28. Dax #2
Once we exited the terminal, I stopped at the café off to the right, and it was a busy little place if the cars were any indicator.
The place was called Plane Tasty, which had me snickering.
Got to love a good pun, especially when it fits the atmosphere.
The inside of the café was painted Tiffany blue and silver like we’d just landed in the fifties.
The floor was the traditional black and white checker squares, but I was disappointed not to see the waitstaff wearing roller skates.
The guys waved when they spotted us in a huge corner booth that fit all of them with room for the rest of us to join them. Sliding in, I sat next to Eagle, who dropped a kiss on my lips before setting a mug of coffee in front of me.
“Warning, it’s strong and bitter,” Eagle whispered. “Pretty sure that had to be simmering in that pot for a full day before they served it.”
“It can’t be that bad,” I argued and took a sip.
The second it hit my tongue, I knew what he meant. It tasted burned and gritty, like they had left the coffee grounds in it. “What the fuck is this shit?”
Everyone chuckled at my reaction, and I noticed each of them had a mug set off to the side, untouched.
“Janice should be back if you want to ask her,” Wes commented.
“Yeah, and I’d like to get food that isn’t spat in,” I grumbled. “Please tell me they have Coke. At least that will have a decent amount of caffeine.”
Grabbing a menu, I looked over it and was impressed with the selection of breakfast food. You could get pretty much any meat with eggs and pancakes. Then there were the eggs benedict and other common options that made my stomach rumble.
“Ah… so we have two more joining you,” a woman stated with a raspy voice that reminded me of crabby old Carol.
“Do you have Coke products?” I asked.
“No, we have RC,” she answered.
“That’s okay. What about chocolate milk?” I inquired.
Janice looked me up and down. “While you look tiny, I don’t think you’re twelve and under. Chocolate milk only comes with the kids’ meal.”
“Of course, it does… because what grown adult would possibly want that,” I muttered under my breath. “Water is gonna be great, thank you.”
She just grunted and turned to Cognac. “Orange juice?”
“Is that a question or what you’re ordering?” Janice demanded.
“I’d like a glass of orange juice, please,” Cognac tried again.
Jotting it down on her pad, she nodded and left. When I was sure she was far enough away, I turned to the others. “We aren’t staying here. Once Harper and Jaxson show up, we are leaving and finding someplace else to eat.”
“About that…” Ghost started to say when a man walked up and began to put plates of food down. “We already ordered. None of us knew if you were going to be sleeping longer or not.”
Groaning, I dropped my head to the table.
“What’s wrong with her?” Harper’s voice asked.
“Bad coffee,” Wes commented.
Not bothering to lift my head, I let out a sigh. “You know, if some disaster wanted to happen right now, I’d be totally okay with that. Probably won’t because it only manages to occur when I’m about to take a bite of food, but who knows… maybe this time I can make it work for myself.”
“Dax,” Magnus said, his voice edged with warning.
Slowly, I lifted my head to see men in suits and three black SUVs outside. A man got out of one of the SUVs and entered the diner, walking right up to us.
“Holy fuck, I didn’t think that was going to work,” I whispered.
“Hello, it seems when we spoke to Mr. Black about his meeting today, we didn’t stress the importance of all his team joining him. If you could, I think we should be able to fit everyone between the three vehicles,” the man said as he gestured for us to go ahead of him.
I started to laugh at just how absurd this whole interaction was. “You have got to be shitting me. Do you really think we’re just going to climb in your car and take us to God knows where? Sorry, pal, but you got the wrong people if you think that’s gonna fly.”
“Mrs. Blackmore, while I applaud your caution, it’s not going to make a difference. You’ll all come with us willingly, or we’ll make it happen without your consent,” he informed me. “So if you please, your husband is waiting in the first vehicle if you wish to speak to him about this matter.”
That had my attention. “Cam is here?”
“I believe that’s what I just said,” he retorted, then spoke into a radio, “Can you please roll down the window for Mr. Black?”
The first SUV’s passenger window rolled down, and there indeed was Cam, with a furious expression on his face.
Slowly, everyone got up from the booth, and Wes tossed down some cash for the meal.
The café had gone quiet as they watched us getting marched out by a single man in a suit.
My anger was starting to build as we stepped outside, and the doors to the vehicles were opened.
Cam began to get out, but another man stopped him. “If you don’t want my wife to lose her shit, then I suggest you let me out to prove I’m alright. Otherwise, you might be losing a few good men to your bravado.”
The agent who stopped him looked behind us to the man who’d come to collect us. “It’s fine. Whatever will get things to move along faster.”
Instantly, Cam was out of the car and had me wrapped in his arms. “Listen to me carefully and don’t react.
This is a black-ops team for the CIA, and they want to use us to get to Marco.
They assumed when I asked to come over to their side, I’d be bringing you with me.
I’m so sorry there was nothing I could do, they already knew where you were. ”
Nodding my head, I pulled back. “You’re okay?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
“Better now,” he said, giving me a halfhearted smile.
“Let’s go. We’ve drawn enough attention as it is.”
Cam and I climbed into the first SUV with Void and Wes. Harper and her guys took the next one while Eagle, Cognac, Picasso, Sprocket, and Alvaro fit in the last one. We had the driver, the man who came in to get us, and another agent who sat in the back with Void.
“Where exactly do you plan on taking us?” I asked. “Something tells me it’s not Langley for a meeting.”
“You’d be correct, but I can’t tell you where we’re going. That’s privileged information,” our kidnapper answered.
“Any chance we get to know your name? Or do I just keep getting to call you Agent Kidnapper in my head?” I inquired.
He shifted to look back at me. “Agent Kidnapper? Is that the best you could come up with?”
“Sorry, if you want my finer works of art, you’re gonna need to give me more to work with. So far, it’s been saving me from shit coffee and kidnapping. I suppose I could go with Agent Meanie or Agent Pisses-Me-The-Fuck-Off… any of those catch your fancy?” I drawled.
“You can call me Agent Casper,” he responded.
Rolling my eyes, I let out a huff of laughter. “Why, because you’re a ghost?”