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“No. Shane got her in the car and got her home.”
Move. Go.I’m in New York. She’s all the way across the country. There’s nothing I can do to protect her now. All I can do is get my ass to the airport.
“When?” The door to the gymthuds behind me. I take the stairs up to my floor two at a time, then three.
“About an hour ago. We need someone from the family at her house, and we—I know,” Zeus says, though nobody else has spoken. He’s probably talking to Hades. “I know. We’re doing our best to respect Daisy’s wishes. You’re all we’ve got, Hercules. There’s nobody else we trust.”
I only pause to punch in the code at my door, and then I’m inside. There’s a bag in the coat closet with a set of clothes, a black plastic case, an all-in-one charger, a set of ID documents, a box of bullets, and a pistol. I swing it over my shoulder and it drops into place like my old Army gear. I’m not a soldier anymore, and I’m all but certain that I can’t give my life for Daisy. I can’t give her father what he wants, which is a guarantee. Those aren’t real.
“Is the plane ready?”
“Fueled and on the tarmac.” Knowing Zeus and his brothers, that plane had a full crew and was cleared for takeoff before the call connected. I yank the apartment door shut, punch in the code to lock it, and keep moving.
“I’m doing this,” I tell Zeus. My vision is clearer than ever. All the adrenaline has my body prepared for a fight. I have one objective only: get to her. Get to her as quickly as possible, so I can keep her safe. “But I hate you for it.”
I hate you for pulling the family card. I hate you for trusting me. I hate you for making me see her when I can’t touch her, when I can’t kiss her, when I can hardly fucking look at her. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.
What he should say isI hate you too. You’ve always been difficult. You’ve never been grateful. You make everything harder, and you’re a constant reminder of the ways I fucked up in the past.
“Hercules.”
“Yeah?” I cross the sidewalk in front of my building and step out into the road, waving my good arm over my head. A cab leaves the flow of traffic and slows to a stop.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” I slam the door shut behind me and tell the driver to take me to Republic. Anything could happen between here and California. “I’ll let you know when I land.”
* * *
I takethree separate naps on the flight, all of them less than half an hour. The only thing worse than falling out of an aircraft is being trapped in one. It’s a new sensation. In the Army, long flights were a chance to sleep for at least a full, uninterrupted hour.
Now it’s time that I’m separated from Daisy by the distance of cruising altitude and hundreds of miles.
I’d like tostayseparated from her. That would be ideal. She doesn’t want me to be in her house any more than I want to be in her house, but she won’t die under my protection. I’ve accepted the mission. The next step is to carry it out.
Notbecause I have feelings for her. The only thing I feel about Daisy is frustration.
My plane touches down at a private airstrip west of LA as the sky is turning gray, gearing up for dawn. There’s a car waiting by the hangar, a driver standing at the door.
The driver gives me the code phrase for the mission.Midnight blooms. He’s brisk about shutting the SUV’s door behind me and driving off. No doubt he’s been given explicit instructions from Zeus. The man isn’t wasting a second, even from all the way across the country.
Hercules:Landed. In the car en route to her house
Zeus:No trouble on the flight?
Hercules: Tell me you didn’t stay up all night tracking the damn thing
Zeus:I would, but I’d be lying
Hercules:Go the fuck to sleep
Zeus doesn’t answer, and I know that’s not because he trotted off to bed. All three of those overprotective pricks are probably still sitting on his kitchen floor in a huddle, waiting for confirmation that Daisy’s fine. As if she doesn’t have security already.
Somehow, the thought isn’t comforting. Her security wasn’t enough to keep someone from shooting at her at an art gallery. That’s why I’m here.
It’s a short drive from the airstrip to Daisy’s house, which is immediately recognizable as a property her father bought for her.
It’s beachside property, for one thing. Her yard is grass on one side and a sandy beach on the other. Waves roll on the shore under the lightening sky. The houses on either side are a good distance away, giving her privacy, and every window in view has a subtle tint to it that says it’s the ultra-expensive filtering glass that her father and both her uncles have in their giant-ass houses.
