by Tara Brown
She motioned upward. “With Fitz, where else would they be?”
“I don’t know. They're safe?”
She laughed. “Safer than you or I. 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 while Elise and I 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 waistband. I rushed 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 didn't have any 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 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 a boardroom maybe, with a large table and 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 just passed. He gave me a sideways look. “Who are you?”
“Your relief.”
He almost nodded but he stopped himself. He lifted his gun, also an MP7. “Wait.”
“There’s some shitstorm downstairs. Some guy came—they said it was better if you helped them, and I came up here.”
He paused, maybe ready to shoot me but the first blast vibrated the hotel. I took the moment he was looking around, trying to steady himself from the earthquake-like jolt, to fire my shot. I was back to sharpshooter Evie. I almost felt proud, but I didn’t have time. The door at the end of the hallway opened. I smiled immediately as Coop ran down the hall. He nodded as I pointed to the door next to me. Before we could speak, the door opened and a huge man came rushing out. “What was that?”
I replied, “Earthquake, I think.”
He frowned. “Who are you?” I never heard the shot, but the man dropped and I could see Coop again. He motioned to the door. We slipped inside to find a suite of sorts. It was massive but still shitty and old. It smelled like food and sex. I almost gagged but my heart was in my throat.
Voices came from the room off the back of that one. I could make out Servario and an English man speaking, “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 of 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 may 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?”
Coop scowled at me and I mouthed, “I'll explain later.”
“Okay. Are you all right?”
“Yup.” 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 me. “Come on in.”
An older man with gray hair and steely blue eyes snarled, “YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
Servario folded his arms. I lifted my gun to the gray-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 made James impregnate you, marry you, and pretend to love you. I wanted you to know that if this very man here were dead, you’d 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 and this was who was running the ops on you four.” He motioned towards Coop and I.
I stepped forward. “Why?”
He sneered, “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 quaked 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. “This is your problem now. The Burrow will want to know why he wasn’t interrogated.”
Coop ignored him and put his hand on mine, lowering the gun. “You okay, Evie?”
“No. I just wanna go home.” I glanced 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.”
“Listen to me.” 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 my life, my sanity, and me. And he knew it.
He gazed, haunted, as he gave Coop a single nod. “Take care of her.”
Coop scowled, lowered my hand again, and pulled me through the hotel. A man walked out of a room. I lifted my gun and shot him without even a second thought.
Coop was clearly horrified. “Evie?” I ignored him and strode for the stairs. He pulled me in a different direction. “Back stairs.”
I let him guide me to the back stairs. We ran down them and out into an alley to an awaiting car.
When we got inside, Jack glanced back from the driver's seat. His lips twitched like he might smile, but he didn’t. He passed me an iPhone. “Press ‘Send.’”
My eyes darted to the hotel and I didn’t think about the girls or Servario or anything else. I pressed the screen and blew it to the heavens.
Jack drove calmly away, not suspicious at all. I stared out the window at the fiery blast and knew he had gotten away. Nothing could kill him. I’d been wrong about James. He never was the monster in the movie who couldn’t die. That was Servario.
Jack drove us to the docks, away from the sirens and everything else. We got out and casually strolled to a large fishing boat. Mom and Elise were sitting on board when we came 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. They're all dead now.”
I offered, “Servario never got any information from Anderson. I shot him first.”
She sighed. “You will have to learn to keep that trigger finger in check. Save it for after you get the information.”
“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.”
"Yes, my darling." 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.”
The blonde walked from the back of the boat, peeling the huge scars and scabs from her arms and wi
ping her face clean. She looked less like a junky, but only slightly. “Do I know you?”
She smiled. “You do not.” She seemed so familiar.
My mom pulled me back and held a hand out to the blonde. “This is Elise. She’s part of the Burrow.”
I sat frozen, not really sure what to say or do. If she were part of the Burrow, wouldn’t she be in Japan and not on a boat leaving Croatia?
Elise chuckled. “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 greeted, “Nice to meet you.”
Elise replied, “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 the Burrow we needed help once the world was certain he was dead.”
“Servario got a phone with something on it. I’m worried he is only concerned about himself.” I hated saying that.
"Servario always has his own plan." Elise held her hands up. “I'm not here to rat anyone out. I saw Servario blow up in that hotel, killing Anderson. That’s the story the Burrow will get from me.”
“Why would you lie to the Burrow and help him?”
Her expression softened. “Like I said, Servario and I were friends once and while he does always have a plan, it almost always has something to do with saving the world. On his terms.”
I wondered if her blonde hair was the reason he hated blondes and told me never to fall in love with him or make him love me. I almost despised her for all of it.
Realizing it didn't matter, I pushed it away and switched my attention to 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?”
“Long story.” Coop smiled. “You wanna go get cleaned up?”
“Yeah.” I looked around the fishing boat. “Where?”
“Back there. It's a full captain’s quarters.”
“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 haven’t forgiven you for selling me to Servario.”
He wrapped himself around me. “Good, don’t. I will never forgive myself for it.”
I couldn’t believe I was on a boat, totally safe, and James was dead, and his mom was dead, and the MI6 bastards who had put the hit on us and linked my family to the Burrow were dead. We were safe, sort of. As safe as we could be.
Coop smiled. “You want to tell me the story?”
“Let me get in 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 went to the bathroom off to the side. When the hot water hit my body, I nearly wept for joy.
16
Highly effective can also mean crazy
The drive up to the house made me sleepy, right away. 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 glanced at Coop. “We have to move.”
“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 groaned 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’d get to see Luce.
Fitz came 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 can barely see out of them.” I laughed. The swelling of my face had worsened with exhaustion.
Mitch hugged me and gave me a telling stare, the horses didn't fool him. 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.”
“Quiet you.” I turned to Coop who was holding his breath. I pointed. “You better not say anything.”
He winced. “I can't believe I never thought of that one.”
“Whatever.” 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 snickerdoodles was 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.
Fitz winked at Coop and me. “Luce'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 my tears. “Luce, I’m so sorry.”
She closed her eyes. “I should’ve told you he knew who I was. I almost blew the whole thing. I’m sorry.” She spoke to Coop, “It won’t happen again.”
I sat down on the bed next to Jack who held her hand and stroked it gently.
“Luce, we got him. He’s dead, like dead, dead,” I said.
"I knew you would, Evie.”
Coop sat at the foot of the bed. “How’s the lung?”
"Coming along." Luce replied, “Almost good as new. Just a couple of weeks and I’ll be right as rain. How was the mission?”
“We think we accomplished everything we needed to do to appease the Burrow gods." Jack shrugged. "MI6 will 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 fishing boat 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 believes MI6 was just one toxic pot. He thinks there’s an arms race for the Burrow and we need to stop everyone.”
“He just wants it for our country. We can't give it to anyone.”
Luce nodded. “I agree.”
We all focused on Coop. “Our allegiance is to our country.” I almost argued but he continued, “We need to make sure the people of our country are safe, even if it’s from our own leaders. No one gets the Burrow. W
e take the list and put a hit on every person on it. We bury the Burrow.”
“Except Fitz.”
Coop gave me a look. “We discuss Fitz when we need to.”
Jack replied, “I think that’s a fair one.”
“I’m with Evie. Fitz is good,” Luce added.
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 toward the door to the room my mom slept in. I went in and stared at the bed lovingly for a second, realizing my mom wasn't there.
I turned as the door opened, whacking me in the shoe. Coop stuck his head in. “We’re sharing a bed.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Fitz and your mom have the rooms downstairs and they’re taking first watch. Your kids have to go to bed soon, this makes sense.”
“No.”
“Yes.” He pushed past me. “Stop being such a baby.”
My eyes were too swollen for him to notice the glare I gave him. I moaned and climbed onto the bed. “You can have the floor.”
“Fine.” He closed the door. I tossed him a blanket and a pillow and curled up into a ball.
Of course the opposite thing happened, I couldn’t fall asleep. He was out like a light in no time, and I was stuck staring at him sleeping. His chest rose and fell, his lips twitched slightly as he got deeper into sleep, and his trigger finger shuddered every few seconds. He was dreaming. How had he fallen asleep so quickly?
I closed my eyes after a while and rolled over. I was on the verge of just getting up, when I felt something I hadn’t expected. The bed shifted and suddenly he was wrapped around me. The thought of fighting him on his being in my space was overruled by the feeling of bliss. I loved sleeping with another person. I hated sleeping alone and he was the few people I trusted whole-heartedly in this moment. I drifted off to sleep, restless sleep, but who was counting?
When I woke, I felt like I’d been run over by a truck. The sun was shining through the curtains and Coop was gone. I closed the curtains tighter and flopped back onto the bed.