Page 21

Archer

“I…just need…a minute,” Mia says catching her breath, “to…sit.” She throws herself down on the sand, rolling to her back. Her chest heaves with every gulp of air she takes. The swim back was brisk. Every minute that passed put more and more space between us and the cuff. To her credit, Mia accepted the pace we set, and I was more than happy to be by her side. If anything, we took up the rear with Legion.

There’s a half-moon rising in the night sky. It’s just enough for me to make out her features, and when I join her on the beach, wiping hair off her forehead, I can see the tiny fingernail reflection in her eyes.

“You did good, Mia.”

“But I’m on death’s door right now,” she jokes. It seems like a Herculean effort when she places her hand on my forearm. She sighs heavily. “Ten out of ten, don’t recommend.”

I chuckle. “Jumping out of helos it is, then.” I shift to my side, propping myself up on my arm.

Her eyes squeeze shut, no doubt recalling that memory. “Only if it’s tandem. With you.”

Blaze, who was the first to make it ashore, saunters over. “I heard that.”

“No offense,” Mia says, attempting a smile.

He shrugs. “None taken.” Blaze kneels beside Mia and gives her a once over. Then he pulls her wrist between his fingers, taking note of his digital watch.

“I can handle taking her pulse,” I say to him, with less irritation than I’ve had whenever he’s touched her before.

Blaze scoffs, but continues. “Why is everyone so against me offering my expertise?”

“It’s very considerate of you, Blaze.” Mia, ever the one to dole out compliments.

I sit up. “Why don’t you go see if those assholes were dumb enough to have left our guns?” Flicking my head to the hill, he takes my advice.

I’m about to ask Mia if she’s ready when I hear several sentences all strung together with the word fuck . We both turn to find Midas, Phantom and Legion crouched around the back door of the rental car.

“At least they didn’t slash the other tires,” Midas says.

“Fuckers were pretty sure of themselves,” Phantom adds.

And Legion, who is still in visible pain if his pale skin is any indication, says, “Never underestimate the contortionist.” He laughs, but it’s not without a wince.

By the time the flat tire has been removed, Blaze returns with inevitable news. “Guns are gone. No surprise there.” His focus turns to the car. “I’d offer my help,” he says loftily, “but I’ll stick to the first aid.” He pops the hatch and grabs his bag, no doubt rifling around for some sort of pain killer for Legion.

“Tylenol? No Vicodin or Percocet?” I hear Legion ask. A muttered “pussy” comes from Blaze. “That’s rich, brother. Would a pussy have been able to save all your lives? Or manage to slip a GPS tracker on the driver when I ‘stumbled’ into the boat?” If Legion’s arm wasn’t hurting, he’d have it crossed over his chest. Or around Blaze’s neck.

“You can track them?” Mia asks, perking up.

Legion nods. “Once we get back to the plane. I’d do it on my phone, but our devices had a little run in with salt water…”

Midas is almost finished with the tire. I grab the jack and the extension segments, tossing them in the back.

“Load up,” I say once the last lug nut has been tightened.

The plane is sitting at the airport in Limassol, which is two hours away. We make it in an hour and fifteen minutes.

“I feel utterly useless without my phone,” Mia says once we’re back on the jet. She takes a seat across from me, regards the state of her damp clothes and stands again. “Maybe I’ll go change…?”

“I’ll have a new phone set up by the time you’re done.” I’d like nothing more than to go back and help her, but there’s no reason to. Especially when I have six phones to start downloading.

Midas spared no expense when he customized aspects of this plane. Under a bench seat sits a small, but impressive armory. Phantom wastes no time. He takes a knee, flips the seat, and begins selecting pistols to replace the ones we lost.

Midas is in the cockpit, informing the pilot of our standby status.

Blaze busies himself with wrapping ice packs around Legion’s shoulder until he looks like a starting pitcher that’s managed a shutout game. I boot Legion’s laptop up for him, turning it toward him when he’s ready. One handed, he pecks at the keys until he’s got the software up and running.

When Mia returns, she’s in a workout tank and yoga shorts. It was distracting enough when we made it ashore and her pert nipples were evident. Now, the tight fabric clings to her curves and accentuates the V between her thighs. My mouth waters despite the urgency of locating the cuff.

“Anything I can do to help?” She looks around, and with all of us busy, she takes a seat next to me.

“Not at the moment, but I’m almost done with your phone,” I say, keeping my eyes on her face. Her hair is dried in places, plastered with white flakes of salt throughout. Thin red lines lead out from her irises like spokes on a bicycle. She’s exhausted.

Her phone finishes and I hand it to her. “Figured you might want to FaceTime your dad.”

Mia leans in and places a kiss on my chapped lips. “Thank you. I’ll just be in the back.”

Midas raids the mini fridge, tossing each of us a bottle of water. No matter how much time I’ve spent in oceans—swimming, drills, training—I’m always amazed by the paradox of thirst. Water all around, never a drop to drink . The plastic crinkles like paper in my hand when I’m done chugging.

I laugh when Legion swats Blaze away. “Fine, open the bottle yourself,” he scoffs.

“I have full use of both my hands…” Legion says on a huff. I can’t say that I blame him for pushing Blaze away. I would. But if it were Mia offering to help …who am I kidding? I’d allow her to play nurse anytime.

“Find anything?” I ask Legion.

He’s taken a long pull of his water, answering after he’s audibly swallowed. “Yeah. They’re airborne by the looks of it. They’re over…Sarajevo…?”

“What the hell is over there?”

He’s quiet for a beat, zooming in awkwardly over the trackpad. “Not sure, but they’re veering west.”

I’m pretty decent with geography, but I’m drawing a complete blank as to what lies to the left of Bosnia. I join Legion at the table, watching the dot travel across the map. “They’re going to Croatia?” I ask.

“Looks that way,” he says, pointing to the screen. A moment later, the dot stops moving. “They landed in Split.”

Mia’s returned. There’s more color to her complexion and the fatigue that bracketed her eyes earlier has eased. “I got a hold of my dad,” she says to us. “He’s alright.” Her voice cracks but she continues. “He says he wants me to come home, to just leave this all behind me.”

I stiffen. “And what did you say?” I ask cautiously, knowing that Mia is the most invested here.

“I told him I’d be home once the cuff is recovered and in safe hands.”

That’s my girl. I’m about to tell her how proud of her I am, but Blaze raises his hand like he’s in elementary school, distracting me.

“Can I say it?” He’s wiggling in his seat.

“Uh, sure?” Mia says, absolutely not sure.

“ It belongs in a museum! ” Blaze’s eyes are bright and he’s altogether elated with his imitation.

Mia laughs. Nobody else does.

Legion sighs, running his good hand down his face. “You’ve been sitting on that for a week, haven’t you?”

“Yup. My comedic timing is unparalleled.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying ‘comedic’,” I tell him.

“ I definitely wouldn’t,” Phantom says as he racks the slide on the gun he’s working on.

Midas reigns us in. “Mia, do you know of any historical significance to Croatia that’s tied with the cuff?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t.”

Midas is quiet.

Mia laughs without humor. “Thinking like a criminal is a first for me…”

Grabbing my laptop, I boot it up.

“If it were me,” Phantom says, slamming a magazine in the handle, “I’d be looking to offload it ASAP.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Legion says discernably.

I’m already typing away.

“But they can’t sell it,” Mia says disapprovingly. Her innocence reminds me just how na?ve she is to people willing to do dirty deeds. And it’s not a bad thing; it just makes me want to shelter her and protect her from it all.

“Sadly, they can,” I say, wishing it wasn’t true. “And it looks like they’re going to.”

“What do you mean?” Mia asks, leaning over my shoulder. “How did you find that?”

“Uncle Sam paid me to hack into things…” I smile, then read from the screen. “ Black tie auction .” I read the date and time. “ Boarding begins at seven-thirty. Departure promptly at eight. Divitiae Yacht .” The address follows; a slip that’s in Trogir. “Tickets are five grand a piece,” I say, whistling.

“Tha-that’s…absurd!” Mia says, crossing her arms. “We have to go and outbid everyone.”

“You’ve really come around,” Blaze says, clicking his tongue. “I approve.”

“Blaze. I’m serious.” She crosses her arms and stares at him.

His smile melts faster than a popsicle in Tijuana.

“We will outbid everyone,” I say. “By this time tomorrow, the cuff will be back in our possession.”

Mia’s shoulders relax. “How?”

“Leave it to me.”