Page 124 of Sweet Little Spies

Where was Tris? Was he dead?

“Use this.” Then Tris was there, offering Aidan a knife. “Wehave to move. That chandelier is going to come down, and Ian’s right. We don’tknow what else he’s going to blow up. If he prepped for this, he could blow therest of it sky high once he’s out of range.”

Aidan nodded and then her hands were free.

“Cooper, Parker has her. Get your ass out of here,” Ianshouted. “TJ, get to Lou. Make sure he doesn’t take her on his way out.”

She got a glimpse of combat boots running by.

The chandelier shook and dropped a few feet.

Tris hauled her up, taking her into his arms and movingright before the chandelier dropped, shaking the floor. It cracked the table intwo, spraying glass and dust everywhere.

“Get her out of here,” Adam yelled. “The ceiling is going tocome down. Get out of the house.”

Tristan started running, Aidan at their side.

Carys held on to him, her wrists aching, but she didn’tthink about the pain. Tris was alive. That was all that mattered. He ran outinto the sunlight, forcing her to blink at the brightness.

Tristan moved out to the middle of the lawn before settingher on her feet. “Aidan, look her over.”

“What happened?” Aidan was in her space, staring into hereyes. “What did he do to you?”

“They drugged me, but I’m fine. It’s Kala I’m worriedabout.” Everything had happened so fast. “Did they get away?”

“I took out the guards he left behind.” Cooper stared at thedoor. “They didn’t run fast enough, but Huisman did.”

There was the sound of rattling as the roof began tocollapse.

“Aidan, I’m fine.” She felt weak, but it wasn’t anything shecouldn’t handle. Where was Kala? “They gave her a paralytic. She won’t be ableto walk on her own.”

Through the smoke she saw Ian walking out and then Parker.The big Canadian carried Kala. She was slack in his arms, unconscious.

Or worse. What had the drugs done to her? Tears blurred hereyes as Parker carried her cousin closer.

Cooper hit his knees, and the sound that came from himthreatened to wreck Carys. She looked over and tears streamed down his cheeks.Parker stopped in front of him, looking down at Cooper.

“But she’s not your girlfriend,” Parker said, no inflectionin his tone. “She’s alive.”

“Give her to me.” Cooper lifted his arms, taking Kala intothem and cradling her to his chest. He’d lost any sort of situational awarenessbecause every cell of that man’s body was focused on the woman in his arms. Hesmoothed back her hair. “Wake up, baby. You gotta wake up for me.”

Carys moved in, taking Kala’s wrist in her hand. Her pulsewas steady. She worked around Cooper, who wasn’t giving her up and checked hervitals. “I think she’s passed out, but we need to get her to a hospital.”

In the distance she heard the sound of sirens.

“Parker, I think you should sit down,” Adam said, a frown onhis face.

“I’m fine. I need to call my boss.” Parker pulled his cellfrom his pocket even though his eyes were still on Kala. He stopped, and thatwas the moment she realized his hand was covered in blood. “Shit.”

“Aidan,” Carys called out. She managed to get to Parker ashe started toward the ground. He’d been hit during the gunfire, and theadrenaline of the situation had gotten him through. But now the injury wastaking over. “It’s a GSW. Damn it. I’ve got two entry wounds on his back. Itmight be in his liver.”

Aidan dropped to his knees beside her, a calm presence amongthe chaos. “All right. Let’s get him stable.”

She nodded and they got to work.

Twelve hours later Carys sat in Ben Parker’s hospital room,watching the man who’d undoubtedly saved her cousin. If he hadn’t chosen herover taking out his enemy, there wouldn’t have been time to get her out. Cooperand Uncle Ian would almost certainly have tried and likely died when the housecame apart, falling in on itself. Parker had saved more than one life.

The rest of the team was meeting with CSIS, but she couldn’tsit through another round of what Uncle Ian called debriefs.

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