Page 158 of Darling Wildfire
“Well, she’s the best, and she’s the only option,” Knight shrugged.
“You already contacted her didn’t you,” North grumbled.
Knight ignored him and turned to Atlas and I.
“Mads was deployed with us—frankly one of the best pilots I’ve ever come across—she and North had a…thing,” he chuckled.
My eyebrows raised, and I looked over at North with a grin. He scoffed and sat back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at Knight.
“It was a very long time ago—before Whitney,” North said begrudgingly. “I was young, wild and a soldier with nothing to lose—didn’t last very long.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“She started doing drugs, fell in with some bad people. We broke up—Istarted dating Whitney—then Mads asked for my help with something, nearly got me killed when I gave it. I told her that was the last time I’d bail her out of her shit. Shortly after that was when I found out Whit was pregnant and I never heard from her again.”
North looked over at Knight. “I’m surprised she’s still alive honestly.”
“Well, she is—she surfaced a few years ago and reached out to me. She came to your funeral by the way.”
“Touching,” North scoffed.
“Does anyone know a techie?” Knight asked, changing the subject. “My go-to has disappeared recently.”
“I think I might have a tech guy we could use,” I said. “He has a military background but is a killer programmer and hacker. Can I use your computer Knight? I’ll reach out to him. Speaking of—we’ll need phones.”
Knight nodded and disappeared.
“I have extra phones too,” Knight said when he returned.
He handed me his laptop and distributed three phones to Atlas, me and North. I popped open the laptop and logged into my email, not bothering to look at the thousands of messages I’d amassed over the years I’d been MIA. I drafted up a quick email and sent it off before putting the laptop aside.
It felt weird having a phone after all this time. I took a few minutes setting it up while I listened to Knight and North bicker about this Mads character. I was eager to head out to Austria. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited for a treasure hunt? A thrill rushed through me at the prospect of finding that much gold.
5.6Billion. That wasa lot.
It certainly would set us up for success.
My missing finger caught my eye and anger hit me hard and fast. I shoved it away but it was a constant reminder of how much Vetticus had taken from me. I had my own vendetta. I didn’t care how long it took—I would see Vetticus brought down. I wanted to see him crawl across the ground and clutch atmyboots.
I finished setting up my phone and was about to put it down when I noticed a new email notification. It was West—the tech guy I’d contacted.
That was fast.
Although he was always on his computer so it madesense.
He was in.
By the end of the week we had a plan in place.
We all stood in the living room which looked like a tornado had run through it with the amount of papers strewn both across the table and pinned up on the surrounding walls.
“Everyone is confirmed to meet us in Salzburg,” Knight said.
I pulled down the terrain map and folded it up along with a few of the other documents and maps before sticking everything in a plastic bag. Knight pulled out passports and documentation for each of us and handed them out.
“Plane leaves tomorrow morning,” he said. “Weapons are this way.”
We followed him down a hallway and eventually down a flight of stairs into his basement where behind a vault style door lay an armory.
