As they touched down and the others shuffled around for their bags, Claire snapped her fingers in Winter’s direction.
“We have a situation at the airport,” Claire muttered.
Sydney turned away from the window as Winter came from his side of the plane to lean over their row, his attention turned down at Claire’s phone. “What situation?” he asked.
His voice still sounded a little hoarse from sleep, and his hair was fluffed up in a mess that looked like someone should run a hand through it. Sydney averted her eyes and focused on Claire.
“Security’s having issues with the crowd,” Claire now said. “I’d warned them—it’s been a while since you performed in Singapore, after all—but they aren’t authorized to run us through any special customs gate. So we’ve got to go through their main terminal, and their doubled shift doesn’t seem like enough.”
“Are we going to be okay getting through?” he asked.
Claire nodded and folded her phone away with a decisive snap, although she didn’t look convinced. “We’ll make it quick,” she said. “We’ve been through worse. Ashley?”
Sydney nodded. “Ma’am?”
“I’m telling the other guards to focus on shoving people away,” she said, “but you keep an eye out for alternate routes. Stay close to me and follow my instructions, do you hear me?”
Sydney’s eyes went briefly to Winter, and this time, he was staring back. His face looked relaxed, but she could recognize the telltale hint of stubbornness in his eyes.
I’ll be fine,the expression told her.Just get out in one piece.
She gave him an imperceptible nod and smiled at Claire. “My best class during training,” she replied with a shrug. “I’ll get him out.”
Soon, they were ready to step out, and a flight attendant pushed open the door. Sydney took in a breath of warm, humid air as she walked down the metal steps toward the tarmac. The air was sticky with the feel of late spring in a tropical place, something she tended to associate with being on the hunt. At least, that was how all her past missions near the equator had gone.
They were ushered into a private sedan at the bottom of the steps, then driven to the main terminal. Winter craned his neck as he sat beside Sydney, and the movement pressed his arm against hers.
“It seems fine in there,” he mused, his eyes fixed on the building they were approaching.
“You always say that,” Dameon said. “And you’re never right.”
“I don’t see a crowd, do you?” he replied.
His friend crossed his arms over his chest. “I think the main entries are all on the west side.”
“So what if there’s a crowd?” Gavi said. “You’ve been through this a thousand times. You wouldn’t want no one to show up, would you?”
Winter shot her a sidelong look. “I still want to live through it.”
“You will.” She pointed a manicured finger at him. “And you’re going to love it, too.”
Winter snorted at her words, and Sydney felt the tickle of jealousy well up under her skin again. She looked away from them and back out the window.
For a while, she thought that maybe Winter was right, that they would be fine—that the reports of issues at the terminal were exaggerated.
Then they turned a corner to reveal the huge indoor waterfall encased in a steel glass dome at the heart of the airport—and saw the massive crowd past it that had gathered in a sea around the bottom of the escalators.
The instant they rounded the bend, the sea of fans let out a round of screams. She could see the airport’s security buzzing exhaustedly around the pack of people, struggling to keep them from spilling into the corridor meant only for arriving passengers.
Sydney had seen the mayhem Winter’s presence could cause during their mission in London, but this would be a different sort of challenge. Beside her, Claire was walking backward and giving their entourage a pep talk, her heels clicking efficiently against the floor.
“Deep breaths, everyone,” she was saying. “We’ve run this gauntlet plenty of times before.” She glanced at the four security guards that had already moved into position around Winter. “Don’t ever leave his side, and don’t be afraid to shove people out of the way.” She looked at Dameon. “Stay in front of Winter. If you lag behind him, you’re going to get swallowed whole by that crowd, and we’re going to have to fish you out. Every second of delay makes this harder.” She nodded at Gavi. “Miss Ginsburg, you cling to Winter’s arm like your life depends on it.”
Gavi shrugged. “I’ve done it before.”
Claire’s eyes locked on Sydney. “You walk beside me,” she said. “Scout our way to the door. You see it, right?”
Sydney had long noted the entrances lining the side of the airport. A part of her wanted to answer withConsidering I’ve waded through stampedes in active war zones, this is going to be a piece of cake.But aloud, she just said, “Yes, ma’am.”
