The four of us climbed in as Aidan ordered that the plane be prepared for flight, then we set off toward the airport. There was heavier traffic today, but Aidan weaved in and out like a pro. Or a madman. Either way, I didn’t care as long as it got us to the scroll quickly.
The plane was waiting for us on the runway. A man stood at the stairs leading to the plane. He handed Aidan a duffle bag and a package.
“What’s all that?” I asked as I preceded Aidan up the stairs.
“Change of clothes.”
“What, you don’t keep your plane stocked?”
“No, but that’s a good idea.”
“Your life is so different from mine,” I muttered as I found a seat near a window. For the second time this week, I was boarding a private jet. I didn’t need to get used to it or its cloud-like seats.
Del and Nix sat across the aisle from me.
“This is nuts,” Del leaned over and whispered. “I go away for one job and you’re hooking up with a guy who has his own plane.”
“Shhh,” I hissed back. Aidan had gone up to talk to the pilot, but I was still nervous about him overhearing. “We’re not hooking up. He hired me for a job.”
“Yeah, well, I could cut the tension with a knife,” she said. “There’s definitely something between you.”
“Yeah, like the scroll we’re after,” I whispered. “You remember that, right? Kinda dangerous to our health?”
Her gaze sobered. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. Things have just been so good lately. We’ve had five good years with the shop. I guess I just thought we could hide forever.”
“Me too,” I said. “And we’re going to. We’ll handle this. Things will go back to normal.”
Which reminded me that I needed to talk to them about what would happen once we found it. I glanced at the door. Still shut. I undid my seatbelt and went to kneel in front of their seats.
“What’s up?” Nix whispered.
They both leaned toward me.
“How long will it take you to replicate the scroll?” I asked Nix.
She blew out a breath. “Depends. If I have to take out information about us, then I’d at least need to skim it to find the info I’ve got to omit.”
“Damn. That’ll take a while,” I said. “We can’t distract Aidan for that long.”
“We have to destroy it,” said Del. “We’ll make it look like an accident.”
I nodded. I hated to demolish a piece of history like that, but it was a no-brainer considering our lives were at risk. “Yeah. Okay. When we get the scroll, whoever is closest to it destroys it. The other two try to distract Aidan.”
My chest ached at the idea of him finding out we’d destroyed the scroll. That would be hard to explain. We’d just have to be smart about it.
“It’s a plan. We’ll just—”
The cockpit door opened and Aidan stepped out. Nix shut her mouth abruptly. I stiffened, hoping we didn’t look too suspicious, then turned to face Aidan.
He gave me a look that clearly asked why I was crouched on the ground instead of comfortably in my seat. I just shrugged.
Fortunately, he only said, “We’ll arrive in Scotland in ten hours. I have a contact there who can have a boat ready in case we need it.”
Ten hours. That’d put us there midmorning, their time.
Aidan took the seat next to mine, and I realized that Nix and Del had consciously left it open. I glared at them. They shrugged.
I should have been used to how good Aidan smelled by then, but I wasn’t. I wasn’t used to anything about him. I’d never been like this over a guy, and it was starting to drive me nuts.
As it turned out, we needed the boat that Aidan had arranged. The flight had been uneventful and the drive through the mountains equally so. By the time we landed, we were close enough to our prey that I finally felt the invisible string around my waist. We followed it to the coast.
My dragon sense led us to a jagged piece of land that jutted out into the sea.
“Here,” I said.
Aidan pulled over. I climbed out of the car and gazed out at the choppy gray waves. Nix and Del came to stand at my side.
“Excellent,” I muttered. “Another boat ride.”
“Can you tell if he’s on an island or a boat?”
“I don’t feel the target moving,” I said. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t. My senses weren’t quite that good normally. “So it’s probably an island. Could be wrong though.”
Aidan looked up from the map on his phone. “There’s a port about fifteen minutes from here, and the boat that I arranged isn’t far from that. I’ll have them meet us.”
“Nice,” Del said. “I could really get used to traveling with this guy.”
I glanced at Aidan. He’d changed into a midnight blue sweater, and the wind whipped at his dark hair. His wealth did make things more convenient. I wished I liked him because of it. If I only liked his money, I could just ditch him and go find another rich guy who wasn’t powerful enough to sense that I was different.
But no. I liked him for a lot of other weird reasons. And every one of them didn’t matter because I’d definitely have to stay away from him when this was over. Aidan would eventually figure out what I was. I could feel it.