And Marcus wanted to get back.
Back to Berm.
Back to the base.
Back to Elaina.
Back to a place where he could sit down for more than five minutes and actually think about what just happened.
The delivery was complete. The cargo was out of his hands. Fifty million kinah in gold coins was now secured inside his inventory along with the truck. The contract had ended cleanly.
But the route home was still a problem.
The Forest of No Return stood ahead of them like a wall.
Marcus stared at it for a few seconds longer before finally speaking.
"Yes," he said.
The pilot looked at him.
"Yeah?"
Marcus nodded.
"We're going back over it."
The pilot exhaled through his nose.
"Figured."
The co-pilot, standing beside the truck, looked toward the forest and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Not gonna lie, boss. I was hoping you'd say we were taking the long route."
"The long route takes days," Marcus replied.
"And the short route almost got us killed."
Marcus looked at him.
