Gillian shivered. She definitely didn’t want to be “nicer” to him…but if she could free some of the other passengers, it might be worth it.
Deep down, Gillian had a feeling none of them would be getting out of this alive. The hijackers had shown a complete lack of concern for anyone’s well-being. They’d killed the flight attendants and the first-class passengers, and had been constantly threatening the rest. They couldn’t outright kill them all just yet, they needed them as bargaining chips for the Venezuelan officials, but if they weren’t given what they wanted, Gillian knew they wouldn’t hesitate to kill more.
Gillian desperately wanted to live. She wanted to save as many of the other passengers as well. In just two days, she’d formed an intense bond with the women around her.
Like Alice, the woman who’d been sitting next to her on the flight. She wasn’t dealing very well with the situation at all. She’d been crying for two days straight.
Or Janet and her seven-year-old daughter, Renee.
And especially Andrea. She was about Gillian’s age and had been on vacation with some girlfriends in Costa Rica. Her friends had all been on other flights, and she’d ended up on the hijacked plane. Andrea also happened to live in Austin, and despite—or maybe because of—the overwhelming situation they’d found themselves in, she and Gillian had clicked.
Although the women had been separated from the men, Gillian had seen the fear in the men’s eyes as well. The group of four guys who looked to be in their early twenties were definitely freaked out. And one older gentleman had a constant look of terror on his face and frequently put his hand on his chest, as if in pain. She didn’t know many of the names of the men, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to save them if at all possible. No one asked to be in this situation.
The last thing she wanted was Luis, or Alberto, or Henry, or any of the other terrorists killing more passengers when they didn’t get what they wanted.
“I’m doing everything I can to make sure the authorities know that you’re serious about getting your friend Hugo freed,” she said quietly.
“He’s not my friend,” Luis growled.
Gillian swallowed hard. “Maybe if you give a little, show a little compassion to the other passengers, they’d work faster to get your demands met.”
Luis smirked. “You think?”
Gillian nodded.
“So…who do you think I should let go? You?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe Janet and her daughter. Or Alice. Andrea. One of the men.”
Luis laughed. “Why don’t I just let them all go?”
She didn’t dare agree or disagree. She had a feeling Luis was just fucking with her now. He turned from her without another word, and Gillian sighed in relief—but it was short lived.
He hauled Andrea up from the floor and pulled her in front of Gillian.
“You think I should let her go?” he asked harshly.
Gillian could only stare at him with huge eyes.
“Well? Do you?” he barked.
She nodded slightly.
“No,” Luis decided. “She’s hot. And much more my type than a spoiled, fat blonde bitch like you.”
Before Gillian could get offended that he’d called her fat—she wasn’t fat; she preferred the term curvy—Luis had bent Andrea over his arm and lowered his mouth.
Andrea frantically attempted to fight him off. She pushed against his chest and tried to turn her head, but Luis wasn’t having it. He used his free hand to roughly grab her chin as he forced his mouth down on hers.
Gillian closed her eyes, but she couldn’t escape Andrea’s keening whimpers.
She would never get used to the violence the hijackers used against the civilians on the plane. She hated it, and wanted to do whatever she could to make it stop.
How long Luis forced himself on Andrea, Gillian didn’t know, but the sudden ringing of the phone in her hand sounded loud in the stifling-hot plane.
Luis straightened, shoved Andrea away from him, and turned back to Gillian.
He flicked open a knife he kept on him at all times and held it to her throat. “Answer it. And make them understand we’re serious. You can tell them if they get us food and water within the next two hours, I’ll release ten hostages. You can even pick them…as long as it’s not your friend Andrea. Or the bitch with the kid. People care a lot more about children than adults. I need her to bargain with. You can choose eight men and two women.”
Gillian hated Luis more with every word out of his mouth.
She glanced at Andrea, who was repeatedly wiping her mouth as she quickly moved back to her spot on the floor.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded.
Luis pressed the knife a little harder to her neck. “And we need fuel for this plane. They need to start working on that as soon as possible. But don’t say anything that will make me have to kill more people,” he warned. Then he took the blade from her neck and pointed it at little Renee. “I’ll start with her.”
Gillian nodded once again and put her back against the door to the cockpit and slid to the floor. Isaac, another hijacker, sat on the flight attendant’s seat nearby so he could listen to her side of the conversation as Luis walked toward his fellow hijackers, who were guarding the men huddled in the back.
“Hello?” Gillian said shakily after she brought the phone to her ear.
“Gillian Romano?” a deep voice asked.
Surprised when she didn’t hear the nasally, high-pitched voice of the man she’d been talking to for the last two days, Gillian simply said, “Yes.”
“My name is Walker Nelson. I’m taking over the negotiations.”
Gillian wasn’t sure what to think. On one hand, she was glad she didn’t have to talk to the other asshole, but on the other hand, she had no desire to start over and explain from scratch what Luis and the others wanted. But as if he could read her mind, Walker reassured her.
“I’ve been debriefed about what’s been going on. Rest assured that we are well aware of the demands the hijackers have made and the Venezuelan government is working on getting Hugo freed. How are you holding up?”
Gillian blinked. “What?”
“How are you? I know this can’t be easy. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re doing an amazing job. You just need to hang in there a bit longer.”
She wanted to cry. She didn’t think the other guy had purposely made her feel as if she was fucking everything up, and yet some of the things he’d said when he was frustrated had done exactly that. The fact that this guy had started out their conversation with something positive made her want to curl into a little ball and cry. She’d always considered herself a strong, independent woman, but right now, she’d kill to have someone hold her and tell her things were going to be all right.
“Gillian?”
“I’m here,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’m okay.”
There was a slight pause, then Walker said, “You’re not, but you will be. Are they listening to your side of the conversation?”
Gillian’s mind spun with his topic change. “Yes.”
“All right, I’m going to need you to get creative. I need as much information as you can tell me about what’s going on inside that plane. How many hostages there are. Where they are. Anything you can tell me about the hijackers. I’m sorry that too much time has gone by without someone getting in there and freeing you, but hopefully now things can change. Okay?”