Page 12 of Forged in Secrets

Her heart continued to pound as her adrenaline rush slowly subsided. At last, she realized that Ben’s hand still gripped her own.

“Ben,” she said, blinking away tears that she had only just begun to notice. “Are you okay?”

He looked over at her, but his deep green eyes did not quite meet hers, as though he was embarrassed for just how afraid he’d been.

Before she could reassure him, however, he slid his hand out of her own and unbuckled his seatbelt.

“They said to stay buckled up!”

“I’m sure people got hurt. I have a duty to help them,” he grunted, getting to his feet and beginning to push past her and out into the aisle. She watched as he kicked aside several carry-on bags, sandals, and cell phones that sat on the floor.

She drew in a breath and looked around. Outside, the sky was pure black. The eerie quiet of the plane had slowly begun to fade as people spoke to their loved ones. At least four people that Grace could see had tears rolling down their faces as they sobbed.

She wanted to go to them, to see if she could provide any comfort, but two stewardesses had begun making their way down the aisle, telling everyone to stay put and asking who needed medical assistance.

“Sir, you need to return to your seat,” one of them said to Ben. He was kneeling in the aisle several feet away next to an older man who had clearly hit his head against the chair in front of him. His forehead was smeared withblood, and Ben was using someone’s cardigan to staunch the bleeding.

“I’m a trained first responder,” Ben said firmly, not looking at the woman. Instead, he was directing the injured man to follow his fingertip with his eyes.

“Sir–”

“Other people on this plane need help. Are you going to keep wasting time harassing a law enforcement officer or are you going to do what you can to assist them?”

Grace flinched at his words.

Ben Forge had been a police officer once upon a time, before Gabe founded FBS. But he’d been fired for reasons she had never quite figured out. She knew that it had had something to do with his attempt to protect his former partner, and that afterward he’d broken up with a woman he’d been dating, but that was all. She had been away on a mission trip at the time and had missed most of the drama.

The sole time she’d asked him about it more recently, he’d made it very clear that he wasn’t going to share the details with the likes of her.

In any case, he was no longer a cop, and Grace didn’t appreciate the fact that he’d lied.

On the other hand, he was right.

She looked around at the scene. Both stewardesses were assisting several passengers each, and another man had joined them after grabbing two red first aid kits from the front of the plane.

She sat back in her seat and checked on the tightness of her seatbelt. Now that the adrenaline had fully subsided, she felt completely drained of energy.

By the grace of God, no one appeared to be seriously injured, but she could imagine the battle she’d be facing toget Ben onto the plane home after what they’d just experienced.

She smiled to herself as she watched him affix a bandage to a teenage boy’s badly scratched arm.

Despite everything, she couldn’t help but to hope that this trip could be the start of something good.

Even if Ben didn’t realize it yet.

CHAPTER

SIX

BEN

Ben grasped the wheel of the rental car, steeling himself before turning the key in the ignition.

After the nightmarish turbulence they had endured, he couldn’t quite seem to relax. Every nerve was on edge, waiting for another horrible bounce or bump that wouldn’t come now that they were back on solid ground.

Or worse, for Grace to bring up how afraid he’d been.

She’d survived something far worse than any turbulence back in Indonesia, and yet there she was, taking charge of the situation and trying to hold them both together. He should have stepped up and been a man, but instead, he’d practically cowered beneath his seat.

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