Page 61 of Hunted

I stand up straight and watch her eyes widen in understanding, but before she can say anything, I speak again. “Alright, let’s go help the others.”

My fingers dig into the armrest as the plane starts to ascend. I squeeze my eyes tightly shut and pray to God that we make it through this.

Something touches my arm, and my eyes shoot open. Darla’s hand is trying to push under mine and when I look up at her face, she smiles softly.

Her fingers try to wiggle under my arm, but I’m holding on so tightly, she can’t seem to do… whatever it is she’s trying to do.

“Will you hold my hand? I’m scared.” I frown down at her in confusion. She looks worried and concerned, but I don’t see any fear on her face.

Wait—Is she doing this for me?

I pry my fingers off the hand rest, and she slips her hand under mine. I grip it as tight as I can without hurting her. She tucks her elbow intomy side and leans her head on my arm, her other hand coming up to grip my bicep.

“Thank you,” she whispers, and I just grunt in response. We both know this is for me, not her.

The plane starts to even out and I’m able to release a small breath. We aren’t out of the woods yet. We wouldn’t be until we were back on the ground, but at least it didn't feel as harsh anymore.

There’s a table in front of us and Bower and King sit on the other side of it, facing us. A large couch sits lengthwise on the other side of the aisle, and there are two more passenger seats behind me.

Behind Bower and King is the cockpit, where West is seated.

“How is he not freaking out? He’s crashed two planes.”

“Hedidn’t crash them,” Darla reminds me. “And you said Arnold had every security measure possible taken to make sure there were no devices on this one, right?”

I nod my head, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. Someone was out to get us. Notsomeone… Frank. My dad said he’s gone into hiding and his men had lost sight of him. That didn’t bode well with me.

I’m hoping what we find in Kenya isn’t as bad as we think it is. But he wouldn’t be trying to kill us if there wasn’t something really bad he was covering up, would he? Probably something that would send him to prison for a long time.

“You weren’t scared of flying when we were younger,” Darla says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Hmm?” I take a second to let her question register, then I shake my head. “No, it didn’t bother me before.”

“What happened?”

I look at her, my eyes trailing over her curious face as I realize she’s serious. She doesn’t know.

Because you haven’t told her.

“You,” I whisper, and her eyebrows pinch in confusion.

“Me?”

“Darla… you were my best friend, my girlfriend, and you went missing in a plane crash. I was told you had died. After that, I couldn’t even look at a plane for years without having a meltdown. Boarding the plane to come and find the guys…” My eyes flick to the other two, to find them listening in fascination. “It was incredibly hard. I had Arnold give me a strong sedative so I could actually survive the flight.”

“And now?” she asks, her head tilting as she searches my face for something. “You didn't take a sedative this time, did you?”

I shake my head. “I have you to take care of now, I need to be on full alert. Plus… having you here…” I squeeze her hand. “It helps.”

She gives me a warm smile, and it eases a little more of the tension in me. She turns to look out the window and I close my eyes, leaning my head back and taking deep breaths as I try to make myself relax.

West is an excellent pilot… when his plane wasn’t being sabotaged. That thought doesn’t help my nerves, but I know there’s no other way to get to Kenya. And after that… It would be a long flight back to San Francisco. Sedatives might be necessary for that flight after all.

This flight is about four hours… I could survive that… I had to.

“Hey, Reece?” I open my eyes and turn my head to Darla in question.

“Did I ever tell you about Bob?”