Page 73 of High Seduction
“That sounds more like swearing to me,” he responded. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“Nothing good.”
Then she ignored him, the chopper bouncing hard from side to side.
“Hold on tight, Red. This could get bumpy.” Tim followed his own advice, making sure he had his pack strapped in as well. He didn’t need a heavy weight slamming into him unannounced at any time.
Under them lights were appearing more frequently. “We’re into busier airspace, Erin,” he warned.
“Really. I wondered what all those shiny things were. Now shut up, and let me do my job.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Red. “She loves me, really she does.”
“Ohshit, hold on.”
Even her warning wasn’t enough. It was like being back on a cheesy ride at the fair. The ones that spin in a circle, throwing you to the outside of the seat with a sudden jerk before crushing the inside person into the poor sod on the outside edge. Tim was pushed back in his seat, only the left side of his harness webbing preventing him from being shoved any farther. A rapid rotation followed—eerie and hard to handle in the daylight when there were visual cues to help pull his equilibrium back to normal. Now in the mostly dark, it was a Disney ride gone evil. No idea when it would end, or how it would end, or at least that had to be what Red was thinking.
“Make it stop now,” the man begged.
“MyGod.” The words shook free from Matt, taut and fear-filled. “Erin?”
“Lost the tail rotor,” Erin snapped. “Trying... I think... Just wait.”
She swore again before cutting off the radio, leaving him, Matt, and Red alone on the line.
“She’s good,” Tim reassured the others, even as he clutched his thighs and concentrated on breathing through the rising nausea that was inevitable with the spin. He’d told Marcus long ago he had a cast-iron stomach, but he still had to work to keep in control.
Also, Erin was brilliant.
The overhead noise cut to a whistle, and the pitch of the chopper changed. Instead of spinning violently, they were moving forward and down, rushing rapidly into the darkness.
Tim’s head was still spinning. Matt was groaning. Red...
Their kidnapper was throwing up.
The sounds of his misery faded as Tim clicked to line one. “Erin, we landing soon?”
“Sooner than you’d like. Which tends to happen when you have to turn off your main rotor. We’re on autorotation.”
Shit.“This wasn’t some great ploy of yours?”
“Negative. We have no more tail rotor, and I’m aimed at what I think is a grocery store parking lot. Hope there’s no twenty-four-hour Laundromat or something in the area.”
Tim leaned forward so he could see out the front, but from his angle it was nothing but levers and knobs, and a small windshield that was full of pitch black.
Out the side window the only clue of their forward speed was the flickering lights rushing past, the small balls of light growing larger at an alarming rate. The rush of dizziness had completely left him, a new flood of adrenaline washing through his system and preparing him for anything.
Which hopefully didn’t mean too hard a landing.
He snugged his straps as tight as they would go, then waited, trusting the woman behind the controls to get them through this.
Trust. There it was again, and in this situation there was no one that he’d want to deal with this more than Erin. Once they were out of this hole he’d be happy to spend all the time it took to convince her of that fact.
The lights grew larger still.
Erin came back on the radio. “Brace yourselves, guys. Changing angle in three, two, one...”
The aircraft tilted. After moving forward at a nose-down position for however long she’d had them in autorotation—free-fall using the rotors like a parachute, their nose tipped up, slowing their descent and bringing the skids into landing position.
