Chapter 30
R aphael
The rainstorm battered the plexiglass cockpit, and we dropped altitude, the ground seeming to rush up to meet us.
We were heading to a crash, the violent drop almost guaranteed to end us in a crumple of engine parts and a fuel fire. What was it that Gordain once told me? Planes are designed to fly. Cut the power and they’ll soar for miles. But helicopters? Those fuckers only ever want to plummet to earth. Our job as pilots was to do everything to prevent that from happening.
Lucky for us I was damn good at my job.
I centred our position and lowered us slowly the last fifty feet, touching down neatly on the McRae hangar’s concourse.
Jackson threw me a grin, and I returned it, still buzzing from the fast pace I’d set to get us home, the storm front hard on our heels.
“Christ,” Dori muttered. “That was abrupt. Anyone would think you had a princess to get home to.” Despite his tone, he flashed me a smile.
I secured and powered down the aircraft, waving to the mechanic who approached through the storm to take back ownership.
Before we climbed out, Jackson touched my arm. “Ben sent a message when we were in the air. Barrington Bray is around, looking for you because he can’t find Alex.”
My pulse skipped a beat. “He’s here?”
“He tracked Ben down to the house clean. Don’t worry, Alex is safely hidden away at your cottage. He didn’t get to her, and Ben told him ye didn’t have her with ye. But he’s sure Barrington is lurking.”
I exhaled hard, my brain whirring where the rotor blades had just stopped. “Why didn’t ye tell me?”
“It wouldn’t have changed our actions in any way. Ben and Valentine handled it. She’s safe, and we were flying back at speed. Distracting the pilot is never a good idea.”
He was right, but I hated being out of the loop.
“Trust in your team,” Jackson warned. “Ben instructed Val to watch Bray. He’s across the loch at the village, in the pub, maybe to hide out from the rain.”
I swore, jamming my fingers into my hair. “Fine. I’ll need to see him. Or for him to see and stalk me. I’ll lead him back to Braithar then challenge him. He can search all he likes but he won’t find her. Does that sound good?”
“Aye. Pretty much what the boss suggested.”
Which meant not seeing Alex. Not getting to witness her face light up when Dori appeared, or to see if she did as Jackson said and still looked to me.
“Can ye…” I jerked my head at Dori in the back.
“I’ve got him.”
I jumped out and opened the door to release the count, rain spattering my face.
“Jax is going to drive ye to Alex. I have something else to do. But keep your head down. One of the people hunting her is around.”
Dori tilted his head, his expression shifting to the aristocrat I’d first seen at the nightclub, when he’d been outraged at getting kicked out. “Who?”
“Barrington Bray, the head of her old security team. Have ye met him?”
“Once or twice, so he knows my face.”
“Which means you’ll need to lie low.”
I wheeled around, needing to get to my car and out of here. I was fucking disappointed that I couldn’t see Alex. I didn’t want to show it.
Dori called my name. “Thank you. I mean that. It’s been a shit couple of weeks and I’d be stuck at the embassy trying to arrange an emergency passport if it wasn’t for you. You saved my skin.”
I had so many questions, but at the same point, they weren’t for me to ask. “Just glad to help a friend of Alex’s. Again.”
On that, I left him to lead a hunter on a wild goose chase.