Dutch was so hungry he wasn’t listening. “What did you say?”
“Corazón is a woman.”
“Oh. Got it. Anyway, what do you say we find something to eat?”
“She’s bringing food with her.”
He wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t worried about the co-pilot getting something to eat, he was concerned about his own growling stomach.
“Don’t worry, bro,” said Onyx, smiling and grabbing his shoulder. “She’s bringing enough for everyone.”
“When will she be here?” Dutch checked the time. If they didn’t get in the air soon, they’d be arriving in South Carolina at dawn.
Onyx leaned in closer. “She’s meeting us at Langley.”
Dutch nodded. “What are we waiting for, then?”
“You see anything out there?”
“Planes. The sky. The tarmac. What’s your point, bro?” Dutch wasn’t sure if it was just because he was hungry, but Onyx was working his last nerve.
“You see a helicopter? Cuz I don’t.”
Dutch flipped him off as he walked back over to Malin.
“Everything okay?” he asked. “Do you need to check in or anything? Who’s your handler? Sumner Copeland?”
She shook her head. “How am I supposed to do that?”
Until this moment, Dutch hadn’t made the connection between carrying her away from Sergei Orlov’s dead body and the fact that she didn’t have anything with her besides the clothes on her back.
“You can use my phone,” he offered, holding it out to her.
“I’ll check in tomorrow.”
“You’re sure? He’s likely trying to make contact.”
“I said I’d check in tomorrow, Dutch.”
She was lying, but now wasn’t the time for Dutch to confront her about it. First he had to get her alone, and then he’d get her to tell him the truth about everything, including why she seemed completely unconcerned about checking in with her handler.
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Why are you still here? Tell me what the fuck is really going on.”
“You’re going off the grid.”
“The hell I am.”
“You don’t have to if you wanna cut to the chase and tell me what your mission was really all about.”
“You’re letting the spy biz go to your head.”
He smiled. “Yeah?” Damn, he liked this woman. When had he forgotten how much?
“Who authorized me going off the grid?”