Page 106 of Nobody's Hero

But Tas and Margaret had been planning this for years. They’d thought of everything.

Hadn’t they?

It didn’t matter where they landed; Smerconish wasn’t going to let them anywhere near Lake Mead . . .That was the key. Getting to the lake without Smerconish stopping them. If Koenig could get out onto the water, they were in the game. They had a chance.

‘Hey, assholes,’ Nash shouted. ‘Any chance of getting some service over here? I haven’t had my peanuts yet.’

Nash had lost blood. She’d been waterboarded. She had a bullet in her ankle and her fingers were broken. She’d be dehydrated. Koenig bet she was bored too. She wasn’t the centre of attention. Probably wasn’t used to that.

‘I’ll go,’ Koenig said. He got out of his seat and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. He twisted the cap as he approached her.

‘How you doing?’

‘Great,’ she said. ‘I’ve never been on a private plane before.’

‘Want some water?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘No, I want you to throw me out of the window,’ she said. ‘Of course I want a drink.’

Koenig took a seat and put the bottle to her mouth. She slurped at it greedily.

‘It’s not very cold,’ she said.

‘Everyone’s a critic.’

‘I’ll come for you, you know. I’ll come for all of you.’

Petulant.

Koenig smiled. ‘Maybe Ishouldthrow you out of the window.’

‘Maybe you should throw yourself out. Save yourself the pain that’s coming.’

Which gave Koenig an idea.

Something Tas wouldn’t expect.

Out of left field.

Chapter 114

‘You want to jump out of the plane?’ Draper said, like she’d been told the first line of a joke and was waiting for the punchline.

‘I have problems with the word “want”,’ Koenig replied. ‘But essentially, yes.’

‘Without a parachute?’ Draper continued.

‘It’s not as stupid as it sounds.’

‘Really? Because I have to say, it sounds pretty fucking stupid.’

‘When I was in Russia, I—’

‘I swear to God, if you say you once trained with some weird unit no one’s ever heard of so you can justify more of your bullshit, I won’t be responsible for my actions.’

‘When I was—’

‘Let me guess, some Russian assholes jumped out of planes without parachutes?’