Lone Star Renegades by Mark Wayne McGinnis Read Free Book Online

angle — spoke for themselves: The tail section of the plane had collapsed under the weight of the passenger car above.
    Getting to his knees, Collin saw that more than the tail section had collapsed — nearly half the plane was gone. He got to his feet and yelled, “ DiMaggio! Tink … Tami! ”
    Darren and Humphrey got to their feet, too, and stood looking back at the jet ’ s significantly reduced cargo hold.
    “ I ’ m okay, ” came DiMaggio ’ s voice.
    “ What happened? ” asked Tink weakly.
    Collin let out his breath in relief.
    “ Tami … Oh God. She was farther back. She ’ s under there, ” DiMaggio said, the emotion heavy in his voice.
    As much as Collin liked Tami, all he could think about was Lydia. How far back in the plane above had she been when everything collapsed? Was she lying dead beneath tons of twisted metal above them?
    “ We ’ re trapped. We ’ re fucking trapped! ” Darren said angrily. He spun toward Collin. “ It was your brilliant idea to come down here. Now we ’ re going to die in this little hell hole and it ’ s your fault. ”
    “ I didn ’ t ask you to come down here. In fact, we purposely didn ’ t tell you where we were going. Have you even thought about who might be dead up in the passenger area? ”
    Darren ’ s expression went from anger to fear in a millisecond. “ Shit! Bubba … all the guys … the team. ”
    “ Yeah … and how about Lydia … you at all worried about her? ”
    Collin ’ s question stunned him. “ We have to get back up there. Maybe there ’ s another access panel. ” Almost frantic in his movements, Darren started pacing and looking upward toward the ceiling of the cargo hold.
    “ There ’ s no other access to above. At least not where you ’ re looking, ” Collin said.
    Humphrey ’ s cold stare bore down on Collin. “ Then where, Frost? How do we get out of here? ”
    DiMaggio and Tink, a layer of white dust covering their hair and faces, joined Collin ’ s side. Collin knew DiMaggio was close to Tami; he ’ d wanted to ask her out ever since their freshman year — but lacked the courage.
    “ I ’ m sorry, Paul. Tami … She was …” Collin didn ’ t know what to say. He didn ’ t know how to put words to something so terrible.
    DiMaggio simply nodded, his eyes beginning to well up with tears.
    “ You can cry about her later, ” Humphrey said. “ Frost, stay focused! Did you have an idea how to get us out of here? ”
    Collin smacked a magazine into one of the Glocks and handed it — along with one of the holsters — over to DiMaggio.
    “ You giving that last one to me? ” Darren asked.
    Collin stood and appraised Darren with disgust. He looked over to Tink, who shook her head.
    “ Not me … I hate guns. ”
    Minutes earlier he ’ d had no intention of giving Darren or Humphrey another weapon. Now things were obviously different. Leaving any of the weapons he ’ d found behind would be crazy. Collin picked up the remaining Glock, slid in the last remaining magazine, and handed it over to Darren.
    He took it and nodded, “ Cool. ”
    Collin handed him the last remaining holster. “ You ’ ll need this too. ”
    “ We ’ ll each need to carry a load. ” He looked over to Humphrey. “ That means you too, Humph. ”
    “ What the hell you talking about? I ’ m not carrying shit … if there ’ s a way out of here, I ’ m gone … before I ’ m flattened. ”
    “ Whatever … Help me out here, DiMaggio, ” Collin said, pointing to the two longer hard cases on the floor. DiMaggio passed one of the cases, and then the second, to Collin, who placed them on top of the waist-high stack of remaining satchels and suitcases. Collin used his keys to open the first of the cases and flipped up the lid. The five inhaled.
    “ Nice, ” Darren said.
    Collin opened the next case. Now there was little doubt the guns, one a Heckler and Koch MP5, the other an MK48 — both machine guns — had belonged to someone in