“You look like you can dart between the crowd pretty easily,” Claire went on. “Follow my instructions at all times. Don’t ever lose track of where Winter is. Believe me, it’s harder than it sounds.” She clapped her hands together. “Are we ready?”
Winter nodded.
Claire spun back around. “Our cars are waiting outside at the front entrance. Let’s go.”
The crowd had started pooling at the bottom of the escalators from where they were coming down. The instant they reached the bottom, Claire pulled Winter behind her in a single, smooth gesture, and his four bodyguards formed a tight square around him, shoving bodily through the crowd as Winter walked as quickly as he could within their secured space. Around them, people swarmed in a ripple of motion.
Sydney melted immediately into the crowd, sliding between bodies until she’d put herself slightly ahead of Winter. A frantic hand shot out from the throngs to grapple at Winter’s jacket. He seemed to steel himself and picked up his pace. There was nothing but a serene calm on his face, but she could read the fear in every line of his body, the way he seemed to be bracing himself to run but with no path to take.
Sydney shoved the hand away from him, then pushed back against a never-ending sea of arms all reaching for him. Paparazzi rushed around the edges of the crowd, their cameras hoisted high. They hurried through the terminal’s lobby and down a path lined with airport security.
Sydney cast another look toward their exit. The airport’s security seemed to be struggling to contain the crowd around it. One sweep wasall it took for Sydney to realize that there was no way they’d get through without going down in a sea of people.Dammit, she thought. Things were always more complicated with Winter than they seemed.
On Winter’s other side, Claire hugged closer to him and waved at the other bodyguards. Her gaze locked briefly on Sydney, and there, she could see the older woman’s skepticism. In a crowd like this, Sydney could barely be seen—let alone protect Winter.
She looked around, searching for an alternative path.
In the airport’s shopping atrium, Winter stumbled. It was all it took for a line of fans to squeeze in between him and his security, and for a split second, he was cut off from them. Sydney whirled around to see him disappear into the sea.
She snaked through the crowd in a flash. A second later, she found him, then looped her arm firmly through his.
“This way,” she snapped.
He glanced backward. Claire had been pushed a few people away, and the rest of his bodyguards were shoving their way roughly forward. She glimpsed Gavi cutting sideways through the crowd in an attempt to reach Winter. Reuniting Winter with her would take too long, though, and she was causing her own stir as the crowd recognized her.
Sydney caught sight of a small, nondescript freight elevator door opening in a corner, and an airport staff member stepping off with an ID card looped around a lanyard on his neck.
She pivoted.
“The team—” Winter started to say.
“Follow me,” she snapped.
One of his other bodyguards growled at her as they fought to rejoin Winter. “Orders are to take him to the entrance,” he barked.
“Does that look possible to you?” Sydney replied without looking at him. “We’re taking him this way.”
“You’re not my boss.”
Sydney just ignored him. Before he could stop her, she steered Winter toward the elevator. “We’re heading up into departures,” she said in a low voice.
“Why?”
“Because if you want to be in one piece by the time we get to the car, you’ll listen to me.”
They reached the elevator right as the airport staff member froze there, staring numbly at the wave of people before him.
In one move, Sydney snatched the ID off of his lanyard and swiped the keypad for the elevator door. The staff member turned to her with a startled shout—but she had already stepped on board with Winter.
“Sorry!” she shouted over her shoulder.
The bewildered attendee saw the elevator door close in front of him with Sydney and Winter alone inside. Then the elevator sealed shut, and the chaos cut off into blissful silence.
Sydney’s ears were still ringing from the chaos as Winter turned to her.
“What the hell are you doing?” he rasped at Sydney. “No one else knows where I am now.”
“That’s the point,” Sydney said.
