Present Tense (A Parker & Coe, Love and Bullets Thriller Book 2) Read Free Page B

this, either. "And all I care about is getting you to the L.A. County Sheriff's Office."
    "That's no way to celebrate a reunion."
    I laughed again, but there was no humor in it. I was a mess inside and didn't want to show it. "What do you want—fireworks and streamers and the key to those cuffs? Forget the celebration, Ethan. Let's just think of this as a little bump in the road in our otherwise routine lives."
    I glanced toward the cockpit, where Hap had the Thermos tilted skyward, polishing off the last of whatever it was he was drinking. I suddenly realized we were in the air and well underway, leveling off at a high altitude. I had been so wrapped up in my conversation with Ethan that I'd completely blanked on the take-off—and that scared me.
    I needed to grab control of myself.
    "And what if I try to escape?" Ethan asked. "What then? You shoot me? Is that part of the routine?"
    I gave him the sternest look I could muster, but stern had never been my strong suit. Especially around him. "If I have to, yes."
    He shook his head. "I don't believe that for a minute."
    "We're different people now, remember? I'm not the timid little girl you knew in school. I've been chased after and shot at and learned quite a bit about myself in the process."
    "Maybe so, but I'm betting you've never fired that gun at anything more than a paper target."
    I gestured to my Glock. "This one? You're right, I haven't."  
    "Just what I thought."
    "But I did use one just like it to kill someone I once trusted. So imagine what I'd do to the boy who left me behind…"
    I would have enjoyed his reaction if I hadn't suddenly been distracted. But as the words left my mouth, I felt a rumble of turbulence and the plane's engine began to whine. I looked up sharply and saw that Hap was now slumped in his chair, no longer manning the controls, the Thermos rolling on the floor beside him.
    What the hell? I'd been kidding about the whole nap thing, but had he actually fallen asleep ?
    I got to my feet. "Hap?"
    No answer. Turbulence rumbled again, then the plane tilted and started to descend, nearly knocking me off my feet.
    Oh, shit.
    Ethan swiveled his head toward the cockpit. "Uh-oh. This can't be good."
    I moved up the aisle. "Hap! Wake up!" But when I reached him and grabbed his shoulder, I knew I was wasting my breath. He wasn't sleeping. Not the sleep of the living, anyway.  
    His head lolled sideways and I realized he actually had needed that defibrillator—but it was too late.
    He was Dead with a capital D.  
    Less than ten minutes into our flight, we were headed back toward earth—and there was every indication that our landing would not be smooth.

FIVE

    The plane picked up speed. The view through the front windshield was now eerily absent of blue sky and the earth below was a lot closer than I wanted it to be. We were over a forest now and all I saw were trees.
    I turned to Ethan in full panic. "Please tell me you know how to fly this thing!"
    "I was hoping you did," he shouted. "Get these cuffs off me."
    I wasn't sure what difference it would make, but if he was about to die a horrible death, at least he could do it with his hands free. Digging the key out of my pocket, I lurched toward him and unlocked the cuffs. Ethan immediately jumped to his feet and began searching the small cabin.
    My voice teetered on the edge of a scream. "What are you looking for?"
    "What do you think? Don't these things come equipped with parachutes?"
    "How the hell do I know?"
    He checked under the pilot's chair and came up holding what looked like an overstuffed backpack. "I think we just got lucky."
    He began strapping it on and I said, "What about me?"
    He gestured toward the windshield. "Does it look like we have time to search for another one? We'll have to do this together. Come here."
    I didn't hesitate. I went to him and he spun me around and pulled me close. He let out the chute's waist strap as far as it would go, then wrapped it around me and pulled it