Page 20 of A Light in the Darkness
I don’t know how the hell she did it, but she fucking did it. I don’t know whether to laugh or thank her when we roll up to the airfield to see the plane ready and waiting, the door open with a set of rolling steps pushed up to it. We won’t have steps when we have to get the captives into the plane, but we will make it work.
“Where the fuck did you find a guy with a C-17?” Rich laughs, staring at my housekeeper like she’s a witch who just conjured that up out of nowhere.
It took a few days, which meant our mission had to be delayed. That wasn’t an easy decision—every day means more suffering, but it also means that everyone gets out alive. Or at least, we hope it does.
“Don’t thank me yet.” Elaine says under her breath. “You’ll see what I had to do to get this in a minute.”
The man coming down the steps is dressed in a black suit rather than any kind of military gear, and my confusion only deepens… until he looks up and flashes me a smile. “Remington!”
“Massarini.” I blink, trying to process his presence and turning to Elaine for an explanation.
“Senator.” She says pointedly, stiffly. When her eyes flicker to me, realization settles deeper.
Senator.
At my father’s wake, I remember him talking to her, her hurry to get away from him. In addition to what I learned about her work history the other day, I can surmise that the senator must have been the person who employed her all those years ago.
“Good to see you again.” I shake his hand, trying to work out the details. If this is the senator that Elaine worked for, that makes him a suspect in Lauren’s disappearance all those years ago.
“Well, there’s not a lot I wouldn’t do for Elaine.” He smiles fondly at her. “Besides, she told me you have something to tell me?”
“We do.” Elaine nods. “And it’s important.”
I blink, shifting my eyes to the plane behind him. “You were able to accrue a military plane in a few days’ notice just because your former housekeeperaskedyou to?”
That makes him laugh a little. “Once a marine, always a marine. But I’ve got friends in high places.” He shrugs. “She said it was a matter ofextremeimportance. Besides, Remington, our fathers were friends for years. They may be gone now, but I think it’s still important to honor those relationships.”
“Victor—” A shrill voice from the top of the stairs draws his attention away from me long enough for me to glare accusingly at Elaine.
“Excuse me,” Victor smiles warmly at us before turning to jog up the steps toward the woman demanding his attention.
“You could have just fucked our entire mission, Elaine!” I hiss, searching her face to try and figure out what exactly she is thinking by bringing a stranger into the fold. Having the plane he procured for us is great, but if it lets the enemy know that we’re onto them, it’s useless.
“Maybe I did.” She says, wringing her hands together nervously. “But I think we can trust him.”
“Trust him?” I almost laugh. “When you told me about Lauren,” I say her name in the quietest whisper, though I don’t think the senator is focused on us at all. “You made it sounds like he was part of the problem.”
“No.” Elaine shakes her head swiftly. “He may have had something to do with it, but I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“You don’tthinkso? Jesus, Elaine, you gambled sixty lives because you don’tthinkhe’s a bad guy, but you don’t know for sure?”
“No,” she licks her lips. “I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I think he’s Claire’s father.”
Her words take a minute to process, and I don’t get a chance to react to them because he’s headed back to us with the woman at his side now and a smile on his handsome face. “Remington, this is my wife, Addison.”
“Nice to meet you, Addison.” I say, holding out a hand as I assess the woman before me with her deep red hair swept back into a clip that glints in the sunlight. She takes my hand with a cold smile, her blood-red nails shaped like talons matching the shade of her lips. She looks like a vampire, and it does little to quell my suspicions of the senator.
“Addison?” Elaine says slowly, looking at the woman like she recognizes her. Probably from childhood nightmares since she looks like she’d carve your heart out with those wicked nails and eat it for breakfast.
“Yes.” Addison says, her cold eyes glancing over Elaine like she’s expecting something more. But whatever it is, nothing comes of it. She looks away before Elaine can say anything, and the senator misses the chance to introduce them when she asks him something I don’t hear.
“Is there anything I can do for you, Senator? In return for this generous favor, I mean.”
“You can explain.” The senator laughs. “I mean, strictly speaking, what we’re doing isn’t legal. Of course, I’ll figure it out when we get there, and we’ll have to delete the flight logs to stay off the radar, literally and metaphorically,” he laughs at his own joke. “But if you guys are willing to tell me what this is all about up front, I sure would appreciate it.”
“You’re… coming?”
“Of course.” Victor laughs, showcasing his politician’s smile. “It was described as a matter of extreme importance.”
