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Two vehicles wait near the house.

Trent drives the first with Kane beside him.

Sean, Hayley, and I take the back seat.

Will drives.

Holt rides in front.

Arthur and Taylor follow us.

Nobody says we are leaving the safe house behind.

Nobody knows whether it will still be safe when we return.

Hayley holds my hand during the drive to the airfield.

Sean keeps one arm stretched across the seat behind her.

Every few minutes, his fingers touch her shoulder.

He may not realize he is doing it.

She does.

I see her smile each time.

The plane is smaller than I expected.

It belongs to the company.

Sean tells me, as if I might think, that seven former Delta Special Forces soldiers stole it.

“I didn’t ask.”

“You were looking at it.”

“I look at a lot of things.”

“And then you ask questions.”

“She gets that from you,” Hayley tells him.

Sean looks offended.

I laugh.

The sound feels strange after listening to a gunfight from hundreds of miles away.

It also feels good.

We board quickly.

Kane and Taylor sit at the front with their computers.

Trent speaks to the pilot.

Arthur takes a seat across the aisle from Holt.