I got a good grip on Damien’s upper arm. Ronnie had taught us all how to pop sockets. It was gnarly and hurt like hell, but was very necessary in our line of work.
Damien looked at me. “Not trying to sound cocky here, but you’re talking to a billionaire. People with money don’t scare me.”
I grinned. I sometimes forgot that my boyfriend’s net worth was so large. Without warning—it was best that way—I shoved upward and then inward and his joint clicked in place.
“Mother Jesus!” he hissed.
“Sorry.” I smoothed his shirt, running my hand lightly across the shoulder to make sure it was in place.
He let out a shaky breath and then rolled his shoulder.
“Better. Thanks.”
I nodded.
“So how do we get out of here? I feel like I’m ready to fall over, I’m so tired.” I wasn’t even sure that sentence came out right.
Damien nodded, bending down to pick up the gun off the unconscious dude’s belt.
“Hold this. I have a plan.”
Good. Because I was fresh out of ideas.
Three
“This only works in the movies!” I hissed.
Damien had stripped the guard and was now wearing his uniform, complete with baseball cap pulled down low.
“Well, it’s all we have. We need to get out of here and possibly into the Dream War, where we can get some real sleep.”
My eyes bugged. “You want to sleep in the Dream War! We’ll be eaten alive while we lay there resting.”
Damien shook his head. “Not if we can get to Skyhome.”
My heart pinched a little at the mention of the Galadrias’ home.
“I can’t communicate with Dawn,” I reminded him.
“I know, but I saw a helicopter out back as we were being brought in.”
Maybe I was too tired and didn’t hear that properly. I for sure hadn’t seen one.
“Did you just say helicopter?”
He wasn’t thinking what I thought he was.
No way.
Damien nodded. “I know how to fly one. Sort of. Basically. We get the chopper, pick up Jeremy and the team, and you open a hole into the Dream War while I fly us right in. We find Skyhome and sleep for three days.”
I was at that stage of sleep loss when you burst into random fits of laughter. What the hell did he just say? I cracked up, holding my stomach from laughing so hard.
Concern crossed his face. “You’re tired. We gotta do this now. Focus.”
I shook myself, trying not to think of what could go wrong. Instead I just thought of the part where he said sleep for three days. That sounded nice.
“Fine. Let’s go.” It’s not like I could open a portal in here. The congressmen would kill us right away.
I allowed him to grip my bicep. With his head down and gun drawn and pointed at me, we left the room.
I braced myself for a guard positioned at the door but there wasn’t one. Two of them were chatting in the hallway as we passed, but they gave us a quick glance and didn’t bother.
Holy shit! This really does work.
We stepped out of the hallway and back onto the main milk loading dock, where our van had pulled up on the left. Instead of going left, we went right where—I’ll be damned—there was a chopper sitting out on a green lawn.
“Hey, who the hell are you?” one of the guards asked as we walked by the loading dock.
“McNealy!” Damien shouted behind him and kept walking with me at a brisk pace.
Maybe this wasn’t going to work.
“Stop right there!” the guard yelled, and Damien shoved me behind him, before spinning, gun drawn on the guy.
What the hell? I was the one hired to protect him, not the other way around.
Bullets snipped through the air and I crouched to grab a shovel that was propped against the wall. I hated being weaponless.
Pivoting, I chucked the shovel like a spear, aiming for the guy shooting at us. Seeing it spin through the air, he flinched, taking cover.
It was just the distraction we needed.
Damien lowered his weapon and we both took off running outside like our asses were on fire. When we were about halfway to the copter, I noticed there was a pilot sitting inside of it.
“Fire it up!” Damien yelled, holding his gun out and aiming it right at the guy.
Okay, I guess we were taking a hostage now.
This plan was shit.
The blond-haired man paled and started flicking switches as we jumped into the open ‘copter door.
“You military?” Damien barked, gun to the guy’s head.
My gaze flicked to the lawn, where a handful of soldiers were running at us but not shooting. Probably didn’t want to blow up the very expensive helicopter.
The blades began to whirl as the engine kicked on.
“No, man, I’m a civilian. This guy hired me to fly him around because he lost his pilot in the Dream War.” The guy looked shaken and Damien and I shared a look.
You had to make gut calls sometimes, ones that later could get you killed if you were wrong. I nodded to Damien and he lowered the gun from the guy’s temple.
“Get us out of here now and we won’t hurt you,” Damien told the guy as the soldiers were only paces away.
With a jerking motion, the guy pulled up on the joystick and the helicopter leapt skyward. The guards on the ground looked flabbergasted.
Just wait until they played back the security footage in that room and realized I’d locked their boss in the Dream War.
Damien looked up where we were on his phone and barked directions on how to get back to our motel. While he was talking to the pilot, I quickly called my mom. I needed to warn her about the guys following her.
My mom picked up on the first ring. “Hey, sugar. What’s up?”
“Long story, Mom, but there’s a guy outside your house watching you. You and the ladies might be in danger. Can you stay at a friend’s for a bit?”
My mom was resilient. This
