Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 45957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
“Here,” he said, thrusting another puffer jacket at me. I took it graciously and immediately slid my arms into it since my simple button down wasn’t going to be anything near enough to keep me warm in these temps, and my suit jacket, if I found it, would be pointless. “I packed two because I didn’t know how fucking cold Russia would be.”
“Well, packing two just saved my life, so thank you,” I told him, meaning it. Now wasn’t the time to be a cocky asshole with him. Our only goal at the moment was survival. Hell, it would be our only goal for the next however many days it took us to find some sort of civilization.
He blinked at me for a moment like he was surprised by my words before turning away. I went in search of a flashlight we could use and managed to find one in the crew member area, along with the flight attendant’s backpack. I dumped all her things out, finding nothing of value, but kept her backpack. Then, I scanned the shelves, finding water, peanuts, granola bars, and some other nonperishable stuff we could definitely use.
I found a couple of throw blankets. They weren’t great, but they were better than nothing, so I rolled those up and stuffed those in the backpack as well. When I made my way to Adrian, he had the essentials we needed from his bag—clothes, mostly—set to the side. When I set the bag down, he shoved them inside.
“We need to go ahead and start moving,” I told him. “We can rest when the sun is out. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but—”
“The sun will provide a little more warmth. Might keep us from becoming hypothermic,” Adrian said, cutting me off. “I know.” He shouldered the backpack before I could. “Did you happen to find any gloves?”
I shook my head. “Just keep your hands inside your pockets or your sleeves. We’ll alternate holding the flashlight and carrying the bag.”
He nodded. When we stepped out of the wrecked plane interior, I swung the light around, grimacing at the front of the plane. The pilot had been sent airborne, his body half-hanging out of the flight deck window. Adrian muttered a curse before turning away. Blowing out a harsh breath at the amount of paperwork I’d have to do when I got back because of this shit show, not to mention the fucking phone calls I’d have to handle, I began marching through the snow.
“Did Mark not fly with us?” Adrian asked as we moved further and further away from the plane.
I shook my head. “No. He wanted to visit some family stateside before heading back. I told him that was fine.” And thank fuck I had. I truly liked Mark’s company. Having him dead would have been a huge inconvenience.
“The pilot and flight attendant?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Mere paperwork.”
I could feel his glare through the darkness, and if I wasn’t in such a foul fucking mood, I might have found it amusing.
“That’s harsh. They were your employees,” he told me.
I shook my head as I tromped through the knee-high snow. “This is life, Adrian. Our life. I have no doubt there’s some kind of foul play here. The pilot had locked himself into the pit, and he gave no warning that we were in danger. When that engine went out, he had a job to do, which was to warn passengers of the danger we were facing and give us orders. I’ll have someone extricate his body and run tests—make sure there’s nothing in his system, like some kind of drug. And make sure he wasn’t dead before the crash even happened.”
“Some kind of drug?” he asked.
I shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know,” I told him honestly. “An autopsy will tell me more. For now, forget those two even existed.” I flinched when snow began to come down, bringing wind with it. I gritted my teeth, my cheeks already fucking frozen. “This is about to be hell.”
Adrian blew out a harsh breath. “It’s always fucking hell when you’re involved.”
In any other circumstance, I’d have laughed. Prodded at him some more. Instead, I just remained silent. None of this was funny anymore. We were in serious danger, and it was up to me to get us out of this safely.
And alive.
6
Adrian
It was cold as fuck. I could barely feel my toes anymore, my teeth were chattering, and I’d bitten my tongue by accident three times now, so it was unpleasantly swollen. I was beyond fed up with this whole fucking ordeal. We’d been walking nonstop for hours, not even stopping to swap the backpack and flashlight. We just swapped the items while continuing to walk because stopping for even a mere moment could be the line between life and death.