"Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose."

-Tom Krause

The flight to Dubai felt like a lifetime, and Emily had never felt more uncomfortable flying first class. Thoughts and memories played over and over in her mind. This delusional attempt to play house would not last long, no matter if she played along or not. The spy in her head told her to just play along, gather information, seduce Ian into a sense of ease, after all, she'd done it once before. The profiler in her characterized Ian's behavior; he seemed calm, like things were going well. His silence indicating his control over her situation, he knew the awkward silence was making her uneasy. Eventually however, his grand delusion would be shattered. And shit would hit the fan…

Emily glanced down at Declan, who was slowly picking apart the Styrofoam cup that held the juice Ian had ordered for him; along with the glass of champagne for her that she refused to drink. God only knew what he'd slipped in it, when she'd escorted Declan to the bathroom. At first, she was surprised Ian had not followed them, but she realized, as Ian had, that they were 7 miles high above the Atlantic Ocean. They weren't going anywhere.

She absentmindedly chewed on her fingernails, tapping her boot anxiously on the floor.

"Emily…" Ian said sighing in annoyance at her behavior. She rolled her eyes, making sure he saw before he flipped back to the magazine he was reading. Suddenly, he pulled out his phone, apparently reading a text message, before sliding it back into his pocket. Briefly she saw the black metal of his Glock, her jaw dropping. How the hell did he get it on the plane?

"Good news, the house is ready. We can go immediately after landing." He said smugly.

"House, what house?" She asked. As far as she knew, Ian had never owned a house in Dubai.

"I sold the villa in Italy, after it was seized. Too many bad memories there, you know? I bought a villa in the Palm Islands. Seemed a perfect place for a getaway," Ian said. Emily's mind was blown, the Palm Islands? Jesus…

After hours of being on the plane staring at the clouds, Declan finally laid his head to rest on Emily's shoulder, falling into a restless sleep. She stroked his blonde hair gently. Finally she couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Ian?" She asked quietly. They were seemingly alone on this flight.

"Yes, Love?" He said, not looking up from his iPhone he was now playing Doodle Jump on.

"How did you do it?" She almost whispered at him. She was still in so much shock from seeing him in the flesh it was almost surreal.

Sighing, Ian looked up and Emily flinched at the way his glacier blue eyes pierced into her. Reflecting back to her espionage days, these were the same eyes at had petrified her from her assignment. She felt like they could see right into her soul. But she was brave, she was smart, she stuck it out, and ultimately she'd won, or so she'd thought.

"It wasn't me." He said finally.

"What do you mean it wasn't you? I should—"I should know it was you, I slept with you! Her mind protested vehemently.

"It was my twin brother, Connolly." He said rubbing his temple slowly.

"Twin? You never told me you had a twin! I thought you were an orphan?" She sputtered, dumbfounded at this revelation.

"There are a lot of things about my past I never told you, just like there were certain parts of your life you kept hidden from me." He said tersely. "But, yes me and my brother were orphans. He was adopted, but I never was. I was sick in the infirmary the day the couple came to the orphanage."

Emily just stared at him, mouth wide open.

"We never got along great. But, he uh, he held himself responsible for my not getting adopted, he felt guilty. His wife had died 4 years ago from breast cancer she'd battled for years. And then—then he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He felt he owed me, and he said if I wanted, now was the time to collect."

"So you used your identical twin brother as a human sacrifice?" Emily breathed in horror.

"No. No, I never meant for him to die, all I needed was a distraction so I could leave the country. I had already located Declan; Connolly was just keeping an eye on him for me, until I figured out a plan. I had told him about you. He knew I had killed you, or tried to, so his shock was sincere when you walked into that room. Like the living dead. I should have known you would survive, you've always been a fighter." He said shaking his head, smiling.

"I should have known you weren't dead. You've been haunting me for seven years." Emily replied dryly.

"It's the least I could do, considering what you did." Ian snapped bitterly.

Emily stopped talking, preferring not to provoke him too far in an enclosed space. It could end in a massacre, she thought.

Soon, she felt the plane descend, felt the wheels touch solid ground. She made a plan in her mind, sporadically and riskily. Most airports had double sided restrooms, connecting one door on one side straight through to an exit on the opposite side. Her and Declan could go in one side and make a break for it out the other.

Walking out of the terminal she squeezed Declan's sleepy hand tightly as Ian guided them out towards the lobby.

"Ian, I-uh, I need to use the restroom. You know, uh female emergency." She said stopping, putting a hand on his arm. "Dec, do you need to use the restroom before we leave?" Emily asked looking down at him pointedly.

"Uh, yeah, yeah I guess I could go…"He said quietly. Ian sighed and shrugged, leading them to the restrooms. Emily breathed a sigh of relief as they approached and she saw the restrooms were double sided like she had anticipated. She waited for Declan to go in, making sure Ian stayed put out front, before going in herself. As soon as she was out of sight she bee-lined it past the other woman fixing their hair and makeup, and out the other side.

Quickly looking around to make sure Ian was nowhere to be seen, she ducked into the men's room. She found Declan blow drying his hands, grabbing his wrist she whispered urgently, "Come on Dec, we're leaving. We have to hurry!" Nodding fervently, he took her hand, following her out, only to run right into her back when she came to a dead halt, because blocking the doorway was Ian Doyle, looking pissed…