Page 9 of Forgiving His Past (Eagle’s Nest Securities #5)
That one piece of evidence—along with other intel he and his team had been provided—was the catalyst for why Van and his team had come looking for her in the first place.
Several minutes passed with him asking more questions. He purposefully threw in a few he and his teammates had already asked to check for the first sign of a misstep. But with each one, her answers always remained the same.
There was no hesitation. No inconsistencies that he could find. Kam answered everything he asked with a calm and clear disposition. As if she truly had nothing to hide.
“I don’t know why this is happening, Donovan,” Kam continued after another long stretch of silence.
“I understand why it’s so hard for you and your teammates to believe me, but I would never, ever wish harm to you or your men.
And I certainly wouldn’t do something as heinous as to plan a full-blown attack.
” Her shoulders shook with a humorless laugh.
“I wouldn’t even know how to begin to accomplish something of such magnitude. ”
He pulled in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he processed all that she had just shared. Switching gears, Van went back to the other thing that had been bugging him
“Tell me about the alley.” He searched her gaze, more than ready to pick up the first signs of deception. “Why did you approach me the way you did?”
“Because they were watching.” She didn’t so much as hesitate to explain.
“Like all the times before, I couldn’t see them, but…
I knew someone was there. And if I had acted as though I was asking you for help, rather than following the clues that had been left for me, I feared it would mean both of our deaths.
” Kam paused before releasing a soft sigh.
“I was telling the truth when I said I do not wish to die, Donovan. And I don’t want you or your friends to die, either. ”
She looked and sounded so…sincere. Could this woman re ally be that good of an actress, or was she telling him the truth?
“I could have killed you so easily.” Van’s brows dipped with another frown. “You couldn’t have possibly known for sure that I wouldn’t.”
“It was a risk I was willing to take.”
“Why?” He had to know.
“The fear I saw in Mr. Akimi’s eyes in those final moments of his life.
” Her soft voice cracked with emotion. “I was holding onto him as his spirit left his body, and suddenly, I got this overwhelming feeling deep within my soul. I knew that whoever had tortured him…they would eventually do the same to me. I may not understand why but I did know a quick death by a highly trained Navy SEAL was far better than what that poor man had to endure.”
He stared back at her, becoming lost in her emotional gaze as the greens of her eyes shone with unshed tears. Something shifted inside of him, and when it did, Van knew.
No one was that good of an actor. He’d confronted enough liars in his time to know the difference. And if this wasn’t the best, most award-winning performance he’d ever seen, then that could only mean…
She’s telling me the truth.
The thought had only just entered his mind when the pilot’s voice came through the speakers above their heads.
“Dropping the landing gear now, gentlemen,” the other man announced. “We should be back on the ground in just a few?—”
A loud boom sounded from somewhere beneath the plane. The aircraft shook violently before the nose of the jet dipped down into a sharp and sudden dive.
Kam’s screams became lost in the sounds of struggling engines as Van was thrown out of his seat and onto the floor. He landed with a hard thud as his teammates appeared to be struggling to maintain some semblance of control .
The lights above him began to flicker, and the oxygen masks were released from hidden panels above each of the seats. From his peripheral, he spotted Kam’s attempts to climb back into her seat.
He started that way, pushing himself first to his knees and then back onto his feet. Around him, his teammates were all trying like hell to hang on for dear life.
A sense of relief Van didn’t fully understand rushed over him when he saw Kam buckling herself into place. He reached out, his fingers only a few inches away from the aisle-side arm of his chair when the jet’s nose lifted abruptly, the unexpected movement knocking him right back down onto his ass.
Son of a…
“Donovan!” Kam’s big eyes widened as she looked down to where he’d landed. Her hands went to the buckle she’d latched mere seconds before.
“Don’t!” he called out to her, giving a hard shake of his head. He lifted a palm into the air to help further convey his message.
The jet chose that exact moment to drop viciously once again. Before he could even attempt to steady his gate, gravity yanked Van backward with such force he was thrown completely off of his feet.
Pain radiated along his shoulders and back as he landed on the thin carpet seconds before the jet banked sharply to one side. The sudden change in position caused his body to roll toward the lowest portion of the plane.
“We’re going down!” the pilot’s alarming voice boomed through the jet’s speakers. “Everyone stay buckled in and prepare for a crash landing!”
The smell of smoke reached his nostrils as, yet another severe shift took place. Once again, Van’s entire body was veered off its course, and there was nothing he could do but wait for the tilting to stop .
Without conscious thought, his focus slid back to where Kam was still sitting. She was watching him with a look of terror so profound it was as if he could feel her fear deep inside his own soul.
The urge to shout out to her became so strong, it was almost overwhelming. In that moment, it wasn’t his death on his mind, but rather the inexplicable need to ease the woman’s worry.
But before he could open his mouth to lie and say everything was going to be okay, Kam’s terror-filled eyes grew as big as saucers. Her lips parted as she screamed out a warning he could barely hear.
“Behind you!” She stretched a hand toward him, as if she could somehow reach him.
A flash of pain filled his skull as the back of his head struck something that felt a lot like metal. Everything around him grew dark, and he no longer heard the whirl of the jet’s powerful engines.
Van’s eyes fell shut, and after that…nothing.