“You touch me,” Isabella says coldly, moving to be in full view so they can see her guns. They have to see that she means business, right? They aren’t that stupid, right? “You touch me, and you’ll be eating lead.”
"Oh, she thinks she's a tough one, don't she? I like her fire, though she's gonna be a biter. I can tell. Pete, you like biters, don't you?"
Pete grins. He’s missing a few teeth.
Isabella shudders.
“Let me go down,” I tell her. “I’ll clear them out—”
"They have guns. We have guns. We can just fire down at them, pick them off one at a time, and—"
“They fire at this ship, and it’ll go down,” I tell her. “I patched it up, but it’s by no means a perfect vessel.”
She grimaces.
Just then, a huge hook flies out of nowhere and digs itself firmly into the ramp. I try to yank it out and finally manage. Pete's a swift climber, about halfway up to the plane already, but I drop the hook into the water, and down he goes with a high-pitched scream.
Two more hooks appear. Isabella uses the butt of a rifle to knock one down into the water, but the other drags against the ramp, pulls in tight, and then yanks the ramp half off. The plane shifts and tilts dangerously to one side. Isabella plants her feet, but it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing we can hold onto, and then the plane tilts northward so straight up that we tumble down and fall into the water. The goons from the deck jump into the water, far more of them than just five, and they grab our weapons and tie us up while we’re still in the water.
We’re dragged onto the boat, and I wink at Isabella.
On the flight over to find the boat, I told Isabella, “We might have to be captured to save her.”
“But the plane—”
“She’s not going to last long. In a fight, she’ll go down. Your weapons, the close range… she’s going to die, but she’ll be the only one to die. I promise you. Do you trust me?”
“With my life? Yes.”
“Do you trust me with Nina’s life?”
She hesitated.
“We need to be on the same page,” I told her.
“Yes, but if I’m down on that boat—”
“They won’t touch you.”
“If they tie you up—”
“They won’t find all of the weapons on me. I will keep you safe.”
“I’m not too worried about me. It’s Nina I’m worried about.”
“Then we have to get to her.”
“So you want to be captured, don’t you?”
“Yes, actually.”
“You’re nothing but a daredevil to the very end,” she said with wonder in her eyes but a note of skepticism in her voice.
“All of our daredevilry ways… just training for right now, this moment. We can do this. We can, and we will save her.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Darling, I’m always right.”
“It’s so strange to hear you call me that.”
“You are. You’re my darling.” And I pulled her close for a long kiss that warmed me and touched my soul.
She’s actually far more than my darling, but we can talk about that later.
For now, everything is going according to plan.
There’s just one thing.
The rest of the plan is just to free Nina and to save ourselves. Not much of a plan, really, but that’s all right. We won’t fail.
We can’t fail.
Because if we do, all of us will die.
16
Isabella
It’s nerve-wracking. Strol’s plan is crazy through and through, but I knew from the start that we wouldn’t be able to stay on the plane for the duration. I’m just grateful that it hasn’t fallen into the sea yet, the autopilot mechanism doing enough to at least keep the plane somewhat hovering.
“I think we need to try and claim that,” one of the goons says.
Frankie nods. “You can try to hook her and climb her. See if you can figure out the controls.” He realizes I’m glowering at him, and he laughs and crosses over, pinching my chin in his hand. “Kyle there used to be a fighter pilot. He knows planes. I’m sure your alien technology won’t be too hard for him to figure out.” Frankie spits at Strol.
“You need to back off, buddy,” I tell Frankie.
“Why’s that, darling?” he drawls.
Hearing him call me that term that Strol just did not that long ago, a term I didn’t even like Strol using has me bristling. I already have a dagger in my hand, and I’ve been trying to cut my bindings already. The rope’s too wet yet from when I was tied in the water, though, so the serrated edge isn’t cutting through the fibers just yet. Plus, Frankie’s complete attention is on me, so I stop trying to free myself and force myself to grin at the asshole.
“If you don’t stop, you’re going to have your brains blown out,” I say sweetly.
“Oh, I don’t think so. If that’s going to happen to anyone, it’s going to happen to…” Frankie whips out a gun and points it inches from Strol’s head. “Him. Not me. Don’t you see? You lost. You picked this blue fucker over any one of us.”
“I don’t know you,” I say dryly. “I’m not from around here.”
“Well, you can plan on settling down here. One of my boys will claim you.”
“I’m not a fucking prize to be won,” I spit out.
“Your alien boyfriend here isn’t saying much in your defense,” Frankie says.
“He’s thinking of all the ways he’s going to kill you,” I snap.
"I don't' think so. He talked a big game while he was on his plane, but now he's down here with us, and he's scared. Your cock's all shriveled, ain't it? All tiny and small, just like your pea-sized brain. You don't deserve our women, and you don't deserve—"
“Why don’t you just send us on down below?” I cut in, wanting him to
