Page 203 of Darling Wildfire
“Yeah, I have to agree,” Knight said. “Northwillkill us. Have I mentioned that already?”
“And then Graham will come down to hell and resurrect us and do itagain,” Cal agreed. “Ghost can do it.”
Ghost nodded. “Just show me what I need to do.”
I stared at the men around the table. There was no use fighting against the resolve I saw on all of their faces. They wanted me to stay home.
Fine. I’d let them think that. But there was no way I was going to leave this up to someone who didn’t know these drones. I didn’t doubt Ghost’s ability, especially once I put the kill codes in his hands, but it was the principle. I wanted to help. I wanted to show Vetticus that when you mess with one of us, you got all of us.
“Sure.” I pasted a strained smile on my face and while Knight looked at me suspiciously, I pushed my computer closer to Ghost to show him what I was doing.
Several hours of planning and coding later, Demetrius looked at his watch and stood up.
“We have to get going.” He nodded to Viktor and Kon. “Vetticus is expecting us shortly.”
Cal and Knight stood up and shook his hand.
“Good luck in there,” Knight said.
He did the same with Viktor and Kon. I stood up and nodded to Demetrius but I gave Viktor a hug.
“Be careful.” I looked up at him in concern. “You too,” I said to Kon, grabbing his hand.
“We will,lisichka,”Viktor said. Kon tapped me on the nose with as much of a smile as he usually had which was more of a twitch of his lips.
“Be safe,” Demetrius said as he passed me.
The look on his face was one of knowing and he had a sly glimmer in his eyes as though he could see the plan I had to sneak off and join the fun. He placed a hand on my shoulder and winked. Nyx met him in the doorway.
“Thanks for the save,” he smirked. “I owe you one.”
“Just make sure you find Atlas before he finds us,” Demetrius said in amusement as he shook Nyx’s hand and then he was gone.
“Alright team,” Knight said. “Let’s get organized. We leave in a few hours.”
I raided Theron’s room, finding another shoulder holster as well as ones to go on my thigh and boot. Along with my gun, I snuck down to the armory and loaded up on another two handguns, a few knives and enough ammo in case I ran into trouble. I covered it all up with a leather jacket, threw my hair up and made sure I stashed my drives where I wouldn’t lose them. I didn’t necessarily need them, but it would make everything faster if I had them.
I’d made a show earlier, going on about how I was mad I didn’t get to come. I stormed off in a rage and locked my bedroom door so the men would think I was holed up sulking. Instead, I’d hopped the fence and was currently in an Uber to the airport.
Thankfully when we pulled up to the airstrip, I didn’t see any of the men’s SUVs. The pilot was busy doing pre-flight and it was the perfect opportunity to sneak onboard. I hid in the closet in the back cabin and waited.
It felt like forever, but it couldn’t have been more than an hour before I heard the SUV approach and the men got out. I could hear Knight bantering with Nyx and Cal’s occasional laugh but otherwise they worked quickly to load the plane.
Once we were airborne I tried to relax for a bit, knowing the flight would be a few hours. The airport we were flying into was small, private and remote so I’d called in a favor to an associate and had him leave a car for me. Perks of having contacts with PMCs—they didn’t ask questions.
The flight went off without a hitch and soon I was off the plane and in the car. I pulled up the men’s trackers and followed them at a comfortable distance in order not to be noticed. A mile out from the staging area, I ditched the car and hiked the rest of the way in. My plan was to stay hidden nearby until the last second and go in without anyone noticing, but that all went to shit a few hours after my arrival.
Creeping through the trees in the dark, I went into the woods to take care of business. It was on the way back a hand closed around my mouth and I was yanked hard against a very solid chest of muscle. I quickly realized who it was and elbowed him lightly in the side.
“I knew you’d pull some shit like this,” Knight complained.
“I couldn’t let you guys have all the fun,” I said, once he’d dropped his hand.
He huffed a laugh and let me go. When I turned to face him, I could seethe humor in his eyes.
“I don’t blame you,” he said. “You’re gonna get me in trouble though.”
“T doesn’t have to know,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.
