Chapter 28

"We"ll be on the ground any minute now."

Nash had said the same thing five minutes ago and they still hadn"t landed yet. The wheels were down, and he could see the ground approaching, but they had yet to actually land. Then, as if the pilot knew how impatient he was, he felt the gentle thwump of touching down.

Luke had his seat belt off and was jumping out of his seat before the wheels were firmly on the ground.

"You do realize you won"t get off any faster just because you"re standing up. The plane needs to taxi to a stop and the flight attendant needs to open the door before you can go anywhere."

Yes, he knew all that and Nash reminding him only further ticked him off. Caden got word when they were thirty minutes out that Tex"s team had a visual on the aircraft and was intercepting Monica. He hadn"t heard anything since, and it was driving him insane.

"What"s taking so long?"

"Impatience doesn"t suit you." Luke looked over to scowl at his friend, but Caden didn"t have the decency to look up from his computer. "You need to calm down."

He would calm down after he had eyes on Monica. Until then, his friends could deal with his shitty attitude.

It was another five minutes before they came to a stop and the lone flight attendant approached the door. Luke was right behind her ready to exit the moment he was able.

He raced down the steps and almost came to a screeching halt when he found Monica sitting on the ground with three large men surrounding her. The last report he received said nothing about her being hurt.

"What happened?" was all he could manage as he got closer.

"Nothing," Monica tried to reassure him. "I just need to eat something."

Someone had already given her a protein bar, so he figured at least part of what Monica said was true.

Luke looked to the man who seemed to be in charge for further answers.

"I think it was a combination of hunger and the adrenaline dump that made her pass out. She was only out for a few seconds."

"See? I"m fine."

Fine was a stretch but he wasn"t about to argue.

"Thank you . . ."

"Wolf. This here"s Mozart and Dude. It was our pleasure. We"re just happy we were in the area when you needed us."

"From the way Tex made it sound, he had a couple of teams ready to go if needed."

Wolf laughed. "That"s Tex for you. His resources are endless." The man turned back to Monica. "It was nice to meet you, Monica. Next time you"re in the area, hit us up. We would love for you to meet our wives. I think you'd like them."

His girl gave Wolf a hesitant smile, but she thanked him and said that would be lovely. The longer she sat on the ground, the more he was convinced she wasn"t fine at all. It made him wonder what had happened after she was abducted.

Luke waited while thank yous were exchanged again between his friends and the three guys who showed up to help. He barely knew the men, but he would forever be in their debt for how they helped Monica.

His first reaction, once they were alone, was to scoop Monica up and carry her straight back to the plane. But instead, he sat down next to her while they waited for the authorities to show up to deal with Fletcher and Silverstein.

"How are you really feeling?"

Monica pressed her side against him and laid her head down on his shoulder. "Truly, I"m fine. I missed lunch and my head is pounding from whatever that guy put on the rag to knock me out. I"m sure Wolf was right when he mentioned an adrenaline dump. I feel like I"ve run a marathon and could now sleep for a solid two days."

He could work with that. Luke shifted until he was kneeling. With one arm under her legs and the other on her back, he scooped her up.

"Let"s get you on the plane so I can feed you and let you rest."

Monica"s head fell to his shoulder as she moaned. "Of course, the ride back needs to be on an airplane."

That made him pause. "You don"t like airplanes?" It never came up in any of their discussions, and as far as he knew, she regularly traveled for work. He just assumed some of those required her to fly, like when she went to Rome.

"It"s not that I don"t like it. I just prefer to be mentally prepared. At least a solid day in advance preferably."

"Would you like to spend a night somewhere?"

They didn"t have a car, and all he knew was they were somewhere in California. It hadn"t been pertinent at the time because Tex assured them his team had considered this abandoned airport as one of the few locations Fletcher would use.

"No, it"s fine. I want my bed. Well, your bed," Monica mumbled. "You know what I mean."

"It"s our bed, and yes, I know exactly what you mean."

He continued his walk back to the plane. Once inside, he asked the flight attendant to get them something to eat. Considering the abrupt need to borrow the private jet, the options were limited, but the flight attendant managed to scrounge up enough to hold Monica over until they landed back in Seattle.

As soon as she was done eating, she snuggled right up to him and immediately fell asleep.

"I"m not sure how you met Tex," Luke said to Caden, "but I"m grateful for it. Without his assistance, this could have been so much worse."

"Those of us in the cyber world tend to stick together. Especially in this line of work."

It was the vaguest answer he had ever heard, but it wasn"t his right to question his friend. He wasn"t his boss. They were all equal partners, and if Caden wanted to keep a secret, then so be it. In the end, it had helped him.

The rest of the flight home was quiet. He focused on Monica while Caden worked on his laptop. Nash kept to himself in the back of the plane. By the time they landed, he was more than ready to sweep Monica into his arms and take her back to his apartment.

As soon as they debarked the plane, Amelia rushed over and threw her arms around a barely awake Monica.

"I"m so, so sorry." Amelia"s tears were just as intense now as they had been earlier that day. "I never should"ve left you."

"You were taking your lunch. There"s no way you could"ve known." Monica leaned heavily on him as she attempted to soothe her secretary.

"From now on we eat together."

"Sounds good." The words were garbled around a huge yawn.

"Time to go." Luke redirected Monica to where his truck was parked. "Amelia, please let Carmichael know Monica is taking the morning off. Possibly the whole day tomorrow. I suggest you do the same."

He didn"t wait around to see how Amelia responded to his request, and he figured Monica had no argument against it. If she had felt strongly, he would have heard about it. Instead, she curled up in the passenger seat and was sleeping before they left the parking lot.

Luke would join her just as soon as they were safe in bed.