The Single Lady Spy Series Boxset

by Tara Brown

  I went limp, letting him tie my wrists up. Just when he thought he had me, I jumped up and climbed him like a monkey, slipping my arms around his throat and choking him with his own tie.

  He grabbed at me, but I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled back, knocking him off balance. He backed up fast, slamming us both into the wall, but I laughed when I cried out, certain one of my ribs was broken.

  “FUCK YOU!” I coughed and laughed.

  He sputtered, ripping at the tie and my arms. I held tighter, squeezing even beyond what I thought I could. My wrists cut and burned as my hands lost feeling and the blood swelled in them as it pooled.

  His face turned red and he slammed me into the wall again. He didn't stop there. He rammed me hard once more, making me cry out, but I didn't relent. His legs buckled and his grip loosened as the loss of air weakened him. I squeezed the carotid harder, putting him down. He dropped to the floor and collapsed atop me. I cried out, unraveling us both from the tie. My hands screamed as circulation started back in them. I shoved him onto his back in the large open shower. I wiped my bleeding lip and tried not to curl up and die from the pain of the broken rib.

  Instead of being a giant bitch about the whole scene, I unbuttoned his shirt and dragged it off his lifeless body. I pulled it on and then crawled around to his feet, pulling his pants down and awkwardly getting into them. His belt didn't tighten enough for me so I used the tie to keep them up.

  He had come into the room with no gun or anything else. Just him and me and the cameras. He didn't even have a phone.

  I sighed and got up, wincing as I made my way to the door at the opposite end of the room where we had come in. I cracked it open, seeing the swimming pool I suddenly realized I could smell. A large exit sign with a man running frantically was across the pool. No guards were present, but I could make out the cameras. I would have only seconds.

  Servario coughed behind me. I turned to see his mouth moving and his eyes blinking. It was time to run. I bolted from the door and across the pool deck, blasting through the exit door. The moment I got outside I was grateful for the fresh air though it was heavy and dank. “Go right around the building and across the field you see when you get there,” Jack spoke in my ear, not mentioning the other disturbing parts of what he had seen and heard.

  I was halfway across the field when I heard them shouting and running after me. My legs pushed as hard as they could, my pain receptors not allowing my brain to register the agony my feet were in.

  “There’s a train in fifteen minutes. It slows there for the crossing, not to a stop but a definite slow.”

  “I can’t—run for—five minutes—Jack, let alone fifteen.” I could barely speak. My rib was killing me and my feet were a ragged mess.

  “Well, you have to, so suck it up.”

  I growled my response as I kept running. My thighs were becoming heavy when I heard the train braking for the crossing. Somehow I found a little extra inside me. It was a reserve I had never used before. I pushed and grunted until I was there. The front of the train went past me about fifteen feet in front of my face. I dug in, knowing I could throw up once I was on board, but I had to make the train no matter what.

  I steered myself left along the rocks at the sides of the tracks and leapt with every bit of strength I had in me, grabbing onto the doorway I had aimed for and swinging between the cars.

  Gasping for air, I clung to the train, letting my legs collapse as I dropped down into the gap between the doorways, and heaved. The broken rib and cut feet were one part of the mess I was. The other was the sound of Servario screaming my name, thankfully not my real one. I had nearly killed him and that was killing me.

  I heaved my guts onto the rocks below as the train started to pick up speed again, leaving behind the screaming and shouting.

  “Thank fuck, Evie!” Jack sighed.

  I nodded my head, not really needing to say anything else. Thank fuck about summed it up.

  15

  Ambush #757—can I say it’s getting old now?

  Luce helped me from the car and into the cottage. The doctor was tied up and muzzled in a chair. She growled when she saw me.

  “She seems nice,” I muttered as I hobbled to a chair.

  “A real peach.” Luce snorted. “She’s the fucking Queen of England if you ask her.”

  I didn't waste time on her or anything else. I stared straight at Jack. “Who is Isla?”

  “You.” He grinned. “Servario must have known we were late and would be caught so he created an identification for all three of us, just slightly different looking than we are. The MI6 system has us as agents who’ve gone rogue.”

  “That's not good for getting out of the country.”

  He grinned wider. “We aren’t exactly riding economy.” He motioned his head to the right. “We have someone to bring with us. So we need our own plane.”

  “Fitz?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” I got up and hobbled to the couch, gingerly lying back as Luce lifted one of my feet. “Dude, these are bad. This is like Twelve Years a Slave bad.”

  “I know. It was bad.” And that was an understatement. I turned my head and snarled at the doctor, “I am going to kill you in one hour. In fifty-five minutes when I am not in seizing pain from Luce cleaning my dogs, I am going to take that muzzle off and ask you one question. If the answer is silence, rude, or not what I want to hear, you are dead.” Luce opened her mouth, but I lifted a finger. “Fix my feet.”

  She backed away slowly as Jack got up and grabbed a case from under the sink. He handed it to her and they exchanged a holy-shit look.

  She sat at the end of the uncomfortable couch while I clutched a pillow to my face, and she proceeded to pick splinters and debris from my feet. She then washed them with warm water and, of course, sanitized them with vodka.

  I cried out one last time as she began to wrap them.

  “That was bad. Never make me do that again.”

  “Deal,” I cried and flinched as she tied the huge bandages off. Blood seeped through so she pulled two thick socks over the dressings.

  “This will have to do.”

  “Okay.” I turned on my side, losing my breath in the agony of my thighs and broken ribs. It took everything I had in me to get up and stagger to the doctor. I sat on the floor in front of her, wincing through my shallow breaths. There was no patience left in me. None. I reached up and ripped the duct tape from her lips, waxing her face for her.

  She screamed out but I didn't hear it. I was too full of my own self-pity to hear anyone else’s. I leaned in, possibly looking creepy but not caring, and whispered, “How many people could your research and invention kill?”

  She opened her mouth to protest but snapped it shut, perhaps frightened of the madness lurking in my eyes. It took her a second to answer, “Billions.” Clearly, she had already foreseen the danger in the invention, and yet had pursued it anyway.

  “So you understand that your invention is insanely dangerous in the wrong hands?”

  She nodded, not speaking.

  “Then why should we keep you alive?”

  She swallowed hard, battling herself and her response and most likely to avoid a selfish answer, as I was seconds away from a real hissy fit and possible raging tantrum. “I believe the world needs to save the sick more than it needs to worry about the government. Cancer patients alone would be cured. The strain on the countries from medical systems is outrageous.”

  “Surely, you get that the drug companies are banking money and don't want cures, right?”

  Her gaze hardened. “Do you think any of the people with cancer give a fuck what the drug companies want?”

  She had spunk and her accent was cool, but I didn't see how it was possible for us to do anything beyond give her to the Burrow, a death sentence. Actually, death was nicer. The Burrow was a rattrap. I myself couldn't imagine a fate worse than being surrounded by people who had never seen their life’s dream come to fru
ition. A whole colony of unsatisfied geniuses. It was terrible.

  A cell phone rang, making us all turn toward the desk where Jack sat. He rolled his eyes. “It’s clearly a burner.” He lifted it to his face. “Hello?”

  His back tightened. “I know but we decided—okay?”

  It was Coop and he was pissed. I didn't need to hear the conversation. I knew exactly how it would go. Jack spun back in his chair and handed me the phone. “It’s for you.”

  I gulped at first but remembered I had just done something incredibly badass, and I wasn't in the mood to be scorned by the little boy pretending to be my superior. Instead of acting like it was fine, I listened so as to get a scope of the situation.

  “Evie, that was fucking irresponsible. You went off grid on our fucking off-grid mission? You had no support and no backup and no weapons? Really? I never imagined you were this fucking stupid!”

  He paused as if waiting for my excuse, but I offered nothing.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  Again I listened, waiting for him to blow his wad.

  “I cannot believe you went against my orders and didn’t listen to me! This is exactly why you aren’t the agent in charge!”

  “Are you done?” I asked softly.

  “NO, I FUCKING AM NOT!”

  I nodded, regardless of the fact he couldn't see me.

  “You went to England to fuck Servario—let’s be really honest about that fact. You went there to be fucked by that scumbag piece of shit. Fuck you!”

  I sighed as a little anger boiled in me. It was a slow burn, not a rager, but it could build fast if he continued.

  “You really have nothing to fucking say for yourself?” He was spitting mad.

  “Did you find your sister?”

  “HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT! THAT’S WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR ENDANGERING YOUR LIFE AND THEIRS?”

  I hung up the phone and spoke to Jack, clearing my throat, “So he’s pissed.”

  “Yeah, I did mention he would be.”

  “Yeah, you did.”

  The Aussie gave us all a look. “Who the fuck are you morons? What kind of badly hatched plan was this?”

  The slow burn ended there. Maybe it was petty. Maybe I took my anger at Coop and Servario out on her. Maybe. Whatever. But I snapped. “You better shut the fuck up, you little bitch! We are here, saving your stupid ass from a league of terrorists who want your fucking experiments and science projects for their evil. They were planning on taking horrible diseases into countries using your nanorobots and killing off a huge chunk of the population. You are actually the dumbest bitch here. So don't even think about joining in on the shit-on-Evie brigade. I will literally kill you for no fucking reason other than I can!”

  She flinched but came back from it fast, “Fuck you, Evie! I was doing my job—”

  “AND I AM DOING MINE!”

  She glared into my eyes, maybe comparing the rage before she backed down. She didn't say another thing, God help her if she had. I was snorting breaths from my nose like a fiery dragon might have when the phone rang again. “WHAT?” I answered.

  “DON’T YOU THINK—”

  “Shut up, Coop! Just stop, I did my job. You’re out with your family putting out the amber alert for your fucking sister, who by the way is a spy—” The words left my lips like strangers creeping out. I didn't know them, and yet I did. “She’s a spy.” I whispered my next thought, “She’s the one who sold us out to James. She was what was on the phone Servario traded me for. She sold my kids out to James.” I swallowed and realized what I had been told, what I had seen.

  “That’s a lie,” he snapped, but I lifted my gaze to Jack, ignoring Coop’s rant.

  “She sells the secrets from her family and from us. She’s corrupt.”

  Jack agreed, “It makes sense.”

  Coop fell silent in my ear. A thousand images or memories or doubts were surely filtering through his mind as he realized how much she had told and how much she had risked.

  “She is how Steve found my house and my kids.” The words in my head had memories too. Ones of me and Servario in a hotel in Dubai. Me and Servario in a car. Me and Servario in the elevator in Belgium. He hadn’t made me forget because of the brothel. He’d made me forget so he could deal with Coop’s sister on his own. And so I wouldn't know about the confession he had whispered in bed with me. The one about changing the world to be with me. He loved me.

  A lump grew in my throat. “Servario has your sister, Coop. I doubt she is alive. I doubt she is anything more than ash.” I hung up the phone without an apology. I wasn't. That evil bitch had sold my kids’ location. If it hadn’t been for my mom and Fitz, my kids could’ve been in grave danger.

  Jack’s eyes narrowed. “You knew all along?”

  “I did.” I explained, “But Servario gave me a drug to make me forget the extent of my time in Dubai and Belgium. I don't believe he ever intended me to remember this.”

  “How have you?” Jack seemed confused, not nearly as confused as I was.

  “I don't know.” And that was the truth.

  Luce sighed. “So you remember the brothel and everything?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You people are bonkers,” Janice whispered.

  Luce chuckled nervously. “You have no idea.” Jack and I joined in on a nervous laugh.

  “Does your iPad work for the internet, Jack?” I asked.

  He handed it to me. “Yeah, it fell off a truck and has been rewired to reroute to a hundred and seventeen different servers and create a ghost trail that no one could follow.”

  Janice derided, “Oh, so you are actually intelligent? Like the brains of the operation?”

  He cocked an eyebrow as he handed it to me, not answering her. It was a better choice.

  I searched the Saudi bombings and found the news channel I wanted. It was Fox, a little sensational for my liking, but it would do the job to show her exactly how extreme her work had become. I limped over to her and squatted on the floor to sit next to her chair. It was not an attractive series of movements, but I was actually dying.

  I pressed “play” as the story started and the Fox newscaster, one of the sensationalist morons I hated, started to speak, “Two days ago Saudi Arabia suffered an attack so violent some are calling it the start of World War Three. All the hospitals in Riyadh, over three hundred of the government run and nearly two hundred privately run, suffered in what is being called the most heinous attack the world has ever seen. This is Pearl Harbor times a thousand. The obvious destruction of a major city’s hospitals is one of the cruelest ways to cripple a country in one day. How will the Saudis treat their wounded when the war against them starts? It’s clearly coming. Whatever those bombs were, they are the modern-day Trojan horse. The bombs, all of them fairly small, have been rumored to come from Yemen. A country known for its political crisis and ties to al-Qaeda. They are screaming innocence. It’s a waiting game now as the Saudis have asked for aid from every free nation and the dust settles. The death toll is in the tens of thousands.”

  I pressed pause and looked at Janice. “Any idea how easy it would be for your little drones of doom to cause a major breakout of, let’s say, Ebola in that country tomorrow?”

  She gulped. “My—my work caused this?” Her eyes filled with tears.

  “We don't know. What we do know is that it’s likely being done as a means to ending the Saudi reign and getting the oil from them.” I motioned my head at Jack. “He saw your research and predicted this would be the outcome and the next day it was.”

  Squeezing her eyes shut she shook her head. “I had no idea he’d use it so badly.”

  My insides dropped and my eyes met Jack’s. We shared a momentary panic attack. “You have given your research to someone already?” he asked, almost whispering.

  She sniffled. “Dr. Drusack. He’s a—a scientist I have long admired. He’s a leading robotics engineer and his wife had cancer. He’s been a huge supporter of my—”


  “Oh fuck!”

  We all glanced at Jack who flashed a photo from his laptop. It was of Dr. Vincent Drusack, a face I recognized immediately. “He was at the—” I didn't say Burrow. I didn't need to. We all knew that face. He was one of the people who was there for our swearing in, one of the people who made us agree that we’d stop the threat against the Burrow before we could have our lives back.

  “That's him.” She sniffled again.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and exhaled loudly. “So they want us to gather the scientists and protect the world, but then they want to be able to choose which should be kept secret and which should be used to better their world?”

  Luce whistled through her teeth. “We are screwed, ladies and gentlemen.”

  My blood started to boil again as I took the phone back from Jack and called Coop.

  “Don't yell at me. Get my mom and Fitz and the kids out. We have a major situation.” I hung up again before he could argue.

  Jack took the phone and dropped it into a glass of soda. None of us spoke. We got up and grabbed the doctor. Jack cringed as he lifted a cattle prod. “This is going to hurt.” He jabbed her with it delicately. I let go as it made contact and she tensed, making a slight grunting noise. He pulled the cattle prod back and went about gathering his few things he had brought in.

  “You fucker!” She twitched and breathed as if she had run a marathon.

  “You likely are being traced, Janice. It’s even possible your own little nanobots are inside you. I just shorted everything for you.”

  She winced. “Good point.” She didn't seem less annoyed. I didn't blame her. Being electrocuted wasn't fun for anyone.

  With the clothes on our backs and the thick socks on my feet, we hurried out and down the street of the old house. Luce ran ahead, knowing we needed wheels.

  Jack slipped inside a house, one of the ones in the Portobello area that were shabby on the outside, but you knew were redone inside and worth a couple of million pounds. He hurried back to me and Janice, already on the phone he had lifted from inside the house. “Meet us where I told you I owned royal property. Bring the whole crew.” He hung up and dropped the phone into a puddle.