“Hear, hear,” Sam says again.
But then Clement throws Ranger a sideways look.
“Still, hijacking–even fake hijacks–aren’t part of the usual deal. I don’t think even Irma would go that far.”
Ranger snorts.
“Leave your aunt out of it,” he growls. “You don’t want to go there.”
But I’m confused and raise my brows at this strange comment.
“Wait, what?” I ask. “I thought fake hijacks are part of the new training protocol. You know, have an air marshal pretend to be a terrorist—”
“Of course they’re not,” Clement snorts before clapping Ranger on the back. “This dude just went off the reservation, that’s all. Yo, what were you thinking, my man, scaring everyone and their mother on the flight like that? Didn’t that old dude in the back have a heart attack because of your actions? I hate to say it, bud, but you deserved to be fired.”
My mouth falls open in shock as I look at Ranger to see whether these words are true or not. They can’t be, right? After all, Ranger told me that his actions were legit, but when I stare at him questioningly, the handsome man won’t meet my gaze.
“Ranger, is this true?” I ask in a slow voice. “The hijacking thing was unauthorized? You weren’t supposed to do it, and now TSA has fired you?”
The huge man looks uncomfortable for a moment, but then shrugs. “Yeah, but it’s no big deal–”
“No big deal?” I interrupt in a disbelieving tone. “You pretend hijacked a plane! Thatisa big deal, especially after 9-11!”
He shrugs once more.
“It doesn’t really matter, Sydney,” he says in an off-hand voice like he doesn’t care. Still, I can tell that he does care from the rapidly beating pulse in his throat. “You know I was only a part-time air marshal anyways. I mean, of course, I’m sorry about the old guy who had a heart attack. I never meant for that to happen, but you know that for me, personally, getting fired isn’t anything. The air marshal thing was just a side gig, and I never depended on my income from the job.”
His words show a degree of callousness that make me stop in my tracks, even as I stare at him. Meanwhile, Clement narrows his eyes and Sam lets out a snort that doesn’t sound amused at all.
“Yeah, it’s all about the money, isn’t it bud?” Sam breathes. “What a fucking asshole.”
“I heard the dude in the hospital almost died,” Clement adds in a scornful voice. “Yeah, you did that, bud.”
Now my date looks incensed, his brows dropping.
“Shut the fuck up,” Ranger snaps. “The incident happened and now it’s over and done with, okay? Admittedly, I took things a little too far, but I’ve paid the price. It’s time to move on.”
“I guessyoucan just go ahead and move on from it since this isn’t your real job,” Clement rolls his eyes. “But what about that old dude? Besides, Sam and I are still air marshals, and we don’t exactly get to run off whenever the going gets tough.”
Ranger snorts.
“You know what? I don’t need this. You two fuck-ups are just a bunch of meatheads who don’t know anything about–”
But then there’s a loud crack as Sam punches Ranger in the mouth. It happens so fast that I don’t even realize it at first. But Ranger’s dark head snaps back painfully, and then everything descends into chaos. The fight takes off with men punching and kicking one another, brawling as if they’re crazed fans at a football game. Of course, I scramble out of the way immediately. There’s no way I want to risk getting injured when suddenly, someone grabs me from behind. At first, I figure they’re pulling me to safety, but then I turn and see that it’s Sam, who’s dragging me off with rough pushes and shoves.
“Hey!” I exclaim. “What are you doing?”
But Sam practically has me in a half-nelson now, and he continues to drag me through the melee as I kick and scream.
“Hey!” I shriek again. “Let go!”
Ranger immediately spins around, but then some unnamed person smashes a bottle over his head, and I watch as my man collapses to the floor. Meanwhile, Sam sniggers while continuing to force me out of the bar.
“Spoiled little bitch,” he snarls. “That asshole really fed you a crock of shit, didn’t he? What a fucking loser. A rich CEO gets hired for a job that he’s not even equipped to do, hijacks a plane and doesn’t get arrested for it! What the hell has the world come to? Talk about fucking injustice.”
I struggle as Sam continues to pull me towards the door.
“Stop!” I beg. “Please stop!”