Gray, Ginna by The Witness Read Free Book Online Page B

the back of the seat and sighed.
She felt as though she were trapped in a nightmare and couldn't wake up. Only
two years ago she had been a rising concert star with a bright future ahead of
her. She'd had a huge talent, a handsome fiancé whom she had thought loved her,
who also managed her career, and plenty of money. Life had been wonderful. Then
almost overnight her money, her future, and her fiancé were gone.
    These days, during the week she worked for a pitiable wage as a
college music instructor and played piano in a lounge on weekends. Or she
had—until last night. Now she was on the run from murdering gangsters with a
hard man who looked at her as though she were something he'd found under a
rock.
    If this was a nightmare, she prayed she would wake up soon.
    Now that her situation wasn't quite so urgent, stress and
exhaustion were taking their toll. Her scraped palms and knee still stung. Her
eyes felt gritty and she was stiff and sore and achy all over.
    In addition, her body felt heavy with fatigue, as though each cell
were weighted with lead. Hardly surprising, she thought, yawning. Except for
that restless doze she'd had at the police station, she hadn't slept in over
twenty-four hours.
    Snuggling down in the seat,
Lauren gave in to her body's demand and closed her eyes. The drone of the
engine lulled her, and one by one her muscles relaxed.
     
    "What? What is it?" Lauren sat up with a start, her
heart pounding. Disoriented and groggy, she didn't know where she was or how
she'd gotten there. Her gaze darted around the interior of the small plane as
panic gushed up inside her.
    Then she spotted Sam Rawlins, and it all came rushing back.
Uttering a low moan, she put her hand over her thundering heart and slumped
back against the seat.
    Her relief didn't last long. The next instant Lauren realized what
it was that had jerked her out of a sound sleep. The drone of one of the
plane's engines had been replaced with an erratic sputtering and coughing.
    Gripping the seat arms, Lauren sat forward and yelled at the three
men, "What's making that noise? What's wrong?"
    Agent Owens glanced back at her, but the terror in his young face
did nothing to ease her mind.
    Sam twisted around in his seat and shouted, "We've developed
engine trouble! Sit tight and keep your seat belt on!"
    Engine trouble? Lauren's chest suddenly felt as though it were
being squeezed in a vise.
    She pressed her face to the side window and looked out, and her
stomach dropped to the vicinity of her knees. They were much lower than she had
expected. The treetops and rocks seemed only a few hundred yards beneath the
plane.
    The scenery was spectacular. They were flying over a majestic
mountain range, but there wasn't a sign of civilization anywhere, only what
appeared to be hundreds of miles of jagged peaks and high, fog-shrouded
valleys, buried deep in snow.
    "C'mon. C'mon, baby, don't quit on me now, sweetheart!"
the pilot exhorted his aircraft.
    Instantly Lauren's attention switched back to the front. The men's
shouts had taken on an urgent quality. Bob Halloran was furiously flipping
switches and checking dials on the cockpit control panel and shouting orders at
Agent Rawlins, who was working like a demon to carry them out. Neither man's
efforts had any effect. The sputtering and coughing grew worse, and the plane
bucked like a rodeo bronc.
    Lauren held on tight to the seat arms and fought back a scream.
    "We're losing it! Dammit! We're losing it!"
    "Losing it? Losing what? What do you mean? What are we
losing?" Lauren shouted, but a glance out the window supplied the answer.
She stared in horror as the right propeller slowed and stopped. "Oh my
God, no! No!"
    "How about the other one. Can we hold it?" Sam shouted.
    "Not for long!"
    Only then did Lauren realize that the erratic noise had not
stopped. The plane's other engine was making the same sickening coughs and
sputters. She leaned over to look out of the window on the other side of the
cabin just