Page 95 of Final Exit

Bailey glanced at Kade but he seemed just as confused as she was.

“Okay, I give,” she said. “What do you have that’s better?”

He motioned toward the sky. “A helicopter.”

Sure enough, the enormous chopper they’d been waiting for was coming in for a landing. It was surprisingly quiet, which Austin had already told them to expect because it had a stealth mode. How he had access to a multimillion-dollar military-grade helicopter she’d prefer not to know.

“Remember,” Bailey yelled to be heard over the sound of the wind generated by the rotors. “Whoever reaches the hostages first, find out whether Sebastian and Amber are with them or if anyone knows where they are.”

They all nodded.

“Good luck,” Austin yelled to the group.

Jace clapped Austin on the back in a “bro” hug, surprising Bailey. The two argued, a lot, and traded insults all the time. Who knew they were actually friends?

“Come on,” Jace said, waving them forward as he headed toward the chopper.

“In a minute,” Bailey said, grabbing Kade’s hand to hold him back.

She waited until all the others had hopped onboard. Finally, when there were no more excuses to wait any longer, she blew out a shaky breath. “If I fall to my death, don’t cremate me,” she yelled to be heard. “I’m afraid of fire.”

“You’re not going to fall to your death.”

“Promise me. No cremation.”

He gave her a quick, hard kiss. “I promise. Come on. Let’s go before someone sees or hears the chopper and we lose the element of surprise.”

She ran with him and he lifted her inside, then climbed in behind her. As soon as he cleared the doorway, the chopper lifted off.

Bailey fell back toward the opening but Kade grabbed her, steadying her.

She swallowed hard, looking down at the ground rushing past them, and at Austin who was rapidly becoming a speck on the horizon.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she said.

“Can you wait until we’re on the roof?” Kade teased, as he clipped some kind of lead to her harness.

The other end was suspended from a bar on the helicopter. He quickly attached the belts and pulleys to her harness, just like the others were doing, except that none of them appeared to need help like she did.

“Has everyone done this before except me?” she called out.

As one, they all nodded.

She cursed beneath her breath.

Kade gave one last tug on her gear and then went to work on his own.

“Put your gloves on,” he reminded her.

She dug them out of her pockets and pulled them on.

Kade put his own gloves on, then performed one last inspection of her equipment, nodding his approval.

“It’s a go,” Mason called out from his position in the open doorway. And then, he was gone, leaping out into thin air.

Bailey clutched Kade as Devlin moved to the opening.

“We’re there already?” she squeaked.

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