Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” Ana replies. “And I’ll take the job, whatever it is. I’m coming back.”
“Done,” Blake replies. “You’ll like the pay and the people. I promise.”
Blake and I share a few words before our little group of four hits the road and do so with mine and Ana’s future in our sights.
I should be walking on water and yet, I’m no less unsettled.
Ana, on the other hand, is elated by the job offer, and talking a million miles an hour. Even Kurt seems to approve of the move for her. I think he’s happy for Ana. I also think he’s leaving again, but at this point, none of us can stop that from happening. Somehow, I think this trip back to Denver is all about a goodbye which is the only reason I didn’t push back on it.
Ana doesn’t seem to notice I’m unsettled, for good reason.
I’ve worked hard at ensuring I don’t stress her out, for no reason other than I’m selfishly hungry for her laughter and happiness. We’re in the air with Kurt and Adam snoozing in the back, when I decide I can’t hold back anymore, not when we’re about to land back in Denver, where Phillips resides.
I’m about to tell her what’s in my head, when she turns to me and says, “It feels like this all ended too easily, doesn’t it?”
I glance over at her. “Yeah. Yeah, it does. It doesn’t sit quite right.”
“I thought maybe it was because I’ve basically agreed I’m not arresting anyone. I mean my badge says a lot is wrong and I should do something about it. But what? To who? I can’t prove much of anything about anyone. Which is always a problem for me. I want to fix what is broken.”
“But?”
“I don’t know. Maybe that is it, but I’m pretty at ease with walking away from my badge right now. Surprisingly at ease with it. I feel like I can do more in other places.”
“I’d say we land and take off again and lay low a few days,” I reply, “but I think Kurt is going to split.”
“Of course he is,” she says. “I’m not at peace with that, and I’m pretty sure I’ve buried a ton of baggage over that, we’ll deal with later, but it is what it is. We just need to be on alert when we land.”
“Agreed. Let’s mail your badge back and pay a service to pack you up. We need to get in and get out.”
She nods, and for the rest of the flight, our mood is solemn, but expectant and not in a good way.
We land to a dark, snowy night, on a small runway, with an eerie feel to it. I’ve just powered down the engine when Adam appears. “Houston, we have a problem.”
Ana and I share a look that says it all. This is it. This is what we were expecting.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“Kurt just confessed a problem, the reason he wants to get to The Ranch where he can hunker down and blow up his enemies—his words, not mine. He didn’t tell us everything there was to know.”
“What the hell, Adam? Spit it out.”
“Phillips put a hit out on you and Ana when we left the party. He was done with you. He hired the Invisible Assassin.”
That’s all I need to hear. I know the Invisible Assassin’s reputation. You don’t call him, he calls you. Phillips can’t just call him and cancel the hit. He has to wait until the Invisible Assassin calls him. We have one of the deadliest assassins on planet Earth hunting us and I logged our fucking flight plan.
Chapter Forty-Four
Luke
Anger surges through me at Kurt’s stupidity and arrogance. I surge to my feet with every intention of beating the fuck out of him but Adam’s in my path. He puffs up and pushes back. “No, man. That solves nothing. One enemy at a time.”
“Starting with him.”
“Not now, Luke. I get it. I wanted to do the same thing but first things first. You know he’s not our most imminent problem.”
Ana catches my hand and her touch reminds me that I can’t kill Kurt, but damn it, I want to at least beat the shit out of him. I glance down at her and she says, “Let’s just get off this plane, Luke. We’re sitting ducks.”
I scrub my jaw and step back from Adam. “We could take off again, but the weather is shit and he could just be waiting where we land next.”
“Let’s get off,” Adam votes. “And let’s figure out where we’re going because it’s not The Ranch where they expect us, no matter what Kurt wants. We need to hole up and stand down. I’m going to call Blake and have him find us a spot.”
“Yeah,” I say. “Call Blake.”
He punches in the number and I sit back down to talk to Ana. “This dude is bad. He’s never missed a hit. Three days is a long ass time when he’s involved. We would have been better off in a safehouse in New York. Kurt drove us right into the palm of his hand.”