Page 29

Cobble had dreamed about this day for years. He stood on the steps of the courthouse building with Chuck on one side of him, Andy on the other, and Nik Andriopolos following directly behind. Baskins was already inside, and the director was positively gleeful that things were about to come to an end.

Cobble’s family had wanted to stick around for the trial—as had Andy’s who’d also come for a prolonged visit—but other than letting Andy’s attorney brother, Nik, stay to represent Cobble during the proceedings, they’d convinced the rest of them to go home. Andy and Cobble had promised both factions a long visit once this was all over.

Rory, too, had become Cobble’s newest champion, and wanted to be there to “kick that mofo in the behind”, but Andy had nixed it. Rightly so. Cobble felt as protective of Rory as he did, Andy, and wasn’t going to let any scum of the earth get eyes on his new…daughter. Yes, Rory was as cheeky as Andy, and had started calling him “Dad”.

But right now…

Damn . Cobble was pumped. He was finally having his time in court, testifying against El-Umar. The trial of Fleischerman wasn’t until next week, but that was going to be a short affair; a going-through-the-motions hearing. The despicable agent had already told them, through his attorney, that he was pleading guilty. Fleischerman was no idiot. He knew the bureau had all of Oliphant’s damning records, and it would be a colossal waste of time for him to fight the charges. He’d be receiving the harshest of sentencing for being a traitor to the country.

Chuck had not only gotten all the dirt on the dishonest pair, he’d also found a lot of interesting things while going through the dead agent’s hard-drives. One of those “somethings” had been plaguing Cobble since the ambush at the UN office, and he was damned thankful he could now put the unknowns in his head to rest. Chuck had shared intel, filling in Cobble’s blanks from that day.

Fourteen years ago, Cobble had seen, with his own eyes, El-Umar trashing the peacekeeping building, looking for a certain document or documents before unleashing bullet-hell on all those present, but Cobble had had no idea what that paperwork contained other than El-Umar’s part in gold smuggling.

What Chuck revealed, had wrapped things up with a nice, neat bow.

Turns out that one of the UN employees, the first man to have been shot, had been cutting deals with El-Umar and his smuggling associates. But the guy had also been keeping track of everything going down and all the players involved, in case El-Umar tried to double-cross him.

The man’s plan had clearly backfired. The very intel he thought would keep him safe, had fomented his demise.

El-Umar had obviously located the damning material, shot his inside man, then taken care of everyone else in the office, therefore keeping the entire underground network safe. Or so he thought. Unfortunately for him, Cobble had turned out to be alive, and had been spirited out of the country.

Thereafter, Andy’s perseverance and tenaciousness had begun to chip away at El-Umar’s network, dismantling things slowly from the bottom up.

El-Umar’s mistake of not making sure that Cobble was dead, meant that for the duration of Cobble’s witness-protection years there had always been a cadre of bad-guys-for-hire waiting in the wings to locate and do away with him.

Unsuccessfully, thank God.

Now, with the help of Oliphant’s records, those random assholes had all been rounded up and taken into custody.

The threats to Cobble were finally gone.

Cobble sighed. Once his testimony against El-Umar and Fleischerman were over, he’d be a completely free man. It was mind-boggling. He could use his own name. He could travel. And best of all, he could marry Andy, the love of his life.

With everyone’s blessing because…

His parents had adored her.

Naturally .

“You ready to do this?” Nik asked him, breaking him out of his reveries. His almost brother-in-law gave Cobble a supporting grip to his shoulder.

“More than ready,” Cobble grinned, in turn picking up and squeezing Andy’s hand. “Let’s do this.”

****

Less than an hour later, it was over.

It almost seemed…anticlimactic.

The evidence uncovered by Chuck had been conclusive on its own, so Cobble’s eye-witness testimony had simply been icing on the cake. There’d been no defense witnesses, no prolonged arguments from El-Umar’s court appointed lawyer, and the evil man who’d killed Cobble and Andy’s squad of friends had been taken away; sentenced to life imprisonment.

Justice served.

****

Coming out of the courthouse, Cobble felt like a new man.

Reborn. Free.

He was just about to move to Andy’s side, pick her up, spin her around, and kiss the stuffing out of her, when she was approached by a tall man in a dark suit.

The guy got a little too far into Andy’s personal space for Cobble’s liking, but she didn’t look cowed. She simply crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the arrogant prick, so Cobble stood back and watched.

“It’s about fucking time, Andriopolos,” the man sneered, making Cobble’s fists twitch. “If this had been my case alone, it would have been over a long time ago. But fourteen years isn’t so bad,” he laughed sarcastically. “I guess even someone like you; a subpar agent at best, can have a win every now and then.”

Cobble saw red. Who was this asshole, and why was he talking to Andy that way?

Wait…

Cobble knew exactly who it was, and he wasn’t having any of the man’s bullshit.

Cobble stepped forward, nudging Andy gently out of the way.

He calmed his outward appearance, putting on an affable face as he stood in front of the posturing asshole.

“Are you, by any chance, Special Agent Beranger?” Cobble asked lightly.

“Yeah,” the man confirmed. “And I’m sorry this bitch didn’t make things easy on—”

Cobble punched the man right in the nose, sending him sprawling backward to the courthouse steps with a thud.

Beranger had never seen it coming.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Cobble snarled, standing over the prone man. “No. Better yet, don’t ever talk to her again you jackass, or I’ll do worse next time.”

Beranger clutched his bloody nose, wailing, “You broke by dose.” He looked at the small audience that had gathered, which included Baskins and a few other agents. “Did you all see dat?” he whined. “I want hib arrested on assault and baddery charges.”

Cobble snorted. He didn’t give a fuck if he was hauled in. After all the things Andy had relayed to him over the years about how Beranger had been such an ass to her, Cobble would take whatever the law dished out. Then he’d punch the motherfucker again in a heartbeat, and enjoy every minute of it.

Chuck stepped forward, and with what looked like some reluctance, helped Beranger to his feet while the man continued railing.

“You hear me?” Beranger cried, holding the bridge of his steadily dripping nose as he regained his balance. “This ban needs to be jailed.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Chuck asked, stepping back to affect a calm smugness that had Cobble silently cheering him on. Clearly his cousin had something up his sleeve.

“Ob course. Why nod?” Beranger looked momentarily confused.

“Well, you know those hard-drives of Oliphant’s?”

“Yeah,” Beranger nodded slightly, looking pained.

“He was a traitor, for sure, but a damned thorough one,” Chuck mused. “He made sure to keep records on all the agents he felt might get too close to uncovering his guilt. He catalogued a lot of dirt on all of them to use as leverage if he needed it, including some pretty juicy stuff about you.”

If the contrast between Beranger’s pasty skin and the blood dripping down his face had been apparent before, the paleness that suddenly dropped over his visage after that statement was downright ghoulish. He could have easily doubled as a vampire whose meal had gone awry all over his ugly mug.

“D…dirt?” Beranger repeated, almost whisperingly.

“That’s right,” Chuck stated with surety. “So, Special Agent Beranger, unless you want me to make that interesting stuff part of public record, which I don’t think you do, you’ll take this little altercation as a lesson learned, and walk away.”

Beranger blinked twice, then carefully—with one last glower at Cobble and Andy—inched his way down the stairs, never looking back.

“Damn, Chuck. That was awesome!” Andy hooted.

She stood on tiptoes and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, which had him blushing. But before he could respond in any way, Andy turned her elation toward Cobble.

“And you. What a bad-ass,” she squealed.

Right there in front of everyone, she grabbed his head, pulled it down, and planted not just a kiss on his lips, but an all-encompassing, soul-stealing, tongues-included smooch that had Cobble rocking and reeling.

Had there been an earthquake?

Cobble growled against her lips. “You are so, totally getting lucky when we get home.”

“La-la-la-la-la.” Nik, Andy’s brother, stuck his fingers in his ears. “I don’t need to hear that. We’re talking about my baby sister, here.”

“Payback’s a bitch,” Andy snickered at her brother. “Do you know how many times I’ve caught you and Bevvy making out in the bunkers and had to sneak away? Do you?”

Nik had the good graces to look a little sheepish, then reluctantly let it go. “Fine. But please save any more bodily contact for later, when I’ve gone, okay?”

“Yeah,” Chuck agreed. “Ditch the PDA for all our sakes.”

“I guess I can wait,” Andy sighed and winked.

Nik recovered with a cough and a straightening of his already perfect tie, then turned to Chuck. “Now, I’m dying to hear this, Smalley. Can I ask what damning intel you found on Special Agent Beranger?”

Chuck looked around to make sure the four of them were alone before he bent close and cleared his throat.

“Nothing,” he told them in a whisper.

“What?” Andy responded with a squeak.

“Nothing?” Nik followed up incredulously.

“That’s right,” Chuck confirmed. “But I know guys like him, and they always have skeletons, so… I made it all up. Let’s just say it’s a good thing he has at least some kind of shameful past, or we would have been sunk.”

Andy moved in for a high-five.

Chuck rolled his eyes, but returned the gesture.

Andy chortled. “ Now who’s bad-ass?” She gave him kudos.

“My cousin,” Cobble seconded, stepping up to punch Chuck playfully in the arm. “And I’d offer to buy you lunch, but since you decreed that Andy and I can’t make out on the courthouse steps, I have to go home to take care of business.” He waggled his brows lasciviously at Andy, and she giggled.

“Gross, man. I’m with Nik. Don’t advertise that shit.” Chuck sighed. “And I have places to be, anyway,” he told them.

“Mmm,” Andy hummed. “That wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with a certain agent who had to spend time in jail, and might still need some…comforting, does it?”

“Mind your business,” Chuck gruffed, walking backward a few steps. “I’ll…talk to you later.” He regained his professional aplomb. “Good job in there today, Sawyer.” He gave a half-assed salute and hurried off down the stairs.

The three who were left, chuckled.

“He’s really an old softy, isn’t he?” Nik marveled.

Cobble agreed. “Yup. I couldn’t ask for a better cousin.”

But Cobble didn’t perseverate. He had an agenda, and now was the time to implement it.

He turned and yelled down to where Chuck was just about to get into his car. “Hey, Cuz. You’re going to be my best man, right?”

Chuck gave a rare, toothy smile, then sent Cobble a thumbs up.

“Cool,” Cobble grinned.

“Wait.” Andy was looking at Cobble with narrowed eyes. “Was that my proposal? I know we agreed we’d get married once the trial was over, but you said when you asked, I’d know it.”

“Oh,” Cobble blinked. “Were you looking for something like this?”

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small box, then got down on one knee.

Andy’s hand went to her mouth. “No way,” she rasped.

Cobble opened the box and took a deep breath. He hoped the emerald nestled within—the color of Andy’s eyes—met with her approval.

“Oh…Cobble.” It seemed like she was uncustomarily at a loss for words.

“You like it?” he asked, shifting uncomfortably but prepared to spend as much time on one knee as it took.

“I love it,” she hushed.

Taking that as permission, he cleared his throat.

“Andy, Missy, Mizzay, I love every iteration of you more than I ever thought possible. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Marry me?” Cobble asked.

Andy stuck out a trembling hand.

“Yes. Yes I will,” she stated giddily.

The press, who’d been inside during the open court proceedings, noticed what was happening, and rushed over, snapping pictures.

Cobble ignored them, slipped the band on her finger, then kissed her knuckles.

“Thank God,” he said with a groan, “because these stone steps are damned uncomfortable.”