Page 69 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

Me

Did you send me through secondary screening???

Echo

I actually do feel slightly bad about that part.

Me

I will hunt you down. I will hunt you down and force-feed you dry crackers until you choke on the soggy crumbs.

Echo

Gotta catch me first. Enjoy San Gallicano.

San Gallicano? What the hell?

A notification popped up on my phone, and it was another boarding pass. Dry crackers were too good for Echo.

Me

What if I’d checked a gun? Then what?

Echo

Well, did you?

A flight attendant appeared next to me, took one look at my scowl, and moved back a foot. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to turn off your phone or put it in airplane mode.”

It’s not her fault, it’s not her fault, it’s not her fault.

I took a deep breath and imagined I was a sniper on a hill. Still. Quiet. Focused.

“Of course.”

Just before I did as asked, a message from Tulsa appeared.

Tulsa

I put two hundred condoms in the side pocket of your suitcase. Thank me later. P.S. I’m wearing body armour.

She was. She’d even sent a picture. Now there were officially two people on my shitlist, probably three because I couldn’t imagine Dice didn’t know about this. And they’d probably told Priest. The whole damn world was conspiring against me.

Finally, I leaned back and closed my eyes. “Hi.”

“Are you okay?” Cole asked.

“No.”

“You didn’t know I was going to be here, did you?”

“No.”

“I didn’t know I was going to be here either. I thought I booked coach, but there was some kind of mix-up and I ended up in business class.”

Echo again. She had tentacles in every system she thought might be useful someday, and her idea of a good time was sending out phishing emails. Usually, that was a good thing, but today, not so much.

“Enjoy the free wine. I know I’m going to.”

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