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)
“Relax,” Kurt replies. “I’m calling Louis to end this shit. And yes, I have his number. I kept all my contacts.” He punches the speaker button and the line rings.
A man answers. “Bonjour.”
“Louis, my man,” Kurt greets. “Miss me?”
“Who is this?” is the thickly accented reply.
“Oh, come on, man, you know who this is. And you know I’m not going to say it and neither are you. It’s me.”
“That’s impossible. You are dead.”
“Come on, brother, don’t make me say that nickname that chick from London had for you. I mean, I can. She also said you had really big—”
“Stop. Stop now. This still proves nothing.”
“All right. Well, we both know it does. I have that treasure you’re hunting. Just happened. One of those things. You know I’ll never keep what is yours, but I will need a favor in exchange. Just a small one. Nothing you won’t enjoy.”
He’s silent a moment. “I’m in New York. Come here. Let me see you face-to-face and know it’s you. Then we’ll see about favors and treasures.” He hangs up.
Kurt eyes Luke. “Time to put on your pilot wings. We just need a plane you can fly.”
“Done,” Blake replies. “I’ll see you at the airport.” He disconnects.
Kurt’s attention lands on me. “I hope you really have that coin. We’ll be needing it now, not later.”
“Right,” I say. “Well, that’s slightly complicated.” I glance at Luke. “Can we talk?” I motion to the foyer and walk in that direction.
Once I’m on the opposite side of that table again, I face him, hugging myself. “I buried it with Kasey’s body. It was in his pocket. I just—I thought maybe it mattered to him so I put it in his hand.” My throat goes raw at what must come next. “We have to dig him up.”
He steps into me, hands setting on my shoulders. “You okay with that?”
“Yes, I mean as right with it as I can be. But I really don’t want to be there.”
He studies me a moment and says, “Our guys can handle it. Dexter’s a pilot. He’ll fly it in separate from us. Unless you want me—”
I catch his shirt, fingers curling around it. “No. That would be torture for you. And I’d rather us just stick together. I think we’re stronger that way.”
He cups my face. “We are stronger together, Ana.”
“And now I can see where you live, right?”
“I live wherever you live, baby. Surely you know that by now.”
“Well, maybe we can live in New York.”
“You want to leave The Ranch? What about your job?”
Phillips’s words come back to me. I own the FBI, and while I don’t believe that to be true, not on a widespread basis, I’m bothered by how easily my division became fodder for his money and power. All of it connects to a past I’m ready to leave behind. “I think I might be done with the FBI. You think Blake would hire me?”
“I know he will. If that’s what you want.” He kisses me. “We’ll figure it all out.”
We.
I replay that word in my head and while I can stand alone, I can be comfortable with me, just me, I really like me with him. I like the “we” that we have become again. And I am ready to fight to protect what has been lost and found once again.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Luke
Dexter and Smith handle the retrieval of the coin.
Kurt, Adam, and Savage travel with us.
At present, Ana sits in the front of the plane with me, and what most people don’t know, not even Kurt, I suspect, is that Ana knows how to fly a plane. I taught her. Is she officially licensed to fly? No. But could she in order to save a life, including her own? Yes. I made damn sure of it years ago now, which was partially because she was afraid of flying.
It’s a control thing I understood then, as I do now. When you ride, there is no control. When you pilot, there is more control than there is on a highway in my opinion. Which is exactly why I offer Ana my seat now. “Take the wheel, baby. It will make you feel better.”
She holds up her hands. “Not a chance. There are too many lives on the line. I’m not a pilot. That’s you.”
“Ana,” I start but she quickly adds, “I know what you’re doing, Luke, but I feel just as in control with you behind the wheel.” Her eyes soften. “And there is no one else in this world I could say that to and mean it. Thank you for being my person. Because you are. You know that, right?”
It’s right then that Kurt pokes his head into the cockpit. “How’re we doing?”
“The coin will get there,” I assure him.
Kurt kneels next to Ana. “And where exactly was it, daughter?”