Page 65 of High Seduction
“I need some information,” he called. “Any ID on the pilot? Age, anything else you can tell me? Was he complaining about anything before the crash?”
“Nothing unusual. Said he wasn’t feeling well, and the next thing we knew we were way lower than we should be and headed for the ground.” John slipped into the chair next to him. “Just a pilot we hired out of Anchorage. We’re headed for a private home outside Seattle.”
“Grab me his ID from up front,” Tim ordered.
John hesitated. “I don’t know where it would be.”
“Root around. See what you can find. Trust me, he’s not going to be upset with you—I’d like to know if he’s got medication somewhere.”
“Don’t you usually have a much bigger team to go out on a search and rescue?” Ken asked. “Just one guy, flying all alone?”
Tim paused with his fingers on the victim’s pulse, not liking how low the count was. “You caught me coming back from a holiday. I can’t imagine how long it would have taken a team to respond to your SOS—you’re in a hell of a spot here.”
“There’s another person coming down the hillside,” the unnamed third man announced.
“Another part of your team?” Ken snapped. Either he was beginning to freak out now that rescue was happening—some people did that—or Tim had made a horrid mistake.
“That’s our chopper pilot. There’s one more waiting on the chopper—a good friend of ours. Don’t worry, though, we’ve got plenty of room. Ken, go grab the stretcher from her, and you—what’s your name?”
“Red.”
Guy was shaved totally bald. He had either a sense of humour or delusions of grandeur. “Red, stuff the most important things you guys need into a couple of bags—no more—and we’ll get you on the chopper and headed home ASAP. John, I need you to help me get the pilot ready for transport.”
Three people headed in three directions. Tim glanced out the window at Erin, who was at the bottom of the slope, securing her ropes together as he’d done. Once this was all over, he owed her a huge dinner and a massage and hell, another damn getaway, just the two of them.
The pilot wasn’t responding, his skin gone ashy white. Tim didn’t like the looks of it at all. Still, he did what he could.
He clicked on his radio. “Erin, I don’t know if Ken reached you yet. If he did, give him the stretcher, then turn around and get the ropes ready for a stretcher lift.”
There was no response.
“Erin?”
He shot to his feet and looked out the window, but there was no sign of her.
Hell.
A body blocked his path as he headed for the door. “Move. I need to check on my partner,” he snapped.
Red stepped aside just far enough to reveal that Ken now stood beside Erin at the back of the plane, one hand clutching her arm, the other holding a gun to her head.
CHAPTER18
Had she really thought spending more time in the middle of the action was something she wanted? She cursed the gods who obviously had a sense of humour about such things.
Fucked up, stupid, scary world. She’d never had a gun pulled on her before. She didn’t like it one bit.
At the opposite end of the small plane, Tim lifted his hands carefully in the air. “Don’t hurt her,” Tim ordered. “She’s your only ticket out of here.”
“Agreed. I thought you were the pilot, but since you’re not...” Ken tossed her radio headset to the ground, then nodded toward the front of the plane. “John, take care of him.”
Erin drew in a quick gasp as John pulled out a gun and casually pointed it at Tim.
“Oh my God,no. Don’t, or I won’t fly you anywhere.” Erin struggled to get free. “I mean it, hurt him and I’ll damn well leave you to freeze.”
“Gutsy.” Ken jerked her again like he had when he’d come up to her and surprised her, snapping off her headset before she could get out a call for help to Tim. “Fine. Don’t shoot Tim. But we need to get out of here before anyone else shows up. Get rid of the baggage, John.”
John tilted the gun slightly lower, adjusting the angle before he pulled the trigger. The body resting in the chair beside Tim jerked, and Erin screamed involuntarily, her hands flying up to cover her face.
