Page 53 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Kai

The camera’s focus strained. We got a long-range view of the moment the missile struck the Cessna.

The explosion sent plane parts flying everywhere.

Some of the water on the ocean’s surface vaporized, blurring the image.

The thunder of the blast arrived a second later and shook Serenity on her moorings.

The blast rocked through me as well. My ears popped. Judging by the shock written on Cece’s face, she, too, felt the effects of the explosion. When the smoke and mist cleared, all I could see on the cameras’ augmented images were a few metal pieces, glinting distantly in the water.

“It didn’t kill us,” Cece murmured. “It went for Levine instead.”

I planted a kiss on the top of Cece’s head, and after plopping down on the chair, scoured the radar to confirm the killer helo was gone and was no longer a threat.

“Can’t say I’m surprised.” I studied the monitors. “High tech murder is Li’s MO.”

“Are you sure the devil’s helicopter is gone?” Cece asked.

“Affirmative.” I re-examined my indicators. “It didn’t go stealth on the way out, so Bellator tracked it all the way out of radar range. Wait until the guys hear about that beast in the air. I’m glad we’ve got footage, as blurry as it might be.”

It was only when I noticed Cece’s silence that I looked up from my station.

A frown furrowed her forehead. The little vertical lines etched deeply between her eyebrows.

Adrenaline continued to pump in my veins, and I was still in warrior mode, but I stood up, caught her in my arms, and kissed her so hard I worried I might’ve bruised her lips.

I was about to kiss her again when she splayed her hands on my chest and took a step away from me, leaving me puzzled.

“Kai?” she muttered, her eyes fixed on the monitors.

“I know.” I tried to hug her again. “This was a lot.”

“Stop,” she ordered. “Did you see what just happened?”

“I did, Sorceress, but once I realized we were not the intended target—”

“I don’t mean that.” She pointed at the screens. “Didn’t you see what happened with Levine?”

“Levine?” I studied the down curve that twisted her mouth. “You mean he got blown to pieces?”

“He jumped.”

I frowned. “What did you say?”

“Levine jumped out of the plane.”

A preternatural stillness tensed my body. My heart thumped in my chest, and my blood swished loudly in my ears. I’d been so intent on tracking the missile and the helicopter that I hadn’t been able to monitor all the screens.

“I saw the plane on this screen.” She set a hand on it. “At the last minute, it flew low and straightened parallel to the water only a few feet from the surface. It lost speed. And then, the shadow of a person fell out of the Cessna.”

“Cece, honey, no one could’ve survived that hit—”

“Levine was not on the plane when the missile hit,” she interrupted me. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. He jumped, Kai. Before the plane exploded. Do you know what this means?”

“Cece…” I rumbled, not liking where this was going at all.

“Hey, Bellator,” she barked. “Replay the footage for camera seven.”

“Identify, please.”

“Dammit, Bellator!” She stomped a foot on the floor. “Just do it!”

“Identify, please.”

She aimed her glare at me. “Kai?”

“Hold your horses.” I addressed the bot. “Bellator, rewind the footage for camera seven and replay in slow mo.”

“Rewinding.”

I started. “The probability is very low that—”

“Don’t talk to me about probabilities,” she snapped. “We’re alive when we should be dead.”

She was not wrong.

“Replaying footage,” the AI announced.

“Just watch,” she urged me. “Watch carefully.”

Several minutes into the footage, the plane leveled. The door opened in mid-flight and, just like Cece said, a blurry figure wearing a bright orange life jacket dropped into the ocean.

“Good eyes.” I whistled aloud. “It looks like he jumped out of the plane. Still, he was close to the explosion. It would be hard for anyone to survive that.”

“But it’s possible, right?”

“Possible, although not probable.”

“This is Levine we’re talking about,” Cece reminded me. “He survived us, falling into a blowhole, and who knows what else? If anyone could’ve survived this, it’s him.”

Point Sorceress.

“What if he was deep under the water when the missile hit the plane?” she asked, sharp as ever. “Wouldn’t the water reduce the blast’s impact?”

“The blast radius would have affected everything, including the ocean, but theoretically, there’s a chance the water may have offered some level of protection,” I admitted. “Even if it had, he probably died of his injuries, burned in the fuel spillage, or drowned by now.”

“But—”

“I know what you’re thinking, but the probabilities don’t justify compromising your safety and breaking cover to recover a dead body.”

“What if he’s not dead?” Cece challenged me with a sweep of her eyebrows. “What if we can get our hands on him, ask him questions, and solve this mystery once and for all?”

“What if he’s dead, but his boss is still looking for us?” I countered. “What if this is a trap designed to draw us out, or to home in on Serenity ? What if this afternoon was all for show and Li is lying in wait for us to break cover to nab you or send that helo to kill you?”

“I get this could be a trap,” she admitted with a sigh. “But if I wasn’t here, if you were alone on Serenity, or if your team was on board and you had the same information we have right now; would you go out there and take a look?”

Of course I would, but I refused to answer.

“The answer to my question is yes,” she said. “You’re prioritizing the wrong things.”

“Prioritizing you is my mission,” I bit out.

She flashed a bitter smirk. “If I weren’t here, you’d be on your way to the crash site right now.

” She stepped up to me, put her hands on my shoulders, and met my gaze, her blue-silver eyes pleading with me.

“This could be the break we need, what Dash is trying to achieve, and our only chance to stop the NWO and maybe even end it.”

Fuck . When she looked at me like that, I turned into pudding. Not to mention that her analysis made all the sense in the world. But I couldn’t compromise her safety. She was my mission, and now, she was also so much more. I had to protect her at all costs.

Shaking my head, I said, “I won’t put your life on the line based on speculation.”

“There’s a chance Levine could be alive.

” She straightened to her full height. “Maybe not a big one, but a chance. Maybe he knows where Affie is, or how my father got involved with the NWO, or why they want to kill us and what they’re going to do next.

And if there’s the smallest possibility that Levine is still alive, then there’s only one thing left to do. ”

“Don’t say it.” I scrubbed my face, dreading what I suspected she was about to suggest. “Please don’t say it.”

She pierced me with her blue eyes. “We need to go looking for him.”