“The dad already sent a team to extract him,” Nathan said. “They didn’t come back and both the team and the kid have gone radio silent.”
“Yeah,” said Ledger. “If we’re lucky, it just means communications went down. Some mechanical failure. Rust in the machine. Whatever. If we’re unlucky, we’re looking at the possibility that hostiles have taken over the compound and are holding the kid for ransom.”
“What about zombies?” I asked. “I mean, if they overran the place once, no reason they couldn’t do it again. And I personally would rather deal with zombies. They don’t shoot back.”
“What little intel we could get showed zombie activity in the jungles outside the walls,” Nathan replied. “But none inside the compound itself.”
The plane gave a sudden lurch. So did my stomach.
“Excuse me.” I unbuckled my seat belt and made my way to the bathroom.
When I opened the bathroom door five minutes or so later, I was less queasy but still defensive. So when I heard Ledger say my name, I stopped and eavesdropped.
“Does Ash know how to use those fancy blades of hers?”
“She’s not bad with them,” was Nathan’s neutral response.
Gee, thanks a lot.
“She spent much time in the field?”
“If by ‘field’ you mean zombie-infested streets,” Nathan said, “then a couple of months.”
Ledger gave a noncommittal grunt that managed to convey how unimpressed he was with my credentials. “I’m just a little surprised she was chosen for this particular mission,” he said. “I get me and Bunny. And you’re an obvious choice. But I’m not quite seeing what she brings to the table, other than a weak stomach.”
That was it.
I stomped over and stood next to his seat, glaring down at him.
“Are you one of those MRA types who thinks I should be cooking and all pregnant and shit?”
“Here we go,” Nathan muttered.
Ledger raised an eyebrow. “Did I say that?”
“You implied it,” I snapped. “I get it. You’re a real manly man, built the Eiffel Tower with brawn and steel, and all your furniture is rich mahogany.”
“You forgot all of my leather-bound books.”
I glared at him. I hate being one-upped on my pop-cultural Tourette’s. “Oh, come on,” I snapped. “You don’t think I can do my job because I’m a woman.”
“Actually,” Ledger said with infuriating calm, “some of the best combatants I’ve known have been women. Women who’ve trained for years and, in some cases, been through hell to achieve their skills. You’ve been training for a couple of months.”
Even though I’d been through my own version of hell, I couldn’t argue with him and Nathan didn’t seem inclined to say anything else in my defense. So I did a modified Jan Brady, turning and stomping two feet to the row of seats behind Ledger and Bunny, where they couldn’t see me.
Nathan dropped his voice, but I still heard him. Wild-card hearing and all. “One of the reasons Ash was chosen was because Brock’s supposed to be difficult and his father thought he might respond better to an attractive woman. Ash is good with people.” He paused. “Usually.”
I didn’t have to be a wild card to hear Ledger’s snort, followed by, “Well, this mission is screwed.”
You’re a poo, Ron Burgundy, I thought.
“Trust me,” Nathan said. “She handles herself well under fire.”
Semimollified, I huddled back into the semicomfortable seat, popped two Dramamine, and did my best Hicks impression, falling sound asleep within minutes.
“Ash, wake up.”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled. “Don’t need to stretch my legs.”
This was the second time someone had tried to wake me out of my Dramamine-induced sleep. The first was when we’d made our first stop to refuel somewhere in Mexico. I’d ignored them then and tried to do the same now.
“Ash. You have to wake up.”
Someone shook me by the shoulders.
“We have to jump.”
My eyelids flew open and all cobwebby sleepy thoughts vanished. Ledger’s face was inches from mine.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
He gave a small shake of his head.
Shit.
I scanned the plane. No Nathan, no Bunny.
Instead there was a man in black holding a nasty-looking firearm, business end pointed at me and Ledger.
He grinned at me. A really smug, ugly grin. I’d have wiped it off his face if not for the aforementioned firearm.
Well, shit.
“Where’s Nathan and Bunny?”
“Last time I saw them was when we stopped to refuel. I left the plane for five minutes. When I came back, they’d been replaced with our friend here.”
My heart stopped.
“Are they alive?”
Ledger nodded. “For now. But if we don’t do what this asshole says, that could change at any time.”
I had a million questions, but enough common sense to not ask any of them other than, “What about Jack?”
The man with the gun sneered at me. “There’s been a change of pilots, too, hon. Now get up.” He jerked the barrel of his gun at me.
I looked longingly at my katana and M4, both propped against the seat next to me, and the man shook his head. “Don’t even think about it, sweetheart. Besides, you don’t wanna be lugging all that shit when you jump.”
“C’mon, Ash.” Ledger helped me to my feet. For the first time I noticed he had a parachute strapped to his back.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I looked at Ledger, hoping against hope this was some really over-the-top macho fraternity-type hazing.
He shook his head again. “He’s not joking.”
“But I’ve never skydived before,” I said, as though that would make a difference.
Asshat laughed and said, “Time for a crash course, hon. And you’d better hurry ’cause you crazy kids are running out of time. You jump in the next minute and you’ve still got a thousand feet of airspace to deploy. Every minute you waste, you lose a hundred feet. Wait five minutes and I figure you two’ll be lawn darts when you hit the ground.”
This had to be a nightmare.
“Where’s my chute?”
Ledger said, “We’ve only got one chute.”
My heart raced, the sound pounding in my ears like bongos played by a meth-head. “No, really.”
“Hey, if you’ve never done this before, you’re better off this way.” Asshat smirked at me. “You guys get a chance to get all close and personal right off the bat.”
Both Ledger and I shot the man the bird simultaneously. First thing we’d agreed on since we’d met.
Asshat gestured us to the side with the gun. “You’ve just lost a hundred feet.”
Fuck fuck fuck.
I looked up at Ledger. “You’ve done this before, right?”
“Yeah. Not a big fan, but I’ll do my best.”
“Hey, I’ll try not to barf on you on the way down if you get us there safely.” I tried to keep my voice from shaking, but failed miserably.
Ledger put a hand on my shoulder. “Okay. This is a BA-18 parachute. It sacrifices comfort for quick opening. In other words, there’s gonna be a jolt. You need to be ready for that.”
“I really don’t wanna die,” I whispered.
“You won’t. Wrap your arms around me and hook them through the harness. Hold on as tight as you can.”
I did as he said, looping my hands and wrists around the chute harness as tightly as possible. My stomach lurched.
“Eight hundred feet.”
Oh, for the chance to wipe the grin off the bastard’s face… with an extra-strong Brillo pad.