Page 42 of Destroyed With You

“Sorry to interrupt.”

“No interruption. We’re just watching a movie.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Pinkie swear,” she said, and he had to laugh.

“I’m with Linda,” he said. “You’re on speaker.”

For a moment, silence lingered. Then Emma cleared her throat. “So I guess we were right. Your mission did have to do with her.”

“Yeah,” Winston said. “You could say that.”

“Okay. Right. Well, I’m sure there’s some etiquettely correct way of saying hello to a dead woman, but I’ve never been big with the manners. So, you know, hey there, Linda.”

“Good to hear your voice, too, Em,” Linda said dryly.

To her credit, Emma laughed, though it sounded a bit strained. “And everything is copacetic?”

“I don’t have a gun pressed to his temple if that’s what you mean,” Linda said.

“Wasn’t aware that was a concern,” Emma countered. “But good information to have. Winston,” she continued, her voice tight, “you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“I can’t give you the details,” Winston said, “but Linda and I have a truce. We considered celebrating by swinging by some divey restaurant for a few hotdogs, but decided to chase a bad guy instead.”

“Gotcha.” Emma’s voice softened, losing the knife-edge and gaining a note of humor. “In that case, tell me how I can help.”

The corner of Linda’s mouth twitched. “Divey or hotdog?” she asked, and both Emma and Winston laughed. Of course she’d recognized the use of a code word to reassure Emma that Winston wasn’t speaking under duress.

“I could tell you,” Winston said in a deadpan voice. “But then I’d have to kill you.”

“Funny man.” Linda shot him a smile so genuine that it made his heart flip. Then she shifted her head, talking toward the phone the way people do. “We need you to check airline records. We’re looking for a specific passenger. Either on a flight in the last few hours or booked to take off soon. Possibly registered at the airport hotel.”

“I’ll need a name.”

“Tommy Bartlett,” Linda said.

“Hang on, let me get to my computer.”

A moment passed, and when her voice came back, Winston added, “Emma, we need you to keep this to yourself. No word of it to Seagrave or the SOC. No word to anyone at Stark Security.”

“I’m alone now, but Tony’s in bed and naked. I mean, I can probably distract him if he asks questions, but…”

“I can’t even tell you how much I did not need to know that. Just don’t volunteer information. I called to update you on my mission. Just me. Not me and Linda.”

“No problem.”

“I hate to ask you to keep something from him,” he added. “I wouldn’t normally, but it’s—”

“Oh, please. Give me some credit.”

“Pardon?” Winston said. Behind the wheel, Linda sat up straighter, looking a little smug.

“It goes with the job,” Emma said. “Secrets, I mean. It’s nothing personal. I know that. You know it. Tony knows it. Just give me a sec.”

Winston nodded slowly, soaking up her words. He knew it all right. He just wasn’t sure he’d actually been living it.

“Okay, I’m back,” Emma said, her words underscored by the clicking of keys. “Not finding him on any airline manifests … hang on, hang on … oh, fuck you, God, I hate technology.”