“I’ve always given you honesty and truth, Jack. And I’ll continue to do so until the day I die.”
Of the few people Jack trusted in this world, Nick Carrow was one of them. “Thank you.” He turned and looked at his old friend. “For everything. Not just today. For... all of it.”
Nick’s expression softened into something almost paternal. “I’ll leave you to dress. Stone should be by soon to take you to the new surveillance room.” He slipped out of the suite, closing the door behind him with barely a sound, his silent footfalls drifting soundlessly down the hall.
Chapter Seven
The Entitlement of Man
The landing was smoother than Daisy expected. There was a slight bump, a roar of the engines, and then they were taxiing across another private tarmac beneath the clouds. Her stomach swooped at the thought of being transported to some unknown land without even providing proof of her identity.
Maybe they didn’t need her identity, because it was easier if she didn’t have one. Less to erase. Oh, God… What had she done?
“Fuck,” she whispered, wondering why these flaws in her plan were only occurring to her now.
The door opened and fresh air rushed in, carrying the balmy scent of salt and pine—nothing like home.
“Miss Burdan.” A flight attendant appeared at her elbow, one she didn’t recognize. “This way, please. Your car is waiting.”
Daisy quickly gathered her bag and walked toward the exit. The stairs seemed steeper going down, or maybe her legs were just more unsteady now that she was finally here. Wherever here might be.
“Where are we?” She turned and blushed, realizing the flight attendant hadn’t followed her off the plane.
At the bottom of the steps, another black car idled. A new driver with a similar blank expression waited for her to descend. He rounded the car and opened the rear door with a stiff nod. “Miss Burdan?”
“Y—yes.”
“This way.”
She stepped within the space of the open door, but hesitated before getting inside. “Where are we?”
“We’re at an airport and we need to get moving to your next destination. Please have a seat and buckle up.”
Her gaze drifted back to the plane and her breath caught at the sight of another woman appearing equally as apprehensive. Daisy wanted to wave or rush to her and ask if she had information she didn’t. But with one gentle press to her shoulder the driver managed to usher her into the car and shut the door.
Sound buffered in the silence of the car as she stared through the tinted glass at the woman descending the stairs. Unlike Daisy’s modest blonde hair, this woman had dark waves that fell past her shoulders, almost black in the sunlight, like the wing of a raven. But there was an edge about her, an evident hardness. She looked nothing like the kind of woman one would expect to disembark from a private jet. But neither did Daisy.
Was this whole thing about transplanting women into worlds where they didn’t belong?
As the car pulled away and another took its spot, Daisy turned to kneel on the seat, staring out the back window as the brunette was ushered into the next vehicle.
A third female descended the steps. But now the car was too far away to make out the color of her hair or any defining characteristics.
How many women were on the plane?
And were they all going to the same place?
The privacy screen lowered. “Please put your seatbelt on, Miss Burdan. We’re on a tight schedule, and I don’t want to make unnecessary stops.”
Not wanting a repeat episode like when she was restrained on the plane, she quickly straightened in her seat and clicked the belt into place. The jet shrank into a forgotten speck as they pulled away.
She slumped back against the leather seat and watched the landscape unfold. It was different here, wherever here was. The air tasted cleaner. The trees were taller, darker, more densely packed. The road wound through hills and valleys, past cliffs that dropped away to glimpses of grey-green sea.
“What body of water is that?”
The driver’s gaze flashed to the mirror, briefly meeting her stare, only to look away.
Right.
