The Traitor ✓ (Book Six)

Chapter Fifty One

  Her words bounce around in my head as I make my way back to Maria, who's leaning against the side of the steps, impatiently tapping her foot.

"What was that about?" She asks.

"Nothing important." I shrug. Even though I'm not paid to be her bodyguard anymore, I feel a need to protect her.

And her eyes say a thousand words.

"Come on, I know you're bullshitting me. We've spent enough time together for me to know better. The way your eyebrow twitches when you're lying is so obvious. Also, even though you try to suppress it, your voice hitches up."

"Maria it doesn't concern you. Let's get home so we can talk." I glance up at the plane. "This thing is probably crawling with bugs."

She nods, understanding what I mean. An important person like Lauren doesn't just let people use her $70 million dollar jet without bugging the shit out of it so she can use the conversations against them.

I take Maria's bag as she climbs the steps. They are steep, and a fall could mean breaking something.

When she's in the door, out of sight, I ascend them myself. The scene feels too familiar. The last time I was on this plane was less than three months ago. Then, I was terrified. Now, I'm even more so. Because the very person that helped me is capable of arranging a crash.

Let's just hope it doesn't come to that.

So when an attendant starts to retract the stairs, I force myself to relax and be logical. Lauren wouldn't kill us in a plane crash. If she did, it would be something more instantaneous arranged.

There are so many ways, and hitmen are so creative.....

I unconsciously pull Maria close.

"What did she say to you?" She wiggles out of my grasp. "God you're being clingy. Not that I mind but-"

"Not now." I look around, scanning for any visible ones.

"But-"

"No." I sigh. "I promise I will tell you what I can when we are home. Where... where will be living? We never talked about that."

She thinks for a second.

"Your house. It has a certain..... character my dad's and the apartment don't."

Because it's older than god himself, I think to myself. Renovations can only do so much, but like she said the character is unrivaled.

"Alright-"

"Damon and María?" A man I'm assuming is the pilot says.

"That's us." Maria replies.

"Lauren specifically instructed me to get you the best seats. The flight attendant can make you anything you want, we've got enough food on board to feed a thousand people at all times-"

"We're not hungry." I say. "And.....I'm sorry could we just have the normal ones? We're not used to this.... Type of treatment."

I put on a fake smile, really trying to give off the vibes that we're just poor friends of the president of the United States.

"Oh.... Of course. Right over there- we should be taking off in a few minutes." He states. "Let the flight attendant know if you need anything."

  My mind wanders back to the Australia trip. On the way back, me and a few other off duty agents sat in similar seats on Air Force one. We got to talking about how overworked we felt, and one of them said he felt as if he were going insane. We never brought this up to anybody, of course. We wanted to keep our jobs.

  Well, me personally- I didn't have a choice.

  I played along so nobody would suspect anything.

  "I mean..... she's an amazing First Lady and all, but you'd think she'd care about the people keeping her alive more."  Another agent suggested.

  "She does care." I insisted. "You just like to keep yourself blind so you don't see your protectees as people and get too attached. You've always done it. At the governor's mansion, you refused to use any of the benefits or amenities even when he offered because you looked tired."

The agent shrugged, and Ella injected herself into the conversation. "She acts like I don't exist sometimes. But I guess that's just part of the job."

  "Plane will take off in two minutes." The pilot says over a speaker system.

  Maria grabs my hand and closes her eyes.

  "Are you afraid of heights?" I turn to her.

  "A little bit." She admits.

  On that flight home, as I opened my mouth to respond to Ella- all four of us agents got simultaneous beeps from our walkie talkies.

  We knew that something was wrong, and we let Ella answer hers.

  "Unidentified plane spotted on the radar just a thousand feet away. Agents with experience in operating the weaponry needed in cockpit NOW!'"

  We all stood up at the same time, running through sections of Air Force one until we reached the private presidential one, right behind the cockpit.

  "What's going on-" Kyle asked.

  "Someone will let you know when we know." I said in a rush. We crowded into the cockpit. There was a military officer standing by, since he knew how to operate similar equipment, but he knew we had more accuracy training.

  I dove into the weaponry operations pod just below the cockpit without being asked. I listened to the conversations above to wait for my cue, if one was to come.

  "IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO SHOOT YOU DOWN!"

  The pilot and military officer simultaneously screamed into communication devices. When they gave the plan five chances to respond, and one last straw, I was given the signal.

  The scene was something straight out of World War Two.

  I brought that plane down.

  It was not the first or the last assassination attempt on Air Force one.

  "Possible failed assassination attempt after a plane was brought down by Air Force one for refusing to identify itself"

  We and the media later found out the plane's pilot was a female, acting solo- who died upon the impact of crashing from ten thousand feet in the air.

  "Damon?" Maria says just as it takes off again.

  "Yeah? What is it?"

  "Let's get married."

  I immediately turn my entire body towards her, my thoughts stuttering. What?

  "Maria... Have you thought this through?"

  "Sure I have. It's gonna happen eventually, so why not?"

  But..... why now?"

  She smirks. "Well if the most powerful person in the world is contemplating whether or not to off us, I assume we don't have very long left."

"Okay."

  "Okay?"