Page 22 of Ricochet

“Javier?” Her face was pure un-amused disbelief. “Do you have a gun under your shirt?”

As though gun was a buzzword that could be picked up by special airport listening devices, they were suddenly approached by the lone personhelping the entire bag-checking section. “Can I help you?”

“How do we go about not checking service weapons?”

“Law enforcement?”

“Contractors,” Colin volunteered.

“You don’t.”

They werethose people. “How do we go about checking our weapons?”

“Weapons?” Her unimpressed glare was one of the best Colin had ever seen, and “weapons” must’ve been another word for the secret airport listeningdevices. Two airport security guards eased their way into the line, silently standing behind the woman. “Come with me.”

“Sure thing.” They grabbed their bags with Sophia’s mutters peppering the process and followed.

Two frustrating hours later with a new flight booked and a new secure handgun box purchased from the extraordinarily overpriced luggage store in the airport, they made it throughticketing and the snake of people where Javier was x-rayed and frisked.

“You two are bad luck. My flight last week was smooth.” Colin stood in line at the tram.

“Same,” Sophia bit back as they boarded.

Colin’s phone rang as they packed into the overstuffed tram, and he silenced it. There was no work to be done right now, and family would drive him to the edge. Hell, even if he wanted to talkto Dad, Colin couldn’t reach into his pocket and press the phone to his ear without inappropriately touching at least one stranger.

They zipped along, and the next concourse came into view as they rounded the corner. The lights dimmed. The tram slowed and stopped short of the concourse. Was this really happening?

“Why aren’t we moving?” Sophia whispered.

“Sorry about this, folks,” came throughthe speaker. “A little electrical issue. It will take a moment to fix.”

“If there’s an electrical problem, why do the speakers work?” she whispered, much louder this time.

“Maybe different systems?” Javier offered, and Colin decided that was love.

Colin loved his sister but offering an explanation as calm as his teammate’s had just been wasn’t what would have come out of his mouth. Then again,if Javier hadn’t been there, maybe Colin would have stepped into the calming, protective role for Sophia. He believed there was an innate need to care for her, and he trusted her husband to do it. But since his teammate was here, Colin simply wanted to ignore his sister and be free to fume about the tram dying.

Five minutes turned to ten. The temperature rose. Tensions were high, and childrencried. Now, there was a good chance they’d miss their new flight.

Colin closed his eyes, again ignoring a call—probably Parker having a hell of a good time at their expense. Cool air suddenly flowed, and the lights flickered on.

“Good news, we’re about to move again. Thanks for your patience, and please prepare for your destination.”

They slid the final stretch into the concourse, and the doorsopened to fresh air. Colin checked his watch. “We can still make our flight.”

Maybe.

“Let’s rock and roll,Paixao.” Javier grabbed Sophia’s hand and surged through the crowd.

Colin was tight on their six as their names were called on the loudspeakers for a final boarding call.Hell.

“I told you we’re going to run.” Sophia took off.

Javier laughed and cursed in Portuguese. They followed her,straight out of a movie, dodging people and rolling bags. They were making this flight if it killed them.

“Wait!” Sophia called as they rounded the gate corner.

An attendant had nearly shut the door.

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