“Move it!” Von yelled. “Your brother’ll kill me if I don’t get you out of here.”
Ford started to laugh, which made him cough so hard his stitches must’ve popped. The pain in his shoulder was excruciating, but it pushed him through the pain meds fuzzing up his brain. With a clearer head, he picked up the pace, ignoring his unsteady legs, his lightness of breath, and the fact that the gown left his backside open to the elements.
No fucking way was he coming back from what happened in Antarctica to get his bare ass blown up in some fancy Chilean clinic.
Just behind Von, they burst out a fire door into the cool night, and came to an abrupt stop.
Holy crap. He dropped his hands to his knees and bent, gasping for air.
“Come on.” Von lifted his chin to where a car idled at the curb. “You can do that in there.”
Blindly, he followed him and dove into the back seat.
Angel was inside.
“What…the hell?” He sounded like crap.
The door slammed shut.
“Good to meet you, Dr. Cooper. Good to see you again, Angel.” The driver—a dark-skinned woman with closely shorn hair—flicked a quick salute over her shoulder, her words just audible over the deafening buzzing in his ears. “I’m Leo Eddowes. Buckle up.”
She pulled away, tires screeching.
The drive to the private airstrip was absolutely silent. Coop glanced at Angel a few times, only to see her staring out at the dimly lit world. Probably angry. Which was good. It was fine. Better this way.
Then why the hell’d he have the urge to crush something with his bare hands?
At the airstrip, Leo led them to a small jet and got them settled. A short while later, Ans and Von joined them, sat in seats, and they took off.
An hour into the flight, Leo made her way back to Angel and Ford, who’d sat on opposite sides of the same row.
“All right, guys. We’ve got to talk.”
Angel watched Leo, completely avoiding Coop.
“There’s a hefty price on your heads. Someone wants the two of you dead. Badly.” Leo met his eyes. “And now, as far as they’re concerned…you are.”
“Dead,” he repeated, his brain still ten steps behind.
A glance at Angel showed her sitting stiffly in her seat, staring blankly ahead. He wanted to reach for her, to tell her it would be fine. They’d be fine.
But Jesus, that wasn’t true, was it? And he’d never been the type to lie about bullshit like that.
“Where are we headed?”
“States. West Coast. We’ve got passports for both of you. We’ll get you in. Then it depends on you.” Leo’s eyes flicked from Angel to Ford and back. “Your brother’s got something he’d like you to see. After that, we can set you up wherever you want. Together or…” She paused, not quite meeting their eyes this time. “So, you two want to disappear together or are we talking multiple destinations?”
Ford opened his mouth to reply, but Angel beat him to it.
“Separate.” She didn’t even spare him a glance. “Ford and I are going our separate ways.”
With a short nod, Leo made her way back to her seat, and all Ford could think wasWhat the fuck have I done?
* * *
One Week Later—Polaris Platform, Somewhere off the Coast of San Diego
“This sure is something.” Coop stared down at the ocean from the top level of the decommissioned Polaris oil platform. “So when did you become a Bond villain?” he asked his brother.
