I snorted, "When I was in that closet on the boat, I contemplated it."
He gave me a traumatized look, "Did you want to tell S to just light a match and say screw it? There is no cleaning that level of filth out of a boat."
I started laughing, "I think he has abandoned it."
Coop leaned over to me, "What are you guys laughing about?"
I whispered, "The boat, what I saw from the closet. He got to read the report to the commander."
Coop's face screwed up into a grimace, "Good God. I never want to talk about that again."
I nodded, "You and me both."
He took my hand in his, "You nervous?"
I shook my head, "Just leaving my kids behind."
He nodded, "They'll be fine. They're going to love Canada."
I gave him a stoic face, "Has anyone ever really said that sentence and meant it?"
He chuckled, "I have heard that Canadians love it there."
I pointed at the window, "It's rained the entire trip down the coast from Alaska. It just rains and rains. Did you hear that lady at the Vancouver Airport who said she had been loving the mild weather? This is mild weather? It just rains."
He started to laugh, "How different is that from Boston?"
I wrinkled my noise at him, "Fall is our season. We rock fall. Summer is muggy and hot, spring is always a bit on the wet side, and winter is miserable, but fall is dry and crisp, and yet, somehow warm still."
He rolled his eyes, "It's not much different from the East Coast weather here. A north coast is a north coast. Doesn’t matter so much if it's east or west, it's not Mexico."
I stuck my tongue out.
He bent in and kissed me. I smiled into the kiss, "Are you nervous?"
He cocked an eyebrow, "Why would I be nervous?"
An evil grin spread across my face. He sighed, "If you even look at S with anything but hateful contempt after everything he did to you, I'll kill you myself."
I laughed, "He and you were in cahoots in Rome. Admit you knew exactly what was going to happen."
He nodded and whispered into my ear, “Not what you think.”
My stomach felt funny. I narrowed my gaze, "Did you know at the casino, before you sold me? Was that prearranged?"
He shook his head, "Not until after we got the note and Luce got attacked. James orchestrated the drop off of you at the ruins. S came to us the second he dropped you off with James, just like you asked him to. He told us James was taking you to a brothel. We were to follow him to the border and watch him put you on a fishing boat. He said that we should follow the boat and meet in Split. S arranged the contact with your mom and Fitz. They were already in Rome, they knew he was up to something. He and your mom got in a fight on the flight. He said something to the effect that he wasn’t on CI or the Burrow's payroll. I heard him say, ‘One human life isn’t worth the rest of the world.’ He was talking to your mom. I got the sense that he was talking about you. Jack and I immediately left for the border to watch for the fishing boat. We intended to steal you back, assuming S was not going to rescue you. Of course, we watched the harbor all night; you and James never came and never got on the boat. Jack phoned S who was pissed. He said we'd been double-crossed. We thought we'd lost you for sure. S had been one hundred percent sure that James would take you to Split. The order for you in Split had come down from higher up than his mom."
I scowled, "So he never went to the brothel?"
He nodded, "He did. He got a helicopter and took us there too. We met your mom and Fitz there, she had stolen a fishing boat. She said she had a girl inside, a whore who was Burrow. The girl’s dad is one of the scientists S saved. She and S had a thing, I think."
I nodded, "Yeah, Elise. That was my understanding also."
He sighed, "When S dropped us in Split with your mom and Fitz, we never heard from him again until he was walking you into the brothel. He dialed and left his phone on. We knew that was the signal to come for you guys."
I looked him straight in the eyes, "So you never knew about the boat at all? S never knew James would take me there?"
Coop shook his head, "As far as I know, that was never the plan. He went crazy when we realized we were f**ked over by James and you were missing." He gave me a smug grin, "I never worried, I knew you had it."
I shoved him, "You ass. I didn’t have it. I winged it and it wasn’t pretty."
He nodded, laughing at me softly. "The training kicked in."
I rolled my eyes, "I hate you sometimes."
He kissed my cheek, "You love me and you know it."
I couldn’t fight the look on my face. I shook my head, "I don’t and you don’t love me."
He shook his head, but I could see the love in his eyes, "No, I don’t. I’m glad you don’t love me either."
Jack whacked me in the arm, "I don’t love either of you, so keep it down. I may vomit from this."
I flipped him the bird and snuggled into Coop. "Thanks for coming and getting me."
He shook his head, "That was S. I wish I could take the credit. We were in enemy waters, and I didn’t have a clue as to what was what. S wasn’t very forthcoming."
"Yeah well, he's like that with everyone. Don’t take it personally."
"Good to know." He kissed my forehead, "Let's get some rest."
I closed my eyes and let the flight be the sleep I was going to get for the next forty-eight hours.
The jet landed in Kauai, and as I thought it, he said it, "I wish the kids were here. They would love it. Jules would be a natural at surfing."
I smiled, "This is exactly why I don’t love you."
He gave me a curious look, "Why?"
I wrapped my arms around his neck, "You love my kids. That’s like some kind of aphrodisiac."
He cocked an eyebrow, "Remind me to bring it up on the plane ride home. Until then, we are partners. Keep it in your pants, keep your head on straight."
“You brought them up, not me.”
He shrugged, “I didn’t know you’d go all gooey over it.”
I was almost hurt by it, but I forced myself to remember what we were doing in Hawaii. It wasn’t vacationing. That was for sure.
I nodded, "Good point. Not to mention, S might need me to persuade him of a few things. It’s better if he doesn't know you and I are… what are we?"
Coop's eyes cooled off, "In Hawaii we're partners. I don’t even want to think about S right now, but I'll tell you… there will be no persuading. Not unless I'm allowed to persuade him with pliers." He turned and walked toward the lineup for customs.
Jack leaned into my ear, "Go easy on him. He likes you more than you can imagine. His version of the story at the brothel isn't exactly how it happened."
I gave him a look. He winked at me.
"You can't say that and not explain."
Jack walked next to me slowly, "He and S fought. He won and he called your mom with S's phone. He made her convince S to go after you on the yacht. S didn’t want to come look for you. He considered you a lost cause by that point. Coop said something to your mom, and whatever your mom said, is what made S go get you."
I swallowed hard, "Seriously?"
He nodded, "S wasn’t going to rescue you. He intended to storm the brothel and kill everyone. He had a reason for being there. I think your mom knows what it was, but she didn’t say."
Stunned wasn’t the right word for how I felt. Betrayed, and yet not. Servario had never pretended that we weren't exactly what we were. Two spies caught up in something that would never suit the way we felt about each other.
I felt nauseated, even if I had reasons and excuses for his poor behavior. I watched Coop's rigid back and felt my heart melting. He didn’t want me to know he had been the one saving me… why? I smiled at Jack, "Thanks."
He nodded, "He never would have told you. He is humble in a lot of ways."
I laughed, "Just not the important ways."
He shook his head, "No, absolutely not. I think it also helps that he doesn’t want you to murder S, not yet anyway."
When we cleared customs and left the airport, Servario was waiting for us. He was dressed in his typical Euro-trash style. Faded jeans, white dress shirt, fancy brown leather shoes and sunglasses. His hair was still long and his face was sexy. I kept chanting Devil, Diablo, Lucifer, Hell's Master. It did no good. All I saw was a sexy man smirking at me with a suggestive stare. He snapped his fingers at me and pointed to the car as he climbed in. There was one parked behind it that was identical. Coop climbed in the one behind but gave me a look, "You’re up front."
I paused as Jack got in the car with Coop. I looked at the two cars and almost climbed in after Jack, but I didn’t. I pulled up my big-girl panties and stalked over to the first car. I got in, slamming the door. The driver flinched. Servario gave me a look, "You're pissed at me? You've been f**king that boy all over the Northwest and you're pissed at me."
I stared straight ahead, "What are we doing?"
He smiled, "Okay, fine. We don’t have to talk about it."
I turned sharply, "No, you know what, I want to talk about it. You gave up on me. You gambled with my life, and then gave up on me when James took me to your f**king yacht."
His eyes turned to evil, as if green storms were brewing under them. He shook his head slowly, "Do not swear at me, Evie."
I threw my hands up in the air, "Why not? What can you possibly do to me that hasn’t already been done? Fuck you, Serv…"
His hand lashed out quickly, grabbing me by a fistful of hair and cutting me off. He dragged my face into his, "Do not swear at me. I am not in the mood to put up with your attitude. I explained to you that you are mine." He reached between my legs, “That is mine.”