by Tara Brown
Coop sighed, "You got nothing from him?"
I shook my head, "As per the usual, we are being used as some kind of bait for something not good."
I filled them in as we walked to the truck, they had no doubt stolen, and made our way to where Jack was waiting. I slid the phone across to him, "This is Servario's. Cut the GPS and you should be able to get some interesting things from it."
He laughed, "You think a man like him has things in his phone for us to steal?"
I rolled my eyes as he disabled the GPS and started rifling through it.
I looked over at Coop, "We need to talk. You’re an ass."
He gave me a look, "Evie, he was never going to hurt you. I knew he recognized you right away when you laughed. I also knew that he would cheat to win the night with you. James was oblivious to you, but Servario is considerably smarter than he is. He is up to something, but I think you’re right. He is using us for the greater good. I hate him as a human being, but he hasn’t done a single thing yet that hasn’t helped the Burrow."
Luce folded her arms, "It was a cold move, Coop and you know it. We don’t sell out a teammate without their knowledge and consent."
He looked annoyed, "There was no time. The ball started rolling and we had to keep up. That’s what this job is, roll with the punches."
His cold way of being around me was pissing me off. I looked at Luce, "Can you take me back to the hotel? I need to freshen up, and I need some real sleep."
She winked, "Rough night?"
I nodded, "Yup." She turned and led the way. Coop grabbed my arm. I could see something in his steely eyes, "Be fast. I want to move on James and get out of here."
I pulled my arm away, "Piss off, Coop. You can play senior officer later." He smiled and I could see the cheeky remark brewing in there, but we were gone before he got the chance.
I glanced at Luce, "Coop looks weird today."
She laughed, "He got trashed last night."
I sighed, “Nice.” I caught a look in her eyes and frowned, "What?"
She shook her head innocently as we got in the truck, "Nothing."
I scowled, "Are you trying to say Coop has a thing for me and Servario being together? I already know that."
She smiled, "I'm just saying that instead of being a good agent, he gets drunk and into bar fights, or goes and fights in underground UFC matches, when you're with Servario. He doesn’t do his job, which he takes very seriously. It's odd."
I looked out the window as she drove, "Well, I'm telling you now, he doesn’t have any intention of acting out on his feelings. He made that perfectly clear. He might be mad at himself for how he treats me, but it’s all to keep me at arm’s length."
She sighed, "He's complex."
I laughed, "Just what I need in my life."
She laughed with me, "You know he likes you. He likes you a lot. Servario does too. You are a hot commodity, milady."
I shuddered, "I think I need another Servario break." I gave her a grin, "You know what though? I am so excited for you. At least you’re lucky. Jack is the best guy in the whole world."
She put a hand up, "Shhhh, we don’t talk about it. It'll jinx it."
I laughed, "Okay. I just wanted you to know, he is the best."
She smiled at me, "I know, right? He is." Her sigh was lovely and sweet. I could have sipped from the nectar she was putting in the air. It was like fairy magic. I could almost see it. She gave me a sideways look, "You know I'm coming in with you, right?"
I nodded, "I was hoping so."
She sighed, "You think Steve is a bad guy?"
I shook my head slowly, thinking about it, "No. I don’t. I think he's a good guy, but we can't trust him. We can't trust anyone."
"Not even Servario."
My eyes felt dead as I stared straight ahead and answered flatly, "No. Especially not him. We can use him and let him use us, but we can't trust him."
Chapter Nine
New Evie
I rolled over in the bed, stretching and blinking to the sound of Luce doing some shit out in the living room. It had been a beautiful sleep. I was absolutely exhausted. The time change, jet lag, being awake for so long, getting screwed all night long, and then of course, served a nice warm cup of broken heart. It had all really taken it out of me. I opened an eye to see the panicked stare of Luce through the small crack in the doorway to the bedroom. I shot up from the bed as a trickle of blood dripped from her lips. She made a mewl like a sheep and dropped to her knees. She shook her head and mouthed, "Run!"
I couldn’t breathe or make a sound. Everything was stuck in the crimson liquid dripping down her lips. I shook my head, trying to see past her. There was no movement.
"Luce, just tell me where she is. I know she's here." James' voice rang out in the hotel room. I rolled over, dropping to the floor silently. "I didn’t recognize the young man with you, but you—you I recognized instantly. You haven’t changed a bit, still so beautiful and strong. I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw you."
I was breathing into the carpet, terrified. I crawled under the bed and watched as his black leather shoes sauntered in slowly, "I want my money, Luce. I know Evie has it. I know Servario moved it when I crossed him with Roxy. I know he gave it to Evie. If you're here, so is Evie. Who else is with you?" He dropped to a knee over her body, I could barely see them in the crack of the doorway, "Does she know about us? Did you tell her?"
Luce made a gurgling sound. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I shook my head. He got up, "You give her this note from me when you see her next."
I held my breath and tears as he crumpled some paper into her bloody hand and got up. I heard the door close, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I laid there, frozen and scared. When I didn’t hear anything, I crawled to the edge of the bed and pulled the phone down to me.
I dialed the zero.
"Bonjourno?"
"Hi, room 715. I need an ambulance. There has been an attack."
"Ma'am, I can barely hear you."
My voice wavered as I tried to speak louder, "Hurry the fuck up and send an ambulance. Someone has been hurt badly. An intruder is in the room. Hurry." I hung up the phone and crawled to the door. I peeked through, but there was no movement. I crawled to Luce, gripping her hands, "Luce, can you hear me?"
She nodded, still gargling. "Kill him," she croaked.
I nodded, wiping my tears and lifting her shirt to see the stab wound in her lungs. She would drown if they didn’t hurry. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door as men burst through it. Police and first aid. They were talking Italian very fast, shouting at me. I pointed, "My friend, please help her. Some man came in here and hurt her." I crumpled the paper I had taken from her bloody fingers. They pushed me out of the way. I ran and pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. The police grabbed my arm as I tried to walk out of the room, "What happened?"
I shook my head, "I don’t know. I just want to go to the hospital. I was sleeping, I woke and she was like this. I heard a man talking and then he was gone. I called for help."
He gave me a look of disbelief, "You heard him and you stayed in the room?"
I nodded, "I hid under the bed."
He scowled, "While your friend was being hurt?"
I felt the shame he was trying to make me feel, "I should have helped her, but I was scared."
"Did she know him?"
I nodded, "I think so, I think he's an American she dated. It sounded like him anyway, and I know he's in Rome right now. We ran into him last night." I described James to a T and gave the police officer the name of the person I thought it might be, lying and saying he was an ex-boyfriend of hers. At least that way Interpol and the Italian police would be looking for him. He questioned me until Coop and Jack showed up. They both looked scared when they saw the police and the blood. I couldn’t meet Jack's eyes. The police officer left me his card with the hospital's name on it and walked past Coop and Jack.
When we were alone, I nodded, "We have to hurr
y, Luce's been taken to a hospital."
Jack's face paled, "What happened?"
I pointed, "I'll explain on the ride over, we need to hurry."
When we got to the hospital, we ran inside, careless of who would see us or recognize us. I didn’t even have my wig on, just my jeans and a ponytail. She was in surgery when we got there. Coop gave them her medical information as Jack and I sat against the wall, waiting. He was silent and I was sick with shame.
"I should have helped her, Jack. I'm sorry. I woke up and he was there and they must have been fighting. She must have been protecting me."
He nodded, "It was her job, Evie."
It didn’t change the fact I hid while she was nearly dying in the room. I got up and walked to the bathroom. I sat on the toilet, rocking back and forth. The training hadn’t kicked in. Survival had. I imagined my kids with no one but him, James. I had seen the things I had to protect and Luce hadn’t been one of them, she was my teammate, and I had not protected her.
I got up and walked to the sink to wash my face as Coop came in.
"What the fuck, Evie? Why didn’t you help her?"
I shook my head, "I don’t want to talk about this right now. I feel bad, really bad."
He shoved me slightly, "You should. She was your partner and you let her nearly die. They don’t even know if she's going to make it, and you let him get away. You should have killed him. A real agent would have."
I shoved him back, "I know that. Don’t you think I know that?"
He shook his head, "I don’t think you do. I don’t think you get this at all. We aren’t your bodyguards anymore. You aren’t the yoga mom anymore. This is the real deal—you are on the team. Fucking start acting like it, before I ship you home. I have half a mind to do it now. You get into Servario's, and instead of just getting the info and getting out, you stay and fuck him all night long. You need a nap so Luce has to watch over you and now she's hurt. This isn’t the Princess Evie show. It's a fucking mission to find your ex and kill him, find out who tried to kill you and kill them, and find out who is after the Burrow so we can all have a normal life again." He was spitting mad. His face was flushed with rage.
I had no excuse and no answer. I stood there, biting my lip to prevent it from quivering and nodded, "I know. I'm sorry."
He sighed, "Don’t apologize, it pisses me off more. You piss me off. I can't believe you stayed the night with him. Why? You like getting used like a slut by the bad guys of the world?"
My hand flung out fast as horrible words left my lips, "You sold me to him, you bipolar fuck. You set me up for it." When my hand made contact, he didn’t budge. He stood there as his cheek turned bright red.
He nodded, "Okay, I deserved that. You aren’t a whore and I know that. I just don’t get why you didn’t take the power away from him. I don’t get why you didn’t do that with James, and you let Luce get attacked. Why aren’t you being the girl I know you can be?"
I started to cry, partly out of fear from slapping him so hard, and partly out of shame and the feeling I was lost, completely. I shook my head, "I don’t know. That reckless girl I once was is gone. I have to be a mom, Coop. I have to live for my kids."
He grabbed my arms, shaking me slightly, "Evie, your best chance at living is ending this shit. Fight back and end it, and you can be a mom. Fight back and make this all go away."
I started to cry harder, "I'm sorry."
He looked like he might kill me at any second, "Don’t be sorry, be strong. And trust me, I am trying to help you." I sniffled and let him pull me into his chest. He wrapped around me, "Stop letting him and James be the most powerful things in your life."
I closed my eyes and let it all go, so that I could try to see it all in perspective. I listened as Coop's footsteps left me there alone. I didn’t want to be there when he came back. I took the opportunity to go think quietly and alone. I wandered the halls of the hospital, but they were worse than sitting outside of Luce's room. I found an old set of stairs that led to a quiet place, far removed from the pain and suffering of the hospital rooms.
The roof of the hospital was old and dirty, but there was a great spot to sit and mull over the essence of my existence.
I sat on a concrete form and looked out over the ancient city, letting the whole of the past month run through my head. Coop, although his delivery always sucked, was right. I was letting them all be bigger than I was. My insides tightened as I contemplated it all.
James—James was the key to it all.
I got up and paced.
He must have known from the start who my father was. Was that possible? He might have.
My father was a smart man, but James… he seemed invincible. We all treated him like he was stupid, but was he? Was he dumb or was he a genius? I got up and started to pace as I tapped my fingernail against my nose and walked back and forth, processing. Of course, James knew who my father was. That was the only way this all made sense. He used me to get to my father. He dated me, ‘accidentally’ knocking me up, and was forced to marry me.
"Evie."
I turned to see Coop frowning at me. I sighed, "Piss off, Coop. I'm thinking."
He pointed, "I can tell by the steam coming off your head."
I flipped him the bird and continued to pace, "There’s something about it all that doesn't quite make sense, but then if you think about it all as a bigger picture, maybe it does. How does he keep getting so lucky and how did he get involved in the first place?"
Coop cocked an eyebrow, "What?"
I waved a hand at him, almost thinking aloud, "What if James knew about my father being the Master Key from the very beginning? What if he was only dating me because he was a plant from the start, and my father was the enemy's best guess at who the Burrow's protector was? We both know he accidentally got me pregnant and married me because he had to, but honestly, what if it was all an act? What if him being in the CI was the act? What do we for sure know about him?"
Coop sat in the spot I had been, the only spot without any pigeon shit. "We know he was an only child to two older parents. Both are dead now, but they were at your wedding. They got sick and died of cancer in the last couple years, did they not?"
I frowned, nodding, "You know, I always thought it was weird they both got cancer. I always was scared for my kids."
He nodded, "It is weird, but not uncommon nowadays."
I sighed and paced, "He marries me, gets his in with the Burrow. What if he was a plant from the start, like a kid plant? What if he isn’t loyal to our country? What if he's a spy, like a real one who's leftover from the cold war?"
Coop looked like he might scoff at the idea but he didn’t. He sat there, thinking. I could see steam coming off his head after a minute, "If he was a plant from the start, he must have been planted in the US when he was a kid or picked up as a young cadet. He was a cadet, wasn’t he?"
I nodded, "He was. He always busts on Mitch for not wanting to be a cadet."
Coop sighed, "Fuck, if he's a real spy, not just a sold-out double agent, then we have major issues on our hands and no one is going to back us up. We are in too deep now. We can’t blow our cover and ask for aid without risking your kids and God knows what else."
I put a hand up, "We take this down, just us."
"Just us and Servario?"
I shook my head, "No, just us. I don’t want to ask him for help until we know what his plan is. He’s to aloof and sneaky."
"It'll go faster if we use Servario to lead us to James. I don’t want to waste a lifetime chasing James. I want him dead just as badly as you do."
I slumped on the seat next to him, almost on him to avoid the poop, "Fine. But I want you to know I'm really sorry I let Luce get hurt."
He shook his head, "I know she was protecting you."
I looked at my feet, "She and James knew each other."
His face jerked to face me, "What?" I handed him the note he had stuck in her fingers.
'Meet me tonight at du
sk at Caesar's Curia!'
He read the note as I muttered, "Apparently, they might have been lovers. He asked her if I knew about them. He said she was still just as beautiful as before and he missed her. Something to that effect."
Coop's face was stoic, but I could see his eyes were on fire. He got up fast, bolting from the rooftop. I sat there a minute longer, trying to imagine how it would all work out. How I could find the agent I once was and let go of the mom I seemed stuck as. Coop was right. The only way to end it was to become the emotionless thing I used to be. No pain no gain. I got up and walked to the door, slowly cutting the ties to my emotions and worries.
Chapter Ten
The History Lesson for Dummies
I had followed Coop down to the hospital room, but he wasn’t in the hallway with Jack when I got there. I sat across from Jack. It took me a minute to notice the strange look he was giving me. His lips twitched like he wanted to say something but he didn’t. I sighed, nudging him with my foot, "Just say it. Just tell me."
He swallowed hard, "I have a bad feeling about a couple things I found in his phone."
I nodded, "Okay." My heart was racing but I pushed my feelings down.
"Firstly, he is an avid fan of some really weird porn sites."
I wrinkled my nose, "He's a sex addict, I knew that. I guessed anyway." It felt weird saying that to Jack.
He gave me an odd look as he nodded, "Yeah, awesome. Even awesomer, I think he has a thing for the voyeuristic fetishes and girls getting touched on city transit."
"Awesomer isn’t a word." I paused for a second, "Are there any young people on the sites?" My brain was panicking, full-fledged, four-alarm panic.
He shook his head, "No, all nineteen and up but some are dressed in schoolgirl outfits, and they are always matched with older guys. It's mostly Asian girls getting groped and shit on trains and buses. It looks like it's supposed to be like the girl doesn’t know it's happening, but the acting is pretty bad. Like how do you not notice an old dude’s finger going up your…"
