Page 272 of The Black Trilogy

“Sure.”

He’d put it next to the other two she hadn’t touched from earlier.

When he came back with drinks for both of them, Mack was staring open-mouthed at the screen. With his attention on her, it took a few seconds to register the voice flowing from the speakers, dripping with sarcasm.

“Nice to hear from you, Emmy. How are you, Emmy?”

Luke barely recognised his ex’s voice. Although the line was crystal clear, she sounded much harsher than he remembered. The girl he knew had been soft and sweet, not confident and slightly antagonistic. But when Mack’s face relaxed, he knew it must be Emmy.

Luke listened as she condensed her nine-day journey into a single sentence of “fly, walk, camel, more camel, truck, climb, boat, swim, walk” and when she hung up, he squeezed Mack’s hand.

“That’s good news then, huh?”

Mack hesitated, motionless, then leapt up and danced around the room. Her happiness was infectious, and Luke couldn’t help laughing. On her second circuit, she jumped into his arms, and he swung her in a circle, her feet narrowly missing the cups of cold coffee sitting next to her mouse.

“She’s back! She’s really back!”

“Certainly seems that way.”

Mack touched her feet back to the floor and smiled. On tiptoes, she was level with Luke, and when her arms wrapped around his neck and her chest pressed against his, their lips were only an inch apart. All he needed to do was lean forward and…

No. He couldn’t. Not with Mack. Not when Emmy was coming back. Luke needed to give things some serious consideration.

Mack seemed to have the same thought because she pulled back and put her heels on the floor.

“Thank goodness,” she whispered, and Luke wasn’t sure whether she meant Emmy’s return or the fact that they’d narrowly avoided kissing.

He sat back down, feeling drained. “We were right about the plane too—she said she flew.”

“You were the one who cracked the puzzle. If you hadn’t, the new team would have gone in by now, and they’d probably have been killed. So thank you. Everyone is more grateful than you could ever know.”

“It was you who put two and two together about her flying.”

“But I couldn’t have done it without you finding the plane in the first place.”

“Let’s call it teamwork, then.”

Mack paused for a second. “I don’t normally work well with other people, apart from Nate. Not on computers. But we make a good team, don’t you think?”

She grinned at Luke and the effect was dizzying. His heart started to beat faster, and he nodded. “We do.”

“And we need to celebrate. This calls for champagne.”

“I saw a bottle in the fridge.”

“No, Emmy keeps the good stuff in the cellar for special occasions. I’d say today qualifies.”

Mack went off to hunt, and by the time she got back with a bottle of Cristal, Luke had found a couple of glasses and a box of chocolates.

He held them out to Mack. “For your sweet tooth.”

That earned him another smile. He really needed to buy shares in a chocolate manufacturer, because he saw himself buying a significant amount of the stuff over the next few months.

Luke had a happy buzz from the alcohol when Emmy called back, and he listened with growing admiration as she described how she’d escaped Syria. The woman may be a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but she was undeniably resourceful.

He was just musing over how different she was to the Ash he’d known when Mack yanked him off his chair and shoved him under the desk.

There was no need to be quite so forceful—honestly if she wanted him down there, she only had to ask. He was about to say something when he heard Emmy address Mack directly and guessed, correctly, that Mack must be on camera.

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