MY WHOLE WORLD changed in half a second.

I’d dreamed of this day for twenty years. The fantasies had been all that had kept me going in the early days, when I’d lain awake at night starving and freezing, too poor to afford food or shelter. Later, my hatred had helped me build my empire. Every deal, every block of territory, was one step closer to killing him. Ralavich had always been too well guarded, too well hidden for me to get to. But I’d always known this day would come. My path had always been clear.

And then, suddenly, that path was torn in two.

I shoved Ralavich aside and leaned out of the door and into the rain, my heart slamming against my ribs. For a second, I couldn’t see her. I searched the pavement as it rushed by beneath us, my chest tight and my hands crushing the door frame, terrified I was going to see her battered, bloody body—

Then I looked back, along the plane. Hailey was lying on the wing, behind and below the door. She was moaning in pain and I could see blood on the white wing, just beneath her head: she must have really hit hard when Ralavich threw her. But she was alive. And Calahan was sprinting after us for all he was worth. The wing was only eight feet or so off the ground, once he got there he could help her down….

Then the plane swung around, turning off the taxiway and onto the runway. I glanced up and saw what was right behind Hailey. Oh God. Oh, no—

“Hailey!” I screamed. “You have to jump down! Now!”

She gave a weak moan and tried to press herself up to sitting, still dazed. I could see a nasty gash on her forehead where she’d hit her head. Behind her, I saw Calahan curse as he, too, realized the danger. But he was still too far away—

The plane finished its turn and stopped at the end of the runway. And then—

It started as a deep whine that rose inexorably higher and higher. My tie flapped, then snapped tight, tugging at my neck. Rain stung one side of my face as the drops were sucked horizontally by an unmatchable force.

“Hailey!” I screamed again.

This time she came awake and pushed herself up to her hands and knees. The roar behind her made her turn her head—

I saw her whole body freeze as she stared straight into the gaping maw of the engine. Even as she looked, her hair streamed out towards it and her clothes snapped taut. Then she was moving, sliding backwards across the rain-soaked wing.

She was going to be sucked straight into the engine.

I whipped around. Ralavich had retreated further inside the plane, too far away for me to grab. He gave a victorious grin. We both knew that as soon as I went out there, he’d slam the door and I’d lose him forever.

I could lunge at him, kill him, and have my revenge. Or I could save Hailey.

I had to make a choice. My past or my future.

The engine noise built to an excruciating howl as the pilot throttled up. The plane rocked against its brakes, gathering itself like an animal about to leap. Outside, Hailey was slipping back, back across the wing, her fingers searching for grip against the slick metal—

It was no decision at all.

I launched myself through the door and landed on the wing, grunting as the jolt sent a bolt of fresh pain through my arm. Behind me, I heard the door slam and seal shut.

I started to crawl forwards towards Hailey, stretching out with my hands. But she was being sucked back too fast, fingernails clawing at the wing. She let out a shriek as the pilot extended the flaps and the wing changed shape beneath her: God, we were going to take off any second! The engine howl changed in note and the roar became agony, like someone trying to force a metal bar into your ear canal. Hailey’s body began to lift from the wing as the engine reached full power. No. No, no no—

I launched myself forward and grabbed for her. My fingertips missed hers by a half inch.

She slid and slid... and then her fingers hooked into the groove where the flap joined the wing. The suction drew her up, stretching her body in a diagonal line, her feet towards the engine. I hooked my toes under the front edge of the wing and stretched forward as far as I could but I still couldn’t reach her. She screamed but the noise was lost in the deafening roar. Rain was pounding at her face, making her splutter and screw her eyes shut, and I could see every muscle in her arm standing out as she fought to hang on.

Calahan finally reached us. He ran underneath the wing, stretching up to grab hold of Hailey’s wrists—

The pilot released the brakes and we shot forward. Calahan barely leaped out of the way in time and was left behind in a second. Now, as well as the suction of the engine, we were being clawed at by the wind rushing past. I stretched as far as I possibly could, but my fingertips still didn’t quite meet Hailey’s. And we were quickly picking up speed. Soon, we’d be moving too fast to jump off.

I glanced up. Ralavich was at the window, gloating.

Hailey was a little to the right of me. There was only one way to reach her.

I lifted my right foot, so that I was only hanging on with my left. Instantly, the suction pulled me diagonally across the wing, stretched out from left toe to right hand. And that gave me the vital few inches that let me—

My hand grabbed hers. She stared at my injured arm in horror, eyes locked on the blood soaking through my shirt, but I nodded. It’s okay.

And I pulled.

Pain. Pain like I hadn’t felt since the frozen river, but this was fire instead of ice, blazing up through every tendon, commanding me to let go. But I had Hailey’s hand in a death grip. The engine’s suction tore at her, trying to snatch her from me, but I wasn’t going to let it have her. She meant more to me than revenge, more than my past—

More than my empire.

Inch by inch, I dragged her forward across the wing. The engine was sucking in the air so fast there was none left to breathe, and my lungs ached and screamed. I couldn’t hear anymore, the roar so loud that it had gone beyond noise: it was just a battering agony and a total lack of any other sound.

I stared right into Hailey’s eyes and pulled. The pain in my injured arm doubled, trebled, but the world was whipping past faster and faster, it had to be now. I yelled and pulled—

And then she was next to me and I wrapped my arms around her. There was no time to say anything, and no way would she have been able to hear me over the engine. So I just looked at her and nodded. Trust me.

And I rolled us over the front edge of the wing.

I was praying that my body was heavy enough, and that we’d fall fast enough, that we’d fall out of the engine’s suction before it could suck us in. But as we fell, I could feel us being pulled back, back, the underside of the wing racing past above us. As we cleared the wing, we seemed to hang in the air for a second, the engine sucking us up while gravity sucked us down.

And then I felt us begin to fall. I hugged Hailey tight to my chest—

My back hit the pavement, so quick and hard I felt the shock but not the pain. We bounced, spun.... I saw glimpses of red and blue lights, storm clouds, the plane racing away from us... then we hit again and this time the pain lit up one whole side of my body from ankle to shoulder. Another bounce, my stomach dropping away as we rose into the air... and then we slammed down and rolled, over and over, and all I could do was clutch Hailey close and pray she’d be okay.

We finally came to rest by the side of the runway. I knew I was panting because I could feel my chest heaving, but I couldn’t hear my breath. I couldn’t hear anything.

I opened my arms and legs, releasing Hailey from her protective cocoon. She struggled to her hands and knees. Moving. Talking, even though I couldn’t hear her. Alive! The cut on her head was bleeding and she was covered in bruises but she was okay.

That’s when the pain started to hit me. Not just my arm, but my legs, my ribs. There didn’t seem to be anywhere that didn’t hurt.

I managed to roll over. At the far end of the runway, Ralavich’s plane rose into the air and banked away, rising towards the clouds. Hailey moved into my view, staring up at the plane in horror. Her expression said it all. He got away!

I took her hand with my good arm and squeezed it. It doesn’t matter, I mouthed.

I drew her down for a kiss as red and blue lights surrounded us.

Nothing else mattered.

Only her.