Dane pushed down his burst of panic. He had to take things in hand or the others might fall the fuck apart. "Cooper, we're not in trouble because you're going to fly the plane."
"You know I've never flown anything like this," Cooper replied. "And it's not really flying since we're going to be completely out of fuel in about five minutes."
"Then you'll glide us down." Landon seemed to have picked up on Dane's calm vibe. "We have a couple of minutes. What are our options? Do you see any land where we can set down? Should I look for parachutes?"
"Parachutes won't work," Dane replied, settling Alea into a chair. He didn't want to leave her alone, but this was getting damn fucking serious. This plane and everyone in it was going down. He had ten minutes tops to formulate the best plan for their survival. "The pressure against the door will make it impossible to open until we get closer to the water. Our best bet is to try to find a place to put the plane down. Coop, I need you in that cockpit. If we're lucky, maybe we're not far off the coast of Indonesia or one of its islands. Go look."
Cooper nodded and disappeared again.
"I don't even have a cell signal," Lan said, looking down at his phone.
"Cell towers don't cover great swaths of water, man. But we all have apps on our phones that could be helpful. Everyone try to waterproof your phones. And save as much battery life as you can. Lan, get every bit of food you can find in back in case we aren't rescued immediately. We're going to need water. And see if there's a life raft."
"What's happening?" Alea asked a bit more lucidly, pushing her hair back with trembling hands.
His first instinct was to coddle and protect her, tell her not to worry and to go back to sleep, but she was more than a pretty doll. She was a brave woman, and he was going to need every available hand and resource if they had any hope of getting out of this alive.
Dane sank to one knee and took her hands in his. "Our plane has been sabotaged, and we're crashing. We need to do everything possible to mitigate the damage and find a way to survive. I need you to focus."
She nodded, genuine tears running down her face, but he watched as she visibly straightened her spine and gathered her strength. "Okay. The cushions are floatation devices. There should be an inflatable raft."
"The pilot took a knife to it," Lan said, tossing a big yellow thing into the cabin. "It's useless as a raft, but we could build a desalination unit with it. If we can find some land. I tossed the clothes out of this case. I think it was the hostess's. It's now holding water bottles and a bunch of snacks. Hope you like crackers, peanuts, and pâté. What the fuck is pâté made of?"
He didn't have time to teach Landon about the art of fine cuisine. "Anything we can use to fish?"
"I've got land!" Cooper shouted.
Dane shoved down his relief. It wasn't over yet.
"I'll find something." Lan moved quicker, running to the back of the plane again.
Alea stood just as the plane jerked and the engines died. She staggered, and the truth hit him. No more fuel. They were coasting now, and that could be very bad because they were dependent on a lot of factors they couldn't control, like the wind, the current, and their speed.
Alea lurched toward the cockpit just as the plane started to take a nosedive. It almost immediately corrected with a jerk, then tilted the opposite direction. She tumbled, but Dane threw an arm around her waist, hauling her close. She stiffened but calmed, then stepped through the door with a gasp.
Damn it. The body. Cooper had shoved the pilot to the floor and now occupied his seat, his hand on the yoke. The pilot had definitely poisoned himself, as evidenced by his blue lips and the empty cup he clutched in his hand. Dead eyes stared up into nothingness.
Why the fuck would the pilot kill the hostess and himself, then sabotage the plane and leave him and the others alive?
"Alea, come on. You don't need to be here." Dane urged her toward the door. The last thing he needed was for her to freak out.
"I'm fine." She pulled out her phone, all business. "This isn't my first dead body. Cooper, how can I help? Do you need latitude and longitude?"
"Yes," Cooper said. "Can you get that?"
"Alea, baby, there's no signal," Dane pointed out. She wasn't thinking.
"I don't need a signal," Alea insisted. "The magnetic poles work just fine without a satellite signal. Zero-seven and thirty degrees north by one hundred thirty-four and thirty east. I think we've crossed past the Indian Ocean and into the western Pacific. We're way off course, probably somewhere near the Philippines. It looks like there are lots of little islands out there." She seemed to notice everyone staring at her. She shrugged a little. "What? I liked taking geography and I'm really good at memorization."