[right][sup]Collab with [@Silent Observer][/sup][/right]
[center][hr][color=steelblue][h2]Tuesday, May 23rd[/h2][/color]
[img]http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjYwLjI1NzdiMS5RbXhwZEhvZ1VHeGhlUSwsLjEA/crimescene-afterimage.regular.png[/img]

[color=steelblue]Location:[/color] Blaine County desert → Bolingbroke Penitentiary → The Lake
[color=steelblue]Characters:[/color] [color=7F9A65]Judah[/color] & [color=ffb6c1]Camille[/color]
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[indent]Judah squinted his eyes to block out the blazing sun that was beating down on them as Julian gave a final debriefing. It was hotter than the devil’s ballsack out here, but that didn’t matter - that [i]couldn’t[/i] matter - because it was go time. The young man would be lying through his teeth if he said he wasn’t nervous. He was most definitely nervous. The girl beside him looked still and focused, dark eyes flitting around, taking in the details of their surroundings and companions.

Never in his wildest dreams had Judah ever thought that he would be flying a plane. Yes, he had certainly dreamed of one day being wealthy enough to own a private jet, but to fly one? No, not quite. Surely, with that much money, he could simply pay someone else to fly him around. Yet, somehow his life had brought him here, to this moment, where his uncle had introduced him to a criminal world that he was previously unaware of. 

Technically, if Judah got Camille and himself killed on this mission, these deaths would be one hundred percent on Jorge. Could the old man even handle that on his conscience? Judah couldn’t be too sure, he had thought that he knew his uncle pretty well, but his eyes were recently opened to a whole new world, now that he had joined The Syndicate himself. His uncle was a stranger to him and, hell, if he looked in the mirror too long, his own reflection was starting to look like a stranger as well.

Julian stepped close to Judah and Camille now, giving them their direct marching orders. The man was intimidating as all get out, but Judah and his fellow Pawn stood tall (relatively, in Camille’s case) and nodded at all the appropriate moments. Of course, Judah had already been told the plan by his buddy Ryan. What R had [i]failed[/i] to mention was the [b]very[/b] important ending to said plan. The relatively tan male’s face paled as he turned to Camille.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Did he just say… [i]dive it into the lake[/i]?”[/b][/color] he asked for her confirmation, completely thunderstruck.

[color=lightpink][b]“Yes, I believe those were the words he used,”[/b][/color] she responded in a calm voice. Camille was putting an unreasonable amount of effort into that ‘calm’. Unreasonable, like how asking two people to crash land into a lake while jumping out of a plane was unreasonable. It figured her first job with The Syndicate would be the one to get her killed. 

She was still facing straight ahead when her eyes flicked up to his. He looked as panicked as she felt.

[color=lightpink][b]“I take it you haven’t done this before, then.”[/b][/color] Wonderful. [i]Two[/i] people in a plane with no clue what they’d gotten into.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Voluntarily crashed a plane into a lake? No, can’t say that I have… you?”[/b][/color] Judah replied snarkily and started walking towards the aircraft. They were on a time crunch, every second counted, and he wasn’t about to waste precious moments spreading seeds of doubt. He had also never successfully flown, nor landed, a plane in real life before, but she didn’t need to know that, what good would it do for morale?


Camille followed after him, trotting a bit to keep up with his damn long strides. The urge to bite back rose in her throat, the want to snap and cut.

[color=lightpink][b]“No, not yet,”[/b][/color] she said instead. [i]Calm[/i]. She needed to keep herself [i]calm[/i] before she flung herself out of an airplane. She could freak out after she hit the water. [color=lightpink][b]“Have you at least [i]flown a plane[/i] before?”[/b][/color] Calm seemed to be failing her, as an edge leaked into her voice. The plane began to loom above them as they approached, casting an ominous shadow. 

Judah felt his muscles go a little rigid as she asked the inevitable question. Obviously she wanted to know that, he probably would too, if he was in her place. Did that mean that he was going to answer her? Absolutely not. Instead, Judah opened the door to the cockpit and hoisted himself into the pilot’s seat. He needed a minute, more like a few milliseconds, to familiarize himself the controls before he actually attempted to get this fucking thing in the air. Such familiarization would happen best without the broad squawking at him.

That her question had been [i]completely ignored[/i] did not go unnoticed by Camille. Which meant that the answer was no. After half a moment of hesitation, she forced herself into the plane after Judah. Who was this again? The friend of Helmsley’s son? The strip club worker? He was someone expendable, if they were sending him on a plane that he didn’t know how to pilot, to crash into a lake. And she was with him. Which meant that she was expendable too.

Camille huffed to herself as she took a moment to close her eyes and run her hands through her hair. She knew she didn’t matter to them. Not yet. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she counted to three in her mind. Then her eyes opened and she was calm again. They’d do this, they’d survive, they’d get away.

Glancing over at her companion once more (he seemed to be looking at the various gauges and gears like he was piecing together a sentence in a language he’d dropped out of in high school) she turned to try and figure out how to close the plane door. 

The young man let out a long exhale as his eyes scanned the various controls. Yup, this was officially nothing like a flight simulator. His stomach felt knotted with nerves and nausea. He urged himself to just focus… there were the recognizable basics present, after all; The yoke in front of him - which was like a steering wheel, the throttle to the right of his legs - which controlled thrust, the six pack of flight instruments in the dash - which showed altitude and speed and the like, the landing gear controls - which they apparently wouldn’t be using all that much today, and finally the rudder pedals beneath his feet - which controlled, you guessed it, the rudders.

Judah heard the door shut and looked back to see that Camille was officially in the plane. She walked over and sat down in the copilot’s seat, eyes looking over the dashboard. Judah might’ve dropped this language, but it was one she’d never studied at all. Back straight, she looked out the window instead and began braiding her hair.

Was she seriously braiding her fucking hair right now? Honestly, Judah would never [i]ever[/i] understand women, he wasn’t sure that he even wanted to. He had to give her credit though for being cool as a cucumber, while he was sitting in the cockpit trying not to vomit on the dash. At least she was pretty, that had to count for something. And she wasn’t freaking out and making things worse. Double plus. 

[color=lightpink][b]“Try not to kill us.”[/b][/color] Minus.

Turning his attention back to the controls, Judah powered on the engine. The whole plane roared to life noisily and Judah set his lips in a thin, straight line. Trying hard not to sound like a total dick, for whatever reason, he said: [color=7F9A65][b]“I’ve got a lot of living left to do, I’m not dying today.”[/b][/color] He then pressed the button in his earpiece to radio down to Ryan and the Ground Team. Camille refrained from responding as she tied off the end of her braid with a hairband.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Ready for take-off,”[/b][/color] he said rather cheesily, not bothering to wait for the response before pushing in the fuel mixture knob completely. Judah advanced the throttle and the engine’s RPMs picked up. Camille’s hands snapped to the armrests on either side of her, gripping them tightly as the plane roared. Not only was the engine much louder now, but the plane automatically started moving once thrust was generated. [i]Shit, shit, shit[/i]. It wasn’t going straight, the whole plane was veering left. Judah’s brain whirled on how to counteract that… RUDDERS! Pressing the pedal gently, he managed to center the aircraft, then proceeded to grip the yoke for dear life. Beside him, Camille had squeezed her eyes shut, her lips pressed tightly together. In one heartstopping instant, it’d finally sunken into her that: [i]her life was in this person’s hands[/i].

The plane steadily crept along the makeshift runway. It had to build up speed before they had any hopes of getting this bird up in the sky. Judah pushed the throttle forward and watched the flight instruments intently as the knots climbed. The airspeed indicator turned a pleasant green once an adequate speed was reached and, at the same time, the nose of the plane started to lift up. That was the signal, Judah pulled back steadily on the yoke and up they went. Smooth sailing, mostly.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Holy shit!”[/b][/color] he exclaimed, not bothering to hold back anything anymore. One of Camille’s eyes cracked open. Judah’s stomach was still dancing, but less with nerves, and more with excitement now. He let out a hooting laugh. Another light flashed above the landing gear controls, indicating that Judah should bring up the landing gear, which he promptly did. If flying was anything like the simulators, the hardest part was done and over, besides landing… Which they [i]weren’t doing[/i] today. 

Camille’s eyes had both finally opened and she slowly began coercing her muscles to relax in her seat. Her hands were still painfully tight around the armrests.

[color=lightpink][b]“Congratulations,”[/b][/color] she forced out. Her voice was less controlled now, more breathless and strained. 

[color=7F9A65][b]“Thanks, babe,”[/b][/color] he said with a smirk, not bothering to tear his eyes away from his task to see her reaction. When this was over, and they weren’t dead - which they wouldn’t be - he was definitely going to steal a kiss. He had earned it. She finally looked at the ‘pilot’. 

[color=lightpink][b]“You’ve had your first successful take-off. Please never fly again.”[/b][/color] Judah frowned at that.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Bitch, are we dead?”[/b][/color] he snipped, his pride obviously a little wounded. 

[color=lightpink][b]“Give it time, you’re still in the pilot’s seat,”[/b][/color] she snapped back, a hard edge to her voice.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Get back there and get ready to pull your damn lever.”[/b][/color] Judah directed to her. Why was she still in her seat anyway? Camille bristled at the command, her spine straightening. She leveled her eyes in a glare at him for a long moment before standing up and walking to the back of the plane.

Very carefully removing one of his hands from the yoke, Judah pressed the button in his earpiece once again. 

[color=7F9A65][b]“Headed for the drop point, on target. Are you ready with the signal?”[/b][/color] If he listened carefully, he could hear a scoff coming from somewhere behind him at his attempt at using tactical language.

[color=8a2be2][b]“Ground Team to Air Jew, we are standing by for drop.”[/b][/color] Ryan’s voice chirped into the receiver. Judah nodded at Ryan’s confirmation, which was a little bit stupid, because Ryan couldn’t see him doing so. Force of habit, he guessed, but then he realized what R had just said.

[color=7F9A65][b]“The fuck did you just call me? I’m not even that Je--”[/b][/color] Judah started defend himself and then scoffed. [color=7F9A65][b]“Whatever… Incoming, [i]Land Gentile[/i],”[/b][/color] he quipped and then got Camille’s attention by waving his hand.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Okay, I’ll let you know when I see the flare. When I say ‘GO’, drop the load. Got it, Cami?”[/b][/color] Judah smirked once again, proud of himself for the nickname that would likely irk his already irritated companion. Two zingers in a row, not bad for a man who was also flying a plane.


[color=lightpink][b]“Got it, Judy,”[/b][/color] she called back. Judah’s eyes bugged and he actually turned to look at her this time. She seemed very focused on the lever in front of her. [i]Cute, [b]real[/b] cute.[/i] Shaking his head, Judah turned his eyes back to the windshield and looked down at the prison grounds below. The red light of the flare was visible in the near distance. Judah leaned forward, as if that would help him to see better, when they were exactly above it. 

[color=7F9A65][b]“Annddd…… GO!”[/b][/color] Camille yanked on the lever.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Atta girl!”[/b][/color] Judah cheered jovially, and he was actually genuine about it. Camille glanced at him, the beginnings of a smile finding her as Judah’s excitement finally infected her. They had gotten the job done, at least the part that The Syndicate cared about. Now all they had to focus on was not being shot out of the sky… and diving the plane into the lake. No biggie, right?

[color=7F9A65][b]“So… I hope you can swim,”[/b][/color] he said matter-of-factly. Thankfully, he was a strong swimmer, not that he was particularly keen on testing that fact in such a manner.

[color=lightpink][b]“About as well as you can fly,”[/b][/color] she muttered to herself, her smile dropping. Apparently his flying ability was ‘barely good enough to get the job done,’ so hopefully her swimming would be good enough, too.

[color=7F9A65][b]“Oh, damn, didn’t know I was flying with an olympic gold medalist,”[/b][/color] he joked. Joking was really helping to take his mind off of the fact that they were currently flying over the vast lake that they would soon be crash landing in. Well, it was kind of helping, as much as anything [i]could[/i] help in this situation. Camille rolled her eyes, but silently, she was thankful for something to react to, other than the idea that they were about to jump out of a plane. Exhaling a steadying breath once again, Judah pushed the yoke forward, slowly tipping the nose of the plane towards the water’s surface.

It turns out that it is just [i]that easy[/i] to start your aircraft on a crash course. Caught in the downward air currents, the plane careened down towards the lake at unnerving speeds. Camille started slowly, carefully making her way towards the door, trying to accommodate the new angle. Judah made a terrified, and slightly effeminate, yelping noise as he scrambled back into his seat.

[color=7F9A65][b]“R, if I die right now. You tell your sister that I hate her guts, but she’s a damn good lay, and I’ll miss that,”[/b][/color] he said quickly into the earpiece. Judah looked over at Camille and nodded. This was it, this pair of lovely brown eyes could be the last pair that he ever looked into.

[color=lightpink][b]“You’re a poet.”[/b][/color] Camille couldn’t believe that this idiot was the last person that she’d ever talk to. Judah cracked a smile.

[color=7F9A65][b]“See you down there, gorgeous,”[/b][/color] he replied before turned to the cockpit door. He opened the emergency latch, setting off a cacophonous array of sirens as the pressure in the cabin went to shit. Camille was satisfied (while still terrified) when her hair stayed in its neat braid instead of going flying around her face and in her eyes. Forcing the door out with his shoulder, Judah cleared the path and jumped out of the opening towards the hungry waters below.

Camille was frozen where she stood as she watched him launch himself out of the plane. In a matter of seconds he hit the water. Two seconds. That’s all it was. Maybe a little longer. Certainly not three. Certainly not as long as she’d been standing here, trying to force herself out.

Pressing her eyes shut, she let out a deep, shaky breath. Two seconds. Finally regaining control of her muscles, Camille took three shaky steps back. Then she ran forward and jumped.
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