Top Gun Tiger (Protection, Inc 7)

“How cute!” Catalina exclaimed. “I mean, what a shame.”

Rafa made a “forget about it” gesture with his big hands. “Don’t worry about it. Grace and I will have our hands full with our baby pretty soon! Same with Hal and Ellie. The last thing couples with new babies need are new pets—especially a new pet that can fly or set the carpets on fire.”

“I wish—” Pete broke off, then reconsidered. “Well, cat’s out of the bag now.” Catalina snickered. Ignoring her, he went on, “My daughter would’ve liked one. That’s all. And that’s all I’m going to say about her, so don’t even think of asking.”

Lucas broke the silence. “Journey and I travel too much to have pets.”

“I work too much,” said Roland.

Ransom said, “The last thing I need is to be responsible for another life.”

“I wanted one,” Merlin said. Then, ever hopeful, he said, “Maybe they’ll turn up later.”

“You heard Lucas,” Pete said crushingly. “Secret hidden places. Wherever they went, it won’t be any place any of us will be.”

Ethan and Destiny glanced at each other. She said, “Want to make sure we don’t pine away for a flying kitten?”

“New babies of our own?”

“One at a time, jarhead.”

“Can’t count on that,” Ethan said with a smile. “Twins run in my family.”

Chapter 17

Ethan

T hey emerged from sterile white corridors into the heat and life of the jungle, where they were greeted by the sounds Ethan had come to know: the chatter of monkeys, the songs of birds, the chirps of crickets, the rustle of creatures in the leaves. It was the world that had shaped Destiny into the woman that she was, and now it had shaped him too.

“Want to come back some time?” Ethan asked her. ?

?I’d love to meet Mataji and the rest of your friends. And go trekking.”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she said. “We could hike as humans and hunt as tigers.”

“But first, I’m buying you a new sparkly dancing dress to replace the one that got wrecked the night we met. And then I’m taking you to a club.”

“Only two years late. Man, there’s so much we haven’t done yet.”

She sounded excited and happy, not sad. Ethan too had moved past old regrets. So they’d missed out on two years: so what? They had the whole rest of their lives ahead of them, this time to spend together.

Fiona and Carter led the way to an airplane parked on the otherwise empty airfield.

“Gorgeous plane,” Destiny remarked with a touch of envy. “Yours, Carter?”

“Yes, of course.” Carter glanced at Trio, who had frisked up the steps and was jumping up and down at the door, barking to be let in. Carol flew from Catalina’s shoulder and circled above Trio’s head, making teasing dives and swoops at him. “Those beasts better be housebroken. Maybe you should lock them in the bathroom.”

Everyone with pets glared at him.

“Trio’s better-behaved than some humans I could name,” Fiona remarked icily. “Perhaps he’s not the one who should be locked in the bathroom for the duration of the flight.”

Carter opened his mouth, then closed it. He mounted the steps without another word. Once everyone was inside, they crowded round and watched as Fiona turned on a small monitor than had feeds from inside the base. She double-checked every room and corridor to make sure no living person or being had been left inside, then hefted a small black box. Ethan recognized it immediately: a remote detonator.

“Who wants to do the honors?” Fiona asked. “Justin?”

“I’ll let someone else have a go,” he replied. “I’ve already had my shot.”

Unexpectedly, Ransom spoke up. “I’d like to.”