The Storm (NUMA Files 10)

“Tell him to surrender!” Zarrina ordered.

Gamay glanced out the window. She’d seen one of the jets go down, the other two were climbing and turning, one appearing to be stalking the other, but she had no idea which was which.

Zarrina shoved Gamay’s head forward with the muzzle of the gun. “I won’t ask again.”

Gamay grabbed the microphone but still hesitated.

“Kill him!” Zarrina said to Otero.

“Wait!” Gamay shouted. She pressed and held the transmit switch.

“Kurt, this is Gamay,” she said. “They have us already. They have us in the brig. They’re going to kill us if you don’t land the plane and surrender.”

Silence followed. Gamay stared out the window. One of the planes had stopped maneuvering. She guessed that was Kurt. The other jet was closing in.

She watched for a second and then pressed the switch again. “Look out!” she shouted. “They’re on your—”

She never finished the sentence because Zarrina knocked her from the chair. She tumbled into the wall, got up ready to throw a punch and took a kick to the stomach that knocked the wind out of her and dropped her to the ground.

Outside, she saw the two planes almost collide. They crossed paths, separated and then crossed paths again. A trail of dark smoke began to stream from one of them.

KURT REACTED TO GAMAY’S warning as fast as he could. He banked left and almost slammed into Jinn’s plane. He shoved the yoke to the right, rolled the plane over and heard the sound of shells tearing into the fuselage.

Jinn’s craft was matching his turn. Men were firing .50 caliber machine guns through an open cargo door.

Kurt cut back toward them. The two planes crossed paths and almost collided a third time. As Kurt peeled off and began to make a run for it, a bank of warning lights came on in the cockpit. He pointed the nose down to pick up speed, kept the throttles to the wall and retracted the flaps he’d never pulled in.

The plane accelerated, and Kurt turned to the southwest. Various warning lights continued to blink, but nothing seemed disastrous.

He juked to the left and then back to the right, remembering the rule he’d heard an old fighter pilot tell him once: He who flies straight, dies.

After several sets of these maneuvers, he still hadn’t seen Jinn’s plane.

He kept the jet on the deck and at full speed. He made a slight turn to the west. So far, so good. But still no sign of Jinn.

“Do you see him?”

Leilani was swinging her head around, doing everything she could to spot the other craft. Kurt turned to the right, hoping to give her a wider view.

“No,” she said. “Wait … yes. He’s behind us,” she said excitedly. “He seems to be falling back. He’s heading lower.”

That didn’t sound right. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, we’re leaving him behind. I think he’s landing.”

Kurt couldn’t believe their luck. He wondered why Jinn would be letting him go.

Zarrina’s voice came over the radio. “Kurt Austin, you will land and surrender or I will kill your friends.”

The line stayed open, and the sound of someone grunting in pain and then screaming reached his ears.

“You harm them and you’re a dead woman, Zarrina,” he said, returning a threat with a threat.

Kurt had no choice but to run. Surrendering wouldn’t stop them from murdering his friends. It would just mean there were no witnesses around to report it. But if he could escape, that turned the tables. It meant Zarrina and Jinn had to worry about being discovered and facing retribution. Sometimes those thoughts protected prisoners who were otherwise considered expendable.

“You harm them and there won’t be anyplace in this world where I won’t hunt you down.”

Above him, more warning lights came on. Static and feedback came through the headphones.