Nobody_Does_It_Better_Kobo

by Lexi Blake

  He chuckled, the knife cutting into him slightly.

  “I swear Levi, if you don’t put that knife away I won’t do a thing to help you,” she promised.

  The knife came away and Levi cursed. “We need to move out.” He got to his knees and sure enough, he cut through the bindings on her feet before he stood up. He made no move to get her hands out. “I’ll take Kayla with me. You take Hunt and we’ll figure out what to do with them later. Go down to the safe house and I’ll meet you there. Hector can handle law enforcement. He’s got plenty of practice.”

  Hector didn’t look happy with that prospect, but he nodded anyway. “I’ll have my men make it look like Hunt left earlier.”

  “I’ll drive and smile for the security cameras,” Kun said. “Having my sister’s face comes in handy sometimes. But I think we should all go together. We can dump baby sis in the trunk.”

  “No,” Levi replied. “I’m taking her separately. We need to talk and you’re upsetting her. She can be reasonable. I’m going to outline all the ways this makes money and sense for her.”

  Kun frowned her way. “Nice. You’ll take baby sister with you and then you have the one prize that will satisfy Taggart.”

  “You shouldn’t worry about Taggart, you crazy bitch,” Josh said with a grin as he glanced toward the balcony. “He’s not the one you should be worried about. There’s a ghost coming for you. Do you remember what he told you all those years ago about betraying him? What did he promise you? He’s here tonight and he will bring hell down on your head.”

  Her sister paled. “Bishop? Bishop’s here. Oh, shit. Landon didn’t kill all those guards. It was Bishop.”

  “Bishop is somewhere in Colorado,” Levi said, his voice a bit shaky as if he’d just realized the boogeyman was here and looking for him.

  John was here?

  Josh glanced toward the balcony before looking back at her. “Kayla, he has a message for you. Remember Jakarta.”

  Jakarta. She’d been captured by a group of Indonesian extremists. MSS chose to leave her behind, but Bishop and Ten had come for her. They’d stormed the warehouse she’d been at, spraying the place with bullets after she was safely on the ground. Jakarta taught her to do one thing.

  “Duck!”

  She threw herself to the carpet as the glass from the balcony exploded and rained down in a hail of bullets. The world above her seemed to explode.

  Josh threw his body over hers.

  She looked up and watched as those bullets took out one of the guards, but she saw Levi on the floor, crawling toward the door that would lead him out of the big bedroom.

  Then she couldn’t see a damn thing because Josh was covering her head, keeping her down.

  “He’s getting away,” she complained.

  “Let him,” Josh said, not moving an inch. “We’ll take care of him later.”

  She had to tell him. If she let the chance to kill the man who’d hurt Josh get away, she would never forgive herself. “Josh, you have to let me up. I need to make sure Hector is dead.”

  He whispered in her ear. “Not on your life, and I know what he did to me. You’re more important than revenge. You’re more important than anything in the world to me.”

  “Roll us behind the bed and cut through the bindings on my hands. I need them free.” She needed a gun, but she was completely helpless without her hands.

  He didn’t hesitate. He tightened his arms around her and then the world was spinning as he maneuvered them to the relative safety of the bed. She caught a glimpse of John Bishop coming through the ruined windows. He held a gun in both hands, and his eyes were grim as he pulled the triggers.

  Josh immediately went to work on her hands, deftly untying the knots. “I played a ship captain once. I’ll have you out of these in no time at all. Kay, there’s a gun in my right sock. I think if one of us is going to be armed, it should be you. I’ll follow you and I’ll listen to orders, but don’t think I’m going to leave you.”

  “I wish you would.” But she knew it was futile. “Stay behind me. I have to see if I can find Levi or my sister. They’re dangerous.”

  She crawled to the edge of the bed and watched as her sister tried to get a shot off at Bishop.

  Kayla immediately took the shot, but Kun was on the move and it went wide. She saw her sister’s eyes go round as she realized Kay was there on the ground.

  Time to move. Kun raised her gun.

  “To the left, Josh.” She rolled as the bullet breezed by her head. Even rolling, she took another shot, trying to give them some cover.

  She watched as one of Bishop’s bullets took out the guard nearest to the hall. Her sister swiveled and took her own shot and then sprinted for the door. Bishop had taken cover and Kun was gone.

  That couldn’t happen. Levi she might be able to deal with. She might be able to convince the Agency to handle him, but Kun would be back. She’d seen it right there in her sister’s eyes—pure hatred. If Jiang Kun got away, she and Josh would never be safe again. The blackmail would start up and they would always be looking over their shoulders.

  Her sister. Time seemed to slow as she got to her feet and braced herself. Kun’s gun was coming up, too, and it would be a matter of who was faster. An Old West gunfight, but in that moment she remembered how she’d felt to know that she had a sister, someone who shared her blood and DNA. All her life she’d been the weird one, the adopted kid who couldn’t even pretend her parents were her real parents.

  Except they were. Her dads loved her beyond blood and DNA. Beyond the simple circumstances of birth. They’d chosen her. Her mother had loved her enough to risk everything so she could live. And her sister…her sisters had nothing to do with blood. Her sisters were Ariel and Penny. Her brothers were Damon and Nick and Brody and the Lost Boys.

  She pulled the trigger, letting go of that dream. That shot was true. She knew it the moment she took it, but her sister’s mirrored her own. They would hit each other squarely in the chest. Identical heart shots.

  Except Josh tackled her, shoving her out of the way. She watched as her sister’s shirt bloomed with blood, her eyes going wide and startled.

  Kayla hit the floor with a thud, Josh landing on top of her.

  The room was suddenly silent, eerily quiet after the hail of bullets.

  She took her first deep breath in hours. “Are you okay?”

  “No, baby,” he said, keeping his body over hers. “Don’t hurt her, Hector.”

  She glanced up as much as she could and Hector was standing over them, his gun pointed their way.

  What had happened? Where was John Bishop?

  “What do I get if I don’t hurt her, Joshua?” Hector’s voice was silky-smooth evil. “You might not ask me for mercy if you knew some of the things I’ve done.”

  “I know exactly what you’ve done,” Josh replied, his whole body covering hers as if he could magically form some cone of protection around her. “I know what you did to me. I know your group was behind it all. Think of what you could get for the tape of me now, Hector. Let her go and I’ll do anything you want. You know how good I am at it, right? You remember.”

  “Josh,” she said, her whole soul aching. He could barely talk about what happened to him as a child, much less give himself back to the monster who’d profited off all of it.

  “Don’t,” Josh said quietly. “I realized I would go through it all again if it brought me here to you. All of it, Kay. I’ve been half a man, walking around like a ghost, but you are worth the pain. I love you and I’m going to get you out of this. I owe you everything.”

  Hector chuckled. “I might enjoy seeing how you handle one of my brothels. Tell me, Josh, do you miss the drugs? Do you miss the…”

  Hector’s head kind of exploded. Josh covered her again, shoving her down and tensing over her. He was ready to do it. He was ready to take a bullet for her. Probably many.

  “I owe Kay, too,” a familiar voice said. “Come on. Let’s get you two up. Joshua,
we’re going to have to patch up your arm. Sorry, I got hit and fell back on the balcony. Luckily my vest held up better than Fain’s. I have to thank Stef for that. I borrowed it from the Bliss County Sheriff, but Stef paid for it. Nothing but the best.”

  Bishop. She had no idea who he was talking about, but he was here and she was alive and Josh was alive. Josh got to his knees, helping her up. There was blood on his left arm and he winced when he moved it.

  “He saved you from your sister,” Bishop said quietly. “I saw it happen. It was incredible. You moved like mirror images. Those shots would have been perfect.”

  But she’d had a man who loved her enough to risk himself for her. Her sister’s hate had been nothing compared to Joshua Hunt’s love.

  She cupped his precious face. That face had graced a thousand movie screens, but no one on the earth got to see him as open and vulnerable as he was now. No one but her. “I love you, Josh.”

  “Good, because I’m never letting you go,” he said. “You get into trouble, pet. I think you need to stay with me.”

  She hugged him. Staying with him was right where she wanted to be.

  Epilogue

  Mexico City

  Eighteen hours later

  “What do you mean he got away?” Kayla stared at Big Tag. Even in the confines of Josh’s massive, super-pimped-out million-plus trailer, Big Tag made everything look small. “How the hell did Levi Green manage to get out? We called the authorities. We called the Agency.”

  Big Tag had hustled down to Mexico. Even as he’d been shooting his way out of the compound, Shane had called and updated Ian. Ian had gotten on a plane as quickly as he could, showing up this morning with Tennessee Smith at his side.

  They were all sitting in Josh’s trailer. The shoot was going on outside, but Josh was taking the day off due to having a bullet cut out of his left bicep. He looked over at the former CIA agents. “How could the Agency let a rogue operative slip away like that? Are they looking for him?”

  “They don’t have to,” Ten said, his mouth a tight frown. “They can walk into his office at Langley if they want to know where he is.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Declan asked, a cup of coffee in his hand. “He just walked back into the office after shooting Fain? They don’t give a crap about him attempting to murder another agent?”

  Declan and Riley had turned around and gotten back in time to get her and Josh out of Morales’s compound before the police showed up.

  But not John Bishop. He’d faded into the shadows and disappeared again before she’d even had a chance to tell him off the way she’d wanted to. Or given him a hug and a thank you for saving them all.

  She moved closer to Josh, his arm immediately coming out and wrapping around her. He didn’t hide his affection at all now. Something deep had broken inside Josh the night before, some seal that had kept much of his emotion buried. After they’d had his arm looked at, he’d wrapped himself around her and held her for the longest time, telling her all the things being in a room with Hector Morales brought back, all the horrors. Somehow in telling them, in letting it all loose, in holding her while she cried for the child he’d been, a new Josh had been born. A warm and loving man. A man who knew he was worthy of being loved, too.

  But this afternoon he was going to get a lesson in how shitty life in the intelligence community could be sometimes. She cuddled close to him but looked up at Big Tag and Ten. “They’re taking Levi’s side, aren’t they?”

  She hated to think about what that meant for them all.

  Big Tag nodded. “I don’t have the whole story, but I’ve already got Case and Theo picking up Ezra from the hospital. I know he shouldn’t be moved yet, but I can’t risk leaving him in a hospital bed when they could come and arrest him at any moment. Luckily Faith was in town with Ten. She’s going to oversee him all the way home and then we’ll let him recover at a safe house.”

  It was good to have a doc on call. The Dallas team had Faith Smith and London had just gotten their own in Stephanie Carter.

  She was going to miss her team, but her heart was always going to be in California. Or wherever Josh was.

  “Arrest the dude who nearly got killed trying to save us?” Josh asked. “That’s insane. I’ll testify for him.”

  There was a knock on the trailer door.

  “There won’t be a trial for Fain,” Ten said grimly. “The Agency is going to choose the story that best fits the narrative they want. The Jiang Kun mission will remain top secret, potentially scrubbed from the files. Fain will be attached to Morales. Levi Green will be the good guy, the one who tried to find out what happened to the agent there.”

  Josh held up his hand. “I know. Levi Green killed him. I do not get this. This is a poorly written script because the bad guy is getting away.”

  “Yeah, that’s how it works sometimes,” a quiet voice said as he stepped up the stairs and into the trailer. “That’s one of the reasons I got out, though not the most important one.”

  Everyone stopped, all eyes on the newcomer. He looked so different. The Bishop she’d known had worn mostly black. His hair had been longer, his eyes flat much of the time. Every now and then she would coax a smile from him, but there had always been a darkness about John Bishop that she’d been sure nothing could banish.

  The man in front of her wore a T-shirt that proudly stated that life was better in Bliss, Colorado. He had a touristy Cuban-style shirt over the T and khaki shorts that her dads might pick out and say were sporty. They weren’t. Nor were the Birkenstocks on his feet or the Tilley hat covering his trimmed brown and gold hair.

  He stood back as though afraid of his welcome.

  Ian Taggart’s face actually went soft. “Sir, it’s a pleasure to see you again. Never thought I would.”

  “Ian.” Bishop held a hand out.

  “Hell,” Big Tag said before pulling the smaller man in for a bear hug. “We thought you were dead, Henry.”

  When Bishop pulled back there was surprise in his eyes. “You called me Henry.”

  Big Tag looked deeply pleased with himself. “You’re Henry Flanders now. That’s what all this was about. You’re Henry and you’re Nell’s husband, and that’s the truth. That’s why you did everything you did. You did it so you could be the kind of man your wife would be proud of. Why is everyone looking at me like that? I’m fucking sensitive, too. I can figure things out.”

  Ten rolled his eyes. “I told him all that on the plane ride here. Henry, it’s nice to meet you, man. And thank you for letting my old friend Bishop come out to play this time. I think we would have lost a lot had you not.”

  “I had to come,” Henry said, his eyes finding Kay’s. “I owed it to you. Kayla, I did what I did…”

  She gave him her middle finger. “You suck, Bishop.”

  His face flushed.

  He really was a different person. A happy person. Josh could be that with the right love. Her love. She bounced up off the couch to her feet and crossed the space between them. “But this Henry guy seems awfully lovable. It’s good to see you.”

  She threw her arms around her old mentor, forgiving him in that moment. He’d done his job and known when to take that off-ramp he talked about. He’d found his and now she had hers. Forgiveness wasn’t hard when he’d been the one to save Joshua.

  His arms wrapped around her. “You, too. Do you have any idea how proud I am of everything you did? Including saving these two numbskulls a couple of times. Just because I’ve been dead doesn’t mean I haven’t kept up with my people. Well, a friend of mine who’s quite good at hacking a system got your mission files for me. I was happy to hear Ian got out when he did. I worried about him, especially after his wife died. I was thrilled to hear she’s back. I’m not the only one to pull the old ‘I’m dead’ routine. Ten, though, I always knew would find a nice woman and settle down.”

  “Glad you knew,” Ten shot back. “Someone might have mentioned that to me. I always thought I was a broody s
on of a bitch no one would ever love.”

  “I need more punches,” Tag said. “When he says shit like that I need more punches.”

  Ten’s eyes narrowed and he pointed at Tag. “Don’t you dare. You used up your last punch.”

  Tag turned to Henry. “Did those reports tell you about the time that asshole stormed my building with a full Special Forces team? My building. I have a daycare there.”

  Ten shook his head. “Are you seriously tattling on me like a damn four-year-old?”

  Henry’s smile was brilliant as he put a hand on both the badass ex-operatives. “Boys, let’s go grab a beer and you can tell me all about it. I was kind of hoping I could catch a ride back to the States. After all, we have more to talk about. I need you to fill me in on what’s left of Hope McDonald’s experiments. I think it’s all about those boys.”

  “Yeah, we know about that.” Ten looked back at the three bodyguards. “Come on, then. Let’s leave the lovebirds. We’ve got a plane to catch in a few hours.”

  They would be going home, but she was staying here with Josh. They would need bodyguards, but she would find some who lived in the area and not in her house. She could handle his protection when they were alone.

  But she would miss her boys.

  Tag stayed for a moment while the men filed out. He stared at Josh. “You take care of her or you’ll deal with two mad dads and me. Not sure which is worse.”

  Tears misted her eyes. “Thank you for everything, Ian. And don’t think I’m gone. We got word this morning that the studio is looking for someone to play Tex Jones in the new Soldiers and Doms movie. I’m going to convince Josh. He would definitely have to do his research.”

  “No, he wouldn’t if he’s playing Ten. He just has to talk real slow and pretend he’s got a brain in his head. Well, he shouldn’t pretend too hard.” Tag smiled. “Seriously, don’t be a stranger. Either one of you. And if you see anything suspicious, call. You might not be on the payroll any longer, but you’re both family now.”