The Single Lady Spy Series Boxset

by Tara Brown

  Coop was staring at me when I gazed up. He mouthed, “You okay?”

  I twitched a no.

  I wasn’t as good at mouthing things as he and Servario were. Although, I could read lips as fast as ever.

  He came over and sat in the pod next to me, Servario’s usual spot. I wondered if Servario would care if Coop were sitting there.

  Coop leaned in. “You have to let it slide. Just think, she made her bed.”

  “It’s hard.” I pressed my lips together and whispered, “I have a terrible feeling.”

  He got up and went to the front of the plane. A minute later, he returned with a tray.

  “You are so twenty years old.” I laughed when Coop put it down. But I didn't argue. I licked my wrist and held it out. He shook the salt on mine and his and poured the shots. He poured four instead of two.

  He nodded at Jack and Luce who sat beside each other up front. Both got up and made their way to us.

  “Oh yeah.” Luce laughed and licked her wrist. Jack shook his head. “I’m not good at this one. Tequila makes me throw up.”

  Luce shook her head. “What’s your deal?”

  “Nothing.” Jack hesitated and licked his wrist. Coop salted and passed out the shots.

  He held his up. “To our families, may they be safe wherever they are.”

  Jack added, “And may they never know about how close the world comes to ending or what we really do for a living.”

  “Cheers to that.”

  We clanked, licked, drank, and sucked.

  Jack walked away with his glass and a sour face. Luce laughed. “I’ll go make sure he’s okay.”

  Realizing what was going on, I watched as they ambled back to their seats and then turned to Coop.

  “Duh.” He eyeballed me like I was clueless.

  “What? I didn’t know.”

  “Wow.” Coop whispered, “That dress made everyone see her differently. Jack may never be the same.”

  “Good for them.” I snickered. “I seriously thought there was no way she would be interested."

  “Why?”

  “She seems like one of the boys—”

  “Like you?” Servario interrupted my sentence, “You used to be like that.” Servario stood next to me. I hadn’t noticed him come back.

  “I was not.”

  “Yes.” Servario folded his arms across his chest. “You were. You were the sharpest shooter and had to be the fastest runner and could drink everyone under the table. You were one of the guys.”

  “That's true, Evie.” Coop chuckled. “I heard the same stories.”

  “Whatever.” I blushed. “I must have forgotten.”

  Coop smirked. “The best agents are ‘one of the boys.’ They fit in. First rule of being an agent: F-I-F-O. It means fit in or fuck off.”

  I put my hand out for another shot and stared up at Servario. “What if it isn’t her?”

  He ignored me and strode to the back of the plane.

  We took off but Roxy never came back, neither did Servario.

  Coop poured me a third shot. I couldn’t stop my eyes from darting to the back.

  I drank the shot smoothly, fighting the shudder.

  My belly rumbled.

  Coop laughed. “I’m starving too.”

  “I can’t drink any more. How are we going to clean this all up?”

  “I don't know.” He sounded as lost as I was. “This mess is huge. Right now we’re riding with enemy number one. Luce and Jack and I went off the reservation so we’re as guilty as you now. They’ll find a way to pin this on us too. Being with Servario is only making it easier for them to do it.”

  I closed my eyes. “I know, and yet I have a hunch he’s the only person we can truly trust.” I opened one eye when he didn’t say anything.

  He seemed stricken. “I agree,” he whispered.

  Desperate to block it all out, I closed my eyes once more and let the comfy pod take me away.

  When I woke up it was with a start. I scanned the plane, noting Luce and Jack were leaned against each other and Coop was sound asleep next to me.

  Servario and Roxy still weren’t back.

  A noise startled me.

  I realized it must have been the thing that woke me and unbuckled and walked to the back of the plane.

  “Stop, oh God, Gustavo,” Roxy said between ragged breaths. "Please."

  My stomach clenched. “Oh God,” I whispered to myself.

  I froze and prepared myself for what I was about to see.

  Did I want to see it?

  She moaned again, “Oh my God, Gustavo—please!”

  I reached for the curtain to the dressing room and ripped it back fast.

  Her hands were tied to the roof with blood trails running down them. Her face was beaten. Servario’s hands were cut from hitting her. He turned with a savage expression. “Get out.”

  I fought the motherly urge to dive in front of the blow he gave her with the back of his hand. She cried out again, shaking her head and sniffling. “Please, Evie, help me. Please. I swear, whatever you think is missing or whatever, I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t do that to you, Gustavo.”

  Servario shoved me back and closed the curtain. His face was scarier than anything I’d ever seen. His eyes were completely black.

  She cried out moments later.

  I jumped, stepping away from it. My back pressed against the wall.

  She was innocent. I was wrong. I had a terrible dread.

  I sank to the floor, quivering and forcing myself to listen to each strike.

  He could beat a woman that badly?

  I didn’t know him.

  She screamed in a long series of shrieks and bleats like a sheep. Whatever he was doing was bad.

  “FUCK YOU!” she screamed.

  He spoke in hushed tones.

  “EVIEEEEEEE! EVIE, SAVE ME!” she screamed and sobbed.

  I didn’t know I was trembling until I felt the stillness of Coop against me. He wrapped around me, holding me tight to him. Instead of stopping the madness, he carried me to a row of seats and sat, holding me like a child. I was cradled against his chest. But the distance couldn’t stop the screams.

  “We have to help her. I was wrong. I was wrong. Please,” I pleaded.

  Coop said cruelly, “You didn’t do this, Evie. If he suspects her, then we have to let it play out. We need to know who we’re up against. Without her, we’ve got nothing.”

  Tears flowed down my cheeks. “What if she’s innocent?”

  “There is no magic pill to determine that. You’ve been trained, you know that.”

  I crawled off him and sat in the chair next to him. “I haven’t been part of this world for a long time. And technically, I was never part of anything like this.”

  The screaming didn’t die down for a long time.

  It began to dull in my mind though.

  We flew for what seemed to be hours before Servario came out. He had blood spatter all over him. He sat next to Coop and me.

  “I have a list of names and a location for James.” Servario’s voice was distant and disturbing.

  “Oh God.” I gaped at him. “Is she—dead?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m not done with her.” He stared straight ahead at the wall in front of us that held the huge blank flat-screen TV.

  Coop was the one to talk first, “Sorry, man, that’s always rough having to do that to a girl.”

  Servario clenched his jaw.

  I gazed downward and waited to get off the plane.

  We touched down in the dark again. It seemed we were always in the dark.

  Servario never tried to touch me or talk to me.

  When we landed, a helicopter was waiting for us on the tarmac.

  We were already boarded on the chopper when I got my first glimpse of Roxy through the window. Her eyes were swollen shut. She was a mess of fat lips and cuts. Her hands were wrapped in soaked bandages. He dragged her from the plane and shoved her into the back o
f the helicopter. Her blonde hair was ratty and missing in parts.

  Luce and Coop shared the same blank expression, whereas I imagined Jack and I were both horrified. He looked at me, terrified, and I nodded.

  The humidity told me we were still somewhere warm as we flew down a rocky and beautiful coastline. I was lost again, completely.

  Trying desperately to be an agent, I forced myself to focus on the stunning things and not the dying girl in the back, who used to be stunning.

  The helicopter circled a huge house. It landed on a large cement pad.

  A man walked across the property. I narrowed my gaze, leaning forward and shaking my head. There was no way I was seeing what I was seeing.

  James strode down the path from the huge house.

  My breathing stopped completely as my heart pounded out of my chest and my face flushed. Coop covered my hands with his. “No.”

  Seething, I stared at him.

  Coop was serious. “No—to what you’re thinking or feeling. Shut it off.”

  I tried but my kids’ faces were all over his. My kids who I hadn’t seen in an eternity. My face pinched and my hands balled, and I fought tears so hard it hurt. “I can do this,” I whispered.

  We landed and James didn’t look up. He walked toward us until the door opened.

  Then he stopped, stared, and finally frowned. Roxy was tossed from the helicopter. Servario had a gun drawn, pointing at James standing in the beautiful morning sun. Servario passed a gun to Luce and Coop as he stepped down.

  James put his hands up. He was completely baffled.

  He hadn’t even seen me yet.

  I climbed out last, following Jack.

  The helicopter turned off, making a huge wind surround us all momentarily until the blades finally stopped spinning.

  James’ eye caught my face. He put his hands out. “Evie!”

  “NO!” I snatched the gun from Luce’s hand. I fired at his left kneecap. “YOU DON'T GET TO PRETEND, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!”

  He screamed out as crimson coloring started to seep from his beige linen pants as he fell back.

  Luce reached for the gun but she saw my face and stopped.

  “How could you?” My voice was barely audible as the screaming had sucked it all from me.

  “It’s not what you think.” His face crumpled as he held his knee. “Evie, please let me speak.”

  I shot at the other knee, missing, but he cried out anyway.

  Servario stepped away from the nearly falling-over Roxy and came up to me. He gazed down and lifted my face up. He brushed his lips against mine. “Let me. You don’t want this memory when you look at your children,” he whispered into my lips.

  “Okay,” I gave in and stepped back. He pulled the gun from my hand and passed it behind to Luce. She gave me an understanding look but Coop appeared psychotic.

  “Is Mel here too?” I asked past Servario’s back but James wasn’t focused on me. He was trying to crawl to his girlfriend, Roxy, as she swayed and blood dripped from her bandaged hands. His face was covered in concern.

  Finally, James studied me long and hard. “Your father did this, Evie. Not me.”

  “Just kill him. I want him gone for real.” I pointed and turned, stalking back to the helicopter.

  When I heard the shot fire I didn’t look back. Not even for the second one.

  Instead, I sat in the seat and waited with a sickening amount of weight resting on my shoulders and in my belly. I wanted to look inside the house. I wanted to know his secrets. I wanted it all to become clear to me but a voice, probably my father’s, told me I didn’t truly want that.

  It told me I wanted to let this one go. I’d find answers in other places too. I didn’t just need these answers, though these ones would haunt me for all my days.

  17

  Princess Evie

  The jet felt haunted as we crossed an ocean, but at least we weren’t in the helicopter anymore. I could only assume it was the Pacific and we were going to Asia. I wondered if he was taking me to the Thai yoga ashram I needed.

  When I looked at Servario, I tried not to see the sadistic fuck I’d witnessed in that room. He was stoic, except for the eyes that suggested someone had just killed his cat. “I’m sorry,” I said.

  Coop peered up from the notes Servario must have taken while torturing her. “So Mel is really dead. She was the one in the car.” That hurt in a way I wasn't prepared for. Mel, too, had been used by James.

  “He didn’t need her anymore because he had Roxy. Roxy who wanted to find herself a millionaire like you.” I glanced at Gustavo.

  He was indifferent as he rose and went to the front of the plane. Coop continued, “James was helping frame you to bring your dad out of hiding. He asked Roxy to take pictures of every meeting Servario went to. After he was supposed to be dead, your dad and Servario met. Roxy got it on her cell phone, not knowing who the man in the picture was. She must have showed the picture to James who of course recognized your father immediately. It was the proof needed to justify using you to bring him out of hiding. Whoever was going after the Burrow, the Feds, the CIA, they convinced CI they needed this and that your dad had been keeping secrets and had his own agenda.”

  I frowned. “They still think he has the Burrow?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah. Anyway, Servario beat her and broke her and she confessed. The plan was to take the money from your account, leave you screwed, possibly in jail or dead, and leave the kids with your mom. She actually said James never really cared what happened to the kids. He merely wanted his easy life in his beach house with his blonde.”

  It didn’t hurt anymore. Not even for my kids. I didn’t care a little. I couldn’t. If I cared about so much as one thing, all the emotions I was shutting off would find their way in.

  “Awesome.” I sighed. “He was a douche nozzle.” I still didn't get what was wrong with douche nozzles.

  Coop snorted. “Yeah. Dumb fuck. Who does that to their own family? Anyway, Servario used Roxy’s cell to text James so he’d send the helicopter. James was expecting her to get off alone. They were going to start their new life together. Roxy had been letting him in on the progress of the fuck-Evie campaign. Apparently, he was quite satisfied with how it had turned out. You were a fugitive and Servario was humiliating you.” His tone was filled with disgust.

  “She was thorough.” I lowered my gaze and winced.

  Servario brought a tray to Luce and Jack and then one to us. It was filled with snacks and things. He smiled at me. “I assumed Steve. You saved his life.”

  “They got the death they deserved then, I guess.” I smirked. “The account is still there, right?”

  He nodded and I sat in silent contemplation.

  We landed hours later in a smoggy city.

  “Japan?” I asked, recognizing the writing on a sign.

  Servario nodded.

  We climbed into another helicopter. “It’s too much. I need to be away from all vehicles—all. I need a vacation from this vacation.”

  Jack moaned, “Not another flight.”

  We sat in our seats and instantly started for the mountains.

  Servario grinned. “This is going to take about two hours. So buckle up and try to enjoy the ride.” He seemed tense.

  I pondered every little thing about Servario. He was a mystery and an anomaly. He was a savage and a complete fiend, and yet there was something about him that scared me in a way I wasn't used to.

  I liked it. Even if liking it meant I was a little ashamed of myself. And him.

  Even if it was impossible to have a relationship with him.

  We’d never fall into a routine or be in love in the open. And then there was the fact I’d never be truly safe with him.

  But besides it all, I liked something about him, and I supposed it was old and leftover from before. Watching him through long-range lenses and seeing the way he lived had always intrigued me. He was akin to a rock star in my young mind at the time.

  Vi
ewing the city, I wondered if he was taking me to my kids. I was scared we’d never get them back. I couldn’t let myself dwell on that or I would cry.

  Instead, I closed my eyes and laid my head back.

  The next thing I knew, I was being nudged. I opened my eyes with a start.

  “Wake up!” Jack grinned at me. “We’re here.”

  Confused, I glanced around, realizing he was waiting for me. Everyone else was outside stretching their legs.

  “Where are we?”

  “I could cry. It’s genius. It makes perfect sense.” He acted like it was Christmas morning.

  “What does?” I climbed out to nothing but forest. “What is this place?”

  Servario gave me a look. I wasn’t sure what it meant. “This is where I leave you.”

  “What?"

  He spoke in a low voice, “I have to. I can never set foot in there. It’s a rule. The Master Key may never set foot in the princess’ temple once he has taken on the role. I’m safe right now, but they don’t know that. They assume I could bring the bad people down on them. I take the role of Master Key and I walk away. Always leading the suspicious people away from this spot. This temple.”

  I pivoted around. “What temple?”

  He pointed to a small black cave-looking thing. “That’s the entrance. You have to go in there and walk until you see the light again.” He held a hand out. “I need all your clothes. Remember, before we left I took all your phones and every piece of electronics? Well, now it’s the clothes.”

  “Great,” I groaned.

  It didn’t matter that we griped.

  We eventually got naked, one at a time behind the helicopter, and left everything with him. We put on the robes he’d left us. They were stunning traditional-style Japanese robes.

  I pleaded with Servario with a look.

  “I’ve broken every other rule for you, Evie. This is one I cannot.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Consider inviting me to Christmas. I want to see you in all your glory, pajamas until noon and everything.”

  “Okay.” I had a bad feeling I might never see him again.

  He kissed each of my eyelids. “Go now.” He turned and walked to the helicopter.

  The pilot started it up.