Page 64 of Luke's Revenge (Walker Security - Lucifer's Trilogy 3)

Chapter Forty-Three

Luke

I wake with Ana in my arms and in my bed and news that snow is expected in Denver. I love flying into a snowstorm, more than I probably should, especially early season when I haven’t done it for a year. In other words, it’s a perfect morning or would be, if not for the fact that gut feeling just won’t go away. I also have a message from Savage from about three am. Apparently, he and Kurt played poker with the guys all night. Kurt wants to leave later in the day, which works for me. I need time to figure out what is bothering me. What I get is time with Ana, sharing breakfast, and just being us, without a hammer over our heads. Unless there is a hammer, and we just don’t know it. Exactly why I call Adam, who doesn’t have a wife to stay behind with like Savage, and convince him to join us for the ride.

Ana doesn’t ask why.

On some level, I wonder if she isn’t relieved, if she doesn’t feel what I feel.

When we finally head to the airport, Blake meets us there, and without any prodding on my behalf, he offers Ana a job. “My wife is handling a situation with a client, or she’d be here. We want you to know you have a job if you want it, Ana. And that you have a family here. So go to Denver. Come back if and when you are ready. We’ll be here to welcome you.”

“Thank you,” Ana replies. “And I’ll take the job, whatever it is. I’m coming back.”

“Done,” Blake replies. “You’ll like the pay and the people. I promise.”

Blake and I share a few words before our little group of four hits the road and do so with mine and Ana’s future in our sights.

I should be walking on water and yet, I’m no less unsettled.

Ana, on the other hand, is elated by the job offer, and talking a million miles an hour. Even Kurt seems to approve of the move for her. I think he’s happy for Ana. I also think he’s leaving again, but at this point, none of us can stop that from happening. Somehow, I think this trip back to Denver is all about a goodbye which is the only reason I didn’t push back on it.

Ana doesn’t seem to notice I’m unsettled, for good reason.

I’ve worked hard at ensuring I don’t stress her out, for no reason other than I’m selfishly hungry for her laughter and happiness. We’re in the air with Kurt and Adam snoozing in the back, when I decide I can’t hold back anymore, not when we’re about to land back in Denver, where Phillips resides.

I’m about to tell her what’s in my head, when she turns to me and says, “It feels like this all ended too easily, doesn’t it?”

I glance over at her. “Yeah. Yeah, it does. It doesn’t sit quite right.”

“I thought maybe it was because I’ve basically agreed I’m not arresting anyone. I mean my badge says a lot is wrong and I should do something about it. But what? To who? I can’t prove much of anything about anyone. Which is always a problem for me. I want to fix what is broken.”

“But?”

“I don’t know. Maybe that is it, but I’m pretty at ease with walking away from my badge right now. Surprisingly at ease with it. I feel like I can do more in other places.”

“I’d say we land and take off again and lay low a few days,” I reply, “but I think Kurt is going to split.”

“Of course he is,” she says. “I’m not at peace with that, and I’m pretty sure I’ve buried a ton of baggage over that, we’ll deal with later, but it is what it is. We just need to be on alert when we land.”

“Agreed. Let’s mail your badge back and pay a service to pack you up. We need to get in and get out.”

She nods, and for the rest of the flight, our mood is solemn, but expectant and not in a good way.

We land to a dark, snowy night, on a small runway, with an eerie feel to it. I’ve just powered down the engine when Adam appears. “Houston, we have a problem.”

Ana and I share a look that says it all. This is it. This is what we were expecting.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“Kurt just confessed a problem, the reason he wants to get to The Ranch where he can hunker down and blow up his enemies—his words, not mine. He didn’t tell us everything there was to know.”

“What the hell, Adam? Spit it out.”

“Phillips put a hit out on you and Ana when we left the party. He was done with you. He hired the Invisible Assassin.”

That’s all I need to hear. I know the Invisible Assassin’s reputation. You don’t call him, he calls you. Phillips can’t just call him and cancel the hit. He has to wait until the Invisible Assassin calls him. We have one of the deadliest assassins on planet Earth hunting us and I logged our fucking flight plan.

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