The Girl Next Door (Shadow Agents 6)

Cooper kissed Gabrielle once more, and he knew that he was tasting paradise.

Epilogue

“You can’t go in there!” Judith’s voice snapped. “Mercer is busy! He can’t be—”

His office door flew open.

Mercer leaned back in his seat and studied the man who’d just fought his way past Judith, Mercer’s determined assistant. Judith was currently glaring at Cooper Marshall.

Cooper was glaring at Mercer.

Ah, life was back to normal.

“It’s all right,” Mercer said as he waved Judith back. “I was planning to talk with him.”

Judith narrowed her eyes on Cooper. “You’ve made my list, Marshall.”

Cooper blinked at that. Surprise flashed briefly over his face.

“I won’t be forgetting this,” she added, then stalked away.

The door slammed behind her.

Mercer put his hands flat on the desk. “You’re looking better. For a while there, agent, I thought you weren’t as strong as I—”

“My mother had a brother,” Cooper cut through Mercer’s words. “She said that he was in the military. That he was a soldier who saved lives.”

Mercer’s fingers began to tap on the desk.

“She told me all kinds of stories about him when I was growing up. Stories that made me want to be like him. Hell, those stories are the reason I joined the service. I wanted to make a difference, just like he’d done.”

Mercer’s gaze swept over Cooper’s face. “You have.”

“My mother...she said her brother died.”

Mercer swallowed.

“But then...” Cooper looked out the window at the busy streets of D.C. “I died, too, didn’t I? I thought my ‘death’ was so I could help the EOD, but there was more to that, right? You were trying to cover my past, trying to protect me.”

“I don’t know what—”

“Your daughter has to be under constant guard because you don’t want your enemies getting to her. I figure all of those enemies would go after your nephew just as easily.”

Mercer’s fingers stopped tapping. “Yes, they would.”

Cooper nodded. “My mother...she sure loved her brother. At the end, she called for him.”

&nbs

p; Mercer’s eyes burned.

“Just so you know,” Cooper murmured. “She wanted Ben. Her big brother, Benjamin.”

Benjamin Marshall. He’d been that man, in another life. Long before he’d become Bruce Mercer.

“I loved her,” Mercer’s words were rough with emotion.

“I know you did.” Cooper took a step toward him. “You paid for my college. You’ve been the one in the background, all my life, watching me, haven’t you?”