By the time we got to the silver, luxury-style helicopter parked privately at the airstrip, Declan and Monte were right behind us. Liam was already off his bike, arms crossed with a grin on his face, as if he had waited hours—the asshole.

Saying nothing to him, I walked right onboard to find Antonio and Neal salivating over sniper rifles like kids on Christmas morning.

At least I don’t have to worry about Irish and Italian feuding between them.

“I’m glad to see your loyalty is still so easily bought, brother.” Liam glared at him as he took a seat.

Or not.

Neal froze, and I saw a speck of anguish go through his eyes. Liam must have seen it as well, because he didn’t stop whatever mental assault he was delivering. It was like he could see into his brother’s soul.

Can all siblings do this?

“Jinx,” I said as loudly as possible.

Liam, Declan, and Neal all looked around to find the person behind the name, but no one came. A second later, the helicopter’s engine kicked on and a soft voice broke out over our headphones. “Benvenuto a bordo,⁸ ma’am. I will have us to Delaware in forty.”

Monte sat before me in the seat Fedel normally would be in and turned to Liam, who also sat across from me. “Jinx is our master aviator. If it goes in the sky, he can fly it.”

“That’s his name?” Neal asked, “Jinx? I feel safer already.”

Monte sneered. “If he’s good enough for the Boss, he’s good enough for you cane.”

Antonio snickered.

“Cane? What the fuck did you just call me?

So much for no feuding.

“It means dog.” Liam glared at me.

Was he waiting for me to do something? His brother started it. Rolling my eyes, I looked to Monte who muttered something under his breath. Neal hunched over like a cane and focused in on his rifle.

I knew Antonio could shoot to kill in any sort of condition. The wind and darkness of the evening wouldn’t be an issue. It wasn’t the first time he had done it in such conditions. However, I was testing Neal, and if he didn’t pass, this would be the last time he worked closely with me. At least until he became better. I already had an idea of Declan’s skills. Seeing as he was the one who had “hacked” into my computers. I made it easy for him, but he still did it quicker than I expected.

“You will be monitoring the GPS,” Liam stated, finally catching up.

Monte nodded, and Liam turned to me.

“Declan can hack into the surrounding frequencies and keep track. The area should be filled with paramedics, cops, and the coast guard,” Liam said, and in his eyes he was daring me to agree, now of all times.

Seeing as he was being a good little boy, I would let him have his moment of dominance. Monte looked at me, and I nodded. I had planned to have Declan on the sea with me since he was great with hand-to-hand combat as well and we may need it, but sure, Liam could pretend he helped. Once finished, Monte stood up quickly to get out of the negative bubble created by Liam and me.

He did not say a word, but I could see Liam’s mind racing, and I could tell he didn’t like me being here. I almost wanted to tell him to get the fuck over it, but the helicopter was tense enough. Declan and Monte were focused on the four sets of laptops between them, while Antonio and Neal both kept checking their rifles. They seemed close already since Neal threw him a pack of chewing tobacco and Antonio accepted it like it was gold. One moment they were fighting, the next they are trading toys.

Finally, when my eyes fell back on Liam, I found him watching me. He didn’t look away like most people would when caught staring. Instead, he just stared harder, as if I were a book he was trying to read, but it was in a language he didn’t understand.

“Yes?”

He shook his head. “We’re here.”

And sure enough, the helicopter began its illegal descent on the beach.

“Sir, ma’am,” Declan said, looking between us both. “We have a problem.”

“What?” Liam and I asked at the same time.

Monte clicked away at his computer. “The Valero have just gotten the recorder and are heading further out to sea. They have a boat waiting.”

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the button overhead. “Jinx, take us . . .” I looked over at Declan and Monte for the coordinates.

“38.09, -72.50,” they both said, quickly.

Liam nodded, looking over at Antonio and Neal as the helicopter pulled up. “They’ll bring it to us. Melody and I will wait on their boat. You guys will shoot from the door.”

They nodded while Liam stood up and looked over to me. He was doing so well until he opened his mouth again. “Or you can shoot and Neal and I can go.”

Standing up, I glared right back at him. “Give me a rifle and the bullet goes in your spine,” I told him as I waited by the helicopter door. Jinx was going to have to circle around continuously. Liam stood in front of me, hand on the door handle and just stared at me, once again. Always with the staring, the creeper. For a moment, in the midst of the storm that was in his eyes, I saw worry. He was fucking worried about me, the fucker. This was not my first—nor would it be my last—jump out of an aircraft. He needed to grab his balls and take a shot of testosterone, because I wasn’t worried for shit. I just wanted this over so I could drink myself to sleep.

Monte walked over to hand us parachutes, but we both shook our heads. They would only slow us down enough to be shot. We need to drop down quick and hard.

“Jinx, take us as low as possible,” I said.

Our stomachs dipped as we felt the helicopter drop. Somehow, knowing before Jinx even had to speak, Liam opened the door and in the darkness of the night, we could both see the yacht waiting below. He looked back at me, but I ignored him and pushed off the wall to jump. The moment the cold breeze hit my skin, I braced myself for the impact of the deck. When my body landed, I rolled as bullets came flying my way.

Grabbing onto my gun, I turned and shot one right between his eyes just as Liam dropped onto the shoulders of another. There were screams and curses in Russian as Liam dove right beside me.

“Come here often?” he said, chuckling as adrenaline clearly pumped through his veins. I supposed he was no longer seeing me as a china doll in that moment, but as another person on his side. Finally, the dipshit.

“Not really.” I tried not to smirk back as more Russians came shooting at us. “The hospitality here is fucking shit.”

“You should write a strongly worded letter.”

Rolling my eyes, I turned and shot a man on the top deck in the kneecap. “This is more eco-friendly. Save the trees, and all that shit.”

He grinned and then shot the man now screaming in pain in the head. “I was never good at recycling.”

Two more men came forward, one right behind Liam, and another behind me. We both raised our hands as they yell at us.

“Kto vy? Vy lokhi!”⁹ they shouted at us.

Liam smiled at me—he truly smiled for once—obviously enjoying this. “Ya, Liam Kallahan. Eto moy zhenikh, vy tozhe mertv.”¹⁰

Just as the man finished, bullets went into the side of their heads, courtesy of Antonio and Neal, before the helicopter spun out of view once again. A second later, Liam’s phone rang and he placed it on speaker.

“They are four miles away and will be there shortly,” Declan said. Liam said nothing before hanging up as I reached down to grab their guns.

“Yarygin or Stechkin Pistol?” I asked him, causing him to frown.

“The Russians can’t make guns for shit,” he said in disgust, and he had a point.

Smiling, we began to throw the few bodies overboard as we waited for our friends. It only took a second, and by that time, we had thrown the overweight, drunken Russians off.