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I noticed he was already putting his boots on. Which could only mean one thing.

“It’s time?”

“Yes.”

Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning we’d gotten a call.Thecall actually, as in the phone that never really rang except for one reason only.

“Alright,” I grunted. “I’m up.”

Rolling out, I shook my head and tried to forget Juliana for a while. Ineededto forget her in fact, if we were to focus on the job the three of us had to do.

And not focusing on the job at hand could have deadly consequences.

Eventually I found my way to the bathroom, splashed cold water on my face, and stared into the mirror. I looked like hell. Hell, I felt like hell. But I knew in an hour or two I’d bounce right back.

“Don’t forget to brush your teeth,” Maverick called as he bounded away, satisfied I wasn’t going back to bed. “I can smell your whiskey breath from here.”

He disappeared down the stairs, leaving me grumbling and reaching for whatever toothbrush was closest. I stood in front of the toilet for a full minute, killing two birds with one stone, then returned to my room and started pulling on clothes over my mostly naked body.

I found the others in the kitchen, greedily sucking down coffee. It was still pitch black outside. Already I could hear the chopper.

“You think this is it?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

“I know it is,” Devyn said firmly. “I’ve got a feeling.”

I nodded my agreement. “Good. Me too.”

Maverick handed me a mug, and I downed as much as I could before the rotor-wash began flinging sand against the kitchen windows. The rest I dumped in the sink.

“Do we tell her?”

The question came from Devyn. It echoed hollowly in the kitchen, even with the scream of the helicopter’s engines outside.

“Might be best if we don’t,” said Maverick. “Go in with a clear head. Keep things strictly business.”

We’d given Juliana even more space since she’d gone back, and she’d even taken some of it. But we were in touch. We were still talking. For those reasons, it didn’t seem right to just fly off without telling her anything.

But more important than anything, I didn’t want to worry her.

“She’s pregnant, she’s stressed, she doesn’t need this,” I said. “Agreed?”

The others nodded. Through the window, we watched the chopper touch down.

“C’mon,” I told them. “Let’s get this party started already.”

We left, locking the door behind us, wondering as always when we’d see the place again. Or if. With jobs like this there was always the ‘if’ factor. It was something you became more acutely aware of the longer you did this job, until one day the ‘if’ became a more sinister ‘when.’

For some reason the chopper had touched down on the opposite side of the driveway than usual. Different pilot, maybe. By now the adrenaline was kicking in. It made me wide awake. Alive. Ready for anything.

“Bishop! Abraham!”

No one came out from the chopper this time to get us. Instead, a man was waving us in. In his flight suit, it took me a second to recognize him as Ramos.

Immediately, my smile widened.

“Gunarson!”

I ran to the chopper and leapt inside, just as it pulled from the ground and lifted off. Ramos gave me a nod. The nod said everything.