by Pamela Clare
She accepted it without looking at him. As he sat at the other end, she kept her eyes on the table. Made polite small talk as Eliza forced conversation and cut Celina’s steak for her. She ate awkwardly, but refused help with anything else, and complimented Cooper’s cooking. She barely sipped at the wine.
Eliza shot looks at Cooper. Dyer, good man that he was, brought up photography, asking Celina’s advice on a long-range lens for his new Canon Rebel digital camera. The hundred-mile stare left Celina’s face, her eyes met Dyer’s as she asked about the kind of shots he wanted to take. She sipped more wine, nodded her head, offered to take him shopping after their current situation was over.
“Why didn’t you become a professional photographer, Celina?” Eliza asked. “Why did you become an FBI agent?”
Celina looked down at her plate, suddenly self-conscious, a small smile passing across her lips. “As a child, I wanted to be a painter like my aunt Colette. She painted oil portraits of children and they were so perfect, so lifelike. I wanted to do that.” Celina chuckled softly, glanced around the table at them. “But my paintings were awful. Truly awful. Everyone else in my family, my mother, my brothers, all of them, could draw or paint or write. Even sing. But me? Nothing. Not a creative bone in my body. My brother John used to tell me I’d been left on the doorstep of the church and our parents adopted me. That I wasn’t really part of the family.”
“We told my little brother Austin a similar story.” Dyer had an evil gleam in his eye. “Carl and I always told him we found him in the woods behind our house and Mom said we could keep him for a pet.”
Celina smiled. “My brothers would like you.”
Dyer held up his wine glass to her. “My brothers would like you too.”
Eliza punched his arm and they all laughed.
“For my ninth birthday,” Celina continued, “my grandmother Colette gave me a camera, and it was like opening the door to another world. I became fascinated with butterfly wings and antennas. The backs of children’s hands. These micro-worlds that existed all around me. I could see pictures inside of pictures. Tiny stories that went with these tiny worlds. It was…” She shook her head, shrugged one shoulder, “all I wanted to do.”
Cooper had stopped eating to listen to her. He’d never thought about Celina as a young girl. About her family. He’d thought her photography was interesting and he knew she was selling some of it through legitimate sources, but he’d never wondered why she’d chosen the FBI over her obvious passion. “So why’d you end up at the Academy?”
She looked at him, that small smile still in place. She was tired and scared and uncertain. Scared of Emilio and Valquis. Uncertain of her place in his house, but she was covering it all remarkably well. “My parents have a strong work and moral ethic. They believe in giving back to the community as well as pushing yourself to excel in your chosen field. My brother, Matt, is a cardiac specialist in Seattle. Mark is a public defender in Bakersfield. Luke’s a marine biologist. Johnny, well, he’s kind of the black sheep of the family. He writes graphic novels and illustrates them himself, but he sits on a board for a local children’s hospital so Mom and Pop cut him slack for that. When it came to me,” another shrug, “neither Mom nor Pop believed I could make a decent living off photography. My only other interest was being a cop, but I didn’t want to work the streets. I saw a lot of bad stuff with cops growing up in Miami. I didn’t want that, didn’t want to be the one harassing people I knew, arresting people I grew up with. The FBI on the other hand seemed cool. I talked to a recruiter at school and she steered me in this direction.”
“You have four brothers named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,” Eliza said, eyebrows raised.
Celina laughed. “Yes, we’re Catholic. Mom hoped for a full dozen.”
“Why’d she name you Celina?” Dyer asked. “That’s not biblical, is it?”
“My name is Celina Colette Maria Davenport. I’m named after both my Cuban grandmother, Celina, and my American grandmother, whose family is from Britain and Wales. Maria is, of course, in reference to the Virgin.”
“Davenport sounds English,” Eliza said.
Celina nodded. “My grandfather Davenport is English and Irish. My brothers, Matt and Mark are Irish twins.” When everyone looked quizzical, Celina elaborated. “They were born in the same year. Matt was born in January. Mark, ten months later.”
Eliza and Dyer laughed. Eliza said, “But you were the end of the line for your mother?”
“The four boys were quite a handful. Even before she had me, I think she’d given up wanting a dozen.”
“I don’t blame her,” Eliza said, “and I can see why you’re good at taking care of yourself. Having four older brothers makes you pretty tough, huh?”
Celina’s smile faded and her hands went into her lap. “Tough enough,” she said quietly.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
While Cooper was in the shower, Celina moved her bags into the living room, fluffed the pillows on the couch and sat down to wait. She flipped channels on the TV and turned it off when not even a rerun of CSI kept her mind off Cooper standing naked under running water.
Bobby was still in the house, having sent Eliza home and declaring he would take first watch so Cooper could sleep, but he’d disappeared down the hall, holing up in the computer room. Celina knew he was giving her and Cooper space so they could talk.
She was going to talk to Cooper. She’d been thinking about what to say ever since she saw the picture of Owen. Cooper’s son put a new perspective on things. He was Cooper’s only real responsibility. And so Celina had her speech ready—the one about leaving so she wouldn’t endanger Cooper—but when he emerged from the bathroom and sauntered into the living room in nothing but a pair of board shorts, his wet hair combed back, and the stubble still on his face, her breath caught in her chest and the words in her brain got all mixed up.
He took in her bags on the floor, her bug-eyed expression. “What’s up?”
“I, uh.” She closed her eyes, shook her head to clear it. “You take the bed. I’ll sleep in here.”
“It’s no problem.”
“I’ve had several naps today. I’m wound for sound.” Standing up, she smoothed her shirt with her left hand. “I’m going to hang out with Bobby for a while. If I get tired, I’ll crash on the couch.”
He was too much of a gentleman to let her sleep on his couch. “Celina.”
“Cooper,” Celina mimicked his tone. “Take the damn bed.”
She brushed by him, hoping fervently he would reach out and grab her, pull her into his bedroom and make wild, passionate love to her, but when he didn’t, she went to find Bobby.
In the back room, Dyer was studying the security monitors. He glanced up at her when she entered, saw the look on her face, and went back to the monitors. “Tough day.”
Celina flopped into a chair next to him. “The day from hell.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“No. Yes.” She shook her head, rubbed her temples with her fingers. Blew out a long sigh. “I can’t stay here.”
He was silent, frowning at the screens in front of him. “And your other option is?”
“I know, I know. I’ve got nowhere to go. Anywhere I land, I endanger other people, but that’s the reason I can’t stay here either. Cooper’s got a kid. I mean…oh, hell.” She leaned forward and dropped her head between her knees. “If he gets killed or injured because of me…”
She drew a deep breath, let it out slowly, “I can’t live with that, Bobby. I can’t.”
“Hey, hey.” He rubbed her back. “Nothing’s gonna happen to Coop.”
Celina set her head in her hands. “You can’t say that. Sugars and Forester are dead because of me. Cooper’s next if I stay here. Your life’s in danger, too. Even Eliza.”
“First of all, we’re a team. We know how Londano and Valquis work. We’ve lived and breathed them for years. They can’t surprise us like they did Forester and his agents. Secon
d, we’re a team. Do you hear me? We cover each other’s backs. Take care of each other 24/7. And third…” he trailed off, lifted his eyebrows for her to finish his sentence.
“We’re a team.”
“Exactly.” He gently pinched her chin. “No one’s gonna break us up. We’re exponentially stronger and smarter if we’re united. We stay together, work together, sleep together on occasion.” He waggled his eyebrows.
Celina couldn’t help but smile at his teasing. “It’s too dangerous for all of you. I can’t be part of the team this time.”
“And, again, your option is?”
“I have to take down Emilio on my own.”
He straightened, cracked his knuckles. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Celina, but you’re not capable of taking on Londano or Valquis on your own.”
How can I not take that the wrong way?
“It’s not because you’re a woman or because your field experience amounts to a hill of beans. None of us, not one single member of the SCVC taskforce, no matter how intelligent or tough or experienced, is capable of taking on these two alone. The only way—are you listening?—the only way to succeed at taking them out, is if we work together. One united front.”
“But Emilio only wants me. If I turn myself over, he’ll stop killing the people around me. Then I’ll figure out how to stop him.”
“You can’t be serious. You think Londano won’t brutalize you? Kill you?”
“Not if I kill him first.”
“What about Valquis? You gonna kill him too?”
“How else do I stop them?”
Bobby slumped in his chair. “You’re serious.”
Celina nodded.
“You’ll die, and in the end, Val and Londano will still come after Cooper.”
She didn’t follow. “Why?”
“He’s head of the SCVC. He’s given them a lot of trouble over the years. Coop and I talked this over. The night Val did this to me,” he tapped the arm of his wheelchair, “he was sending Cooper a message.”
A message. Like he’d sent her via Forester’s body? “What kind of message?”
“Cooper messed with Londano’s empire, pissed him off one too many times. So instead of going after Cooper directly, he sent Val after me. He knew that would do more damage to Coop’s mental and emotional state than anything else.”
“Like he’s doing with me right now.” Celina shifted, rubbed her temples again. “It’s payback.”
“Londano’s keeping you totally freaked out and off balance.” He checked the security screens. “If you walk out of here and Valquis grabs you, what do you think that will do to Cooper?”
Celina sat for a long moment, knowing exactly what it would do to Cooper. “But he’s got a kid,” she said, picking at the brace on her wrist. “That’s his only real responsibility. Not me.”
The two friends sat in silence, staring at the black and white images on the screens in front of them. Bobby turned his chair to face her. “You have to stay with Cooper, Celina. He’s your only chance to walk away from this alive.”
She thought about that, figured it was true. “You could keep me safe.”
A disgruntled half-laugh escaped his lips. “Have you looked at me? In case you didn’t notice, I’m in a fucking wheelchair, rookie.”
“Oh, god,” Celina said, putting her hand over her mouth. “I forgot.”
Bobby’s face took on a look of confused bemusement. “You forgot I’m stuck in this contraption?”
Celina put her head down. “That was rude. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t be sorry. That’s the first time anyone’s forgotten. It’s actually nice.”
Celina leaned over and hugged him. “Why did they get divorced?” she asked.
He didn’t miss a beat at the change in subject. “Typical reason. Cooper worked a lot of long hours. Lots of holidays. Melinda was lonely. She got pregnant thinking that might turn Cooper into a homebody. It didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, Owen changed a lot of things for Cooper. He worked smarter, landed the taskforce unit’s head position in order to keep him off the streets as much as possible while still being involved in drug enforcement. But he and Melinda, well, they fought a lot. She finally gave up. Divorced him.”
“Is that why he doesn’t want to get involved with me?”
“Cooper was nuts over Melinda when they got hitched. He was also twenty-four years old. Too young to know what he really wanted.”
Twenty-four. The same age as her when she joined the taskforce. “And?”
“He knows how things change, how love can start out wild and passionate and get overcome by other stuff and go bad.”
“That can happen at any age. Love is risky.”
“That’s true,” he said, pointedly sizing her up. “So what are you going to do about it?”
What was she going to do about it? “I figure I have two options.” She closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “I can go put on my Victoria’s Secret lace peek-a-boo teddy, jump in bed with him, and hope the sex is mind blowing enough that he keeps me around until he realizes he can’t live without me, or I can leave now and save face.” She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Try to forget about him.”
“Do you really have a Vicki’s peek-a-boo teddy with you?”
Celina rolled her eyes. “What happened with him and Lana?”
Bobby’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you ask?”
It was his tone that confirmed her suspicions. “Ah ha,” Celina said. “I knew there was something going on between them.”
“Trust me, there is nothing going on between Coop and Lana.”
“But there was once, wasn’t there?”
When he looked away, Celina sat forward. “What happened? Tell me.”
“I can’t. I’m sworn to secrecy.”
“Did he sleep with her?”
“Oh, hell no.” He affected a false shiver and made a disgusted noise like he’d drunk sour milk. “That’s sick.”
If it wasn’t sex, than what was it? Celina grabbed the arms of his chair. “Then what?”
He shook his head no, kept his eyes on the screens. “I’ll self-destruct if I say anything.”
“Why does he lie about her?”
Bobby’s gaze shifted to her. “What kind of lie?”
“He told me she benches something like two hundred and twenty pounds. That she’s a black belt in karate.”
His eyes shifted away. “Those aren’t lies.”
“I saw her today.” Or maybe it was yesterday or the day before. Celina was losing track of time. “She’s Dolly Parton on a power trip.”
“Dolly Parton on steroids, maybe.”
“You’ve personally been at the gym and seen her bench press that much weight.”
“Me? No,” Dyer said. “But I have it documented.”
“Documented for what?”
He looked around the room. “I’ve already said too much.”
“Why would you be documenting what Lana does?” Celina said it to herself more than to him.
A thought dawned. “You’re keeping a file on her for Cooper.” She stared at the DEA field officer-turned-techie. Saw his face flush. “Sounds like blackmail.”
“No. Not anymore at least. I was keeping a file on her, but Cooper told me to destroy it when she went to the FBI, only I didn’t because it was too risky. She could come back and Coop’s problems could start over with her.”
Problems? Now Celina was totally enthralled. In a flash of memory, she saw Lana eyeing Dupé. Wants to snag the boss.
“She wanted to sleep with Cooper,” Celina said as the idea came to her. “When she was DEA. He was married to Melinda already. He wouldn’t sleep with her. Pissed her off, didn’t it?”
Bobby was humming under his breath now, something that sounded like the soundtrack to Jaws.
“She tried to get Cooper in trouble,” Celina continued, as the thoughts kept morphing. “What did she do? Claim sexual h
arassment?”
His tune picked up tempo. “I hear nothing. I see nothing. I know nothing.”
“She hit him with a sexual harassment charge.”
The humming stopped. Bobby let out a long-suffering sigh. “She threatened him with it because he wouldn’t play her game, but she never followed through once she found out I had a file on her. The only one being harassed was Coop and she knew I could prove it.”
“Why didn’t Cooper take the file and give it to someone higher up? Get Lana fired?”
“He said she’d move on and eventually she did. He was satisfied with that.”
“And now she’s after Dupé.”
“You noticed that too, huh?”
Celina nodded her head. “Someone should bring this to light. Warn the director.”
He was humming again and shaking his head. “Not me. I hear nothing. I see nothing. I know nothing.”
“She has access to a lot of sensitive information, and Dupé trusts her. She could ruin him.”
“Coop says Dupé’s smart enough to figure it out on his own and he doesn’t want that passed out in the light for everyone to know about. As far as Cooper’s concerned, the file no longer exists.”
That’s crap, but now she understood Cooper’s intense dislike of Lana. His comments about her. “Did he really punch her when you were in the hospital?”
“Punch her?” Bobby’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. “Cooper would never punch a woman. Not even Lana…” his voice trailed off and he smiled. “But I bet he sure fantasized about it. I certainly have.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
When Cooper woke, gray light and the smell of strong coffee filled his bedroom. His digital clock read 6:47. Damn, he’d slept all night. Why hadn’t the alarm went off at two am like he’d set it for? He reached out and checked the switch, found it in the off position.
“I turned it off,” a soft voice said from the corner. “You needed the sleep.”
He rolled onto his side and pushed himself up on one elbow. Celina was backlit from the window, her features dark, but he could see her outline clearly as she sat crossed-legged on his credenza, holding a coffee mug with her left hand. Her gun was next to her, as was a second mug, and the two-way radio Dyer had given her.