Ninety-Five

The Blackhawk touched down gently in the dirt, as close as he could get it to the hangar without being a danger, and he powered it off. It’d been years since he’d flown, but it was just like riding a bike.

Some things you never forget.

Sabrina sat beside him, quiet. She hadn’t spoken since he’d lifted her into the helo before climbing in beside her. She’d looked out the window, broken hands clutched to her stomach, as if for safe keeping. Her hair was matted with blood, and long rivulets crusted against her neck.

“I love you.”

She turned her face toward him. It was dirty and bruised, eyes bluer than the ocean they’d just crossed shining back at him. “I love you too,” she said before popping the door open and jumping down from the Blackhawk. She didn’t want to hear it: his speech about how she was safer with him gone, that she needed to forget about him and move on. The same one he gave her every time he left her.

He couldn’t blame her. He didn’t want to hear it either.

Waiting a few seconds, he let her gain a safe distance between them before he followed her across the dirt. She headed straight for Strickland and as soon as he saw her, he turned his back on the conversation he’d been having with Church and met her halfway. They stood close together, talking. Strickland looked at him over her shoulder and, for a moment, he thought he caught a smile.

“He cares for her.”

He cast a quick glance at Ben, who’d come up beside him. “So do you.”

“You caught me,” his partner said with a wide grin. “You really think she’s better off without you?”

“I know she is.”

Ben didn’t answer. They stood there watching Lark pack up his computer equipment and load it onto Ben’s Lear while Church carried a roll of duct tape into the hangar. “My father is coming,” he finally said, casting an apologetic look between them.

“For me.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. That’s why you’re gonna be gone when he gets here.”

Michael shook his head. “Nice try, kid, but there’s no place for me to go,” he said, watching as Sabrina allowed Strickland to lead her into the hangar. As long as Shaw had her, he would never risk leaving. He would do whatever Shaw said. They both knew that.

“Do you trust me?”

It was the second time Ben had asked him that, and he found himself turning his gaze on his partner. He had that look again. The not-Ben look that told you he was a totally different person than the one he pretended to be.

Christina appeared in the open door of a plane. Not Ben’s, but the one he didn’t recognize. Its destination was unknown. As soon as the girl saw him, she smiled and ran down the steps straight for him. He dropped to his knees and opened his arms, and seconds later they were filled with her. His heart swelled inside his chest as he let himself hold her, and when she laid her head on his shoulder he didn’t pull away.

“Well? Do you?” Ben said, watching as he stood, arms still around Christina.

He looked down at Christina for a moment before meeting his partner’s gaze. “Against my better judgment, yeah, I do.”

Ben laughed at him, clapping a rough hand against his back to move him toward the plane. Toward the unknown. “So get on the plane … and stop calling me kid.”