Page 83 of Burn

“We’re at cruising altitude,” Lunchbox said. “We’re going to be pushing it some. But we should reach our destination in five hours, and forty minutes. Weather looks good so far. I’m keeping an eye on a potential storm. I don’t think it will be a problem.”

“Voodoo, SITREP?” Bones sounded less distant and dismissive at the moment.

“Transport will be waiting for us. I’ve got a couple of contacts with the border patrol. I know the best spots to infiltrate and get across the border. We’re looking at another four to six hours in overland transport. Makes for a messier exfil if that becomes a problem.”

“Noted. Alphabet?”

The flow of information was almost like hearing too much and not enough. The words were English, but they might as well have been in a language I didn’t speak for how much of the context I was missing.

“Remote access isn’t going to work. I’ve spent the last twelve hours trying to get the bots to penetrate their network. Theyare set up too tight to let that happen. Not without a lot of on the ground massaging. Even then, all that might do is trigger an alert on their end. If they box the bots, they can feed us misinformation, and that’s worse than no information.”

“How much time will you need on-site?”

“To be determined.” There was a note of apology in Alphabet’s voice and he shot me a quick smile. “Some jobs are very much a hands-on thing and until I’m in front of it, I don’t know what it is going to take.”

“I guess I can see that,” I said slowly, but I wasn’t really sure I could because I really didn’t know what they did—you know aside from blowing up cars, taking out bad guys, and killing people trying to kill us.

Alphabet’s grin was a brief flash of humor. “Just ask me if there’s something that you want me to go into detail on.”

“Or not,” Bones interrupted the warmth with a cold douse of water. “This is need to know, and she doesn’t.”

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms. “Trust me, I won’t be asking you to explain anything Boney Boy.”

Yes, you caught more flies with honey than with vinegar. I’d be more than happy to douse Bones in one hundred percent pure vinegar. Maybe add some ammonia to it too. I was pretty sure some combo of that created a gas that would probably make him sick.

Voodoo chuckled softly, making no attempt to mask his amusement. Nor did he react when Bones shifted to look back at us. Well, he looked at Voodoo. I was kind of glad he didn’t look atmelike that. Head back in the seat, I studied the byplay between all of them, or at least the visible byplay.

I didn’t understand the full dynamic happening here and I was pretty sure that I needed to get some grasp on it.

“What does Boney Boy do for the mission?” The question earned me a lot of silent looks. Alphabet’s lips twitched, but hemanaged to hold onto his expression. Voodoo didn’t even try, his smirk was almost adorable.

Almost.

“Excuse me?” the man in question said in a chilly manner.

“No, I don’t think I will. Lunchbox is flying us there. Voodoo is getting us equipment and routes. Alphabet is doing something with their electronics and computers. What are you doing besides being a judgmental prick?”

Yep. It was official, I was angry and Bones had volunteered to take the beating for my mood. Even when he gave me a withering look, I didn’t retreat from my question or my statement.

“Currently, I’ll be your babysitter. Pray that doesn’t change too much.”

I snorted. The threat just didn’t land the way he thought it might. I’d been threatened with rape. I had been assaulted. I’d been dragged from one place to another. I’d fucked one man to keep him from beating me. I fucked a second ‘cause I wanted to. At the moment, I was on this plane willingly because it was taking usawayfrom the house in the middle of nowhere.

Even going somewhere near a border wassomewhere. If I was somewhere I could escape, then that was worth it. As angry and dismissing as he wanted to be, I would not be intimidated by him or anyone else.

I’d made it this far. I could go the rest of the way with or without the help of the men on this plane. At least three of them seemed interested in taking my side. Or maybe I was drinking the Kool-Aid and they were just interested in keeping me from making trouble.

The idea that you caught more flies with honey and all that worked for them too. I was cooperating, wasn’t I?

“Here,” Alphabet was saying as he passed me a tablet. “I loaded it with some movies, shows, and books. I lifted someideas from your Amazon wish list and the rest from some social media posts.”

Honestly, I had no idea what I expected him to say but that wasnotit. “Stalker much?”

His grin was not remotely apologetic. “Sometimes, it’s faster to just go and get the information I need rather than hope someone will tell me in time for me to do something about it.”

When I took the tablet, he let it go. There was a password required to unlock it.

“It’s your middle name.”

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