Setting Him Free Read Free Page A

idea
if she was doing it right. She, who had memorised every safety
procedure, every position, suddenly couldn't remember any of it.
Her stomach seemed to be flying out of her mouth. Wasn't her life
supposed to flash before her eyes? Her mom, her dad– she tried to
picture them but they wouldn't come. There was only Taylor and the
way he'd held on to her, even though she'd hurt him with her long
nails. Instead of closing her eyes she turned her head, looked over
at him and found him still watching her. When he nodded, she
reached out her hand and his strong grip clasping her wrist was the
last thing she was aware of as the plane hit the thick forest
below.

Chapter 3
     
    Taylor opened his eyes, biting back the sharp pain
that ripped through his left arm. He righted himself slowly,
wondering how bad his injuries were. Amazed to still be alive. A
man with a death wish had survived a plane crash. Was someone up
there trying to tell him something? He flexed his right arm, moved
his legs and took a couple of deep breaths. Everything else seemed
normal. His left arm was broken, judging by the pain, and his head
hurt. But if that was all then he'd got off lightly.
    Danielle. He almost had to force himself to look at
her seat. The last thing he remembered were two enormous eyes,
silently pleading with him to do something, and the strength of her
grip on his hand.
    She was still in her seat, head to the side, not
moving. The lights were all out and the trees that had cushioned
the impact surrounded the plane, telling him they'd come down
somewhere in the rainforest. Some of the branches reached in
through the shattered windows, and for a moment Taylor kept very
still and listened for sounds of movement. A plane caught high up
in the canopy might drop at any time. He couldn't be sure, but it
felt stable and he had to trust that the creaks and groans
punctuating the silence were just branches rubbing against
metal.
    She's not breathing . Taylor reached across and
took Danielle's wrist, feeling for a pulse. For an agonising moment
he felt nothing. Stretching across made his broken arm hurt like
hell, but he needed to know. She couldn't be dead. He tried
again, finding it hard to concentrate against the roaring pain in
his head. At first he'd been numb, but now every part of his body
throbbed, protesting against being dropped out of the sky.
    Twisting back into his seat, he reached into the
inside pocket of the dead policeman's suit and felt around for a
key to the handcuffs.
    Taylor spared the dead man no sympathy, as he'd been
given none. The man still had a surprised expression frozen on his
face at the moment the jagged piece of window glass had ripped
through his neck.
    A cell phone but no keys. Taylor willed
himself calm. Which of the policemen had pocketed them? A quick
glance at the twisted and shattered front of the plane told him the
other man wasn't coming back.
    No signal. He dropped the phone onto the seat,
breathing through the pain.
    Christ, have I survived this only to die of hunger
and thirst next to a corpse?
    Yes, there they were. He found the set of keys after
what seemed an eternity and, with a shaking hand, twisted one in
the lock and pulled the handcuffs apart, easing away the metal
which had bitten into his skin. After a couple of steadying
breaths, he carefully lifted his arm, inhaling sharply at the pain
slicing through him. The arm needed immobilising, if he could find
a first aid kit. First, though, the grim task of checking on the
other passengers.
    Another look at the crushed tangle of metal that was
once the front part of the plane left him in no doubt about their
fate. How could anyone have survived that? Then there was Danielle.
Taylor twisted out of his seat and placed a trembling hand on her
chest.
    Movement. Thank God . Slowly but surely, her
chest rose up and down. He leaned in and listened. When her warm
breath fanned his face, his legs gave way with the sheer relief and
shock of it all. He fell to