Page 48 of Dangerous Rhythm

“What? How the hell did they get our location?” Lina said.

“Don’t know. But it’s not the time to hash things out,” Raul said and shouted at the pilot. “Start the engine.”

“I’m not leaving without Lina,” Curtis insisted stubbornly. He didn’t care if they called him a diva. He wasn’t leaving without her.

“Curtis…” Lina started.

“No time for a discussion,” Raul said. “Get in, both of you.”

Lina didn’t like being ordered around by Raul, but he was right. It wasn’t time for a discussion. She rushed Curtis back into the plane, jumped in beside him, and buckled up. She heard Raul shouting out orders to Javier and his man waiting in the other car before he got in next to the pilot up front.

“¡Vamonos!” Raul ordered.

He looked back at her. “My men will try to intercept and block them.”

The pilot moved fast, and they were already out of the hangar and heading to the barely lit runway. Curtis must’ve had the same thought as she did when he leaned to her and asked, “Can he take off like this?”

Lina repressed her own doubt and said, “He knows what he’s doing. Raul wouldn’t have hired him otherwise.”

Curtis didn’t have time to ask another question because suddenly a chain of cracks from a machine gun filled the quiet, dark night.

“Get down!” Lina pushed Curtis down over his lap.

“Fuck!” Curtis yelled. “What the fuck is that?”

“Go, go, go!” Raul roared as the plane sped to lift off the ground.

A few more rounds of shots filled the air, but they were already too far for the machine gun’s range even if the assailant’s car was gunning after them. And then they were up in the air and climbing.

“Is everyone okay?” Raul asked for a sitrep.

The pilot gave a nod as he kept the plane at its climbing trajectory.

Lina felt Curtis’ body shake, and her already racing heart rate picked up. “Curtis, are you hurt?” She felt all around his side and head.

Curtis shook his head. “I’m fine. Did they shoot at us?”

“We’re good back here.” Lina let out a relieved breath.

Raul looked down at the ground. “Looks like my guys scared them away. They’re running back down the runway.”

“It can’t be the Stilettos. How the hell could they figure out where we were that fast?” Lina rationalized. Nobody had known they were meeting Raul at that location. Not even Marcus.

“Can they be after you?” she asked Raul. “You’ve made a few enemies doing what you do.”

Raul’s face hardened. “There’s always that possibility.”

“Fuck, Raul,” she cursed. She made another mistake, and she almost put Curtis into an even more dangerous situation.

“We can’t be sure who those people are until I can reach the team,” Raul said. “We’ll figure it out when we land. And then you and our boy here need to decide.”

“I stick with Lina,” Curtis said. He glared at her as if challenging her to argue.

Curtis had his earlier trembling under control. Being shot at wasn’t something someone shook off easily, but he’d recovered well. His anger, though…that he hadn’t gotten over.

“We’ll discuss it when we land,” she said, buying time to make a final decision.

“No,” Curtis said. “I’m done with discussion. Either I have you, or you can send me straight to Serafina Stiletto.”

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