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She looked at him with confusion. “Will, it’s done. We got him. You have to go back to Virginia. And I have to go back to…” The words faded as she struggled to say out loud what she knew to be true. She didn’t have anything to go back to. No job. No apartment. No family.
“You’re coming with me,” Will said firmly.
She shook her head. “No, I’m not.” As much as her heart was tangled up from everything that had happened over the last week, she wasn’t ready to just follow Will blindly. Besides, he didn’t need baggage like her dragging him down. He might have wanted to help her because he felt sorry for her, but that wasn’t enough to build a relationship on. To build a life on.
She certainly didn’t plan on being this helpless, needy version of herself forever.
“It was great to get to know you, but it’s time we both went back to our lives, right?”
She saw Will’s jaw tighten. “You might still be a target, if they realize that you can tie Marshand to the assassination.”
Oh.
She hadn’t considered that. “So… I’m coming with you so you can what? Protect me? From who?”
His eyes flashed. For a moment, they darted to everyone else in the van before coming back to her. “Yes. And I can’t tell you. Now stop whining about it. It’s not optional.”
She raised an eyebrow. What had gotten into him? He hadn’t been this bossy since… well, since ever. Even when he was convincing her that he was the good guy and that Mr. Lloyd was an assassin’s attempt to kill her, he was nicer.
Hannah crossed her arms over her chest and pressed back into her seat. She wasn’t even going to look at him right now, because in front of all these people was not the place she wanted to have this discussion.
Will Gilbert might have saved her life. He might have made her feel lovely and precious and like she was actually worth more than Jeremiah had claimed and she’d sometimes slipped into believing. And he might be the leader of this squadron of too-muscular, too-handsome operatives, but he wasn’t her boss.
If there was one thing Hannah had learned over the last ten years, it was that she couldn’t count on anyone but herself. She might not always make the best decisions, but she always made them herself.
For a moment, she’d thought maybe Will actually understood that about her. And then he came in with this dictatorial mandate without telling her why or who she was supposed to be afraid of?
She stared out the window as the airport came into view and her stomach fell through the seat of the van. For some reason, when Will had demanded that she go with them, it hadn’t registered that it meant she would be flying with them. She’d never flown before. Broke kids like her didn’t get to go on fancy vacations to the Bahamas or even to visit relatives in California. She’d barely left Mobile before she stole Jeremiah’s old car and started driving south before landing in Brookside, Florida.
And now she had to get on an airplane to go to Virginia. Could she even find Virginia on a map? Her breathing grew more rapid as she watched a plane lift off and thought about being inside the giant metal tube as it fought a battle against gravity.
Heights weren’t exactly her thing. Not since Jeremiah locked her on the roof of the three-story apartment building on a day so windy she’d been sure the gusts would send her careening over the edge.
“What’s wrong?” Jackson asked from the driver’s seat next to her.
She just shook her head, afraid that if she opened her mouth, the peanut butter sandwich she’d scarfed down in the van earlier would make a reappearance all over her skirt.
“Will, your girl looks a little green over here!”
She tipped her head back in embarrassment as Jackson notified the entire van of her current state of anxiety.
“I’m fine,” she choked out, praying they would drop it. Then, Will was at her side, his arm coming from behind as he knelt on the floor of the van behind the center console.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” She pressed her eyes closed again, face toward the ceiling. She refused to look at him or say anything else, despite a few more attempts on his part to get her to open up.
Before long, the van rolled to a stop and she opened one eye. They appeared to be inside a huge building at the airport. A hangar? Is that what it was called?
Will pointed at her. “We’re not done talking, but I have to take care of a few things. You just stick with Jackson, okay?”
She nodded. Despite the question at the end of his command, it wasn’t as if he gave her any other choice but to do what he said.
Will climbed out of the van, pulling a mostly uncooperative Yuri along with him, ankles still tied together with a daisy chain of zip ties and a gag over his mouth, since Ryder got tired of his “nonstop jabbering” about how they were going to face the wrath of someone he kept calling Saltykova.
Hannah didn’t know if that was some weird Russian name or if he was using the term like her roommate. Trina always described upset people as being “salty,” a slang term Hannah had never really understood.
She watched Tank and Ryder go with Will as they took Yuri to the airplane. What would the pilots think of them bringing back someone bound and gagged? Maybe this was just a normal day for Black Tower Security.
Jackson came around and opened her door. “Come on out, honey,” he said, extending a hand to help her.
