I scratched my neck. “You said he slept with Kendra. Is that a lie?”
He massaged his bicep. “I assumed he did.”
Oftentimes, Jack assumed things. A flaw that got him into trouble. Regardless, I wasn’t about to scold him. We were breaking through some stone barriers in our relationship.
“I have many things to atone for, Layla.” Remorse coated his tone. “I do care about you.” He swallowed audibly before a long-suffering sigh escaped him. “I know my actions have shown otherwise. Your aunt Tab sees the good in you, and despite your predicament… I’m starting to see that too. I’m extremely relieved nothing happened to you after you fell out of the helicopter basket. I’d promised your dad long ago that if anything ever happened to him, I would take care of you. So, it might shock you to hear me say this, but I owe Steven Mason for saving you.”
Tears burned the backs of my eyelids as a host of emotions surged to the surface. “Iamsurprised. Thank you for telling me, Jack.”
“I don’t know where we go from here,” he said. “My head is one big mess, but I need answers from Noah.”
I spotted Steven walking with a sense of purpose across the tarmac toward the plane. A brush of excitement stirred. Maybe he’d found Sam’s location through one of his tracking devices.
Steven dusted snowflakes off his head as he entered the cabin. “Everything okay?” He scrutinized Jack, then me.
It was uncanny, the resemblance between Steven and Sam—forest-green eyes, black shoulder-length hair, and he was as tall as his son. But Sam was more muscular and didn’t have the fine lines around the eyes that Steven had.
Warmth spread through my chest at Steven’s concern. “We’re fine. Did you find Sam?”
Steven tucked his hands in the pockets of his black cargo pants. “No. His phone and his microchip are a bust.”
I frowned. It figured that we couldn’t catch a break.
“Steven, we should talk,” Jack said as he stood.
Hopefully, my uncle would side with us. He might be the only one to knock some sense into Noah.
“Give me a minute. I need to check on something with the pilot.” He banked left, knocked on the cockpit door, then entered. “Dan, can you pull up the radar?” Steven asked, closing himself and the pilot in.
I rose and stretched my achy body. My butt was numb from sitting on the arm of the seat.
Jack ambled to the front. I thought he was about to leave until he folded his bulky body into one of the front-row seats.
I joined him and sighed when my ass met the comfortable leather cushion. I briefly closed my eyes, relishing the quiet moment—the lull before the storm. I knew we were in for a wild ride ahead. I just prayed no one else died.
Voices filtered in from outside before Webb, Jo, and Tripp came in. The three of them studied Jack and me.
I adjusted the leather strap on my wrist. “We’re good.” I wouldn’t say Jack and I were best buds, but we’d made some strides in our relationship.
As if those were the magic words, Tripp and Webb strutted toward the galley.
Jo closed the plane door, then eased into the seat across the aisle from me.
“Are we leaving?” Hopefully, our next destination was Chicago and not the naval base in Massachusetts. It was vital that we find and question Noah. Considering the potential for a blizzard, it seemed safer to make the two-hour drive to Chicago than what I imagined would be a thirty-minute flight.
Jo brushed snow off her black leggings, her silver eyes probing Jack and me as though she was trying to read our minds. “Not sure yet.”
I crossed one leg over the other. “Have your powers returned?”
Her silver eyes glistened. “They have. My dad thinks that the sound waves from the helicopter coupled with your scream blocked our powers. Apparently, sound waves displace air particles, causing a disruption in the equilibrium of the particles, which might’ve created an invisible shield around us.”
That made sense to me. I’d even thought along those lines earlier. I was relieved she had her mojo back. Whatever we were about to face, we needed all the magic we could muster.
Steven emerged from the cockpit and stood against the wall across from Jo. “Dan will move the plane into the hangar for the night. We’ll load the bodies into the cargo hold for now.”
The word bodies gave me a chill, and at the same time, I slumped in my seat, relieved to know we weren’t flying in this weather.
“We found a hotel nearby,” Jo said. “We’ll work out the logistics in a few minutes.”
