Page 60 of What Doesn't Kill Us

Tony motions for them to enter, then shuts the door and secures it. Everyone mills around Matt and his computers, and they compare notes on locations to confirm that they are indeed together. Then they all look at each other, and finally, I get sick of waiting for someone to elaborate. “Well, where are they?”

Matt makes a face, leaning closer to his monitor as he replies, “Apparently, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

I groan. This is not ideal. This is about as far from ideal as one can get without including mythical creatures. “How the fuck are we supposed to get to them if we don’t know where they’re going?”

Tony and Matt look at each other, then share the same look with Agatha’s men. Eventually, Tony says, “We meet them on the high seas.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“Oh, I’m serious. We will project their most likely course, and one of us will get dropped off along the way and attempt to board.”

This is a horrible plan. But given there isn’t a long list of workable plans, I guess this is it. “Fine. When do I leave?”

They all start shaking their heads, each of them listing off reasons the person who goes cannot be me. I interject, “Listen, I am more than qualified to swim a few miles and stealthily board a moving ship.”

Tony crosses his arms over his chest. “Absolutely not.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “And why not?”

“What if you fail? End up drowning in the Atlantic?”

“Well, then you’d get your way without having to get your hands dirty?”

He scowls at me. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Nettie?”

Nettie. He hasn’t called me Nettie since he found out I’m the enemy. That Iwasthe enemy. I force myself not to cringe, straightening my shoulders and meeting his glare with one of my own. “You know what that means, you asshole. You want me dead anyway, so my failure would work in favor of your wishes.”

Matt takes a step toward me. “Antoinette, Tony has said nothing about—“

I cut him off, putting my hand up to stop him from saying anything further. “He doesn’t have to say anything. I know how he operates. I know how his mind works in terms of friend or foe, and I am unequivocally a foe. The best way to control a foe is to end them.”

Everyone is silent as Tony and I continue to stare each other down. Shockingly, he’s the first to look away, but it doesn’t feel like much of a victory as he walks closer to me. He stops in front of me, his hands reaching out and grasping me by my upper arms. I tense at his touch, but rather than shake me as I first thought he would, he gently pulls me against his chest until he’s hugging me.

“I don’t want you dead. I want you to prove to me that letting you live is the right choice,” he whispers against my ear, and I feel the sting behind my eyes as he squeezes me closer.

“Then let me do this,” I whisper back.

He sighs, pulling back and dropping his hands as he looks down at me. “You truly feel you can handle this?”

I nod. “Yes, I can.”

He sighs again, his gaze jumping to Matt before settling on my face again. “Okay.”

I gape at him for a moment, truly surprised he gave in so easily.

He holds up a hand, continuing, “But we have to make sure we do this right. We will come up with a plan and then several solid contingency plans in order to ensure this has the best outcome possible because if Dare comes back and finds out we let you get yourself killed, we will never hear the end of it.”

Before he can change his mind, I smile at him, nodding my head like a nut job. “Is this where I say it?”

Matt and Tony both laugh and then Matt says, “Yes, seems as good a moment as any. Go right ahead.”

“Well, boys,” I say with a smile and a swagger. “Looks like it’s my turn to go fuck around and find out.”

They all groan, then Tony laughs. “That was terrible. Never do that again.”

I laugh, knowing it was terrible, but not caring at all. “How are we going to do this?”

Matt pulls out his tablet, taps a few times, then shows me the screen as he explains, “As far as we can tell, the ship Dare is on is headed for New York. There’s no way we can catch up with them by ship, so we’re going to take a helicopter and kind of hopscotch out to them using some contacts of Tony’s. Once we’re close enough for a relatively safe swim, it should be easy to intercept the ship and sneak aboard.”

---