Page 25

Chapter 24

When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.

“I’m pretty sure we’ve gotten everyone covered.” Mari looked at the schedule she and Colin had come up with.

After two hours of calling and texting with his partners and her pilot friends, she had all her upcoming flights covered for the next three weeks. She hadn’t wanted to go that deep into her schedule but was glad Colin had pushed her to extend it. It was easier to schedule now than scramble to find replacements later.

She just hoped it wasn’t necessary. “The only person I haven’t heard back from is Gary but—” She laughed as her phone rang and saw his name on screen.

“Kinda late for him to be calling,” Colin muttered.

She blinked at his weird tone, but scooped up her phone and headed into the back bedroom. She’d already scheduled Gary with one of her favorite people, Summer, another pilot she’d worked with numerous times over the years. “Hey, you didn’t have to call me back so late,” she said as she shut the bedroom door behind her. She’d already showered and changed into the pajamas that Berlin had provided and was seriously considering passing out on the giant fluffy bed soon.

“I know but I’m up anyway. Working on some bullshit.” And he sounded frustrated by it. Though to be fair, he always sounded frustrated with his job. “I saw the time stamp and figured it was okay to call. And yes, Summer is a great choice if you’re not available. But is everything okay?”

“Yeah, just a family emergency. Not sure how long it’ll take so I’m scheduling out a few weeks in case I end up needing her.”

“Okay. That works for me, but you know you’re my number one.”

She grinned as she sat on the edge of the bed. “That’s right. Listen…I have a question and it’s okay if you can’t answer. Things didn’t work out with your friend Ackerman and me.” She wanted to see if Gary knew where Ackerman was and pass on the information to Camila, but wanted to be smooth about it.

Gary snorted softly. “Not surprised. He’s been pissing off a lot of people this week, myself included.”

“Really?” She didn’t talk to him much about his work. In the beginning he’d talked about it, but it was probably as boring as her talking aviation to him would be. For the most part, she listened, but didn’t retain any of it.

“Yep. He missed a meeting with me and two others I know of. Did he blow you off? Because he blew off one of his normal pilots and has been MIA since.”

“Is that typical for him?” Mari figured she’d get all the information she could on Ackerman and pass it on to Camila or maybe even the DEA.

He paused so long she checked her phone screen to make sure they hadn’t disconnected.

“You okay?” she asked.

He shoved out a sigh. “Yeah. Between us, he sometimes dabbles in drugs. Cocaine mostly. Not in recent years, but in the past he went on a couple benders and each time disappeared for days at a time. Once for almost two weeks. But he’s been in rehab and sober for a while. I really thought his sobriety had stuck this time. And I know he’s got a personality that rubs people the wrong way, but…if I’m being honest, I’m a little worried about him. I guess it’s easier to be angry that he blew me off but I’m worried it might be something else.”

“I’m really sorry.” Mari didn’t have anything else to offer, especially not when she was pretty sure Ackerman wanted her dead.

But the cocaine thing was interesting, and was something she would pass on to Berlin immediately. Maybe Berlin could figure out who his dealer was? Ugh. Mari wasn’t even sure if that would matter. She liked flying planes, not solving crimes.

“Thanks. Listen, I know it’s late. I just wanted to check in and let you know everything is good on my end. And whenever you’re ready to fly me again, I’m here. But if you need anything, let me know.”

“I will, thanks.” After disconnecting, she stared at the bedroom door, wondering if she should go back out there and talk to Colin.

Or maybe she could be a big coward and just go to bed without saying anything else to him. They’d figured out the schedule and it was now almost midnight. She was tired, and didn’t want to remotely think about things between them.

Not after they’d both gotten each other off, then run from bad guys, gotten attacked by bad guys, and were now in a safe house hiding out. What the hell had her life become?

She made it to the door, ready to go out there and talk to him, but as she started to turn the knob she knew that they would be doing more than talking. And she desperately wanted that—which scared the hell out of her. She was starting to fall for him in a way she’d never imagined. He’d gotten under her skin, had saved her life (twice), and now she knew what he looked like naked, what he looked like climaxing… She let her hand drop an d decided the coward’s way out was best. She turned off the light and slid beneath the covers. Tomorrow she’d deal with her stupid emotions and whatever was going on with her and Colin.

After texting Berlin and Camila about what Gary had told her about Ackerman, she shot Colin a quick text to tell him that she was crashing. Coward, coward, coward.

Then she closed her eyes, and to her surprise, sleep wasn’t far behind.