“Agent Gillam. Always a pleasure.”
“The feeling isn’t mutual, Major.”
Smart ass.
“You have the drive.”
Smoke must’ve held it up. “Right here.”
“Good.”
“Eh, not that fast,” Smoke said. “This little beauty cost my government good money to recover for you. Let’s see the deposits.”
There was some grumbling and mumbling and shifting and then I heard a grunt. “Good,” Smoke said. “Let me confirm the transfer.”
There was a long pause, close to two minutes, and one of the men with the major started to come into view at the back of our car on the passenger side.
“Doxx?”
“Head down, put your gun on your lap,” I said quietly.
Aaron did just that. The guy got the hint and backed off. He didn’t know that we were rock stars and had the secret agent abilities that included decoder rings and invisible ink.
“Major, tell your man to get away from my car,” Smoke snapped a second later. He’d let us handle it first, and then confirmed our actions.
The major snapped a few words off, and the man was completely out of view. By that point, Smoke was confirming whatever it was he saw on his phone.
“Here you are, Major.” There was the rustle of cloth, and the delighted caw of the major. “Let’s never do this again.”
“But you’re so good at helping us—”
“I’m out, Major. Lose my number.” Smoke yanked the car door open and dropped back into the vehicle. He punched the start button and backed the car out without a care of how close the major was standing. He pulled down the row to the service road that connected all the lots and drove out of the view of the Mercedes.
“I have a designated spot so someone can come and retrieve this car.” Smoke turned down the row, and to the end. “We can leave it here, and someone with the other key will come get it and return it to the pool. Our plane is waiting on the tarmac.”
“You really don’t like that guy, do you?” Aaron said.
“He’s old Soviet leftovers, so no, I don’t. He’s loyal to his handlers, so that’s the only reason I agree to work with him. I’ll never have to again, and that feels really fucking good to say.”
We grabbed our bags, including Smoke’s, out of the trunk and shoved the hoodies back in them. I was also impressed that Aaron had been able to get them out while we were sitting there.
Setting the alarm, he tucked the keys in his pocket and headed for the side of the terminal. Aaron and I followed him, and as soon as he entered, he made a hard left through a door that had some label on it in Ukrainian.
We walked forward and there was no one in the hall, and before I knew it, we were strolling out of the hall on to the tarmac.
“Really?” Aaron asked, looking around. “Nothing? No customs? No ticketing?”
“No record of the plane once we leave.” He nodded forward to the unmarked plane with the stairs pushed up against the front.
“Holy shit,” Aaron whispered.
I was right there with him. “I know you said private…”
“It is.” He lifted his bag and started up the stairs. Pausing, he turned back to us. “Just uh…don’t ask too many questions, okay? It’s better if you just don’t know too much.”
Aaron’s eyes were wide, and again, I was right there with him. But I finally nodded, and Smoke started up the rest of the stairs. We followed.
Once I entered the plane, I suddenly didn’t want to know more about the airplane or airline. The inside was luxury, and that was saying something coming from someone who had a multimillion-dollar apartment in Manhattan.
