Jackknife 29
Chapter 29 Pizza Party
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[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]
[21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]
The drive home was quiet. No Toyotas, no escorts, no screaming console. Just the hum of the road, Commander Ute at the wheel. Ms. Hildegard Ute as she was off duty now. Heading back into ordinary life.
Cray had delivered the cargo, survived the fortress, and collected his pay. The rest was silence. The job was finished. He was finished with it.
Marie met him at the door, arms crossed, eyes sharp, but softening when she saw the wear in his face.
“You look like you’ve been through a war,” she said.
“Something like that.”
Cray kissed her cheek, dropped his bag of dirty laundry by the stairs, and let the warmth of home wash over him.
Ian arrived not long after, carrying a six-pack under each arm—one with alcohol for himself, the other alcohol-free for Cray—grinning like he’d been waiting for this moment all along.
“You promised me pizza night, I’m here to collect.”
Cray laughed hoarsely.
“Fair enough. Let’s order big. Pepperoni, sausage, extra cheese. The works. No green peppers on one though.”
They gathered filled the kitchen table with boxes of pizza. The chaos of monitored calls, conspiracies, and contracts faded into the background. Here, there were only Cray’s people.
Ian raised his can in salute.
“To surviving the parade.”
Cray raised his own.
“To finishing the delivery.”
Marie added softly, “To coming home.”
They toasted and laughed. Cray felt he was in a dream. Just a man at his own table, eating pizza with the people who mattered.
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