CHAPTER 33
The cargo plane was cold, uncomfortable, and loud. A lot like a military plane, in other words. The engines roared like a dozen jackhammers going off at the same time, exhausting even with the earplugs we’d bought. Marcus popped his in and zoned out ten minutes after wheels-up.
I gave Sebastian dog duties. The shepherd, Lia, had been so scared of flying she could barely walk when I got her out of her cage. I’d had to carry her over to our area. I put Bas in charge of petting her and making sure she was okay. It was what I wanted to do but he was still amped from the rage shot I’d given him. I thought maybe soothing Lia would soothe him, and I was right. They were curled up together in no time, completely sacked out.
I spent a little while locating the other radio because it still might come in handy. I found it in one of the shipping containers as we flew over Scottsdale, Arizona. It was starting to get late by then, but I couldn’t sleep. I noticed that Daryn, who was on the other side of the center aisle past Marcus, couldn’t either. She had her penlight out and she was writing in her notebook. I slid the radio across for her to keep. She looked over at me, dropped the radio into her backpack, and went back to her journal.
I sat back and thought about what she’d told us that afternoon at the diner. We were fighting demons. I’d been so focused on keeping us safe and on getting us on this plane, I hadn’t had a chance to think about it yet. Now all I had was time.
As a soldier in the US Army, I was prepared to do whatever was asked of me because I believed, down to my soul, that the uniform I’d wear as a Ranger represented the defense of liberty and freedom, and the country I love. I’d chosen to serve because I could fight and because until wars stopped happening, people like me were needed. I had zero problem doing whatever it took to keep harm from coming to innocent people. Zero problem. Period, exclamation point, and freakin’ hooah.
I hadn’t had that kind of clarity since I’d become War, though. I hadn’t known what I was fighting for—or really, against. But sitting in that dark cargo plane, it started coming together for me. My enemies were demons, but it was still my duty to protect the innocent. Realizing that was a huge relief.
After chewing on that for a while, I still wasn’t tired. I thought about how Bastian could call up his scales and his horse so easily. I needed that kind of proficiency with my tools. For a while I tried to summon my sword by focusing on the cuff and thinking, Here. Appear. Now. Then I tried praying, which I hadn’t done in a really long time. That didn’t work but I felt better afterward, like I’d been missing out. Then I tried meditating, which I’d never done and ended up sucking at. Nothing worked. The sword eluded me, so.
I moved on.
At the airport, I’d asked Daryn to buy me a travel guide of Italy. I pulled that and my penlight from my pack and spent a couple hours reading it, paying extra attention to the maps of Rome and to the major transportation outlets—train stations, bus stations, waterways, et cetera. I’d always done okay in school, but my mind worked much better for missions. When details mattered, I was capable of storing away a ton of material. I sucked that guide down. By the time we were over Arkansas, I had a solid map of Rome in my head and some ideas for how to handle getting us safely off the cargo plane onto Italian ground.
With my eyes burning from the lateness and the reading, I put the book away. Aiming the penlight at my companions, I ascertained that Marcus and Sebastian were still asleep. Marcus was twitching like mad, having the nightmare of his life, which pleased me greatly. A few feet past him, Daryn was only pretending to sleep. This I deduced because when I put the light on her face, she flipped me off.
I sat back, smiling at the darkness for a minute. Then I grabbed my radio, and brought it close to my lips before I could talk myself out of it.
“Special Agent Daryn Martin. Come in please, Ms. Martin. This is War. Over.”
Over the drone of the engines, I couldn’t hear my message register on her radio, but she did. I saw her digging around in her bag. A few seconds later, her voice came through my radio.
“Yes, Gideon?”
I pressed the talk button. “You will?”
“I will what?”
“I just asked you to come over here and you said yes.”
“You didn’t ask that.”
“But you answered anyway. Come here.”
“No.”
“You’re messing up the balance of the plane. We’re going to fly in circles unless you come here.”
“Your ego’s weighing that side down just fine.”
I laughed. “Is that another no?”
“Affirmative.”
“What did you write about me in your notebook?”
Now she laughed but not into the radio. I heard it far away, under the sound of the engines.