Madam President ✓

96. No Going Back

Tanya

The pilot in front of us does not immediately move. He stands there, stunned- his body language otherwise unreadable.

  "You're......am I.... an accomplice to something that shouldn't be happening?" He stutters, choosing his words very carefully like he thinks I'm gonna kill him or end up getting him killed somehow.

  "Let's just say....that depends on what angle you look at it from. Chop chop." I squeeze past him and walk a few feet to the already extended air stairs. Leo stays behind while the rest of us board- having a former military pilot to current pilot discussion. During that twelve hour flight, with nothing else to do, we learned a lot about each other we never would have thought to ask.

There was, for instance- a sitting Congressman Melissa slept with five years ago, when he was just a city councilman. Carlos knew, not that it matters- since there was nothing even slightly illegal about what they did. One could argue his influence as a councilman was negligible, almost nonexistent. It would be a completely different story if she was working for him now and it happened, just as it would be an even bigger deal if Anthony or I pulled something like that. Oh wait-

Carlos and Leo's closeness came from so much more than the whole saving his life thing. During boot camp, they'd often be woken up in the middle of the night for training exercises, and because their bunks were right next to each other's- they were stuck together as partners more often than not.

Alex tried to kill herself multiple times in multiple different ways after Amber died- each attempt was unsuccessful for one reason or another, thank god.

Lynn was actively having a miscarriage the day of the bombings. She hadn't told anybody- her ex boyfriend didn't even know she was pregnant, and because she's always concealed her personal issues- nobody could tell. None of us quite knew what to say after that.

Leo and our pilot finally board, shutting the air-stairs behind them. Leo gives a slight nod and comes to join us, grabbing onto one of the handles bolted to the side of the plane. He ends up in a spot in between two extremely large barrels of petroleum- and the entire time we're taking off all I can think about is how much I hope the damn things are strapped down properly. The rest don't seem as concerned.

I lean back, trying to breathe through my mouth so I don't inhale the foul smell of gas for an hour and a half.

Even if I wanted to, there is no going back now.