Page 79 of Shared By the Pilots

“If so, it’s a bad one,” Taylor said, tucking his thumbs into his belt.

“I didn’t mean it to be,” I admitted, “but let’s pretend I did!”

42

Veronica

We met with the investigator, who we discovered worked for the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. I told them everything I had seen since working for Excelsior, beginning with my suspicions and ending with my trip to Cabo with Taylor. Then those investigators left, and a new set of officials came and asked me the same questions. By the time everyone was done with me, I had repeated my story at least half a dozen times, and it was dark outside.

“You did a good thing,” the last official told me. “Yeah, it’s not as flashy as drugs or human trafficking, but this is still a very big deal, and we treat it with the utmost seriousness.”

That made me feel good about the entire thing.

After they all left, the private terminal at Houston was deserted. The last flight had departed hours ago, and even the front desk was empty. I found Adam, Taylor, and Luke sitting in one of the private lounges, eating pizza straight out of the box.

“Adam had the foresight to order grub an hour ago,” Taylor said, flipping open the two boxes. “We’ve got one pepperoni, and one meat lovers.”

“Ohh, pepperoni please!” I said, accepting a slice from Taylor and then dropping onto the couch next to him. “Thank you!”

“I told them it was your favorite,” Luke said.

“Thank you, too,” I added.Uh oh. They’re not getting competitive, are they?

“Should we even be in here?” I asked. “Rita’s not at the front desk, and all the other lights are off.”

Taylor jangled a set of keys. “I’ve got access. We’re allowed to be in here as long as we need.”

“I’m surprised they gave you a set,” Luke said slowly, “but not the real pilots.”

Yeah. They’re competitive all right.

“Nothing you say could possibly ruin my mood right now,” Taylor said, biting into another slice. “But if you need a peace offering, I’ve got one in my bag.” He gestured with his slice of pizza.

“All right!” Adam said, pulling out a bottle of the expensive tequila that was being transported. It was still mostly full. “How’d you get your hands on that?”

“Me and a friend snuck into the tequileria last night.” Taylor winked at me.

“You snuck into…” Luke trailed off, shaking his head. “You’re more reckless than your reputation.”

“Guilty as charged.”

“We should be celebrating,” I said, retrieving four glasses from the bar area. I placed them on the table next to the pizza boxes and filled them with tequila. “We did something great today. Even though we didn’t realize we were all doing it together.”

I passed around the glasses of tequila. Luke sniffed his, but put it back down on the table. “We could have been working together.”

“Hmm?”

“If you had told me what you were planning, we could have worked together,” he said. “The four of us make a good team, even if we didn’t realize it. But you lied to me. You said you had COVID.”

“I didn’t want anyone knowing what I was doing, where I was going.”

“But youshouldbe able to trust me that way,” he insisted. “And if not me, then Adam. You didn’t tell him what you were doing, either.”

I glanced at Adam, who was staring into his tequila glass.

Damnit. They’re right.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “The last two months have been tugging at my emotions. And my brain. I knew something was going on with Excelsior, but nobody believed me! I felt like I was being gaslighted, and I thought if I told you what I was doing, you would have called me crazy.”

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