Page 72 of High Seduction
Tim glanced at their passenger. “You know what to do?”
The man was scrambling with the chest harness, twisting it the opposite direction to what needed to happen. “No.”
“Do you want some help?” Tim offered.
Red glanced up, and now instead of just seeing the massive size of the man, Tim spotted how young he was. “Yes.”
Tim was out of his seat when they lost altitude. Just a bump, but enough to drag a shout from all three of them; him, Matt, and Red.
“Sorry, guys. Between whatever the shot busted up out there and the changing temperatures, I don’t know how steady this flight is going to be,” Erin warned.
“You want to take us down the soonest possible?” Tim suggested as he made his way back to Red, clutching seatbacks and tie-downs as he moved in case there was another unexpected jolt.
“I want us down near civilization,” Erin muttered. “I’ve had enough of backcountry landing strips for one day, thanks.”
“Don’t be too picky,” Matt ventured.
Tim pushed Red back into his seat so he could straighten the harness webbing. “I agree with Matt. What if you lose pieces of the chopper altogether?”
“Then we’ll land sooner than anyone expects,” Erin taunted. “Stop fussing, old man, I know how to fly her, even if she’s having a bad day.”
Tim found a thread of amusement in the middle of his stress. He clicked the final straps together on their passenger, glancing up at Red’s face. “Notice she’s talking to the plane like it’s alive? See what I have to deal with all the time?”
The man didn’t smile, but he didn’t frown, either.
Tim gestured to the gun in Red’s hands. “Why don’t you put that away? If the trip does get rough, the last thing any of us needs are holes in vital places. Those kind of concerns make it tough to concentrate.”
Then he stepped away, slipping into one of the side seats and buckling himself in.
The fact that his medical backpack rested in the seat to his left was a big part of his choice of seating.
He strapped himself down. “Erin, did you put out a call yet?”
“No. I was waiting until we drop off Red.”
Shit. He glanced over at the young man. The gun was thankfully no longer out in plain sight. “Your call here, Red. The sooner Erin gets a location to the authorities, the sooner the guys might get caught.”
“But...” He frowned. “Yeah, I see that. Can you not tell them about me?”
“No problem,” Erin cut in. “I’m not going to do a ton of talking, only give them the coordinates of the cabin. The police will want to talk to us after we land, but you can be gone by then.”
Nice. Tim nodded reassuringly along with Erin’s words.
Red paused, then gave his approval. “Do it.”
“Thanks, Red. I have to change to a different channel, but we should be down in a few minutes.”
Tim had his backpack turned toward him, the thin hidden zipper along the bottom edge opening easily and allowing him to slip his hand in and make sure what he needed was ready. “Good job, Red. When we touch down, you head wherever you want, and we won’t even watch you go. We’ll take off and hit the closest airfield for the rest. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“And just a suggestion?” Tim made a face. “Check out your prospective customers a little more carefully.”
Red’s answer was lost in the sudden change of volume outside the chopper, and a huge drop in altitude.
Tim instinctively clutched his chest harness. “Erin?”
“Working...” Her words died off into an unintelligible mixture of grunts and vicious complaints.
