Page 87 of Collateral Claim

Endo strides in and hangs his suit jacket over the back of the seat in front of mine. He sits down and crosses an ankle over his knee.

“How’s everyone doing?” he asks as he releases the button on his sleeve. He folds up the sleeve, then looks up, eyebrow arched. “Anyone?” He’s looking from me to the three people on the couch. Nobody answers.

“Connor, do you need a barf bag?” Corded forearm muscles flex as Endo rolls up his other sleeve.

Connor stares at me. “Maybe.”

Endo reaches for the bag near him and flings it.

The man catches it with a snort. “If we go down, it’ll be all her fault.” He points at me.

Endo nods. “Agreed.”

“Are you kidding me?” I protest.

“No,” Endo says.

“This time last month, I didn’t even know you existed, and now I’m engaged with a wedding planner on standby, a clinic full of patients who think I’ll be their forever physician, and a dogI had to give up to a man who may die tomorrow from another gunshot wound. And I’m sitting in an unknown plane bound to I don’t know where to be exchanged for ransom. None of this is my fault.”

“The plane is known,” Endo says. “It’s Cass’s plane.”

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

“Mmhm.” Endo spreads his legs and rests his arms in his lap, the Jolly Roger tattoos drawing my attention. “How’s the mimosa today?”

“Fine.” I guess he’s done arguing. Maybe he knows it’s a losing argument? I doubt it.

“Good.” Endo throws his head back and closes his eyes. The position exposes his thick neck and Adam’s apple, a part of a man I find attractive. Endo’s particularly handsome in a very annoying way. He’s muscular, with thick forearms and a prominent Adam’s apple that bobs when he swallows.

“Rest in the back, and I’ll watch her,” Slada says.

Endo scrubs his face. “I’m fine.”

“You haven’t been sleeping,” she says.

“I said I’m fine.”

Slada rolls her eyes.

“Endo,” I say.

“What?” he barks and looks at me.

“Insomnia reduces alertness. It’s definitely a weakness. Science proved it. The body can handle only so much. If you’re not sleeping, you’re not at your top capacity.”

“Are you looking out for me?”

“I would like to survive the exchange.”

“You will.”

“He thinks you’ll try to flee,” Declan says and blows into the barrel of the weapon he’s cleaning.

“In which case, he’ll have to run after me. If he’s tired, he’ll be slow.”

“For all I know,” Endo says, “when I fall asleep, you’ll sedate my team and the flight crew to pilot this plane.”

“I’m happy to hear you have such high regard for my ability to escape. But in this case, I’m terrible with directions, and I can’t pilot an airplane. Besides, I don’t go around sedating people. Or hurting them, for that matter.” I pause. “Unlike some of us.”