“Excuse me…I think you’ve made…”
“Arms where I can see them at all times.”
Scared half to death, Amal raised both of her arms high up in the air.
“What’s that in her hand?” someone yelled.
“What’s that in your hand?” the one standing in front of her yelled. “Put it down now!”
“It’s just a phone,” she answered. She lowered her arm and showed it to them, but that just made everything worse.
“Keep ‘em up!”
“Keep your hands up!”
“Drop the phone!”
Amal felt like crying. Yet she did as they said. She let the phone fall to the floor with a thud, then stared at the uniformed men, tears springing to her terrified eyes.
“Rise to your feet, now! Slowly!”
“No sudden movements.”
Amal did as she was told, as slowly as humanly possible. All eyes were on her in the cabin, and she fought her desire to scream in terror. She was so scared that they’d shoot her; she could barely keep her arms still.
“Walk,” the officer said, making a movement with the gun. “Toward the door.”
Amal swallowed. Thinking she’d have to grab her things, that she couldn’t leave her computer under the seat, she reached down to grab it when they all yelled at once.
“She’s going for a bag.”
“It’s the bomb!”
Amal barely managed to get her arm back up in the air when the shot was fired. As it tore through her skin, it was a surprise for her to realize that it didn’t hurt at all. At least not when it entered her body. It wasn’t until the bullet traveled through her body, cutting its way through her tissue, going upward and lodging itself just below her left ribcage that there was a sudden unbearable burning aggravated sensation. As she fell to the floor of the plane, she waited for there to be a bright light or at least a hand reaching out to welcome her to the next world.
But it never came. There was only deep darkness and the voices of people’s terrified screaming around her.
Chapter 23
I was watching the news while fighting my urge to cry. Liam was still there when I received the breaking news text about an airplane that had to make an emergency landing because of a bomb threat. I then turned on the news and saw that Amal Bukhari, the famous YouTuber, had been shot inside the plane because they believed she was carrying a bomb in her computer. Nine-one-one had received a phone call that same night as the plane was in the air, stating that there was a bomb on board and that Amal Bukhari was carrying it in her handbag, disguised as a computer.
“Son of a g…” I exclaimed as I threw the remote against the wall so hard it flew apart, and the batteries fell out.
“You knew she was next, didn’t you?” Liam asked.
I stomped my feet angrily, then sat down before I rose up again and started pacing back and forth.
“I’ve only known since this morning and thought I had more time. I tried everything. I emailed her, but she never responded. I also tried to call her agent, but he just thought I was some weirdo and hung up on me. That’s what they all think. It’s not easy to get to famous people, you know? I even wrote several comments on her YouTube page, but I don’t know if she’s even seen any of them or my messages on Instagram. My guess is she hasn’t. I thought I could get to her and warn her somehow first, but the Swatter probably saw the opportunity because she was going on a flight. What could be more spectacular, right?”
“It sure is something they’ll be talking about for months. And you’re sure it’s him?” Liam asked.
“Positive. But how do I make the world understand it? To say that they played the same game isn’t exactly proof.”
“Let me get you another glass of that whiskey over there,” Liam said and rose to his feet.
I stopped him. “It’s okay. I don’t really drink much hard alcohol. I think I’ll just go to bed if you don’t mind. It’s been a long day.”
Liam nodded and finished his third glass. I was happy that I knew he wasn’t driving home.
“I’m staying at the Hilton downtown,” he said and put the glass down. “I want more than anyone to catch this guy, and I believe you’re the one who can do it. Let me know if I can help with anything.”
“Unless you can turn back time, then I don’t see how,” I said and rubbed my temples frantically. I felt so frustrated I could scream.
Liam rose to his feet. I wondered about Matt and whether he had gone to bed or if he was still in the kitchen. I couldn’t really face him right now, not after the talk we had in the kitchen. I didn’t want to risk him bringing up Chad again, so I said goodbye to Liam, then hurried upstairs. I checked on the kids and told Olivia she needed to go to bed, too, before walking past our bedroom. The door was ajar, and I could see Matt was in there, asleep. I closed the door carefully, then ran back downstairs, where I sat by my computer and opened Call of Duty.
THREE WEEKS LATER
Chapter 24
“Hey, everyone. It’s me, Amal again. Broadcasting live from my hospital bed, as you can see.”
Amal lifted her phone to show her viewers the monitors next to her and the bed where she was laying. Then she returned to pointing it at her face again. She had lost a lot of weight and didn’t really like the way she looked.
But at least she was alive.
She turned the camera toward her brother Samir, who was standing by the window looking worried. He had been with her since she woke up in the ICU, and every time he looked at her, he had that concerned look in his eyes.
It drove her crazy.
“Say hi to the viewers, Samir.”
He waved at her to stop filming him, and she turned the camera to face herself again.
“The doctors are going to do another surgery today. Now, for those of you who haven’t seen my earlier broadcasts and who are just tuning in, I can tell you that the bullet entered here in my side just above my right hip, then traveled upward and lodged itself just below my left rib cage. The bullet landed in a place that you usually don’t survive when a bullet is caught there. I guess I was lucky. The bullet is still in there since they haven’t dared to risk taking it out yet. So far, I have gone through seven surgeries; today will be number eight. I won’t go into too many gory details, but one of the surgeries is one they normally perform on people with pancreatic cancer. Several organs were removed, and the remaining organs are reconnected so I can live. I no longer have a colon or a gallbladder; I’ve lost my left kidney and a third of my stomach. The bullet has, however, now moved closer to my skin’s surface and is poking out under my rib cage, which makes it possible for them to remove it later today. Yay.”
Amal tried to smile, but it was hard. She was still in a lot of pain, and the thought of having to go through yet another surgery was unbearable. She was sick of hospitals and of just lying there, doing nothing. She had begun updating her followers as soon as she was well enough to do so. The video from her being shot had gone viral as soon as her brother posted it when the police gave him the phone at the hospital, while she was fighting for her life. It had reached more than a hundred million views, and when Amal finally woke up, she had close to ninety million subscribers to her YouTube channel. A number that made her the second largest after PewDiePie, who had ninety-nine million.