Page 119 of Coup De Grâce
I rolled my eyes. It was like he didn’t even care. “Look, do me a favor and just forget that you’re up here.”
“Kind of hard to do my job like that.”
“Like you’re really doing a job anyway. Let’s face it. You’re drunk and won’t be of any use.”
“You know, I resent that. I do some of my best work when I’m drunk.”
“Not today, you’re not. I will not end up in the ocean, freezing my ass off, because you decide to take the controls.”
“But—”
“No!” I said firmly. “Just sit there like the good little boy I know you can be. Smoke your cigar and pretend you’re on the beach somewhere.”
“But—”
“I’m not arguing with you about this!” I could feel my temper rising, but this job was too important to fuck up. “Not a word. I don’t want to hear a peep out of your mouth. Am I understood?”
He rolled his eyes, miming zipping his lips.
“Thank you.”
I marched into the back, greeting our guests as they arrived. Not that my teammates were guests, but when in a foreign country…
“It’s about time you guys arrived.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” IRIS grunted sarcastically. “You know, traveling across the frozen tundra and all.”
“Whatever. One more minute here and I might have shot Max.”
“Why? What did he do this time?”
“Nothing,” I muttered, motioning them all to sit down.
Cash looked a little worse for wear as he climbed the steps. Bruises covered his face and he limped slowly, grunting to me as he passed. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Any time. Although I’m not sure our plan will be as effective in the state you’re in.”
“I’ll be fine.” He gripped my shoulder gently, showing just how fucked up he was. “Good to see you.”
“Yeah, you too,” I muttered, though I couldn’t help but wonder if he was in any condition to do this. He looked like shit, but with a sharp look from Eva, I kept my trap shut. “Ready for this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Knight nudged her ahead. “Just get us to the drop zone. We’ll handle the rest.”
I saluted him, rolling my eyes at his cool demeanor. When they were all in, I raised the stairs and secured the door. With any luck, this would be the easiest job I’d been on in a while.
If I was lucky.
After securing my own door and checking everything one last time, I pointed us toward the makeshift runway and picked up speed. The flight would be short, less than an hour, but the difficult part was making sure I got them to the drop zone in the window provided where the rest of the team would be waiting.
From there, they would split up, taking different routes to finish off the four men who this whole fucking war hinged upon.
No big deal.
We were in the air for a little over half an hour when I started to get that sick feeling twisting in my gut. It had to be something I ate. After all, we weren’t even in danger. Everything was completely fine.
Yet…
