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Kaylee was very well-behaved during the flight. She played on her iPad for a while, then switched to an eReader. I asked if she had read Harry Potter yet, and she told me she had not. “You’re almost the right age for it. Maybe in another year.”
“Wizards and stuff?” Jordy said. “Didn’t think you’d be the kind of woman to read that.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What kind of woman do you think I am?”
Jordy’s cheeks reddened. “Ah, I don’t know. I shouldn’t judge. Sorry. You can read Harry Potter, sweetie,” he added for Kaylee. “Even though it takes place in a super lame country.”
Behind us, I could feel Archer doing his best not to rise to the bait.
We landed at Dulles and then transferred to a big Boeing 767 for the international flight. I was surprised—and pleased—to see that we had five tickets in Business Class, with individual diagonal pods rather than normal seats.
“I wasn’t expecting this kind of luxury,” I said while accepting a glass of red wine from the flight attendant.
“Expenses are not an issue,” Archer said in the pod in front of mine. “At least, not for the three jobs we have taken.”
“I heard you mention that before. You are doing three different jobs? Not one big one?”
Archer accepted a glass of wine from the attendant. “That is correct.”
“What are the other two?”
Archer’s head rose above the dividing wall of the pods. “We will discuss this at a later time.”
Fine, don’t talk about it in public,I thought.
Dinner was beef stroganoff with a salad, and New York cheesecake for dessert. Across the aisle from me, Harrison wolfed his food down like he was being timed, then immediately pulled his Cincinnati Reds baseball cap down over his eyes. He was snoring ten seconds later.
The flight attendant came around to fold our pods out into beds. Harrison didn’t wake up even when they tapped him on the shoulder. “Years spent sleeping through mortar fire,” Jordy told the attendant. “It’s best if you don’t try to wake him. He doesn’tusuallybite, but…” He shrugged.
The pod bed was surprisingly comfortable, especially after I changed into pajamas in the bathroom. I closed my eyes and fell asleep listening to Jordy reading a bedtime story to Kaylee two pods behind me.
He’s a good dad,I thought as I drifted off.Although I still want to know who the mother is, and why she calls them all daddy.
We were woken the next morning with gentle nudges from the flight attendants, and then served a breakfast of omelets, fruit, and pastries that were so soft and flaky I could have sworn they had been freshly baked while we flew over the Atlantic. Kaylee let out an excited noise, and I turned and looked out the window.
A wide sea was spread out below us, with a thin, narrow strip of water extending into the distance with deep green land on either side. The map on my TV screen informed me that it was the Skagerrak strait, leading into the Oslofjord. I watched with delight as we followed the fjord north, where it ended at a sprawling city that hugged the edge of the water like foam against a shore. Distant mountains stretched steeply toward the blue morning sky, and I found myself gazing in awe. The sight was unlike anything I had ever seen in the United States.
We landed, went through customs, and then Archer led us into one of the parking garages. A midnight black Range Rover was parked at the end of the garage all by itself. The yellow-haired mercenary—I still thought of him asBlondiein my head—pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen, and the lights flashed twice as the locks disengaged.
“Whose car is this?” I asked.
“It is the car provided for us,” he said simply. “As I said: expenses will not be an issue on any of our missions.”
Archer drove us out of the airport and into the city itself. I pressed my face against the glass and stared like a tourist.
“It’s all so beautiful!”
“First time in Norway?” Jordy asked.
I snorted. “First time anywhere.”
“Anywhere?” Jordy said.
“I’ve never been out of the country.”
“Never?” Archer asked, glancing at me in the rear-view mirror. “Are you taking the piss right now?”
“Am Iwhat?”
