Page 10 of Forgiving His Past (Eagle’s Nest Securities #5)

Kaamisha sat in her seat with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands gripping the leather-bound arms with a white-knuckled hold. Remnants of frantic thoughts and prayers echoed through her mind.

Her lungs refused to even breathe for the terror still coursing through her veins despite the fact that it was over. No more shaking. No more screaming. No more gut-wrenching sounds of metal ripping apart at the seams.

The high-pitched squeal of the jet’s massive engines vanished, and the uncontrollable shaking finally subsided. The jet she and the men of Eagle’s Nest were on just made an emergency crash landing, and by some miracle, she managed to survive.

Praise be to God.

One minute, they’d been falling in a fast and unsteady descent and the next, her entire world had been forced into a sudden and bone-jarring stop. Kaamisha knew she needed to open her eyes, but she was still being held hostage by an unrelenting fear.

Fear of what she could hear. Of what she might see.

In her mind’s eye came the image of Donovan’s muscular form being thrown around the cabin at the will of the falling plane. She’d tried reaching for him and had even started to unbuckle her seatbelt so she could help him return to the safety of his seat.

But then the front of the jet had dropped so abruptly seconds before the aircraft struck the ground. She’d had no other choice but to watch in horror as his body slammed violently against the small table bolted to the floor several feet away.

They hit the ground before sliding across the runway with such speed, it was as if they had landed on unbreakable ice. Smells of fuel and fire reached her nostrils, reminding her of those terrifying moments in the hotel.

You’re still alive, but the others may be injured and in need of your help. You must move. Donovan might need your help!

Thoughts of him or the others being injured finally spurred Kaamisha into motion. Her eyes flew open, and she looked around with wide eyes and a gaping jaw.

Dangling directly in front of her face was an oxygen mask she hadn’t had time to use. A few seats had come unbolted from the floor, two having fallen completely onto their sides.

Panels from the jet’s curved ceiling hung open to reveal wires and other necessary parts underneath. Glasses that had been used for drinking lay in shards on the floor beneath a few of the seats, and the door to the cockpit had been completely ripped from its hinges.

Dear God.

Her hands shot to the buckle, her fingers trembling as they fumbled to release the metal clasp so she could be free. Kaamisha pushed herself up, only then fully realizing the plane had come to a rest at a slight angle to her left.

A man coughed, and she immediately turned to her right as Lucky and Chase both stood cautiously from their seats.

“Holy shit!” Chase looked at her and then at the unbelievable scene around them .

Lucky hollered out loud, “Is everyone okay?”

Something pulled her focus back toward her left, and that’s when she saw him. Donovan was on the floor of the plane, his body perfectly still, and there was a small pool of blood forming beneath his unmoving head.

“Donovan!” Kaamisha called out his name as she stepped over debris that had made its way into the carpeted aisle.

Several low curses sounded as Lucky and Chase followed. Logan and Archer appeared in her peripheral as she dropped to her knees next to where the former SEAL lay.

“Donovan?” She reached toward his neck, the tips of her fingers pressing against the warmth of his skin. Her shoulders fell with a rough exhale when she found his pulse still beating strong and steady. “He’s alive!” she announced to the others with a quick glance over her shoulder.

The relief on the other four men’s faces was clear, as was the love they possessed for their teammate and friend.

“Somebody stay with him,” Logan ordered. There was a small stream of blood dripping from a cut in his cheek. “I’ll go check on the pilot.”

“We need to get outside,” Archer announced. “That’s jet fuel I’m smelling, and a single spark in the wrong location could blow us all to smithereens.”

“What about him?” Kaamisha looked to them all for an answer. “He’s still unconscious, and the back of his head is bleeding.”

“Put pressure on the wound,” Lucky ordered. “Chase, Arch, and I will start moving some of this stuff out of the way, and then we can carry him outside.”

With a plan in place, she and the others went into motion. As directed, she slid a hand to the back of Donovan’s head, wincing for the pain she knew he’d feel upon waking when she found the source of the bleeding.

To keep from injuring him further, she kept his neck as steady as possible while the other men worked. Her heart broke when Logan returned with the news that the pilot of the plane hadn’t made it out of the crash alive.

“He’s gone.” The man who’d once led Donovan and his team into battle looked grim. “Looks like his neck was broken on impact.”

Kaamisha closed her eyes and said a prayer for the man’s soul, as well as those who were left behind to mourn him.

“How’s Van?” Logan asked while helping the other two clear a path from where Van lay to the cabin’s main door.

“Still unconscious,” she told him. “But he’s breathing, and his pulse has remained steady and strong.”

“Probably just got his clock cleaned good,” Archer muttered as he worked.

“How’s the bleeding?” Lucky asked next. The man’s blue eyes were filled with worry for his friend.

“I think it’s slowed down some,” Kaamisha answered. There was a lot, and the warm liquid already coated her fingers and hand. “What about emergency services?” She tried peeking out the window above where she sat. “Does the airport have an ambulance on standby, or?—”

“No EMS.” Logan shook his head. “This airstrip is privately owned, and the guy it belongs to put it in the middle of nowhere for a reason.”

“Don’t worry.” Chase squatted down beside her. “Our client is one of the good guys. He’s just a very wealthy good guy, and that makes him a target for all kinds of evil.”

Like Logan, the team’s sniper looked a little banged up with disheveled hair and a cut on one side of his forehead.

“How’s he doing?” Archer returned as the other three men positioned themselves around Van’s body.

Lucky answered with a quick, “Still out, but hopefully nothing more than a concussion.”

Other than a few out-of-place hairs and a new hole that had been ripped across the left knee of his jeans, there were no other obvious signs that the handsome tech specialist had just survived a plane crash.

Holy crap. Our plane just crashed. The pilot is dead. Donovan is bleeding like a stuck pig, and there’s jet fuel spilling outside ? —

“You got his head?”

The question came from Logan, pulling Kaamisha out of her spinning thoughts.

“Yes.” She nodded with confidence she didn’t quite possess. “I’ve got him.”

But even as she uttered the claim, her chest grew tight, and her stomach churned with dread. She didn’t want to do anything to injure him further.

You can do this. You have to help these men get him out of the aircraft and to safety.

“You have to keep his head and neck as still as possible,” Archer instructed from a few feet away. “It won’t be as good as a brace, but I don’t know if we even have one on board, so let’s get him outside first and worry about the rest later.”

Doing her best to hold pressure on the slowly-bleeding wound, she positioned her hands so that they covered the cut while also holding his handsome head in place. Logan and Chase stood to Donovan’s left while Archer and Lucky made their way to the injured man’s right.

“Just like in the field, boys.” Logan took charge of the unbelievable scene.

Apparently no further instruction was needed.

Kaamisha watched in awe as all four men bent down and reached for their friend. After carefully rolling Donovan so that he was flat on his back, Logan fisted the shirt at Donovan’s shoulder with one hand while grabbing the top of his pant leg with the other.

Intertwining his body with Logan’s, Chase got a firm grip on Donovan’s leather belt while holding onto a section of his jeans that was down lower, near the ankle. Mirroring their movements, Archer and Lucky did the same, and then? —

“On the count of three,” Logan announced. “One…two…”

On three, they lifted their teammate up and began walking backward with cautious steps.

“You good?” Archer turned his brown eyes her way. “You’ve got the head, so you start to lose your grip, let us know so we can help.”

“I’m good,” she promised.

I won’t let him fall.

She had to kick-walk her way into the aisle to keep from tripping over her dress. In the back of her mind, Kaamisha made the mental note to never fly in anything but jeans again as the five of them worked together to get Donovan to the exit Archer had opened on his way out of the plane.

It took a few stops and starts, and several careful movements between them, but soon they were able to make it safely outside. Under Logan’s orders, Kaamisha and the others carried the man in their arms several yards away before laying him gently onto the grass.

“Holy shit,” Chase exclaimed. “I can’t believe we all made it out of that thing alive.”

Kaamisha glanced up, the air in her lungs becoming frozen as she got her first look at the wreckage. The nose of the jet had nearly been ripped completely away, along with half of the cockpit.

The wing on this side had snapped in two, and the rest of the jet was leaning halfway on the paved runway with the other half lying in the grass lining the private strip. A few random fires littered the ground around it, but from what she could tell, the immediate danger had passed.

On second thought, I may never step foot on a plane again.

Her heart felt heavy as she sent up another silent prayer for the poor pilot who’d lost his life. Then she gave thanks for being spared, along with Donovan and his team.

Speaking of…

She lowered herself to her knees, not worried in the least about staining her already ruined dress. Her concern was for Donovan, who was still out cold, and she immediately lowered her head and began to pray.

Almost under her breath, Kaamisha spoke with sincerity as she asked for God’s healing touch. She recited words she’d long-ago been taught. For him. His team. And for the poor pilot and his family who would no doubt mourn their loss.

“Be right back.” Archer’s muttered words reached her ears.

She finished her pleas and reopened her eyes as the dark-haired security operative began walking back toward the plane.

“Where are you going?” Lucky hollered after him.

Archer stopped, facing the group once more. “Shit hit the fan at the same time the pilot initiated the landing gear. I’m going to go around to the other side to see if there’s anything obvious that I can see.”

As he turned and walked away, Kaamisha asked Logan, “What is it he hopes to find?”

“Nash knows planes,” the former SEAL team leader explained. “He’s checking to see if he can figure out what happened.”

“Shouldn’t we be calling for an ambulance?” She frowned.

The question had no more left her lips when a deep, male groan came from the man they’d carried off the plane.

Donovan!

Her eyes flew back down to him as he began to open his eyes. His confused gaze met hers. Almost as if new life had just been breathed into him, the former SEAL sucked in a breath and sat straight up before putting a hand to the back of his head.

When he pulled it away and saw the blood on his skin, Donovan shot her an angry glare. “What the…” Fire raged in his clouded eyes as he started to push her away. “What the hell did you?— ”

Taken off guard by his reaction, Kaamisha started to fall backward. At the last second, she shot her hands out to her sides, her palms landing on the cool grass in the nick of time.

“Whoa, it wasn’t her, man.” Chase quickly came to her defense. “Fuckin’ jet crash landed.” He glanced at the wreckage from over his shoulder before bringing his focus back to his injured teammate. “Kam helped us get you out.”

She watched his scowling face closely as he stared past them to the crumpled plane. Almost instantly, the lines created by his angry and confused expression began to shallow as his mind finally caught up to their unbelievable situation.

“You were thrown out of your seat, and you hit your head.” She felt compelled to remind him. “It took all five of us to carry you out. You probably have a concussion, but from the way you’re moving now, I’m guessing you are going to be okay.”

Donovan’s focus remained on the downed aircraft a moment longer before slowly turning her way. His dark eyes searched hers. For what, she wasn’t exactly sure. And then…

“Thank you.”

Kaamisha smiled softly, releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “You’re welcome.”

A few seconds passed before he blinked away their momentary connection. Clearing his throat, Donovan pushed himself to a knee before carefully rising up to his feet.

“Anyone else hurt?” He grunted as he straightened his spine.

Kaamisha stood along with him as his teammates lifted their hands in case he started to fall.

“The pilot didn’t make it.” Logan’s handsome face appeared grim, his hands falling back down to his sides. “As for the rest of us, we got lucky as hell. Aside from the gash in your head, we walked out of that mess with little more than a few new scrapes and bruises. ”

“He’s right.” Archer returned, his steps more purposeful as he marched toward them. “We were damn lucky.”

“What happened?” Chase frowned. “Could you see what caused us to crash?”

Rather than answer right away, the dark-haired member of Eagle’s Nest held up something she hadn’t realized he’d been holding so everyone could see.

“Best guess?” He looked down at what appeared to be a mangled mess of metal clutched in his hand. “This is part of what’s left of the bomb that took out the front landing gear and caused our plane to crash.”