Danger Close by James Sumner (classic novels for teens txt) 📕

shit to me. They left to crawl back to their general.”

Julie and Collins both laughed.

“That’s my boy,” said Julie. “How are you holding up?”

“Good… now. We have a lead on the shooter.”

“You do? What? How?”

“There’s a sewer network beneath Maville that leads out to a secluded alcove on the coast. One of the tunnels ran directly beneath the building the shot was fired from. We used our satellites and local surveillance footage and saw a speedboat approaching the tunnel entrance before the shooting. We saw someone with a bag come and go.”

“Can ya ID ’em?” asked Collins.

Jericho shook his head. “No, but we tracked the boat to Uruguay. We’re working to see where the shooter went afterward.”

“That’s great work, Jericho,” said Julie. “Keep me posted.”

“I will.” He spun around and took a seat in the shade on the steps leading up to the palace entrance. “What about you? What’s in New York?”

“Hopefully, a lead of our own,” she explained. “One of Ray’s old contacts from his pre-GlobaTech days was a fixer.”

“Aye,” added Collins. “If this was a professional job, she’ll know.”

“Worth a shot,” said Jericho.

They all fell quiet for a moment. Julie and Jericho looked at each other awkwardly on the screen. Collins noticed and was quick to decipher the silence.

He got to his feet. “Thanks for the update there, Jerry. I’m… ah… I’m just gonna… ya know… stand over there or something.”

He walked to the back of the plane and stepped behind the curtain, where Louise stood working on a laptop. She turned as he appeared, looking confused. He smiled apologetically and gestured to the curtain with this thumb.

“Just giving the two lovebirds a moment of privacy,” he said. “All this shit going on ain’t easy on any of us, but those two have it extra tough.”

Louise smiled back, relaxed. “Aren’t you considerate?”

He shrugged. “I have my moments. I’m not just the devilishly charming, handsome rogue ya see before ya.”

She rolled her eyes. “Have you ever met a woman who likes you as much as you do?”

He laughed. “A few have tried, love. They just can’t handle me.”

She turned away from her laptop to face him. “Is that right?”

“Aye. I reckon you might be able to handle me a bit too much.”

She stepped closer to him, tracing a manicured finger over his lapel. “You know, you handled yourself well before. Not many men stand up for themselves like that. Most are intimidated by me.”

He chuckled awkwardly. “Aye, well, that’s on account of ya being so damn scary, I guess.”

She moved even closer, so they were mere inches apart. In her low heels, she was almost the same height. Their lips were almost touching.

“I kinda liked it when you called me She-Hulk,” she said softly.

Collins eyes widened as a grin crept across his face. “Aye? That right?”

“Mm-hmm.” She glanced at the curtain. “Those two will be a while, right?”

“I reckon so…”

She stepped into him, pressing her lips firmly against his. When they parted, she grabbed a handful of his collar and pushed him back against the restroom door. She reached behind him to open it and navigated them both inside. The door closed to the sound of giggling. Just above it, the ENGAGED sign illuminated.

“So, basically, we hit a dead end,” said Julie, having just updated Jericho on the investigation into the bullet.

“Damn,” he replied. “Can you believe this? Any of this?”

She shook her head. “It’s a new one for me. Have you spoken with Buchanan?”

“Not since he told me about the U.N. meeting. How’s he holding up?”

“He isn’t. But you know him. He won’t ever admit it.”

“Sounds like someone else I know.”

He smiled as she gave him the finger.

“Where is he now?” he asked.

“Washington. He’ll be tied up in Senate hearings for the foreseeable. Honestly, these anti-monopoly charges are bullshit. Basically, it means we’re too big to be controlled and they don’t agree with it. I think they want to either disband GlobaTech and split it into several smaller, more manageable companies… or shut us down completely.”

“Can they do that?”

Julie shrugged. “Apparently, they can try. That’s partly why we decided to start in New York. We’re closer to Washington, should Buchanan need us.”

Jericho nodded. “Good idea. What was the alternative?”

“That place in Des Moines where we found Roachford a couple of weeks back.”

“Hmm. Ray’s sounds more hopeful, to be fair.”

“Yeah, I reckon so.”

There was a long pause.

“How are you doing, Julie?” asked Jericho.

“I’m okay…” she replied a little too quickly.

“Uh-huh. So, how are you doing, Julie?”

She smiled and rolled her eyes. “I’m… I’m fine. I don’t know. What do you want me to say? I’m focused on the job. It’s distracting me from all the personal reasons why I’m not fine, which is about the only good thing to come out of this.”

“I wish I could be there with you.”

“I do too.”

“Is Ray looking out for you?”

Julie smiled. “He is.”

“Where’d he go, anyway?”

Julie glanced over her shoulder, straining to listen over the noise of the plane. She looked back at the screen with a sheepish smile on her face.

“Sounds like he’s apologizing to the stewardess as only he can,” she said.

Jericho laughed. “Christ. What did he do?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you over a beer when all this is over. You’ll love it.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Listen, watch your six out there, okay? The moment you inject politics into a warzone, it gets complicated.”

“Tell me about it,” said Jericho with a sigh. “But we’re good. So far, it’s been about as peaceful as we could hope for. Our guys are sitting tight and keeping to themselves. The general’s taking administrative pot shots from a distance but nothing serious. The colonel and his men are good people. I trust him. We’ll keep the peace as long as we have to, whether the U.N. say it’s our job to or not.”

“Damn right.” Julie cleared her throat, shifting awkwardly in her seat. “Jericho, when all this is over, do you think we could… I don’t know… get away somewhere together?”

“What, like a vacation?”

“Yeah. Just me