Page 57 of Luke's Revenge (Walker Security - Lucifer's Trilogy 3)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Luke

Dexter and Smith handle the retrieval of the coin.

Kurt, Adam, and Savage travel with us.

At present, Ana sits in the front of the plane with me, and what most people don’t know, not even Kurt, I suspect, is that Ana knows how to fly a plane. I taught her. Is she officially licensed to fly? No. But could she in order to save a life, including her own? Yes. I made damn sure of it years ago now, which was partially because she was afraid of flying.

It’s a control thing I understood then, as I do now. When you ride, there is no control. When you pilot, there is more control than there is on a highway in my opinion. Which is exactly why I offer Ana my seat now. “Take the wheel, baby. It will make you feel better.”

She holds up her hands. “Not a chance. There are too many lives on the line. I’m not a pilot. That’s you.”

“Ana,” I start but she quickly adds, “I know what you’re doing, Luke, but I feel just as in control with you behind the wheel.” Her eyes soften. “And there is no one else in this world I could say that to and mean it. Thank you for being my person. Because you are. You know that, right?”

It’s right then that Kurt pokes his head into the cockpit. “How’re we doing?”

“The coin will get there,” I assure him.

Kurt kneels next to Ana. “And where exactly was it, daughter?”

She glances at me and I give her a nod. It’s done. It’s been done fifteen minutes ago according to the text Dexter sent me. “It was with Kasey. Now it’s not.”

“You buried him with the coin?”

“I didn’t know it was ‘the coin,’” she assures him. “It was just what he had in his pocket.”

“In other words,” I add, “Kasey was delivering an empty package or a package with a fake coin.”

Kurt glances at me and then Ana. “It’s almost like he had a death wish. You were never going to save him. Don’t let digging up that coin stir up guilt that is undeserved. No matter how we try to understand, we never will. It was his time. We all have that time and when mine really comes, I won’t be able to say I should have, or could have, done anything. Focus on you and making sure that’s true for you, too.” He glances. “Get us to New York. Let’s end this.” With that, he pushes to his feet and leaves the cockpit.

“He’s right,” she says, when the door to the cockpit shuts. “Let’s just go get this done and start our new life. It actually feels like that might really happen.”

“All right then,” I say, flipping a switch on the dash. “Let’s get the hell out of here, but for the record, you’re my person, too, Ana.” I wink, and call back to the cabin. “Sit your asses down and buckle up. I don’t like most of you so this will be a bumpy ride and no, I’m not sorry.”

Ana laughs and it’s a perfect song cutting through the darkness of the past year.

A few minutes later, it’s our plane cutting through the darkness of the night, but I keep the ride smooth. Because as much as we all want this to be over, I’d bet money that the bumpy ride isn’t over yet. There’s still a war ahead and we need our team ready to fight.

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