Page 120 of Coup De Grâce
My stomach rumbled dangerously and I leaned forward, trying to push down the threat bubbling inside. When that didn’t quell the need to vomit, I knew what I had to do.
“Max.”
He didn’t respond.
“Max, I need you.”
Again, he didn’t say a word.
“Fucking hell. Max!”
He tipped his hat slightly. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
“Take the controls.”
“Oh, no,” he chuckled. “No can do. I’ve been relegated to my chair, with strict instructions not to touch a thing.”
“Forget what I said. I need the head.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid you’re going to have to wait.”
“It’s an emergency.”
“Well, perhaps you should have thought about it before you told me to sit here like a good little boy and…what was it? Pretend I’m on a beach somewhere?”
He pulled his hat back down and ignored me.
The churning in my stomach grew insistent. Fuck, this was bad. I put the plane on autopilot, hoping this wouldn’t take long. I was in the bathroom just moments later, spewing my guts.
Holy shit. This hadn’t happened in a long fucking time. What the fuck was wrong?
I didn’t have time to figure it out right now. I had a plane to fly. I headed back to the cockpit and just closed the door when something wrapped around my neck and was yanked back.
I tried to suck in air, but couldn’t do a damn thing as a taser was shoved into my side, zapping me with what felt like fifty thousand volts. My body wriggled, fighting for control as whatever was around my neck tightened.
I was losing hard, barely still awake, but had the forethought to use what little strength I had left to slam my elbow back into the fucker holding me.
Air rushed into my lungs momentarily and I escaped just long enough to cry out for my co-pilot. “Max!”
My air was cut off again, but I fought to get to the controls. The drop zone was coming up and I had to get us low enough to drop them. Otherwise, we were all fucked. I slammed my hand back again, the taser clattering to the ground. I kicked it out of the way, getting my fingers under the rope around my neck enough to let me breathe.
“Max,” I gasped.
“Nope,” he grunted. “Not doing it. You wanted to fly alone. You got it.”
I wheezed, beckoning air to move into my lungs. I flung myself forward, jerking my head, while also cutting off my air supply, and then knocked my head back, right into the man behind me.
I sucked in a large gulp of air and quickly headed to the controls, beginning our descent. “Max, help,” I croaked, barely getting the words out around the way that fucker fucked up my throat.
“I hear you talking, but I’m not listening,” he chuckled, his hat still pulled low. “All I hear are beach waves and Jimmy Buffett.”
That fucker was going to get us all killed, but I didn’t have time to think of that when I was busy fighting off the man in here and trying to get us to the drop zone safely.
The man rushed me, his hand hitting the controls. The nose of the plane rose suddenly, raising a loud cacophony of shouts from the back of the plane. I scrambled to right the plane while also fighting off every attack he threw at me. I was dodginghis fists while also taking multiple hits, then doing everything I could to get us level.
“Max!” I shouted just before the man grabbed me by the arm and spun me around, shoving me face-first into the controls. The plane dipped and we headed straight for the ground, the alarms blaring as we descended at an uncontrolled rate.
Max grunted in amusement. “Bet you wish you had asked for my help now,” he muttered.
