Ever Hayes - Redemption

If that was the case, there could be only one reason why they’d be letting us go so easily. They didn’t need us. They must be confident that they could get everything they need from Keena. And—as a result—they must not need Danny’s book anymore to launch the missiles.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they had missed us sneaking out, and the decoy vehicles had thrown them completely off last night. It didn’t matter. We were about a hundred miles west of Las Vegas—a little more than two hours into the flight—when all the alarms in the plane went off. We were in a direct line with Barstow, intending to head a little north of Los Angeles, and had just picked up two red dots on the screen. We realized they were fighter jets as they flew past us and swung back around, putting us in missile lock. They didn’t even give us a warning. I was guessing they knew exactly who we were.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere here,” Axel yelled back at Danny. “I need to drop us a little south.”

“Do it,” Danny hollered back. He stepped past me and muttered. “I hate flying.”

You get shot down enough that’s bound to be the case . “Me too,” I replied.

“Two planes, four missiles.” Axel yelled.

As the missiles approached the plane, Danny turned to all of us, “Hold on as tight as you can.”

Here we go again . We grabbed on to whatever we could, and at the last possible second Axel launched the heavy plane into a deep roll left—south—managing to evade the first three missiles, though the fourth clipped our right engine. It billowed smoke as Axel struggled to level us back out. We had managed to survive that first lurch, but as the jets rocketed past and set up for another run, we knew we were going to have to bail.

“What do we have near us?” Danny yelled at Axel.

“Big Bear,” Blake shouted at both of them. “We have to be close to Big Bear.”

“Good idea.” Danny nodded. “Axel, point this sucker out to sea and fly us over Big Bear. We’re going to have to bail there.”

Axel gave a thumbs-up in reply and spun the plane farther south. We had been cruising at about sixteen thousand feet, but Axel had put us into a slight dive when he’d avoided the first missiles. We were dropping at a decent rate, but we would still be between thirteen to fourteen thousand feet when we’d have to jump—a little higher than preferred. The jets were coming back toward us, but they didn’t fire. We knew they’d be making sure they got us on this next run. They’d be taking us out from behind. As they roared past our windows, Danny yelled at Axel to drop the cargo door—which he did immediately. Blake had given us a brief tutorial on solo jumping, but we were all still nervous. He told us to try to find the highest elevation possible to land on. It wasn’t quite 5:00 a.m. yet and was still pretty dark. We didn’t know what we’d be able to see as we landed—if anything—but we nodded like bobblehead dolls. We’d do what we could.

The altimeter read 13,880 when Danny jumped—he and Ava went out first. Blake shouted a number at each of us when we jumped—the amount of seconds we should wait before opening our chutes. Danny and Ava had forty-three seconds. Eddie and Cera jumped right behind them with thirty-nine. Flynn went next, and I was right behind her. We had thirty-six. I knew Blake and Axel would follow.

No more than twenty seconds after we’d jumped, there was a giant explosion in the skies above us. There goes our plane . Flynn and I were holding hands on the way down—balancing each other out. When we hit thirty-five seconds, I pulled on her hand. We were close enough to where she could see me in the early morning light. It was a lot brighter down here than I’d expected. I could see the silhouettes of the other chutes opening around us. I pointed at her chute and pulled mine. It opened and yanked me up, pulling Flynn’s hand from mine. She kept falling. I should have waited to pull my cord. I should have had her open hers first. I could see her frantically yanking on her cord. It didn’t work—the chute wouldn’t open. Flynn was going to die.

A billion thoughts screamed through my head as I watched Flynn plummet through the sky. And then someone went rocketing past me. My initial thought was that another parachute had failed—obviously either Blake’s or Axel’s—but then I saw him headed right at Flynn and realized—I hoped—it was intentional. I finally saw a chute open far below me and disappear quickly into the forest. It had opened dangerously late, way too close to the ground—probably no more than a couple hundred feet above the trees. I wanted to cut myself free from my own parachute bindings and get down there faster to check on them, but then reality sank in. They’d either made it or they hadn’t. I’d find out soon enough.

It was a calm morning, but the light wind still carried me at least a mile away from where I’d seen Flynn land. I scanned the sky for the others before I landed, and I saw most of them pretty close to me. I got stuck in a tree— of course —and it took me a good twenty minutes to cut myself free and get down safely. I had my bow and arrows in a pack—tethered to my waist—and I removed them to check for damage. They were fine. I slipped the 9mm I’d also packed into the back of my waistband and set out to reach the highest point of wherever this was we’d landed.

When I reached the summit, Danny was already there with Ava. I saw Danny first and smiled, and then I saw Ava and my smile went away. Why exactly am I wishing she wasn’t here? And then I watched her hug Danny and I remembered. Awesome .

“Thank God you’re all right.” Danny hugged me. “We thought it was your chute that hadn’t—”

His “ we ” bothered me—given he was referencing him and Ava—but I let it go. “No—Flynn’s chute didn’t open. Was that Axel or Blake who went after her? And where are Eddie and Cera?”

“I don’t know who went after Flynn, and Eddie and Cera are just down the hill a hundred yards or so.” Danny pointed behind him. “Cera hit her head hard on a tree branch when she landed, and Eddie’s cleaning her up in a stream.”

“Do you know where we are exactly?” I directed the question at Danny, but Ava answered.

“Pretty close to Big Bear.”

“I asked Danny.” I’ll wipe that smug smile off your face.

“Whoa.” Danny clearly didn’t like me snapping at Ava. “Hayley… come on.”

I rolled my eyes and turned away from the two of them.

“Hayley—”

“Danny, I just want to find out what happened to Flynn. It’s getting light.”

“I know.” He walked up and placed his hand on my shoulder. “We need to find them soon, and we will, I prom—”

“Damn it, Danny. Don’t…” I shrugged his hand off me and stepped away. “I just want to know where we are.”

I don’t know what I was expecting from him after my outburst, but it wasn’t what I got. “You know what, Hayley.” There was heat in his voice. “Like Ava said, we’re close to Big Bear Lake. That’s what I know.” And then he walked away.

I watched him return to the rock where Ava was sitting and watched her reach out for his hand. To his credit, he didn’t take it—this time—but he didn’t look back at me either. Who are you? I shook my head. “I’m going to try to find where they landed,” I called out to Danny’s back. He didn’t reply or turn around. Fine. Stay here with your mistress and her pillows .

I was emotional—furious, nervous, scared, and hurt. I stormed down the hillside in the direction I’d last seen Flynn falling and that chute opening. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings. The first gunshot marginally missed my head. The bullet tore into the tree right beside me. The second shot exploded the top off the boulder I dove behind. I dropped myself flat to the ground, looking frantically around for better cover. I glanced around the boulder and could vaguely see the outlines of at least six men making their way up the hill toward me.