Chapter 22 · The Serpent's Smile

"Kill the engines!" Selena shouted.

Kane slammed both hands against the control frame. The cockpit bucked hard enough to throw his shoulder into the harness. Red warning bars crawled across the glass. Somewhere behind them, metal screamed.

"The engines aren't listening!" he yelled.

"Then make them listen!"

"Great plan. Got another one?"

Selena's pistol pressed against the side of his head. Her breath hit his ear, hot and sharp. She had one hand locked around the back of his harness, keeping him from being thrown across the cockpit. The other hand held the gun steady.

"You said you flew this machine," she said. "So fly it."

"I flew it three years from now. This version still hates me."

"The machine doesn't hate anyone."

"You didn't hear it screaming in my skull."

The aircraft tilted. Selena's knee struck his hip. Her grip tightened, and for one stupid second Kane noticed how close she was—her shoulder against his back, the heat of her palm through his flight suit, the clean metal scent of her weapon near his skin.

Then the cockpit dropped.

Kane shoved the left control yoke forward. The aircraft rolled beneath the closing blast shutters.