower. “Fuck. Get off my ass.”

“Who is it?”

“If I knew that, little dove, I’d have a handle on what to do with the assholes.” While there was land on one side, there was nothing but endless, open ocean on the other.

I closed my eyes, shaking so badly my teeth were rattling.

Seconds later, I heard two distinct sounds I would never forget as long as I was alive.

Several popping noises that my gut told me were gunfire and hard pinging against the plane’s surface.

“Someone is shooting at us.” I wasn’t asking a question. I knew it to be true.

“Good guess, princess.”

Another series of gunshots hit, the next set missing as he banked so hard to the left, I was thrown toward him. The thick belt slipped to under my chin, the momentary feeling of being suffocated causing me to wheeze.

A slight rumble was followed by a jerk of the plane.

And a sputter of the engine.

“Did we just lose the engine?”

He said nothing, checking his instruments and continuing to bark into the microphone.

Something was wrong.

Terribly wrong.

As he looked over at me, every part of his face pinched, all I could do was suck in my breath.

“You need to trust me completely, Willow. Hold tight. We’re going down.”

“A crash landing.”

“This baby isn’t an amphibian, but I’ll do my best. I’m throttling down. Don’t worry. I will save us both.”

The water was closer. Closer. The engine was screaming, or was that me losing all sense of control?

I’d always wondered what happened when you had the sense of all time stopping as you faced death. Would you really witness aspects of your life? Would you pray for more time? Would you promise to be a good person for the rest of your life?

Or would you just accept the inevitable?

In the last seconds before the plane took a dive into the water, he squeezed my leg.

Maybe we’d be alright.

Maybe we’d survive.

And maybe…

Boom!

CHAPTER 22

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