Page 14 of Controlled Drift
Recognition rippled through the group.
A smile crept across one man’s face.“We’d be happy to take you instead.”
Before Ethan could answer, Niko stepped up beside him and pressed the barrel of his gun to the man’s head.
“No,” Niko said calmly.“You don’t get to take what’s mine.”
The shot was deafening.
Bodies dropped almost simultaneously, Victor and Tane moving in perfect sync, clearing threats with ruthless efficiency.Within seconds, the only men left standing were Black Tide.
Smoke curled into the night.
Ethan let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Niko turned toward him, eyes still blazing.“You’re late.”
Ethan smiled faintly.“Traffic.”
Chapter Three
The aircraft settledinto a sedate cruise, still flying dark, still invisible to anything that mattered.
Ethan kept them just off the expected corridors, riding airspace gaps the way he always did when he didn’t want to be logged, tracked, or remembered.No filed flight plan.No chatter.No questions asked on the way out—because there hadn’t been time to ask them, and no one left on the ground who mattered was inclined to start now.
They were four hours clear of Jakarta when his shoulders finally eased.
Not much.Just enough to breathe.
The engines hummed with a quieter note now, restrained and patient, the kind of sound that told him the jet was content to do exactly what he asked of it.He monitored systems out of habit more than concern, fingers brushing switches, eyes flicking over numbers he already knew by heart.
Behind him, the cabin was low and hushed.
The lights had been dimmed to a soft amber, throwing long shadows across bulkheads and gear racks.Bandages were stripped from sterile packets with quiet efficiency, the sound sharp in the stillness.Ethan could picture it without turning—Victor kneeling, methodical and precise, Tane hovering close enough to take over without being asked.No panic.No wasted movement.Just damage control.
He stayed facing forward because if he turned, if he watched, the tight knot in his chest would pull too hard, too fast.
