Page 68 of Hack
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Carter hated airports. There were too many people, not to mention all the security. He knew exactly how many cameras and other fancy tech devices were watching his every move. It made him edgy to have people watch him as he tried to act like he was doing nothing more than traveling across the country to visit a long-lost relative. Not that anyone asked why he was traveling, but in his mind, it was as if they all knew he was on his way to kill someone.
He'd never taken a life before, at least not personally. As part of STK, there were deaths, but he wouldn't call them murders. People were killed only when they put one of the team members in danger. If you shot at the team, they would shoot back. That was just the way it was. He kept trying to think of this as the same thing. Lyle took a ton of lives and now Carter would take his. Still, it was unsettling, and he wondered if he'd be the same person he was before, after it was done.
He glanced at his watch as he sat down to wait for the flight to start loading. With a cold cup of coffee in his hand, he had twenty minutes to wait. He wasn't happy with whoever had booked his flight. He wasn't in first-class which meant that he was going to be cramped for space and probably squished between two assholes since bad luck was his middle name and he'd ended up in the middle seat.
He arched his head back, looking up at the ceiling, taking in the security cameras and other things around as he thought about what he needed to do once he was in North Carolina. He was getting a rental car under his fake name, and then driving to Saluda, with a quick stop somewhere before he hit the town to buy supplies. He didn't need too much. A hunting knife, gloves, syringes. He already had a mask and black long-sleeved sweater in his bag that he could dispose of once he finished.
His stomach turned nervously as he tried to think about what he was forgetting. The team had gone over his list, and they'd walked through every moment of getting into the place and securing the adults. Once that was done, the team had backed off because whatever was done once he had them tied up was up to him.
As he waited, his mind raced through the lists he'd mentally made, walking himself through the house, through each room, then through exactly what he was going to say to Lyle before he killed him.
It was hard to believe that after so many years of imagining this moment, it was only hours away. The long flight would be easier knowing what was at the end of it. By morning, Angel would have justice and the girls that Lyle currently held would be free.
He jumped up as his flight was called and it was his turn to board the plane. He double checked he'd left nothing on the floor by his seat and headed to the plane. As expected, it was a crowded flight. He swore he was going to kill whoever made reservations when he got home. He never flew anything but first-class. He'd even tried to upgrade, but there hadn't been any seats available.
With a sigh, he found his seat, glad to see at least it was an emergency exit row that would give him a little more room. Tucking his bag under the seat with his laptop, he sank down in the middle. The sooner this was over, the better.
Carter sighed as a large body stopped at his row. Just like he expected, he'd be cramped between two large people. He glanced up to see what he was about to face and swallowed back an outburst of anger. "What the fuck are you doing here?" He glared at Xander as he sat down in the seat beside him. "And how the fuck did you get the window?"
Xander smiled as he stashed a carry-on under the seat in front of him. "I made the reservations. Got us the emergency exit door too, so we'd have more leg room."
"And why are you here?" He wasn't happy about this at all.
"I'm visiting a friend in North Carolina." Xander frowned as he tried to work the seatbelt around his thick body.
"You have friends in North Carolina?" Carter raised a brow in challenge.
"I will once we land. You'll be there, right? And we're friends." Xander shook his head as he continued to try and resize the seatbelt. "I really hate flying."
"Then you should have stayed home. I made it clear I wanted to do this alone." He wanted to scream, but being in the middle of an airplane, minutes before takeoff, that probably wasn't a good idea.
"So I'll just stand back and watch. You can do it all alone. It won't hurt to have a second set of eyes on things. I'll walk around, check out the pictures on the walls, the books on the bookshelves while you do what you need to." Xander finally got the seatbelt into place. "I swear they make these things for women Becca's size." He took a deep breath. "And before you bitch, I tried to get first-class, but they didn't have any available, and I wasn't postponing the flight. We needed to get there tonight."
Carter closed his eyes, his head pressed back against the seat. This was going to be a long fucking flight. Now he had to worry about Xander coming along. Putting someone else in danger was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to do this alone for a reason and he wasn't happy that the guys had gone behind his back and planned on something different. "Does Archer know you're with me?"
"He didn't, but he probably does now. Trenton was going to tell him before Archer left for the motel. Don't hold this against him. He had nothing to do with it," Xander warned him.
Carter pursed his lips tightly.
"Listen, be mad. We knew you would, but do you really think we were going to let you go off and put yourself in danger? I know you don't see it like we do, but you don't have the experience. You're our tech guy. You do what you do because you are the best at it. Why not let one of us go with you who knows how to do this side of the job? As I said, I'm nothing more than background noise. This is your show, but if you need me, I'll be there." Xander started looking through the magazine and other junk in the pocket of the seat in front of him. "So, tell me about you and Archer."
Carter rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Xan. Is this what the whole flight is going to be like?"
"Well, I guess if you get tired of telling me about Archer, I can talk about Matt and Faith. There's always something new going on with them I can talk about." Xan flipped through the magazine. "So, what's up with you two? I've never seen you interested in someone. One-night-stands, yeah, but never anything serious."
"We're not serious." Carter sighed as he wondered if he could change seats with someone clear in the back of the plane.
"Excuse me." A young woman took the seat to his other side.
He gave her a nod, glad that it wasn't another member of the team to bother him.
"I call bullshit." Xander didn't even look up from the magazine. "You wouldn't have risked bringing him around if it wasn't serious. You'd never put anyone in danger for a fling."
Carter sighed. "We're friends, maybe a bit more, but we've decided not to worry about things until I get home. We've had other stuff on our minds. The last thing he needs is for me to let emotions get serious and then have something go wrong and not make it back." He was aware of the woman beside them, so he tried to make sure he didn't say anything too obvious. "Archer's a good guy, and yes, I like him a lot, but we haven't had any time to think about those kinds of things. When I get home then we'll figure it all out."
Xander nodded, but still stared into the magazine. "You've already figured it out even if you haven't admitted it."
