Page 60 of Burning Hearts

Logan heard what she didn’t say—that Neil and Saxon would be risking their lives more than the rest by staying on the plane. But they had no chutes, so they had no choice. “Chutes.” He glanced around. “We don’t have enough chutes for extra people.”

Jade nodded.

Tori stood. “I dropped mine in the snow.” Tears rolled down her face. “I’m sorry. It came unclipped when I was running.”

Cadee put an arm around her shoulder. “I’ve got her. We can jump together.”

“You need someone heavier to carry a lighter person, or you both need to be experienced. You guys are too close in size.” Jade frowned. “Skye and I will go together. Hammer?”

He said, “I’ve got Tristan. Don’t worry.”

Logan said, “Jamie will have to come with me.”

“Crawford!”

He looked over at Saxon, in the cockpit wrestling with the controls. “Yeah?”

Saxon patted the back of his seat for a split second. Hammer strode down the aisle, grabbed the pilot’s emergency parachute—which Saxon apparently didn’t think he needed—and handed it to Logan on his way back to where Tristan sat with his back to the wall of the plane.

“All right then.” Jade nodded. “Tori gets my chute. Everyone else has one. We go in pairs, just like normal. Like this is any other jump.”

But they all knew it wasn’t anything like what they normally did.

Hammer said, “Who has a gun on them? If there are guys down there, you need a way to defend yourselves.”

Vince put a knee in the seat and leaned over the back of the chair. “I have my gun.”

Orion said, “Me too.”

Logan didn’t carry one. He also didn’t carry a fire blanket, since he didn’t like feeling like a potato wrapped in foil in the oven. He’d never planned to get caught in a fire, and that would stand as long as he did this job. “I have a knife. And my—” His radio. “I left my unit at the compound. That must be how they knew where to find us. They have my radio, so they were listening in.”

“We were set up?” Vince said. “So we switch to a new channel?”

Hammer shook his head. “No radios. Use your cell phones. Stick with your jump partner and get back to base on your own. Everyone is on their own.”

“We should meet up, like we always do.” Jade folded her arms.

“That would put everyone in danger unnecessarily,” Logan said. “Considering they’re out here looking for me.”

Everyone turned to him.

“They had Tristan. The only thing that makes sense is that they took Jamie and were waiting for us to show up so they’d have me too.” It had to be that.

They thought he had the files from their computer.

Or that he’d killed their leader, Brian Howards.

This had to be about revenge, and if they didn’t get Tristan, Jamie,andLogan, then they hadn’t eliminated the threat.

“We were supposed to be in the cabin when it blew,” Jamie said.

“Doesn’t matter. They aren’t going to find us.” Logan reached for her hand, and she held on. “But we can’t let anyone be in danger because of us.”

“I don’t like it,” Jade said.

Neil called out from the front of the plane. “Thirty seconds to jump!”

Logan pushed out all thought of plans, gunmen, and how to stay alive, how to draw them away from his friends. All he had to do for the next thirty seconds was check the chute. Prep, even though they’d jumped with these already today and only hastily repacked them.

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