Page 8 of Icon and Inferno

From the sky, Singapore looked like an expanse of emerald and blue—swaths of thick jungle interrupted by sprawling squares of farmland or terraced hills of rice paddies, the greenery turning patchier the closer they drew to the center of the city, until the plane banked and the entire city came into view, a massive metropolitan expanse of futuristic skyscrapers and bridges arching over snaking rivers.

Sydney stared at the enormous electronic ads playing against the sides of the skyscrapers as they came in for a landing, her eyes locking now and then on landmarks—twin needle towers joined by a dozen walkways, an illuminated skyscraper that looked like a spiraling fractal, a building in the shape of a giant fan.

As they touched down and the others shuffled around for their bags, Claire snapped her fingers in Winter’s direction.

“We have a situation at the airport,” Claire muttered.

Sydney turned away from the window as Winter came from his side of the plane to lean over their row, his attention turned down at Claire’s phone. “What situation?” he asked.

His voice still sounded a little hoarse from sleep, and his hair was fluffed up in a mess that looked like someone should run a hand through it. Sydney averted her eyes and focused on Claire.

“Security’s having issues with the crowd,” Claire now said. “I’d warned them—it’s been a while since you performed in Singapore, after all—but they aren’t authorized to run us through any special customs gate. So we’ve got to go through their main terminal, and their doubled shift doesn’t seem like enough.”

“Are we going to be okay getting through?” he asked.

Claire nodded and folded her phone away with a decisive snap, although she didn’t look convinced. “We’ll make it quick,” she said. “We’ve been through worse. Ashley?”

Sydney nodded. “Ma’am?”

“I’m telling the other guards to focus on shoving people away,” she said, “but you keep an eye out for alternate routes. Stay close to me and follow my instructions, do you hear me?”

Sydney’s eyes went briefly to Winter, and this time, he was staring back. His face looked relaxed, but she could recognize the telltale hint of stubbornness in his eyes.

I’ll be fine,the expression told her. Just get out in one piece.

She gave him an imperceptible nod and smiled at Claire. “My best class during training,” she replied with a shrug. “I’ll get him out.”

Soon, they were ready to step out, and a flight attendant pushed open the door. Sydney took in a breath of warm, humid air as she walked down the metal steps toward the tarmac. The air was sticky with the feel of late spring in a tropical place, something she tended to associate with being on the hunt. At least, that was how all her past missions near the equator had gone.

They were ushered into a private sedan at the bottom of the steps, then driven to the main terminal. Winter craned his neck as he sat beside Sydney, and the movement pressed his arm against hers.

“It seems fine in there,” he mused, his eyes fixed on the building they were approaching.

“You always say that,” Dameon said. “And you’re never right.”

“I don’t see a crowd, do you?” he replied.

His friend crossed his arms over his chest. “I think the main entries are all on the west side.”

“So what if there’s a crowd?” Gavi said. “You’ve been through this a thousand times. You wouldn’t want no one to show up, would you?”

Winter shot her a sidelong look. “I still want to live through it.”

“You will.” She pointed a manicured finger at him. “And you’re going to love it, too.”

Winter snorted at her words, and Sydney felt the tickle of jealousy well up under her skin again. She looked away from them and back out the window.

For a while, she thought that maybe Winter was right, that they would be fine—that the reports of issues at the terminal were exaggerated.

Then they turned a corner to reveal the huge indoor waterfall encased in a steel glass dome at the heart of the airport—and saw the massive crowd past it that had gathered in a sea around the bottom of the escalators.

The instant they rounded the bend, the sea of fans let out a round of screams. She could see the airport’s security buzzing exhaustedly around the pack of people, struggling to keep them from spilling into the corridor meant only for arriving passengers.

Sydney had seen the mayhem Winter’s presence could cause during their mission in London, but this would be a different sort of challenge. Beside her, Claire was walking backward and giving their entourage a pep talk, her heels clicking efficiently against the floor.

“Deep breaths, everyone,” she was saying. “We’ve run this gauntlet plenty of times before.” She glanced at the four security guards that had already moved into position around Winter. “Don’t ever leave his side, and don’t be afraid to shove people out of the way.” She looked at Dameon. “Stay in front of Winter. If you lag behind him, you’re going to get swallowed whole by that crowd, and we’re going to have to fish you out. Every second of delay makes this harder.” She nodded at Gavi. “Miss Ginsburg, you cling to Winter’s arm like your life depends on it.”

Gavi shrugged. “I’ve done it before.”

Claire’s eyes locked on Sydney. “You walk beside me,” she said. “Scout our way to the door. You see it, right?”

Sydney had long noted the entrances lining the side of the airport. A part of her wanted to answer with Considering I’ve waded through stampedes in active war zones, this is going to be a piece of cake. But aloud, she just said, “Yes, ma’am.”

“You look like you can dart between the crowd pretty easily,” Claire went on. “Follow my instructions at all times. Don’t ever lose track of where Winter is. Believe me, it’s harder than it sounds.” She clapped her hands together. “Are we ready?”

Winter nodded.

Claire spun back around. “Our cars are waiting outside at the front entrance. Let’s go.”

The crowd had started pooling at the bottom of the escalators from where they were coming down. The instant they reached the bottom, Claire pulled Winter behind her in a single, smooth gesture, and his four bodyguards formed a tight square around him, shoving bodily through the crowd as Winter walked as quickly as he could within their secured space. Around them, people swarmed in a ripple of motion.

Sydney melted immediately into the crowd, sliding between bodies until she’d put herself slightly ahead of Winter. A frantic hand shot out from the throngs to grapple at Winter’s jacket. He seemed to steel himself and picked up his pace. There was nothing but a serene calm on his face, but she could read the fear in every line of his body, the way he seemed to be bracing himself to run but with no path to take.

Sydney shoved the hand away from him, then pushed back against a never-ending sea of arms all reaching for him. Paparazzi rushed around the edges of the crowd, their cameras hoisted high. They hurried through the terminal’s lobby and down a path lined with airport security.

Sydney cast another look toward their exit. The airport’s security seemed to be struggling to contain the crowd around it. One sweep was all it took for Sydney to realize that there was no way they’d get through without going down in a sea of people. Dammit, she thought. Things were always more complicated with Winter than they seemed.

On Winter’s other side, Claire hugged closer to him and waved at the other bodyguards. Her gaze locked briefly on Sydney, and there, she could see the older woman’s skepticism. In a crowd like this, Sydney could barely be seen—let alone protect Winter.

She looked around, searching for an alternative path.

In the airport’s shopping atrium, Winter stumbled. It was all it took for a line of fans to squeeze in between him and his security, and for a split second, he was cut off from them. Sydney whirled around to see him disappear into the sea.

She snaked through the crowd in a flash. A second later, she found him, then looped her arm firmly through his.

“This way,” she snapped.

He glanced backward. Claire had been pushed a few people away, and the rest of his bodyguards were shoving their way roughly forward. She glimpsed Gavi cutting sideways through the crowd in an attempt to reach Winter. Reuniting Winter with her would take too long, though, and she was causing her own stir as the crowd recognized her.

Sydney caught sight of a small, nondescript freight elevator door opening in a corner, and an airport staff member stepping off with an ID card looped around a lanyard on his neck.

She pivoted.

“The team—” Winter started to say.

“Follow me,” she snapped.

One of his other bodyguards growled at her as they fought to rejoin Winter. “Orders are to take him to the entrance,” he barked.

“Does that look possible to you?” Sydney replied without looking at him. “We’re taking him this way.”

“You’re not my boss.”

Sydney just ignored him. Before he could stop her, she steered Winter toward the elevator. “We’re heading up into departures,” she said in a low voice.

“Why?”

“Because if you want to be in one piece by the time we get to the car, you’ll listen to me.”

They reached the elevator right as the airport staff member froze there, staring numbly at the wave of people before him.

In one move, Sydney snatched the ID off of his lanyard and swiped the keypad for the elevator door. The staff member turned to her with a startled shout—but she had already stepped on board with Winter.

“Sorry!” she shouted over her shoulder.

The bewildered attendee saw the elevator door close in front of him with Sydney and Winter alone inside. Then the elevator sealed shut, and the chaos cut off into blissful silence.

Sydney’s ears were still ringing from the chaos as Winter turned to her.

“What the hell are you doing?” he rasped at Sydney. “No one else knows where I am now.”

“That’s the point,” Sydney said.

Then the elevator stopped, and they were stepping off into a corridor of luxury stores.

“They’re going to figure out our new route,” she muttered, then pushed him lightly as they reached the door at the end of the hall.

This opened back into the airport, across from a small gate with a smattering of people waiting in front of it. None of the people around them looked up right away—but down the concourse, Sydney could already see a couple of startled passengers recognize him, their fingers pointing in his direction.

“Now what?” Winter grumbled.

“Now we’re going to set off an alarm and possibly get you banned from this airport.” Sydney glanced at him. “Ready?”

“No,” Winter said, but she had already grabbed his hand and walked right past the ticket counter at the small gate across from them.

A lady in a starched shirt behind the counter blinked at the sight of them. “You can’t go through there!” she shouted—then abruptly stopped talking when she recognized Winter’s face. Sydney just gritted her teeth and kept walking.

“Stop,” Winter told her. “Stop. We’re going to get this entire airport locked down.”

“Claire’s problem,” Sydney replied.

“Ours too, if we get arrested and kicked out of the country.”

“You’re not going to get arrested for this,” Sydney said as she cast him a knowing side-eye. “They’ll want you out of this airport as soon as possible.”

“You don’t think causing this much of a scene is going to blow our cover?”

She just lifted an eyebrow. “Do you want people to believe I’m a competent bodyguard or not? At least there’ll be footage of me doing my hypothetical job.”

And before Winter could say anything else, she pushed open a heavy door leading right out onto the tarmac that was marked EMERGENCY.

An alarm blared on, followed by a rush of air. Suddenly they were outside, a hot, humid wind hitting Sydney in the face. Around the bend was the row of Winter’s private caravan waiting for him and his team, black-suited men standing at the ready in front of each car.

Then she saw him.

She wouldn’t have noticed the man approaching if it hadn’t been for her training. He looked like a typical traveler at the airport, T-shirt a little rumpled, step a little hurried, one hand dragging a bag stacked on top of a suitcase—maybe someone perplexed by the commotion who just wanted to get to his flight. As they rushed toward the waiting cars, the man headed toward the entrance nearest to them.

Sydney caught the slight shift of the man’s eyes, and the way they settled for a heartbeat not on Winter—but on her. She memorized his face in a flash.

As if in slow motion, she saw his free hand disappear into his coat pocket.

Her instincts kicked in before her mind could. Before she even saw the glint of a knife cutting through the air, her body was moving—shifting sideways out of reach, her hands seizing Winter and pulling him to her other side, her head tilting backward in defense.

The man swung at her at the same time as she moved. The attack lasted barely a second—a lunge that Sydney barely managed to dodge.

When she caught a glimpse of his face, she could see the surprise in his eyes. He tried striking a second time. His movement was so fast that Winter didn’t even react—so distracted was he still by the crowd that was starting to cluster again around them.

Sydney whirled to look at Winter, making sure he was out of harm’s way. When she looked back in the direction of their attacker, he had vanished into the throng.

Her eyes searched the masses frantically. She had trailed plenty of people before—she was good at tracking, and her memory had preserved the man’s face as if in amber, his every feature clear and distinct in her mind. But he had disappeared into the crowd as if he had never existed. She looked in vain for his frumpy hair, his bag and suitcase, a figure facing away from them while everyone else was turned in their direction.

Winter had noticed her expression by now. He frowned, but there was no time to stop, no time to ask questions. Sydney just shook her head and motioned for them to keep moving toward the cars.

They were the first to arrive. Sydney kept searching the crowd as their door slid closed, sealing them in and offering them a temporary respite from the noise. At last, they saw Claire cutting through the crowd toward the second car, followed by Dameon and Gavi. As if on cue, Sydney’s and Winter’s phones buzzed with texts from Claire almost simultaneously.

Don’t ever do that again, she messaged to Sydney. But even through the text, Sydney could sense the gratitude.

“What happened back there?” Winter said as their car began to pull away.

Sydney shook her head and let out a sigh. “Sorry. Couldn’t help going a different route. There’s no way you could have made it through the direct path. You saw the crowd.”

Winter let out his breath. “Claire’s furious.”

“Tell her I was just doing my job.”

He shot her a pointed look. “You tell her.”

But in his expression, Sydney saw a different question. What really happened? she knew he was asking. He knew something had gone terribly wrong, something that had nothing to do with his frantic fans.

Sydney leaned toward him until she felt the warmth of his arm pressed against hers, then typed something rapidly on her phone and held the device out. To the driver glancing at them through the rearview mirror, it must have looked as if she were showing him Claire’s text.

But she had spelled out a message completely different from what she’d just told him. Winter said nothing as he read it, but she noticed the way he paled, the way his arm muscles tightened against her skin.

Someone just tried to kill me.