Page 67 of No More Spies

“Baby, move back a little. I know you just bought thatshirt, and blood is hard to get out,” Cooper whispered.

He knew nothing about laundry. Blood was actually quite easyto clean up.

Her father’s eyes remained on Lena, but his words were forKala. “Which assignment would you like, Agent Taggart?”

That was easy. “Uh, you’re asking me if I want to spend aweek in the woods talking to a nomadic crone or in DC talking to assholes? Ivery much like a crone, thank you. I also think Lena is discounting theintelligence we can gather from talking to Zach’s aunt.”

“Really? You think you can get something from her or are yousimply attempting to take a couple of days off with your new boyfriend?” Lenaasked.

Her mom sat up at those words.

Kala didn’t care. She waved her mom off. “I’m going to workand fuck his brains out. I can multitask. It’s all cool. I got this.”

Lena sighed and stood. “Well, I can see I’m not neededhere.”

Her father watched the doctor as she strode away. “You twopack up. Cooper, you can take the small jet.” He stood. “Don’t forget the firstpart of your multitasking is to keep your eyes and ears open.”

And her legs. Those were going to be wide open. She gave herdad a salute. “Will do, general.”

Her father shook his head and stared at her for a moment.“You know what you’re doing?”

She shrugged. Her father, she almost always understood. Ifit had been someone else, she would have wondered if he meant what she wasdoing with the op or with Cooper. Her dad? Oh, he was always asking about themost embarrassing thing. It was easy to be around her dad because he was sopredictable. “Probably not. I mean, physically yeah. I think I got it down. Idon’t know. I do have some questions.”

Her dad was out the door very quickly.

And she was alone with Cooper.

“So a couple of days in the woods,” he said, his lipscurling in the sexiest grin. “Whatever shall we do?”

She could think of a few things.

ChapterEleven

Cooper checked out the van, but it looked like Zach’s auntlived lean. There weren’t a bunch of mementoes stocked there. There wasn’t muchof anything beyond some blankets and pillows and a couple of books and drygoods. It looked like she’d taken a lot with her when she’d walked into thewoods.

“And you’re sure Joyce isn’t in trouble?” the man who ownedthe store asked. He’d been introduced as Buddy. Buddy owned this general storeand was friendly with their target.

He shouldn’t think of her as a target. She was Zach’s aunt,and maybe she could explain why one of his best friends had lost his damn mind.

More importantly, she might be able to tell them how to getZach back in the fold.

“I’m sure. I promise you, she’s not in trouble.” The manwho’d picked them up at the airport was acting as something of a go-betweenwith the suspicious small-town citizens. Henry Flanders knew pretty mucheveryone in Southern Colorado. He and his wife were very important to thecommunities. They weren’t in Bliss, but Henry still had pull. “Do you want totalk to the sheriff? I assure you he wouldn’t be cooperating if he didn’t trustthese people.”

“They look like Feds,” Buddy said with a frown.

Kala snorted. “Do not. I mean, I know he does. He’s Navy, bythe way. I’m way cooler. I’m with the CIA.”

What? “Uh, hello, undercover?”

Kala waved him off. “I’m not lying to the people here.” Sheturned to the man. “Look, I spent a lot of time in these woods, a lot of timein Henry’s town. I understand you deserve your privacy, but I have to weighthat against Joyce’s nephew’s safety. I need to find Zach, and she’s my bestbet. Nowhe might be in trouble since his ass apparently tried toexplode a friend of ours.”

“He did?” the man asked, eyes wide.

He had zero idea what she was doing. Was she planning onhanding over the mission briefing to the dude who ran a small general store?

“He didn’t do a great job,” Kala admitted. “Which is why Iwonder about the whys. See, I don’t like to admit this but he’s actuallycompetent. He doesn’t make mistakes. He wouldn’t simply guess and hope he hitshis target.”

They’d spent the last night prepping for the op and thenfalling into bed together. And on the kitchen table. And on the couch. Briannahad protested that she used the couch, too, and Kala had given her permissionto go to town on it. Bri had not been amused.