Jump Start (Texas Hotzone 1)

“If I’m being forced to jump out of a plane, Bobby, you failed to keep me safe!” She tried to get by him. “Let me off!” The plane started to move, and she fought to pass Bobby. He held her firmly, easily, as if no effort was exerted. “Let me off!”

He pulled her close, his lips near her ear. “I won’t leave you on the ground where I can’t look after you.”

The plane was already moving, taxiing onto the runway, and there wasn’t anything she could do but accept that she was going up when it did. “Let me go!” she repeated.

He eased back, holding her stare. Then he reached forward and tightened several straps to pull her chute into place. He leaned close. “If anything happens to the pilot, you jump. If you think something is going to happen to the plane, you jump. Understood?”

“Yes,” she said. She understood all right—he’d come back and dragged her into hell all over again. Breaking her heart wasn’t enough. He had to scare the crap out of her, as well.

She watched him strap on his own chute, mesmerized by the confident way he moved, by the primal readiness he wore as a second skin—in touch with that animal side we all possess. Ready to hunt, fight, survive. He wasn’t going to let anyone die on his watch.

Suddenly, anger turned to pride. He was going to save lives today. He had saved lives. Nothing else mattered. The plane jerked off the runway into the air, wind whistling around them.

Jennifer curled into the corner, as far from the door as possible. Bobby and Rocky were the opposite, fearlessly at the edge of the gaping hole that led to a steep drop down.

They pulled up next to another plane, and divers crowded at the plane’s door. Rocky was shouting and cutting his hands through the air. Bobby, too. “No jump! No jump!”

Relief washed over Jennifer as the stunt divers seemed to understand. Hand signals were exchanged. The plane was going to land. But Jennifer looked out the window, and the divers from other planes were gone—they’d jumped. She hoped and prayed they were safe. At least, no one had jumped from the plane with B.J. inside—the one they knew had a bad parachute.

Jennifer gasped. Not a second after she had the thought, as she watched, someone jumped from B.J.’s plane. “B.J.!” Rocky shouted to Bobby and urgently motioned to the other divers. “No jump!” Then he turned to Bobby. “I’m going after him!” Rocky didn’t wait for an answer. He jumped.

Jennifer’s eyes went wide at his sudden departure, her gaze cutting to Bobby as he inched to the edge of the doorway. “I love you, Jennifer!” he yelled over the engine and wind. “I’ve always loved you.” And just like that, Bobby was over the edge as well, leaving Jennifer in stunned disbelief.

Jennifer forgot fear for herself and charged forward, hanging on to the edge of the doorway and staring down at Bobby, who was shooting toward the earth, head-first, his body a tight, bulletlike shell.

Had he confessed love because he thought he wasn’t going to make it through this jump? Her stomach rolled. “Please, Bobby, be okay,” she whispered into the wind.

***

BOBBY CURSED the automatic chute when it opened, slowing down his progress. He could see B.J. and Rocky on the ground, fighting.

“Damn it!” he shouted and yanked a knife from his hip pocket. He cut his chute, picking up speed again. At the last possible moment, he pulled his backup chute, and came in hard to the right of where the other two men had landed.

He disconnected himself, more than ready to get a piece of B.J., but quickly pulled up as he realized B.J. was holding a gun on Rocky.

Everything went slow motion then. Rocky’s gaze flickered to Bobby. B.J. began to turn. Bobby threw his knife, landing it in B.J.’s right shoulder, his right hand holding the pistol, dropping for an instant.

Rocky was on top of B.J. in a flash, rolling with B.J. in a desperate scramble that jarred the gun free. Bobby took the right moment to kick the gun away.

A chopper sounded in the distance. Help had arrived. Bobby grabbed the gun and aimed it at B.J., the noise rendering conversation impossible.

Once the bird was down, several armed soldiers rushed forward, led by Bobby’s own team—the Crazy Aces—with Caleb in the lead. B.J. was cuffed and loaded for transport in a matter of minutes.

Back at the airfield a short while later, Bobby found Caleb waiting for him in the hangar, and while he should have been surprised, he’d learned to expect the unexpected.

“What do we have going on here on the ground?” Bobby questioned immediately, Rocky nearby.

“Shari’s safe,” Caleb reported. “Gavin’s in custody and the property is being cleared.” He nodded at Rocky. “In conjunction with local law enforcement, the Army is shutting you down for investigation, effective immediately.”