Page 77 of No More Spies

“Well, he can’t tell the difference, and Coop lost hisshit,” Big Tag complained.

Her hand came up, covering his, and her head tilted so hecould see her shake her head.

“I thought she was dead. Damn straight I lost my shit,”Cooper said as she winked at him and resettled. He was going to murder Huisman.

And he wished he could murder Julia Ennis and all thebastards who’d worked for her. Maybe in the next life.

“Well, I’m her dad and I didn’t lose my shit,” Big Tag shotback.

Charlotte snorted. It was funny that he knew exactly who’dmade that sound.

“Well, it’s for the best,” Kenzie said, and he couldpractically see her chin come up in that “I’m going to martyr myself for thesake of the team” way. “It’s done and we don’t have to worry about him anymore.So now that we all have our assignments, let’s talk about the important thing.There are bets at The Hideout that Cooper’s going to come back from thisassignment as Kala’s sub.”

“I’ll take that bet,” TJ said.

And they were done.

Day Six

Cooper was almost sure they hit paydirt when they saw thesmall cloud of smoke coming over the ridge. “Maybe the hiker was right.”

They’d met with a hiker early this morning. She was walkingthe Continental Divide trail and had been more than happy to join them for acoffee when she’d come across their camp. She’d told them about the older ladyshe’d met the day before about four hours walk to the west in one of theremotest parts of the trail. She’d called herself Joyce and had given the youngwoman some granola and filtered water and a place to rest for a couple ofhours.

And she’d mentioned the woman’s handsome son, who’d shown upat the end of their visit. Though she hadn’t been introduced, she’d gotten aglimpse of the man before Joyce had hustled her off.

Tall. Dark hair. When they’d questioned her she’d said shecouldn’t be completely sure it was Joyce’s son, but she’d given her impressionof his age—roughly thirty.

Zach. Zach was here.

Or someone Joyce met in the mountains. One of the things herdossier included was her penchant to make new friends wherever she went.

It also mentioned she might be developing early stagedementia.

“You think she was talking about Zach?” Kala asked.

She’d lost her relaxed humor the minute they’d realized themission was truly starting. He was dealing with the operative part of his baby,and she could be intimidating. This wasn’t the woman who’d spent a shit ton ofmoney on a sat call comforting her sister because her Canadian crush hadn’t metwith her. Big Tag would try to send that bill to the Agency. Good luck withthat. No, this was the woman who’d once left the very same agent her sister wasin love with on a plane filled with people who wanted to kill him while she’dused the last parachute.

The trouble was he was attracted to both the kind, lovingsister and the deadly operative. “I think we need to be ready in case it is.Our main objective is to bring Zach in.”

A brow rose over her blue eyes. “It is?” She frowned. “Youcalled my father.”

Worse. “I couldn’t get hold of him. I talked to Drake. Baby,you know we’re supposed to report in. This could go wrong, and the guys inBliss need to be ready for an evac if we need it.”

“I would rather have had the option, Coop,” Kala argued.“This isn’t a military op. I don’t need instructions.”

“We do need guidance.”

“I don’t. I need to have some flexibility in the field.” Shesounded irritated.

He stood by his action, but he maybe should have kept it tohimself. The truth of the matter was Kala would do what she thought was right,and damn orders. But they needed backup if bad shit went down. He moved intoher space, putting his hands on her hips. “I wanted us to have backup. Forgiveme.”

She sighed. “That’s not fair, McKay. You know I can’t say noto puppy eyes.”

He curled his lips up. “Excellent. Then let’s take a breakright here.”

She went on her toes. “Horny bastard. And no. She couldmove. We’re going in. But later.”

He was worried there might not be a later and they wouldlose this easy companionship they’d found here in the woods. “Fine, but I thinkon our next vacation I want you to take me to the cabin.”