I can see the caldera below the wing.

Wind rushes past my hair.

The plane is tilting me out of my seat.

I feel my balance slipping.

64

MY FINGERS TOUCH his waist. He’s trying to shove me out of the plane. I grab the leather of his belt and hold on. He pushes me forward and feels me clinging to him.

“You bitch!”

He lets go of my hands and punches me in the back of the head. I see stars. My fingertips touch metal. Instinct takes over. I grab his gun behind my back, slip off the safety and squeeze the trigger, hoping to hit flesh. I keep firing it until all the rounds have been spent.

The turbulent air rushing through the open door is punctured by the loud explosions.

He lets out a groan. Blood trickles over my fingers. He slackens his grip on me and falls back into his seat. He pulls the gun from my fingers, shoves it to my head and pulls the trigger. It’s empty.

I twist my body away from the open door and use my hands to grab the seat belt. He’s staring down at his leg. The bullets have gone through his side and part of his thigh. There’s a lot of blood, but I don’t think I hit an artery.

I speak in a calm voice. “Land this plane now and you’ll live.”

He’s still looking at his body in a state of shock, trying to assess what to do. The plane is spiraling downward. I must have hit the control panel too. The lights are flickering. His pilot instincts take over and he puts his hands on the stick and fights to bring the plane back under control.

The interior light strobes on and off, then goes dark. The engine dies. The only illumination comes from the red light of the camera and the sun rising over the horizon. For a fleeting moment, I think I see something glowing in the caldera.

The pilot turns the stick to the left and tries to bring us into a shallow descent.

His face is twisted with rage. “You bitch! You bitch! You’ve gotten us killed! Now is not my time! He said now is not my time!”

He tries to shove me out the open door again with his right hand, but he’s too weak and he knows he has to bring us in for a landing. As soon as he puts both hands on the control I slide my hands around to the front of my body. I’m vulnerable for just a moment, but I don’t want to give him another chance to push me out.

The plane passes between two tall trees. He tries to keep the nose up, but we’re still falling. I slip my seat belt back around me.

He speaks through gritted teeth as he concentrates on bringing us down. “You’re still going to die.”

“Not if you bleed to death first.”

“Goddamn you! There’s no place to land!”