by Tara Brown
Odd.
Very odd choice.
Not one I would have appreciated if I were her.
She gulped and lifted her gaze after a second, feigning the worst surprised expression I’d ever seen.
She made Jack seem like he’d taken acting classes for a decade before joining.
She would never be allowed to leave the office.
Ever.
Risk management was one thing, this was something else.
“Evie. I’ve heard so much about you.” She regretted saying it the moment she did. Her eyebrows twitched again. A tell.
Jesus.
At least there was no way she was a spy and double-crossing us.
“Simone, how lovely.” I was still British. Why was I still British? “I suppose I’ve heard a lot about you as well. Less from the horse’s mouth though.” I laughed and it made us both cringe.
What the hell was happening?
I was pretending to be a bitch? A British one.
Oh good . . .
Luce came barreling into the room, saving us both. “Hey.” She huffed, completely out of her disguise and gave me a side-glance before turning her hardened gaze to Simone. “Luce.” She held out a hand, firmly shaking and obviously squeezing Simone’s poor delicate hand.
I started to feel sorry for the red-faced child in front of us.
She searched the empty space for Coop to come to her rescue.
I nearly laughed, I knew that feeling all too well.
“So, how do you like London?” I asked, still very British though it was changing slightly, becoming less Queen’s English and moving to a subtle cheap side.
“Why are you still British?” Luce asked before Simone could answer.
“I’m practicing. I have a hard time going in and out of character.” I winked at Simone. “Acting was never one of my strong suits.”
“I see.” She said it but she didn't. I didn't either. I was panicking. I hated meeting this tiny angel, she was defenseless and sweet. So saccharine I nearly choked on it. And I was the woman scorned or had I done the scorning?
I wasn't sure but she felt like competition, only we weren’t competing.
It was all so confusing to try to figure out who we were to each other. Nervously, I glanced at my watch.
“Somewhere to be?” Luce laughed. She knew exactly what was going on, likely smelled the panic on me.
“Yes. Remember, I’m meeting a certain arms dealer. He said he would see me in an hour, which I am guessing means he will come here or send me directions.”
“Did you talk to Coop about it? You going alone?” Luce lifted her eyebrows.
“I don't know. He wasn't specific.” And I was American again. Just like that. The nervous Brit was turned off.
“Everyone, this is Simone,” Coop interrupted us before anything else awkward could occur, walking in with Jack who had just arrived. “Simone, this is Evie, Luce, and Jack.”
“Nice to meet you all.” Simone smiled but the tension in her eyes was unbearable.
“Anyway, it was lovely to meet you. But I have to get going.”
“What? You just got here.” Coop lost his friendly little introduction tone and was back to being “I’m in charge” Coop. I resented and enjoyed “I’m in charge” Coop almost equally.
“Yeah.” I gave him the impersonal smile and nodded. “Meeting S to discuss the Russian I want for Christmas.”
“You don't have to speak in code. Simone knows who Saransk is. And Servario too.” He said the names and Jack, Luce, and I all flinched at the same time as if on a timer to do so.
“We haven’t been to the house in ages, Coop. You’re saying names like you’ve run some diagnostics here that I suspect you haven’t.” Jack turned in a slow circle.
“I have,” Simone said softly.
“You have?” Jack’s tone grew terse. “Really? Do tell.”
“You come with me.” Coop grabbed my arm and dragged me from the room. I jerked free, shoving him back the moment we were clear of everyone else.
“This isn’t the game we play anymore, Coop. No manhandling.”
“Evie, what the fuck?” He stared down on me, looming like a dark cloud.
“Servario has information he wants to give me about Saransk. I am going to meet him. I’ll be back.” I stood tall in my heels, though I barely scraped his shoulders with my head.
“I get it, you’re pissed that I’m seeing someone—”
“I’m not.” It was the truth. I wasn't sure how to act around her, but I wasn't upset they were together. I needed him to move on. I needed the smell of him to stop being home. I needed to stop being in love with two men.
“You chose Servar—”
“We’re not together, Coop. I am single. I’m honestly not going to see S for anything other than information. I just need to know how to kill the Russian. I’d love to add him to the list of people we have to invite to the ball, but I doubt I’ll manage to keep it in my pants if I see him. He's possibly the one who sacked our old house in Canada, meaning he's aware of who I am. If he knows who I am, he knows who the kids are.”
“Ball?”
“Jack and Luce’s plan. It’s smart. Very smart. Jack’s cracked the bot code. He can program them. He’s trying to figure out a way to—”
“You and Servario are over, for real?” He swallowed hard, his eyes searching mine as he stepped a little closer, forcing me to step back until I hit the wall behind me. "This is genuinely about Saransk?"
“Yeah, but I don't want to discuss it. I just wanted you to know, I’m happy for you that you found Simone. She seems sweet. And she’s genuinely smitten with you. And S says she checks out. So that’s something, isn’t it?" I tried to smile through the bile filling my throat. I didn't want to tell him I was happy for him, I wasn't. But it was what we needed. He was so close I could taste him in the air. I needed him to be happy with someone else. I needed an obstacle to prevent me from wrapping my arms around him.
Suddenly, I realized he did too, and I started to nervous sweat. I panicked and words fell from my lips, though I smiled through them, "You guys can be young and in love and get married and have babies—"
A knock at the door saved me and interrupted whatever Coop was about to do or say.
“You’re single?” He scowled, ignoring the knock and all my weird ramblings. By the intensity in his stare I worried he was about to do something, something that would leave us both conflicted all over again. And I prayed he wasn't conflicted. That I was alone in the effect he had on me.
The knock happened again.
He closed his eyes and sighed heavily before turning and opening the door.
Servario filled the doorway.
His gaze darted from Coop’s to mine.
My stomach ached with tension.
“Servario.” Coop moved aside to let him in.
“Cooper,” he replied coldly as he closed the door, filling the entryway with the cologne he always wore. It overpowered the boy-next-door scent of Coop.
The competing smells, with Servario’s stifling Coop’s, was the perfect display of how my last year had gone.
Two guys intoxicating me with one almost winning out over the other, almost.
“What are you wearing?” Servario’s nose wrinkled.
“Does it really matter?” I asked.
“Suppose not. Shall we?” Servario questioned, rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt, flexing his forearms.
“You’re staying?” Coop asked.
“Yes,” Servario said, emotionless and grumpy.
“Why not?” Coop grumbled as he walked down the hallway with Servario hot on his heels.
My knees almost buckled as I stood in the entryway, not sure if the instant pains in my stomach were nervous diarrhea or possible food poisoning. Either would be bad.
Placing a hand on my belly, I took several deep yoga breaths before forcing myself to the kitchen where everyone else was.
Luce flashed m
e the “what the fuck” stare before turning back.
Servario kissed Simone’s hand, introducing himself. She giggled and was red-faced more than before.
Coop was steaming like fresh poop on a cold day.
Jack was confused, visibly but not in the same panicky way Luce and I were.
This was hell.
Actual hell.
“Shall we get down to the brass tacks then?” Coop asked, giving me a dirty glare, the kind that could kill from a mile. “What’s this ball?”
“Ball?” Servario joined in staring at me.
“Jack and Luce came up with a plan.” I nodded at them both, almost nervous giggling.
“Let’s hear it then.” Coop’s tone suggested he was pissed.
Maybe it was Servario.
Maybe it was me.
Likely it was that they’d formed a plan without him.
Whatever it was, by the time Jack was done describing the plan, Coop’s attitude was gone and Servario nodded his head in agreement.
“Told you it was good,” I added a little fuck-you fuel to the fire that had almost gone out.
Why not?
If I was in hell, I was taking everyone else with me.
7
Kiss with a fist
Simone was amazing.
It was the worst fate ever. I'd wanted so badly to be indifferent to her but I couldn't.
She had won me over halfway through the wine and takeaway Servario had his minions deliver after he insisted on staying at the house with the team and learning all Jack was planning.
“Evie’s ten times the spy you all are. I don't care what anyone says,” Simone blurted randomly and laughed at Coop, in his face, as he was boring us all with details of his trip. Three glasses of wine and she was my new best friend, complimenting or bringing me up in odd moments, an act I attributed to her nervousness from being around me after hearing about my relationship with Coop. That and her inability to drink wine. She brought new meaning to the term “lightweight.” “She’s been thrown back into the shark-infested waters with you all and didn't drown. She’s thrived, became the spy she was remembered for being, and still has her kids to take care of. You legit have no responsibilities and you’re barely coping.”
“Wow.” Coop’s lips lifted into a grin while feigning being wounded by her as he continued to refuse to make eye contact with me. “I had Evie as my responsibility. It’s easy to say that, now that she’s killing everyone with a hairpin, but you weren’t there when I had to convince her to jump off the roof of a burning house into a tree.”
“Or when she panicked and ran through a hotel naked,” Servario added quietly.
“Not that anyone minded the show,” Jack said through a laugh as Luce hit him in the arm.
“Oh my God.” I covered my face and shook my head back and forth. “I hate you all.”
“To Evie.” Simone, drunken Simone, lifted her red plastic glass. “An example to us all on how to do it. Have a family and still be a kick-ass agent.”
She’d really won me over.
A compliment to my being a mom was literally all it took.
Coop barely lifted his glass and Servario appeared to be lost in contemplation.
I smiled and let them cheer me half-heartedly.
Everyone drank a lot but only Simone drank too much.
Even Servario had wine and was getting a bit glossy eyed, but he wasn't drunk. He didn't get drunk. Not really. He always maintained a level of control. Always.
But he chuckled and smiled a little more, not quite like he had with Elise, but his guard was as low as it got. Around me.
“Anyway, now that we all agree Evie is finally earning her keep, perhaps we can move on to the important problems, particularly the main one within your plan.” Servario gave me a shot without making eye contact. It was a real dig. “For the purpose of getting the Organization all in one place, at one time, the ball is a great suggestion. But the innocent casualties will be staggering. No one here will agree to that, Jack.”
“We were thinking, what if there was a mini meeting proposed? Sort of a toast or an initiation into the club that separated the Organization from the rest of the party for a minute?” Jack glanced at Luce. All the humor had left our faces. “Luce and I were hoping they could have a side gathering within the celebration. And we could have the Organization's people ushered into an area, and then the explosion would go off there.”
“Who would get them to go there?” Coop asked.
“Someone like me?” Servario narrowed his gaze.
“No. You would die in the explosion. But you could ask someone to make a speech or give a toast. Surely, there is a dummy you could bring into the fold and initiate. Have someone introduce him or her at the party to the rest of the Organization,” Luce added.
“That could be arranged." Servario nodded.
"So the plan is to throw the ball in Monte Carlo, invite everyone who is anyone, which includes the entire list of Organization cronies. Lure them away and have them make a quick toast in one of the side rooms of the casino and blow it sky high at the same time we blow the Burrow?” Coop’s eyes darted from Luce to Jack. “Killing all those innocent scientists?”
“Yeah,” Luce nodded along.
"I don't agree with that and not just because my dad and sister are there. I think there needs to be a different option," I interjected.
“Yes, but if we don't find another option that could work,” Coop agreed.
"You guys don't honestly believe I'm cool with murdering the entire scientific community, do you?" Jack sounded hurt.
"Of course not. But we need to exhaust every option before we settle on intellectual genocide." I was never going to be cool with that choice.
“Anyway, I’ll pick the casino and the ballroom and send you the specifics, Jack. You already have the guest list you need. And I’m sure your family can come up with the rest of them.” Servario glanced at him.
“Yeah, my family knows everyone important,” Jack agreed. “I’ll make sure it’s an honor to be invited. But for the Burrow I will have to run some assessments within the temple. I was going to ask if you had a satellite I could use.”
“I’m at your disposal.” Servario’s lips twisted into a wry grin.
“I want to watch for the signal I’m going to send myself but physical is smarter than a frequency. I can get the cameras to record it but then I have to send myself the data. Sending and receiving information to and from the Burrow is dangerous. I don't want to be traced so I have to be careful about how often I send signals in and where I'm doing it from. Sending the program to them is risky enough. I’d rather spy from an eye in the sky where the Burrow doesn't know I’m watching from.”
“Easy enough.”
“I suppose it sounds easy.” Jack laughed. Simone joined him in that.
The rest of us weren’t clued in enough to really laugh.
“If things don't work out, which they likely won't, are you all certain you can live with the innocent blood on your hands from the Burrow?” Servario scanned our faces.
“No.” I shook my head.
“But what choice do we have?” Luce asked.
“I don't know. If it was easy to solve, they would have solved it years ago instead of continuing to stockpile scientists,” Servario said.
“Exactly,” Jack commented.
“Well then, we won’t speak on this again until the day before the ball. I don't want anyone to get wind of the plot. I’ll send Helena the casino location and the exact date this needs to happen. If you’re going to take over human beings within the Burrow, I will get you the names and photographs of the ones I would suggest. Good luck, everyone.” Servario stood up, finishing his drink and putting the plastic cup down. “Evie, walk me home and I’ll get you the Russian information for your side job.” He nodded at Simone. “Lovely meeting you. I’m sure our paths will cross again.” He turned and walked away without shaking any hands or hugging it out.
/> We’d plotted to save the world together and he still didn't shake their hands.
Luce’s eyes met mine, checking to see if I was okay.
“I’ll be right back.” I got up, feeling the wine lightly brushing me. It wasn't hitting, but I’d drank more than was smart for our current location and situation.
Big surprise there.
I followed Servario out into the humid night, through the back door of the townhouse.
He didn't speak.
“Why couldn't you just give me the Saransk information back there?” I asked softly after making our way for two blocks through a dark and quiet neighborhood.
A car pulled up beside him.
He opened the door and stood next to it.
Sighing and hating the way he never answered my questions, I climbed in, a bit defeated. As if I was the one who should feel guilty for how things had ended.
He sat next to me, his hand so close to touching mine I could barely stand the warmth.
The driver didn't glimpse back or check us out in the rearview or speak. He was obviously one of Servario’s trusted drivers who knew their role. So the three of us sat in a tense car for seven minutes as he drove us to a building near Grosvenor Square. He didn't get out to get the door. Servario climbed out and walked around, opening my door for me.
I put my sunglasses on, though it was dark, and climbed out after him. Keeping my head down, I followed him to the front entrance where a doorman got the door for us, again not speaking or greeting us, which had to be hard for any friendly doorman.
In the elevator we were silent.
The warmth of him next to me made the hairs lift on my arm.
The elevator opened at a penthouse apartment.
The card he’d used in the elevator must have allowed him access to this floor.
As we stepped out, he turned and pressed a lock button on the wall next to the elevator.
Was I locked in?
Was he forcing me to stay?
My stomach began to ache again.
Instead of worrying I got caught in the view and the penthouse.
It was beautiful.
The lights of London shone and twinkled around us.
The dark spots below I assumed were a park.