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“Angel,” he said, cheek-kissing her like she and I had. “Who’s flying with you today?”
“Condor. We flipped for first chair,” she informed him when he glanced into the cockpit and saw the man seated in the second officer’s place.
I, on the other hand, tried to scoot around him to take a seat.
“Hello, Ver,” I heard Condor say before I had the chance. Davion Todd was given the code name due to his size, for the most part. At six feet seven inches, he was massive for a pilot.
He’d pursued me during a six-week deployment a few years ago. While I’d been tempted to go out with him, it was early enough in my career that fraternization with fellow agents felt too risky.
“Do you two know each other?” Zeppelin asked, looking from Condor to me.
“Verity is the one who got away,” Condor responded, leaning in to kiss me, but not in the customary way.
“Is that right?” Zeppelin muttered. “You know we’re undercover as husband and wife,” he added, eyeing Condor in a way that looked shockingly possessive.
“I would’ve liked to be in the running for that assignment,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Angel put one hand on Zeppelin’s chest and the other on Condor’s. “All right, you two. Back off and give my girl some space. If anyone has dibs on dinner with her tonight, it’s me.”
“We could always double-date, if you will. That way, we can all spend time with Ver,” said Condor.
“You’re both traveling on to St. Moritz?” Zeppelin asked.
“No, but since you asked…I’d be up for it.”
“This is ridiculous.” I threw my hands up when Zeppelin scowled in my direction. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve a brief to read.” I walked to the aft of the small plane and took the seat farthest from the cockpit, then put in my noise-canceling earbuds. “What?” I removed one and snapped when Zep sat next to me.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to be seen out with other people on our first night in town.”
“I doubt Condor was serious.”
He shook his head. “You’re wrong. He’s trying to convince Angel to get approval for them to travel with us beyond Zurich.”
“She’ll never agree to it, and even if she did, it doesn’t matter. We’re not on holiday. We have work to do.”
“I wondered if you’d forgotten.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, then regrettably opened it again. “Me? You were the one drooling on Nem’s mobile when she showed you the photo of Schön.” I wanted to take back the words as soon as I’d said them, particularly when Zeppelin smirked as though he suddenly had the upper hand.
Rather than get up and move to another seat, he leaned back, folded his hands on his stomach, and closed his eyes.
“What are you doing?”
He opened one eye and glanced at me. “What’s it look like?”
“I don’t know, but go do it elsewhere. I took this seat intentionally.”
“To get as far away as possible from Gigantor?”
I stuck the earbud back in. “Go away, Zeppelin.” I resumed reading the brief from Nem but jumped when he reached over and removed the device from my ear.
“We have work to do,” he griped.
When I tried to grab it back, he held his arm out in the opposite direction.
“You are maddening,” I spat, grabbing my laptop and bag.
His hand brushed mine as I walked around him. “Maddening,” I heard him whisper.