Riders (Riders, #1)(55)

As a soldier in the US Army, I was prepared to do whatever was asked of me because I believed, down to my soul, that the uniform I’d wear as a Ranger represented the defense of liberty and freedom, and the country I love. I’d chosen to serve because I could fight and because until wars stopped happening, people like me were needed. I had zero problem doing whatever it took to keep harm from coming to innocent people. Zero problem. Period, exclamation point, and freakin’ hooah.

I hadn’t had that kind of clarity since I’d become War, though. I hadn’t known what I was fighting for—or really, against. But sitting in that dark cargo plane, it started coming together for me. My enemies were demons, but it was still my duty to protect the innocent. Realizing that was a huge relief.

After chewing on that for a while, I still wasn’t tired. I thought about how Bastian could call up his scales and his horse so easily. I needed that kind of proficiency with my tools. For a while I tried to summon my sword by focusing on the cuff and thinking, Here. Appear. Now. Then I tried praying, which I hadn’t done in a really long time. That didn’t work but I felt better afterward, like I’d been missing out. Then I tried meditating, which I’d never done and ended up sucking at. Nothing worked. The sword eluded me, so.

I moved on.

At the airport, I’d asked Daryn to buy me a travel guide of Italy. I pulled that and my penlight from my pack and spent a couple hours reading it, paying extra attention to the maps of Rome and to the major transportation outlets—train stations, bus stations, waterways, et cetera. I’d always done okay in school, but my mind worked much better for missions. When details mattered, I was capable of storing away a ton of material. I sucked that guide down. By the time we were over Arkansas, I had a solid map of Rome in my head and some ideas for how to handle getting us safely off the cargo plane onto Italian ground.

With my eyes burning from the lateness and the reading, I put the book away. Aiming the penlight at my companions, I ascertained that Marcus and Sebastian were still asleep. Marcus was twitching like mad, having the nightmare of his life, which pleased me greatly. A few feet past him, Daryn was only pretending to sleep. This I deduced because when I put the light on her face, she flipped me off.

I sat back, smiling at the darkness for a minute. Then I grabbed my radio, and brought it close to my lips before I could talk myself out of it.

“Special Agent Daryn Martin. Come in please, Ms. Martin. This is War. Over.”

Over the drone of the engines, I couldn’t hear my message register on her radio, but she did. I saw her digging around in her bag. A few seconds later, her voice came through my radio.

“Yes, Gideon?”

I pressed the talk button. “You will?”

“I will what?”

“I just asked you to come over here and you said yes.”

“You didn’t ask that.”

“But you answered anyway. Come here.”

“No.”

“You’re messing up the balance of the plane. We’re going to fly in circles unless you come here.”

“Your ego’s weighing that side down just fine.”

I laughed. “Is that another no?”

“Affirmative.”

“What did you write about me in your notebook?”

Now she laughed but not into the radio. I heard it far away, under the sound of the engines.

“Actually, I was writing about you. You were really great tonight. Thanks for getting us here. I knew you would, but … thanks.”

I stared at my radio. Had she written about what I’d done or about me? There was a pretty big difference. But it was still awesome. It’d been a long time since praise had hit me that hard. Weird, because she was basically still a stranger. I’d been with her for days and I still knew almost nothing about her. That gave me an idea.

I pressed the talk button. “Daryn. Tell me three things about yourself. Think of it as my reward for a job well done. Just three. They can be anything.”

There was a long stretch of nothing but engine drone. I kept waiting for her to tell me no. Bastian and Marcus were still sound asleep.

“Okay,” she said, finally. “Three things. First one … I have a sister. Her name is Josie. Josephine. She’s four years older than me and she’s a science nerd. Ask her anything about the planets, or about the weather, or the periodic table or any random sciency thing, and she knows the answer. She’s so smart. She knew from the time she was little that she wanted to be a doctor. I bet she’ll be starting medical school soon. She wanted to go to Purdue. I bet that’s where she’s going. Josie—she does the things she says she’s going to do. She’s amazing like that and … and I miss her.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” I asked.

“Two hundred and eighty-one days ago. And that should count as the second thing since I just answered another quest—”

I hit the talk button. “That was a subset of the first thing and don’t joke around about this. I busted my ass for these so no cutting corners.”

“You get mad so easily,” she said, laughing.

“You drive me to it. That’s why.”

“So, it’s not because you have a temper?”

“Don’t change the subject. Thing number two, go.”