Servario folded his arms. I lifted my gun to the grey-haired man, "What are we doing here, Servario?"
He laughed, "I wanted you to know who put the hit on your family and your home. He wanted to clean up any mess, just in case James accidentally did leak a little something during pillow talk. This is the man who paid James to impregnate you, marry you, and pretend to love you. I wanted you to know that if this very man here were dead, you would be safe, forever. You and your children. The suspicions die with him. He and Mary were the only ones who knew who James really was."
I stepped forward, "Why?"
He sneered at him, "I don’t have to answer anything to you, little girl."
I shot him in the kneecap just as I had done to James. The building shook with another explosion.
"Why did you make him marry me? Why would you do that?"
He scoffed, "Ask your father."
My finger jerked, shooting the man in the chest. He gasped. Servario cocked an eyebrow, "You are jumping the gun a little, Evie. We might get information from him."
I fired again, "I want the f**k out of here." The man fell to the ground. Servario sighed, looking past me at Coop, "She's your problem now; the Burrow is going to want to know why he wasn’t interrogated."
Coop ignored him and put his hand on mine, lowering the gun, "You okay, Evie?"
I shook my head, "No. No. This has been some shit, Coop. I wanna go back home." I looked at Servario, "You going to tell me what was on that phone you got from James?"
Servario shook his head, "It's nothing that concerns you."
"See ya 'round." I turned and walked out of the room. Servario laughed, loud and confidently. "Evie, wait."
I turned, pointing my gun on him, "If I see you again, I will kill you."
His eyes gave it all away. He knew he'd f**ked up royally. He had risked me, my life, and my sanity and he knew it.
He looked haunted as he nodded once and gave Coop, who couldn’t look more confused, a soft smile, "Take care of her."
Coop scowled, lowering my hand again and pulling me through the hotel. A man walked out of a room. I lifted my gun and shot him without even a second thought.
Coop look horrified, "Evie?" I ignored him and walked for the stairs. He pulled me in a different direction, "Back stairs."
I let him pull me to the back stairs. We ran down them and out into an alley to a car waiting for us.
When we got inside, Jack looked back from the driver's seat. He looked like he might smile but he didn’t. He passed me an iPhone, "Press send."
I looked at the hotel and pressed send. I didn’t think about the girls or Servario or anything else. I pressed send and blew it to the heavens.
Jack drove calmly away, not suspicious at all. I stared out the window at the fiery blast and knew, he had gotten away. Nothing could kill him. I had been wrong about James. He never was the monster in the movie who couldn’t die. That had been Servario.
Jack drove us to the docks, away from the sirens and everything else. We got out and walked casually down to a large fishing boat. Mom and Elise were sitting on board when we got down into the hull. The boat started, I didn’t even know who was driving it. I didn’t care. My mom grabbed me, pulling me into her arms. When I got there, I started to cry. I couldn’t stop myself. It was a cleansing cry.
I just folded into my mother and let her soothe me.
"I know, baby. I know." She sighed, "They're all dead now."
I shook my head, "Servario never got any information from Anderson. I shot him first."
She sighed, "You are going to have to learn to keep that trigger finger in check. Save it for after you get the information."
I sighed, "What if anyone else knows about Montana, the kids, me and you, Servario, and Dad? What if Steve told people? We'll never be safe. Did you feed the cat before you left? He will pee and poo on everything if he doesn’t get food."
She smoothed my hair and kissed the top of my head. She didn’t try to lie to me or sugarcoat it. She was just there, “I fed the cat a huge bowl of food, massive. And water.”
I glanced over at the blonde as she walked from the back of the boat, peeling the huge scars and scabs from her arms and wiping her face clean. She looked less like a junky, only a little. "Do I know you?"
She smiled, "You do not." She looked so familiar.
My mom pulled me back and held a hand out to the blonde, "This is Elise, she is part of the Burrow."
I sat frozen, not really sure what to say or do. If she was part of the Burrow, wouldn’t she be in Japan and not on a boat leaving Croatia?
Elise laughed, "I have been team Burrow for some time. I only came out of my forced retirement to help out with this." She winked at me, "Servario and I were friends once."
My nose wrinkled involuntarily, making her laugh. I nodded, "Nice to meet you."
She smiled, "I'm going back to Japan with your dad." I gave my mom a look. She nodded, "He's alive. I wasn’t sure but Elise saved him. She convinced them we needed help with Anderson and Mary and that Servario was self serving on this one."
I gave her a look, "He got a phone. It had something on it. I do think he was self serving on this one."
Elise held her hands up, "Hey, I'm not here to rat anyone out. I saw Servario blow up in that hotel. That’s the story the Burrow is getting from me."
"Why would you lie to the Burrow and help him?"
She gave me a softened look, "Like I said, Servario and I were friends once."
I looked at her blonde hair and wondered if that was the reason he hated blonde hair and told me never to fall in love with him or make him love me. I almost hated her for all of it.
I pushed it away and looked over at Coop and Jack. They were huddled, going over things. "How's Luce?"
Jack smiled up from the phone he was bent over, "Good. She's with Fitz."
"Oh, good. How did he get her?"
Coop shook his head, "Long story." He cocked a smile, "You wanna go get cleaned up?"
I looked around the fishing boat, "Where?"
He nodded, "Back there. It's a full captain’s quarters."
I moaned, "Oh my God, yes." He offered me his hand. I took it and let him pull me to the back of the boat.
He closed the door and gave me a weird look, "Well, this turned out to be quite the crap shoot."
"It really did."
His blue eyes had hardened, "Get over here."
I walked to him, resting my head on his collarbone, "I still don’t forgive you for selling me to Servario."
He wrapped himself around me, "Good, don’t. I won't ever forgive myself for it."
I smiled. I couldn’t believe I was on a boat and was totally safe and James was dead, and his mom was dead, and the MI6 bastards were dead. We were safe, sort of. As safe as we ever could be.
Coop smiled, "You want to tell me the story?"
I nodded, "Let me get into the shower, and you can sit on the toilet while I fill you in. I need to get clean."
He chuckled, "Yes, you do. You stink, Evie."
I shoved him and walked to the bathroom off to the side. When the hot water hit my body, I nearly wept for joy.
Chapter Sixteen
Highly effective can also mean crazy
The drive up to the house made me sleepy, instantly. I glanced back at my mom, “You sure?”
She smiled, “They don’t know we’re here. Trust me.”
I couldn’t shake it, that feeling like everyone we were running from knew exactly where we were. I gave Coop a look, “We have to move.”
He nodded, “I agree. Let’s get our shit together this week and we’ll head to a little place I know of that no one else does.”
Jack sighed and stretched in the back seat, “I am beat.” His voice was sleepy until the car parked. Then he ran inside, as if discovering new energy in the hope he would get to see Luce.
Fitz came walking out in an apron, pale linen pants, and a blue shirt. He was whisking something in a bowl and grinning like a fool.
I got out of the car as both my kids came running. Jules stopped short, aghast at the state of my face. I smiled at her, “It’s okay, baby. I’m fine. I got kicked by a horse, helping Coop with them. Apparently, horses are kind of mean.”
She ran to me, “Mommy, your eyes are tiny. I can't even see them.”
I laughed. The swelling of my face had worsened with exhaustion.
Mitch hugged me and gave me a telling grin. I rubbed his head and pulled him into me. He was getting too smart for his own good.
Fitz laughed, “Evie, you need to ease up on the plastic surgery. Age gracefully.”
I stuck my tongue out, “Quiet you.” I smiled at Coop who looked like he was holding his breath. I pointed, “You better not say anything.”
He winced, “I can't believe I never thought of that one.”
I tossed my small bag at him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, “Come on, let’s get you inside and all rested up.”
Jules scowled, “Mommy, Uncle Fitz said we have to move again.”
Mitch’s eyes lit up, “Please, can we move, Mom?”
I gave Fitz a crooked look. He put his whisk in the air, “Easy tiger, I was just trying to soften the blow. Get them ready for it.”
My mom peeked into Fitz’s bowl, “What are you making?”
He pulled it back, “Snickerdoodles.”
Jules made a face, “I hate snickerdoodles.”
I laughed and walked inside the house, grateful for the fact snickerdoodles were the hot topic for a change. Saving the world was on the back burner for a few days. I kissed my kids, “Mommy needs some sleep. That horse work took it out of me.”
Mitch laughed, “You’re getting too old for horse work, Mom.”
I stuck my lower lip out, making them both laugh. Coop rustled Mitch’s hair, “You be nice to your mom. She brought you into this world and has all the skills necessary to take you out.”