Page 36 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

I looked around quickly for something to use to defend myself, but the only thing I found was a flare gun, and that was a hard no where I was concerned.

“Fuck this,” I muttered, jumping to my feet and racing toward the cabin. Without hesitation, I wrapped my arm around the pilot’s neck and squeezed.

“Fuck!” the co-pilot scrambled for control, tilting the plane to try and throw me off balance. I stuck my foot out to brace myself against the cabin wall. The pilot was reaching up for me, trying to poke my eyes out.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself?” I shouted. I slapped his hands away with my free hand, then hit him in the face a few times. “How do you like it?”

The co-pilot tilted the nose of the plane down, sending me flying forward into the instrument panel, making me lose my grip on the pilot. He slammed his fist into my face, but I blocked his second hit, kicking out my foot and catching him in the face. I turned just in time to duck as the co-pilot raised his gun and fired.

The bullet went right through the windshield, luckily only leaving a small hole. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I shouted. “Are you trying to kill us all?”

“You’re attacking us,” he retorted.

“Because Iamtrying to kill you,” I snapped, leaning forward just enough to slam my fist into his face. Then I pressed the button to release his seat belt and pulled him from his seat, not even stopping when his arm got caught in the belt. Tossing him to the back of the plane, I turned just as the pilot regained control and steered us back toward the substation with a hard right. I tumbled into the wall, my stomach revolting at the sudden movement.

The co-pilot stood, holding the flare gun in his hand. I held out my hand, covering my mouth with the other. He looked at me funny, and I held up a finger. It was coming up one way or another. Better on him than me. I stumbled forward and vomited all over him as I snatched the flare gun from his hand before he could fire. He tried to step back, but I spun the gun around and slammed the butt of it right into his head, hitting him several times until he was down and out.

Wiping the vomit from my mouth on my sleeve, I spit on the guy. “That’s what we like to call tactical vomit.”

I turned and rushed to the front of the plane, slamming my fist into the side of the pilot’s head. He tried to fend me off as I pressed the button on his belt. He turned his face toward me and bit down on my arm, breaking the skin as he raked his teeth over my skin.

“Son of a bitch!” I shouted. “I haven’t had my rabies shot in fucking years!”

“Scottie!” Cash shouted in my ear. “You’re headed straight for the fucking substation! Quit fucking around!”

Looking up, I stared in sheer terror as we approached the electrical station. Tearing the pilot from his seat, I jumped into the pilot’s seat, taking the yoke and pulling back to increase the altitude. The pilot grabbed me from behind, trying to choke me unsuccessfully.

“What are you even doing?” I asked, fighting to keep his arm away from me. “Are you trying to choke me or give me a massage?”

“You’re gonna die!”

“Highly unlikely,” I argued, grabbing his arm and twisting it as I fought to control the yoke. I slammed my elbow back, catching him in the face and giving myself just a few seconds to gain control again. But I froze at the sound of a gun being racked.

“Scottie, something dropped from the plane. Get the fuck out of there!” Cash shouted.

“You need to get out of that seat,” the man holding my own fucking gun against my head said.

I gritted my teeth, my fists tightening on the yoke. “Is that my gun?”

“You shouldn’t have brought it on board.”

“Ya know…I really fucking hate it when someone takes my gun.”

I jerked the yoke, causing him to fall to the side. He fired the gun, the shot missing me by inches. I glanced back quickly, knowing if I didn’t get that gun from him, he would take the fucking plane down. A few small holes wouldn’t cause us to crash, but if he shot out the windshield, we’d both be sucked out of the plane.

Pulling back the yoke, I screamed through gritted teeth as we climbed higher in the sky until we were almost vertical. “I really fucking hate flying!” I shouted. I planted my feet against anything I could as I prepared to roll us. Glancing back, I could see the pilot hanging on for dear life. When we turned upside down, I heard him slam into something and then again when we started to nosedive. The engine alarm sounded as I tried to pull out of the dive. I screamed again, cursing Cash for making me do this.

I finally pulled us out of the dive, only to see I was headed straight for a building. “I really don’t feel so good,” I said right before I puked.

15

CASH

The plane turnedat the last minute, avoiding flying directly over the electrical substation. From this distance, I couldn’t tell what was happening, but as the plane flew away from the substation, something else caught my attention. Even this far away, I could see the sparks fly into the sky, and then everything started to go black just a moment later.

“Scottie!” I shouted, but got no response.

It was as if time stood still as the lights of the city slowly shut down one grid at a time. The cascade effect was both amazing and terrifying to watch. If the electrical grid went down, that would affect so much more than any of us could even imagine. Street lights would cease to operate, causing multiple pile ups and effectively stopping movement around the city. Cell towers could go down, hospitals wouldn’t be able to provide life-saving measures, access to clean water would be limited…the possibilities were endless.

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