Read Online Chase Baker and the God Boy: (A Chase Baker Thriller Series Book No. 3) by Vincent Zandri - Free Book Online

tape off his mouth.
    “You the real pilot?”
    “Cut me loose,” he shouts while alarms
blare from inside the cockpit. “Do it now. We’re dropping three thousand feet
per minute. Three minutes before this thing careens into the Arabian Sea.”
    Reaching into my jacket, I find my
Swiss Army knife, flip open the big blade. Pressing the business end of the
blade on the tape that binds his wrists together, I cut. While he pulls his
hands apart, I reach down and cut the ankles. Without issuing a single word,
the pilot drops down to all fours, begins speed crabbing his way to the
cockpit.
    Meanwhile, I pull away the tape
that gags the flight attendant and free both her wrists and ankles.
    “Thank you,” she says, mouthing the
words.
    I take her by the hand, pull her
along with me to one of the free seats. She slips into it, securing herself
with the belt.
    “Buckle in,” she insists.
    “I’m going to keep the pilot
company,” I insist, crawling my way to the cockpit, stealing a quick glance at Anjali
along the way. She’s shivering in the cold. Still, she issues me a forced smile,
but I know she’s not happy. “Now’s a good time to pray,” I yell to her, but she
can’t hear me over the blast of air pouring in through the opening.
    Once I reach the cockpit, I slip
myself into the co-pilot’s chair. By the look of the altimeter, we’ve got about
ten thousand feet left to work with.
    “Strap yourself in,” says the
pilot. “Things could get a bit shaky.”
    I do it. “Shaky’s fine by me. So
long as we live to feel it.”
    He pulls back on the yoke. The
plane bucks and bounces, the engines scream in protest. The G’s we’re pulling
are so intense, my stomach feels like it’s about to spill out of my feet. But
after a few seconds, the plane levels out then slowly starts taking on altitude.
    “With that hole in the fuselage,
the pressurization is shot,” the pilot says. “We’ll fly her up to twenty thousand
for the duration.”
    “You mean you’re going to take us
to Nepal as planned.” A question.
    “Those are my orders. We’re alive.
The plane flies, and the bad guys are gone.”
    I reach out with my right hand.
“Chase Baker. Damn glad to know you.”
    He grips the hand tightly, gives it
a shake, releases it.
    “I’m not entirely sure what you’re
after, Mr. Baker. But it must be important to attract that kind of trash onto
this plane.”
    “You mind my asking who they were?”
    “Radicals,” he says. “Hindi terrorists.
Thuggees. Vermin who have promised their souls to Satan and who distort the
evil half of Kali for their own selfish purposes. Warped people who do not want
you to succeed in your mission.”
    I’m reminded of what Anjali
revealed about Kashmiri and his dream of an evil Utopia utilizing Dr. Singh’s
six-armed kid. Surely the bad guys would be opposed to our mission to stop
them. But, what’s really upsetting is that they already know about the mission.
    “Please don’t take this the wrong
way, Captain…”
    “Mumbai. Like the city.”
    “Captain Mumbai. Why’d they let you
live?”
    “Same reason you wanted me to live.
To land this plane. That terrorist was capable of taking off. But landing was a
different story entirely.”
    “Guess they felt the same way about
the flight attendant.”
    “They would have kidnaped her in
the end had they succeeded, sold her into slavery. She would bring a nice price
on the terrorist black market.”
    “Nice bunch of people operating in
the name of Kali these days,” I say, my tone full of acid.
    “You don’t know the half of it,” he
responds. Then, “Two hours more until we reach Kathmandu. Go on back and try to
get some rest. The hole is no longer a danger now that the pressure has been
equalized, but it’s cold. The attendant will hand you a blanket.”
    “If you don’t mind, I’ll stay right
here and enjoy the view.”
    He laughs.
    “Please do, Mr. Baker,” he