Page 32 of Wild Card (The Trident Trilogy 3)

Millie, Virginia Beach, Virginia, 2020

For the first time since I found Dad, I’m about to go for more than twelve hours without seeing him. It’s all I’ve been able to think about this morning and it has me frazzled. I’m usually organized and focused on travel days, but Mason’s had to push me all morning. It doesn’t help that I ate a two-day-old burrito for breakfast and promptly threw it up. I didn’t have time to eat anything else, so now I’m having a low-blood-sugar breakdown.

“Damn it,” I say as I rummage through my backpack. “I forgot to pack food.”

We’re in a conference room at the base waiting for the agency’s private plane to arrive. Dad and Chase are here to see us off. I look up to see Mason and Dad pulling food out of their packs. Mason hands me my favorite protein bar. Dad has fruit roll-ups—my go-to snack when I was a kid. They look at each other and then back at me.

“Here, sweetie,” Dad says, reaching his arm beyond Mason’s. “They’re strawberry—your favorite.”

Mason rolls his eyes, leaning his head back a bit to make sure Dad doesn’t see him. I grab both snacks. They settle back in their seats uncomfortably, taking another look at each other.

“The fact you’re both carrying snacks for me is maybe the best thing that’s ever happened in my life,” I say, trying not to laugh as I look at their serious faces. “So if you have some male, territorial thing going on, work it out on your own time.”

They lean back against the wall and close their eyes. Their legs kick out in front of them in unison as their big arms cross defensively over their chests. I wonder if they’re ever going to figure out how similar they are—bullheaded, fierce, and just tender to the core.

Chase taps me gently on the leg. I look down to see him passing me a bag of almonds.

“For when you crash from all the sugar they just gave you,” he whispers.

As I quietly open the almonds, I look over to Butch and Hawk. Butch is staring at me.

“You’re the most spoiled person I’ve ever met,” he says, gnawing on his ever-present toothpick. “It’s like they’re offering gifts to their queen.”

“As it should be,” I say, throwing an almond at him. “What did you bring your queen?”

“I’m happy to give you a good smack on the behind. That’s what you need the most,” he says, throwing the almond back at me. “But since I don’t have the energy for that right now, why don’t you hook me up with some of those fruit roll-ups? Strawberry’s my favorite, too.”

I toss him a bag as Raine walks into the room. “The plane just landed,” she says. “They’re ready for us.”

Dad’s eyes pop open as he reaches out to take my hand. He knows I’m struggling about leaving him.

“C’mon, sweetie,” he says, smiling. “I’ll walk you out.”

Raine, Butch, and Hawk board the plane, but Mason lags back to wait for me while I say goodbye to Dad. He probably thinks he’s going to have to drag me onto the plane. He might be right.

“I’m going to be here when you get back, Mills,” Dad says as he hugs me a little tighter.

“I know.”

“Do you?” He pushes me back to look into my glassy eyes. “I’m going to be here. Just make sure you get back safely.”

I nod, looking down.

“Mason, come over here,” Dad says, waving him over to us. “I need a witness.”

Mason walks up tentatively. He sees my teary eyes and frowns.

Dad tilts my chin up. “Millie, I need you to make me a promise.”

“Anything,” I say, looking up at him.

“From this moment until you get back here, promise me you won’t go anywhere—and I mean anywhere—without Mason.”

I take a deep breath and nod my head.

“Use your words, sweetie.” Dad obviously remembers when I was little, I thought if I didn’t say something out loud, I didn’t have to follow through on it.

“I promise,” I say, rolling my eyes at him.

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