The End of Games

by Tara Brown

  I followed her down the stairs, holding my little knife and realizing how amazing she really was and how lame I actually was.

  She killed two men on the stairs, dodging a bullet from a man below in the lobby and throwing one sword. It pierced a man's chest.

  It was like watching Kill Bill. My mom was badass.

  She grabbed the sword, pointing it at the sleazy man at the front desk when we got into the lobby, "You were warned."

  His eyes were wide, like he was face to face with the devil himself. He shook his head, "I had no choice. You know I had no choice."

  She lunged once, slicing him from throat to groin. I gagged as he spilled out onto the carpet and slumped over.

  I turned to see the blonde smiling at Mom. She winked at me, "’Bout time, Evie."

  She had a British accent and a sheen to her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

  Mom nodded, "Get your shit, Elise." She turned to me, pulling the mustache off of her upper lip, "Are you okay?"

  I nodded, "Mom?" Tears filled my eyes, "You came."

  She smiled, "Darling, of course I came. I've been here all along. The minute you and Jack phoned my cell phone, I knew what Servario was going after. I knew he would risk you to get it." I could see the heartbreak on her face, "He is the best of the best, my dear girl, but I don’t give a flying fuck about the rest of the world. I won't have you risked."

  "Where are the kids?"

  She nodded upwards, "With Fitz, where else would they be?"

  I shook my head, "I don’t know. They're safe?"

  She laughed, "Safer than you. Now move your ass and act like you have a brain. Grab the guns from behind the counter. Servario is in a meeting room on the second floor. You go there and Elise and I will get the party started down here. Don’t fire the first shot until you hear the blasts."

  I didn’t know what that meant but she snapped her fingers, "GO!"

  I jumped and ran around the desk to the stash of guns. I grabbed two SIGs, an MP7, and the magazines. I stuffed my pockets and waistbands. I walked back up the stairs. My heart was racing but my body was ready.

  I held the two SIGs in my hands, ready to start the fireworks. The second floor was empty of guest rooms. There was a dining room that looked like it hadn’t been used in years, decades even. I assumed it was the epicenter of the smell of the wretchedness in the hotel. It had a dank and nasty feel to it.

  I crossed the large room, past the old tables and chairs. A rat crossed my path. I almost shot it but decided to just walk faster. The shot wouldn’t help me out. I shuddered as I made it into the next area. It was like a boardroom maybe. I could see a large table and other chairs but no one was in there. I crossed through into a new hallway. A man was standing guard at a door, similar to the one I had just passed. He gave me a sideways look, "Who are you?"

  I nodded, "Your relief."

  He almost nodded but he stopped himself. He lifted his gun, also an MP7, "Wait."

  I sighed, "There is some shit storm downstairs. Some guy came—they said it would be better if you helped them and I came up here."

  He looked ready to shoot me but the first blast shook the hotel. I took the moment he was looking around, trying to steady himself from the earthquake feeling, to fire my shot. I was back to sharp-shooter Evie. I almost felt proud, but I didn’t have time. The door at the end of the hallway opened. I smiled instantly as I saw Coop running down the hall. He nodded at me as I pointed at the door next to me. Before we could speak, the door opened and a huge man came rushing out, "What was that?"

  I shook my head, "Earthquake, I think."

  He frowned, "Who are you?" I never heard the shot, but the man dropped and suddenly I could see Coop again. He nodded at the door. We slipped inside to find a suite of sorts. It was massive, still shitty and old. It smelled like food and sex. I almost gagged but my heart was in my throat.

  Voices were coming from the room off of the back of that one. I could make out Servario and an Englishman who spoke, "Servario, I think it's safe to say we're under fire, leave before you are seen. I'm going out the back now. You can come with me through the tunnels, but we will run an awfully big risk being seen together at the end of the tunnel."

  Servario laughed, "I'm not leaving until I get what I came for. You have the thing you wanted; we both know her parents will come for her. That might even be them downstairs now. If it is, you're in over your head. Now I want the information you have on the Burrow."

  The other man sounded panicked, "Gustavo, you and I both know, I have bullshit information. Now I need to get out of here."

  "I don’t believe you, Anderson. I want the information. I got rid of Mary and James. I cleaned up all my messes that were your messes really, weren’t they? James was your son, wasn’t he?"

  I looked back at Coop. He scowled and I shook my head, mouthing, "I'll explain later."

  He nodded, "Okay. Are you alright?"

  I nodded. It was a lie, but I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself.

  Servario opened the door, "We aren’t going anywhere, Anderson. Your supper is here early." He smiled at Coop and I, "Come on in."

  An older man with grey hair with steely-blue eyes snarled, "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

  Servario folded his arms. I lifted my gun to the grey-haired man, "What are we doing here, Servario?"

  He laughed, "I wanted you to know who put the hit on your family and your home. He wanted to clean up any mess, just in case James accidentally did leak a little something during pillow talk. This is the man who paid James to impregnate you, marry you, and pretend to love you. I wanted you to know that if this very man here were dead, you would be safe, forever. You and your children. The suspicions die with him. He and Mary were the only ones who knew who James really was."

  I stepped forward, "Why?"

  He sneered at him, "I don’t have to answer anything to you, little girl."

  I shot him in the kneecap just as I had done to James. The building shook with another explosion.

  "Why did you make him marry me? Why would you do that?"

  He scoffed, "Ask your father."

  My finger jerked, shooting the man in the chest. He gasped. Servario cocked an eyebrow, "You are jumping the gun a little, Evie. We might get information from him."

  I fired again, "I want the fuck out of here." The man fell to the ground. Servario sighed, looking past me at Coop, "She's your problem now; the Burrow is going to want to know why he wasn’t interrogated."

  Coop ignored him and put his hand on mine, lowering the gun, "You okay, Evie?"

  I shook my head, "No. No. This has been some shit, Coop. I wanna go back home." I looked at Servario, "You going to tell me what was on that phone you got from James?"

  Servario shook his head, "It's nothing that concerns you."

  "See ya 'round." I turned and walked out of the room. Servario laughed, loud and confidently. "Evie, wait."

  I turned, pointing my gun on him, "If I see you again, I will kill you."

  His eyes gave it all away. He knew he'd fucked up royally. He had risked me, my life, and my sanity and he knew it.

  He looked haunted as he nodded once and gave Coop, who couldn’t look more confused, a soft smile, "Take care of her."

  Coop scowled, lowering my hand again and pulling me through the hotel. A man walked out of a room. I lifted my gun and shot him without even a second thought.

  Coop look horrified, "Evie?" I ignored him and walked for the stairs. He pulled me in a different direction, "Back stairs."

  I let him pull me to the back stairs. We ran down them and out into an alley to a car waiting for us.

  When we got inside, Jack looked back from the driver's seat. He looked like he might smile but he didn’t. He passed me an iPhone, "Press send."

  I looked at the hotel and pressed send. I didn’t think about the girls or Servario or anything else. I pressed send and blew it to the heavens.

  Jack drove calmly away, not suspicious at all. I s
tared out the window at the fiery blast and knew, he had gotten away. Nothing could kill him. I had been wrong about James. He never was the monster in the movie who couldn’t die. That had been Servario.

  Jack drove us to the docks, away from the sirens and everything else. We got out and walked casually down to a large fishing boat. Mom and Elise were sitting on board when we got down into the hull. The boat started, I didn’t even know who was driving it. I didn’t care. My mom grabbed me, pulling me into her arms. When I got there, I started to cry. I couldn’t stop myself. It was a cleansing cry.

  I just folded into my mother and let her soothe me.

  "I know, baby. I know." She sighed, "They're all dead now."

  I shook my head, "Servario never got any information from Anderson. I shot him first."

  She sighed, "You are going to have to learn to keep that trigger finger in check. Save it for after you get the information."

  I sighed, "What if anyone else knows about Montana, the kids, me and you, Servario, and Dad? What if Steve told people? We'll never be safe. Did you feed the cat before you left? He will pee and poo on everything if he doesn’t get food."

  She smoothed my hair and kissed the top of my head. She didn’t try to lie to me or sugarcoat it. She was just there, “I fed the cat a huge bowl of food, massive. And water.”

  I glanced over at the blonde as she walked from the back of the boat, peeling the huge scars and scabs from her arms and wiping her face clean. She looked less like a junky, only a little. "Do I know you?"

  She smiled, "You do not." She looked so familiar.

  My mom pulled me back and held a hand out to the blonde, "This is Elise, she is part of the Burrow."

  I sat frozen, not really sure what to say or do. If she was part of the Burrow, wouldn’t she be in Japan and not on a boat leaving Croatia?

  Elise laughed, "I have been team Burrow for some time. I only came out of my forced retirement to help out with this." She winked at me, "Servario and I were friends once."

  My nose wrinkled involuntarily, making her laugh. I nodded, "Nice to meet you."

  She smiled, "I'm going back to Japan with your dad." I gave my mom a look. She nodded, "He's alive. I wasn’t sure but Elise saved him. She convinced them we needed help with Anderson and Mary and that Servario was self serving on this one."

  I gave her a look, "He got a phone. It had something on it. I do think he was self serving on this one."

  Elise held her hands up, "Hey, I'm not here to rat anyone out. I saw Servario blow up in that hotel. That’s the story the Burrow is getting from me."

  "Why would you lie to the Burrow and help him?"

  She gave me a softened look, "Like I said, Servario and I were friends once."

  I looked at her blonde hair and wondered if that was the reason he hated blonde hair and told me never to fall in love with him or make him love me. I almost hated her for all of it.

  I pushed it away and looked over at Coop and Jack. They were huddled, going over things. "How's Luce?"

  Jack smiled up from the phone he was bent over, "Good. She's with Fitz."

  "Oh, good. How did he get her?"

  Coop shook his head, "Long story." He cocked a smile, "You wanna go get cleaned up?"

  I looked around the fishing boat, "Where?"

  He nodded, "Back there. It's a full captain’s quarters."

  I moaned, "Oh my God, yes." He offered me his hand. I took it and let him pull me to the back of the boat.

  He closed the door and gave me a weird look, "Well, this turned out to be quite the crap shoot."

  "It really did."

  His blue eyes had hardened, "Get over here."

  I walked to him, resting my head on his collarbone, "I still don’t forgive you for selling me to Servario."

  He wrapped himself around me, "Good, don’t. I won't ever forgive myself for it."

  I smiled. I couldn’t believe I was on a boat and was totally safe and James was dead, and his mom was dead, and the MI6 bastards were dead. We were safe, sort of. As safe as we ever could be.

  Coop smiled, "You want to tell me the story?"

  I nodded, "Let me get into the shower, and you can sit on the toilet while I fill you in. I need to get clean."

  He chuckled, "Yes, you do. You stink, Evie."

  I shoved him and walked to the bathroom off to the side. When the hot water hit my body, I nearly wept for joy.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Highly effective can also mean crazy

  The drive up to the house made me sleepy, instantly. I glanced back at my mom, “You sure?”

  She smiled, “They don’t know we’re here. Trust me.”

  I couldn’t shake it, that feeling like everyone we were running from knew exactly where we were. I gave Coop a look, “We have to move.”

  He nodded, “I agree. Let’s get our shit together this week and we’ll head to a little place I know of that no one else does.”

  Jack sighed and stretched in the back seat, “I am beat.” His voice was sleepy until the car parked. Then he ran inside, as if discovering new energy in the hope he would get to see Luce.

  Fitz came walking out in an apron, pale linen pants, and a blue shirt. He was whisking something in a bowl and grinning like a fool.

  I got out of the car as both my kids came running. Jules stopped short, aghast at the state of my face. I smiled at her, “It’s okay, baby. I’m fine. I got kicked by a horse, helping Coop with them. Apparently, horses are kind of mean.”

  She ran to me, “Mommy, your eyes are tiny. I can't even see them.”

  I laughed. The swelling of my face had worsened with exhaustion.

  Mitch hugged me and gave me a telling grin. I rubbed his head and pulled him into me. He was getting too smart for his own good.

  Fitz laughed, “Evie, you need to ease up on the plastic surgery. Age gracefully.”

  I stuck my tongue out, “Quiet you.” I smiled at Coop who looked like he was holding his breath. I pointed, “You better not say anything.”

  He winced, “I can't believe I never thought of that one.”

  I tossed my small bag at him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, “Come on, let’s get you inside and all rested up.”

  Jules scowled, “Mommy, Uncle Fitz said we have to move again.”

  Mitch’s eyes lit up, “Please, can we move, Mom?”

  I gave Fitz a crooked look. He put his whisk in the air, “Easy tiger, I was just trying to soften the blow. Get them ready for it.”

  My mom peeked into Fitz’s bowl, “What are you making?”

  He pulled it back, “Snickerdoodles.”

  Jules made a face, “I hate snickerdoodles.”

  I laughed and walked inside the house, grateful for the fact snickerdoodles were the hot topic for a change. Saving the world was on the back burner for a few days. I kissed my kids, “Mommy needs some sleep. That horse work took it out of me.”

  Mitch laughed, “You’re getting too old for horse work, Mom.”

  I stuck my lower lip out, making them both laugh. Coop rustled Mitch’s hair, “You be nice to your mom. She brought you into this world and has all the skills necessary to take you out.”

  Mitch sneered, “I can run faster than her.”

  Coop laughed, “That’s probably true.” He gave me a cheeky grin, “But she has endurance.” I almost bought the compliment but he started laughing, “It comes with age.”

  I groaned and walked into the house.

  Fitz winked at Coop and I, “She’s in your room, Evie.”

  Mom got the kids settled in, and I dragged my tired butt up the stairs to grovel and beg for forgiveness. I opened the door slowly. Luce gave me a weak smile, “Hey you!”

  I fought the tears in my eyes, “Luce, I am so sorry.”

  She closed her eyes, “I should have told you about him knowing who I was. I almost blew the whole thing. I’m sorry.” She looked at Coop, “It won’t happen again.” He nodded.

  I sat down on
the bed next to Jack. He was holding her hand and stroking it gently.

  “Luce, we got him. He’s dead, like ‘dead’ dead.” I said.

  She smiled, “I knew you would, Evie.”

  Coop sat at the foot of the bed, “How’s the lung?”

  Luce shook her head, “Almost good as new, just a couple weeks and I’ll be right as rain. How was the mission?”

  Jack winced, “We think we accomplished everything. MI6 is going to need a new head of their organization. We may have to face a smidge of retaliation for that one, if or when they discover it was us. The commander and I spoke from the ship on the way back to Italy. He’s pissed about the damages, but he’s satisfied we kept the American name out of it. He says we can consider coming back in if we think it’s safe, but he thinks that MI6 was just one toxic pot. He thinks that there is an arms race for the Burrow and we need to stop everyone.”

  I sneered, “He just wants it for our country. We can't give it to anyone.”

  Luce nodded, “I agree.” We all looked at Coop, “Our allegiance is to our country.” I almost argued but he continued, “We need to make sure that the people of our country are safe, even if it’s from our own leaders. No one gets the Burrow. We take the list and put a hit on every person on it.”

  “Except Fitz.”

  Coop gave me a look, “We discuss Fitz when we need to.”

  Jack nodded, “I think that’s a fair one.”

  Luce shook her head, “I’m with Evie. Fitz is good.”

  Coop’s look didn’t change, “So is Servario, that doesn’t mean I won't kill him if I have even a slight reason.”

  Luce moaned, “I need to go back to sleep, sorry guys.”

  Jack curled up next to her.

  “See you next year, when I wake up.” I chuckled as I got up and walked to the room my mom slept in. There were other guest rooms downstairs she could sleep in. I was closing the door, but it opened against my resistance. Coop smiled, “We’re sharing a bed.”