The End of Games (The Single Lady Spy 2)

I took the stairs, running all the way to the basement. The parkade was similar to the one in Vegas. I dialed the number Jack had given me to our secure line for messages, "It's me. I am on the lamb. I have his phone so he's going to be tracking me, I'm sure. I'll go to the Trevi Fountain and wait." I hung up and started to run, barefoot through the streets of Rome.

Only the actual Romans were awake; it was the wee hours of the morning. I flipped through his phone when I was several blocks away and pressed Steve.

"Hello?"

I snarled, "Steve, you little traitor. I honestly believed you were a good guy. The name really is deceiving."

He paused, "Evie?"

"The one and only."

"Oh shit, you scared me, I thought it was Servario phoning. He thinks I’m at my mom’s. I turned off the tracker on my phone."

I rounded a corner, "Tell me what the f**k is going on."

He sighed, "Evie, we are in hot water. Servario went back to being old Servario the minute we left you. He is all playboy from hell again. He and James are buddy-buddy again. It's like he's free or something. He double-crossed you on James and I knew it. I wanted you to see it."

I frowned, "So you sent me here, into a trap? Are you with my mom still?"

"Yeah, but I didn’t send you into a trap. I knew you could handle it."

"Put me on speaker phone."

"Hello, Evie dear. How are you?"

I sighed, relieved and scared, "Mom, Steve and Servario have severed their ties a bit. He isn’t working for him anymore. I came here and James and Servario are having themselves a bromance. I don’t know what to believe."

I heard Steve cry out in pain and smiled, "Mom?"

"Yes dear, we need to get off the phone now. I will be stripping him and flogging him in the yard when the kids go to school. Go buy disposable phones and call me from there." The phone cut out as Steve screamed louder.

I looked down at the phone in horror. She really was unassuming. I almost felt bad for Steve.

I rounded the corner of the next block and stopped a man who gave me an odd look when he realized I was wearing men's underwear, "Trevi Fountain?"

He pointed to the right, "Three blocks that way." He wasn’t Italian, German maybe, and only about twenty. He looked like he was doing the crawl of shame too.

I nodded, "Thanks."

He smiled, "No problem. You American?"

I shook my head, "Canadian."

He nodded with a bigger smile, "I like Canada. Very nice country, very nice people."

I laughed, "Yeah, that’s us. Thanks again, eh." I padded off to the right, hoping Servario wasn’t awake just yet.

When I got three blocks over, I smiled at the sign for the fountain, but when I rounded the corner, my smile was gone. Servario was standing in front of it. I scowled, "Really?"

He was out of breath, "You have a bad habit of leaving me before I am really ready for you to go."

I shrugged, "What can I say, I like to keep you on your toes."

He chuckled, wiping the sweat from his brow, "You are excellent at your job then."

I laughed, "Did you run here?"

He nodded, "I did and I am not fond of running, especially not in the morning. Now let's get you some clothes and get some breakfast. Those are my favorite underwear."

I shook my head, "I'm not staying with you. You aren’t telling me the truth and you're using me for sex. I am fairly confident you have women to serve that purpose."

His eyes gave away the emotion his face wouldn’t. I walked past him to the fountain, "You know I've never seen this."

He didn’t move with me, just watched me as I walked closer to it. After a moment, he spoke softly, "I could show you so much more than this one fountain."

I shook my head again, "I don’t want to see the world your way. I want to see it with my kids and my mom. I want to take tacky pictures and stay in alright hotels. I want to eat at the places where kids eat for free until four and my mom gets a senior special. I don’t want this ‘yacht and jet and bank account from hell’ lifestyle. The blood money never washes clean, and my heart hurts when I think about the things you do when I'm not around." I pointed back towards the hotel, "I know you f**ked the girls in that room last night. They told me you did. You are the big bad wolf and I am the stupid girl in the red cloak."

His face was intense, "Evie, I swear I am not always going to be this man. I swear it."

I pulled his phone out and took a picture of the fountain. He laughed, "You keeping that then?"

I nodded, "Yeah. When we were in the room earlier and you called someone and acted like you didn’t know where Steve was, who was that?”

He frowned, “Why?”

I shrugged, “I phoned Steve and he said he sent me here to see you back in action. I just don’t know what is a lie and what’s true anymore. I can see you playing me like a fiddle, and I have this terribly overwhelming feeling like it’s for a good cause. Like you are risking me for the greater good." I sat on the rock wall, feeling the spray of the fountain, "It could just be that I want to believe that though.” I sighed, “You know, I wanted to open a bookstore that had a coffee shop in it. That was my dream when I got pregnant and I couldn’t be a spy anymore."

He walked to me, hesitant, "You still can."

I nodded, "I know. But can you imagine yourself in a bookstore, helping me serve coffee, running the cash, and baking the muffins?"

He licked his lips, "I could just be the silent partner who sat upstairs, drinking coffee and reading."

I shook my head, feeling a bit sick, "I don’t want a silent partner. I want honesty and simplicity. Instead, you have me caught up in some scheme, my husband is an undead f**ker who my kids still miss, and my mom is an assassin. I'm here to try to save your stupid ass and you don’t even need my help. You know my mom is probably killing Steve right now. Is he even a bad guy?

He took a step toward me but I got up, seeing the people I was waiting for walk around the corner. I waved as I walked away, "See ya 'round, Servario."

"Evie, don’t go. Let me explain."

I flipped him the bird as I walked to Coop and Luce. Both watched him, fingers nervously moving to where their guns were hiding.

Coop scowled at Servario but Luce smiled at me, "Nice outfit, Evie. As always, it is fashionable and interesting."

I laughed bitterly, "I wanna go kill James and go home. This always was a bunch of bullshit." I glanced at Servario as we made our way back to the street, "He isn’t a concern of ours yet. I'm sure one day the mission will be ending him, but right now, he's just a scummy arms dealer."

Coop sighed, "You got nothing from him?"

I shook my head, "As per the usual, we are being used as some kind of bait for something not good."

I filled them in as we walked to the truck, they had no doubt stolen, and made our way to where Jack was waiting. I slid the phone across to him, "This is Servario's. Cut the GPS and you should be able to get some interesting things from it."

He laughed, "You think a man like him has things in his phone for us to steal?"

I rolled my eyes as he disabled the GPS and started rifling through it.

I looked over at Coop, "We need to talk. You’re an ass."

He gave me a look, "Evie, he was never going to hurt you. I knew he recognized you right away when you laughed. I also knew that he would cheat to win the night with you. James was oblivious to you, but Servario is considerably smarter than he is. He is up to something, but I think you’re right. He is using us for the greater good. I hate him as a human being, but he hasn’t done a single thing yet that hasn’t helped the Burrow."

Luce folded her arms, "It was a cold move, Coop and you know it. We don’t sell out a teammate without their knowledge and consent."

He looked annoyed, "There was no time. The ball started rolling and we had to keep up. That’s what this job is, roll with the punches."

His cold way of being around me was pissing me off. I looked at Luce, "Can you take me back to the hotel? I need to freshen up, and I need some real sleep."

She winked, "Rough night?"

I nodded, "Yup." She turned and led the way. Coop grabbed my arm. I could see something in his steely eyes, "Be fast. I want to move on James and get out of here."

I pulled my arm away, "Piss off, Coop. You can play senior officer later." He smiled and I could see the cheeky remark brewing in there, but we were gone before he got the chance.

I glanced at Luce, "Coop looks weird today."

She laughed, "He got trashed last night."

I sighed, “Nice.” I caught a look in her eyes and frowned, "What?"

She shook her head innocently as we got in the truck, "Nothing."

I scowled, "Are you trying to say Coop has a thing for me and Servario being together? I already know that."

She smiled, "I'm just saying that instead of being a good agent, he gets drunk and into bar fights, or goes and fights in underground UFC matches, when you're with Servario. He doesn’t do his job, which he takes very seriously. It's odd."

I looked out the window as she drove, "Well, I'm telling you now, he doesn’t have any intention of acting out on his feelings. He made that perfectly clear. He might be mad at himself for how he treats me, but it’s all to keep me at arm’s length."

She sighed, "He's complex."

I laughed, "Just what I need in my life."

She laughed with me, "You know he likes you. He likes you a lot. Servario does too. You are a hot commodity, milady."

I shuddered, "I think I need another Servario break." I gave her a grin, "You know what though? I am so excited for you. At least you’re lucky. Jack is the best guy in the whole world."