Page 74 of Mountain Trial

There’s plenty of air.

There’s plenty of air.

Finally, the car stopped. Luc heard the door open, then slam close. In his mind’s eye, he pictured Bull―he knew it’d be Bull―walking towards the back of the car. He pinpointed down to the second the moment the trunk would open.

As soon as it did, Luc shot up, aiming to headbutt Bull―but even though he had strong ab muscles, his balance was off. It took Bull all of a second to push him back down onto the trunk.

The man laughed as Luc flailed like a fish out of water. Moments later, Bull picked him up by the neck of his sweatshirt―up, and up, out of the trunk … before dropping him right onto the ground.

Luc’s elbow slammed down on the tarmac, followed by the rest of his body. He saw stars. It was clear of snow, which told Luc all he needed to know about where they were.

A runway.

The building in front of them looked like an enormous, industrial garage.

Or a hangar.

Luc pushed himself onto his side and looked for Kat―sighed in relief when he saw her. She was shivering lightly―like him, she wasn’t wearing a coat―but didn’t look like she’d been mistreated further.

Her jaw was clenched tight, her eyes luminous stars on her face. His heart clenched.

“Well, come on, Kat―it’s okay if we call you Kat, like your friends do, right? Open the fucking door. We don’t have all night.”

Kat’s face remained cast in stone. She brought out a set of keys from the pocket of her navy blue technical trousers. Inside, it was dark, dashing Luc’s hopes that there might be somebody there who might be able to help them.

Kat and Bull disappeared inside. Dogfish grabbed Luc by the hood of his sweatshirt and started pulling, dragging him across the tarmac. Luc gurgled―with his hands cuffed behind his back, he was at real risk of choking to death.

By the time Dogfish and Luc got into the building, the lights went on. The large, cavernous space held five helicopters and what looked like a small plane in the back.

“Bingo,” Bull said. “Now tell me which of these has the larger fuel tank.”

Kat shrugged. “They’re all the sam―”

Dogfish kicked Luc viciously in the ribs. Luc clenched his teeth to stop himself from crying out―instead, it was Kat who cried out in anguish.

“Stop, please!”

“Let’s try again. Tell me which one will get us further.”

This time Kat didn’t hesitate. “This one. The EC 145. It’s got a range of about seven hundred kilometers.”

“Good, good, that should be more than enough. Check how full the tank is.”

“It’s full,” Kat said quietly. “The station fleet manager doesn’t leave for the day until all the machines are ready to go out again.”

“Such forethought. This is perfect, then, we’ll take this one.”

“I need to grab the key,” she said. “I don’t keep those on me.”

Bull nodded. “Dogfish will come with you. Cripple and I will stay here, to make sure you don’t get any ideas into that pretty head.”

“Please don’t hurt him. I already said I’ll fly you anywhere you want to go.”

Bull laughed as he watched them walk away. He sat down next to where Luc was lying on his side. “Fuck, it must suck to be you,” he said. His voice, for once, was filled with more curiosity than malice.

“I’ve had better days,” Luc agreed, forcing himself not to react to the taunt. “You really think you’re going to be able to get away,” Luc said, instead. The second part of his thought remained unsaid. Even though all of Europe is on the lookout for you.

“Shut the hell up. None of this would be necessary if everyone had simply behaved at the hotel. The wrinkled billionaire would have done her video and―” Bull stopped speaking and shook his head, as if surprised he’d said so much.