CHAPTER 3 — THE CRASH THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
CHAPTER 3 — THE CRASH THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The missile warning screamed through the cabin.
"Impact in ten seconds!"
The pilot jerked the controls hard to the right.
Outside the windows, one of the black helicopters fired again.
A streak of smoke raced toward the jet.
Emily hugged baby Aurora so tightly that she feared she might hurt her.
"Please..." she whispered. "Please don't let her die."
Dominic was already moving.
"Deploy countermeasures!"
A burst of bright flares exploded behind the aircraft.
The missile veered...
Missed...
Then detonated close enough to send a violent shockwave through the jet.
The cabin rolled sharply.
Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.
Passengers screamed.
One bodyguard slammed into a wall, blood pouring from his forehead.
"Engine Two is failing!" the pilot shouted.
"We're losing altitude!"
Dominic grabbed the cockpit radio.
"Nearest emergency runway."
"There isn't one."
"Highway?"
"Too many vehicles."
"Field?"
The pilot's silence said everything.
Emily looked out the window.
Below them stretched endless forest.
If they went down...
No one would survive.
Suddenly another voice came through the radio.
"Boss!"
It was one of the escort helicopter pilots.
"They sacrificed themselves..."
Dominic frowned.
"What?"
"They rammed one of the attackers!"
A massive explosion lit the sky.
One enemy helicopter spiraled downward, engulfed in flames.
The second escort helicopter opened fire before disappearing into thick smoke.
Emily watched in horror.
"They're dying for you."
"No," Dominic said quietly.
"They're dying for her."
He looked at Aurora.
His daughter.
His entire world.
The plane shuddered violently.
The cockpit alarms became deafening.
"We're out of hydraulic pressure!"
"We've lost the left wing controls!"
"We're going down!"
The private jet plunged through dark clouds.
Emily closed her eyes.
She had already buried her husband.
She had already buried her sons.
She refused to die holding another child.
Then...
An enormous impact.
The aircraft slammed through treetops.
Metal tore apart.
Seats ripped from the floor.
The world became fire...
Glass...
Screaming...
And darkness.
Emily woke to the smell of burning fuel.
For several seconds she couldn't remember where she was.
Then Aurora cried.
Emily immediately looked down.
The baby was still in her arms.
Alive.
"Oh, thank God..."
Her own forehead was bleeding.
One shoulder burned with pain.
Somewhere nearby someone groaned.
"Emily..."
Dominic.
She crawled through twisted metal until she found him pinned beneath a collapsed seat.
Blood covered the side of his face.
One leg was trapped.
"Can you move?" she asked.
"Barely."
The bodyguards were already checking the wreckage.
One of them lowered his head.
"Pilot's dead."
Another bodyguard emerged carrying a burned emergency bag.
"We have medical supplies."
"How many survived?" Dominic asked.
"Seven."
"And the others?"
The silence answered him.
Emily looked around.
Pieces of the aircraft were scattered across the forest like broken toys.
Snow began falling through the shattered fuselage.
Dominic stared toward the sky.
"They'll come."
"The attackers?"
He nodded.
"They'll search until they find Aurora."
Emily suddenly remembered the sealed envelope inside her coat.
Her fingers instinctively touched it.
Dominic noticed.
"Keep it hidden."
"What is inside?"
"If they find out you have it..."
He looked toward the burning wreckage.
"They won't just kill you."
"They'll make you suffer first."
A bodyguard suddenly raised his rifle.
"Movement!"
Everyone froze.
Branches snapped nearby.
Someone was coming.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Not one person.
Several.
Dominic reached for the pistol tucked beneath his jacket.
Emily instinctively shielded Aurora.
The footsteps grew louder.
Then a voice echoed through the trees.
"Find the baby."
Another voice answered.
"Kill everyone else."
May you like
Emily's blood turned to ice.
They had found them.
