Page 69 of Off the Grid
Leo held her gaze for another moment, a deep knot in the center of his brow. Then he turned, bringing a smile to his lips as he wiped the disappointment from his face. They were both so adept at pretending, McKenzie couldn’t help but wonder what, if anything, had been real.
“Thosearemy friends,” Leo said, playing into the awe still glued to John’s face.
“I need to get me some better friends. Are you guys secret millionaires or something?”
“Nah,” Leo answered smoothly. “I just know the right people.”
“Alvarez!” a man shouted from across the field. He ran over, decked out in a bulletproof vest with a gun in his hand. John’s eyes widened.
Leo spun. “Tommy!”
They shook hands eagerly, and then Tommy turned to her. “You must be McKenzie.”
“Apparently, my reputation precedes me,” she murmured and shook the hand he’d offered.
“You have no idea,” the agent commented, then turned back to Leo. “We thought you guys were dead. You’ve been dark for three days. What the hell happened?”
“You people have no faith.” Leo shook his head, then nudged his chin in the direction of John, who still lingered by their sides. McKenzie was starting to fear his eyes had been permanently frozen in a shocked position. “I’ll tell you on the chopper.”
Tommy’s gaze flicked to John, then back to Leo. He nodded and lifted his fingers to his ear. “The boss wants me to remind you this chopper is costing the department a fortune. Don’t dillydally.”
Leo snorted. “Tell him I said I missed him too.”
The two agents grinned at each other.
McKenzie watched from the sidelines, feeling as though a dam had broken somewhere and life was rushing back so fast she might drown. She’d stopped seeing Leo as a Fed, as one of them. He’d become Emilio, the rugged knight in shining armor, and she’d been the princess in her ivory Upper East Side tower. Now the truth oozed through the cracks he’d created in her shields, sealing them back up. He was one of them. She was still the daughter of a wrongfully convicted felon. The dream she’d been living and the reality she’d forgotten fused together, at war. The pieces didn’t fit.
Leo said something to John and they both laughed. Then he put his hand to her lower back, nudging her forward. Tommy chatted about something, but she didn’t process his words. The world was a blur. McKenzie went through the motions as her mind fought for clarity, walking where she was led, numb and robotic.
“McKenzie!” Leo’s voice broke through the haze.
She looked up. “Huh?”
They were standing next to the helicopter, and her whisper was immediately lost to the wind as the blades spun overhead, thunderously loud. A warm jacket rested over her shoulders, though she wasn’t entirely sure how it had gotten there.
“Ma’am?” another voice called.
McKenzie turned her face toward the sound, realizing a man was offering his hand. She took it, then let him pull her up and through the door. A pair of headphones slid over her ears, blanketing the world in an eerie calm. Leo jumped inside and buckled himself into the seat by her side. His hand came to her knee and squeezed once in a reassuring fashion, but she didn’t meet his eyes.
“Is Ryder secure?” Leo’s voice crackled through the headphones.
“He’s in transit to Washington.”
Leo nodded. She could feel his gaze trace the line of her jaw, but she continued to stare out the window, watching the helicopter blades spin faster and faster.
“Is he talking?”
“Not yet,” another man answered. “We’re working on a deal.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
“He’s got nowhere left to run.”
“We caught the bastard.”
Is this how the men who arrested my father spoke?McKenzie couldn’t help but wonder as she hugged her arms around her waist, pulling the jacket close. It was the middle of the summer, but she felt cold.So cocky and so casual as they ruin a man’s life?
Leo wasn’t like that. She knew she wasn’t being fair, but it was easier to group them together, to push him away. Turned out bravery, at least the emotional kind, wasn’t quite her forte. Instead, she shrank into her seat, trying her best to melt away. The blades spun faster and faster, until just like that, they were airborne. McKenzie watched the ground retreat, growing smaller and smaller, until the wedding was nothing more than a bright spot amid a sea of darkness. From up here, the woods that had loomed so large were nothing more than an indistinct carpet of shadow. The fire that had seemed so menacing flickered like a simple tea light. She willed her memories to do the same, to shrink and wither and fade away, until the grip they held on her heart stopped hurting so much.
