Page 109 of No More Spies

He felt a grin split his face. He had her now. This time wasforever.

He wasn’t even worried that she’d gotten out of bed. She’dlikely gone to get a drink or take a shower or…talk to Devi, who was probablyhere by now. The clock read a bit past seven.

They’d talked about her cousin in between bouts of extremelyathletic sex. She was worried about Devi and what Zach might do if she kept upher recklessness.

He pulled on his jeans. He kind of wanted to see what hisbrother would do since if Zach showed up, he could catch the fucker and havethe talk they so obviously needed to have.

Shit. He’d thought of Zach as his brother. He wasn’t. Notthe way Hunter was. Zach had kept secrets, but if Kala was willing to forgivehim and thought he had his reasons, he was going to listen. He’d had a greatrelationship with Zach before. Zach had sought him out. If he’d done it becausehe wanted to know him, then maybe he should talk to his mom and figure out ifthis was a relationship he should explore. His mother always gave sound advice,likely because she was a psychologist.

His biological mom was an infamous bombmaker. He had to letthat sit a little while longer.

He opened the door to the privacy room and listened for amoment. The privacy rooms were soundproofed, for obvious reasons, so hewouldn’t have heard Devi and the bodyguard coming in. He listened to see if hecould hear the dulcet tones of his soon-to-be bride giving her cousin thebusiness.

He heard nothing.

They were probably in the locker room. He should go down andhang out with Landon so he wasn’t bored while Kala argued with her stubbornestcousin. He grabbed two beers out of the lounge and then made for the stairs.

And dropped both when he looked down. For a split second hecouldn’t process what he was seeing.

His mom. She lay on her back on the floor of the lobby, herchest covered in blood.

The world sped up again and he took the stairs two at atime, desperate to get to her. He hit his knees. Phone. He left his phonesomewhere down here. He reached for her hand.

Her eyes opened suddenly, and she struggled to breathe.“Kala. Lena Gallagher took Kala and Devi. You have to find them. Kala…theyknocked her out, but Devi was still conscious.”

What the hell? Who would take Kala? He shook his head. Thatwas naïve. Any number of assholes she’d pissed off would love to kill her, butthere wasn’t a body. Nausea rolled through him. Huisman. Huisman wanted heronce. Phone. He had to call 911.

His mom squeezed his hand. “You have to find her.”

He did, but first he had to call an ambulance. And then BigTag.

The door slammed open and Cooper stood, trying to protecthis mom.

“Devi Taggart, you are in so much fucking trouble,” a deepvoice called out from the front hall. “The alarm isn’t even on. I’m talking toyour moth…” Landon stopped, his eyes going wide. “Coop?”

“Call 911.” Thank god, he wasn’t alone. “And then call Tag.He’s probably at Sanctum, so he’s not far. Tell him to turn on Kala’s tracker.”He leaned back over, taking his mother’s hand again. She’d been shot but shewas holding on. He heard Landon call. “Mom, I need you to stay with me.”

“I’m fine,” she said, her eyes tightening and proving herwords wrong. “Kala and Devi aren’t. That terrible woman. Tell Ian she’s EliNelson’s daughter and she’s working with Huisman.”

Fuck. If she was working with Huisman, then she probably hadaccess to his tech, including whatever he did last time to overload thetracker. His gut tightened. “Did she say anything? Give you any indicationabout where she was taking them?”

His mom’s head shook slightly, and it seemed to cause herpain. “No. I don’t know. I’m just…”

“Shhhh,” he said. “Save your strength.” This couldn’t be theend. He couldn’t lose her. Couldn’t lose Kala now that they were finally onsolid ground.

He held his mother’s hand while Landon called in the troops.His father made it mere seconds before the ambulance got there, and Cooperwould never forget the look on his face. His father had been the one to hop inthe ambulance after the EMTs stabilized her.

The sirens were still wailing as Big Tag and Charlotte ranin.

“What the fuck happened, Cooper?” Tag stared down at thepool of blood. “Eve?”

“The EMTs said she needs surgery, but she is in good shape.”A weird numbness settled over him. If he let himself feel the horror of thelast thirty minutes, he wouldn’t be able to move, and he had to. Kala didn’tneed emotional reactions right now. She needed him focused on one thing.Getting her back. “What does the tracker say?”

Please let her tracker work.

Ian’s head shook. “I tried and the software says it’soffline. So it’s Huisman. I find it very interesting that Ben Parker is in townand Huisman shows up.”

“Ian, Ben is at Top with Kenzie right now,” Charlottepointed out. “He has no idea, and neither does Kenzie.” She looked to Cooper.“We decided to leave her out for the time being. I’m worried she’ll giveherself away, and I don’t know how we explain to Parker that the girl he’s on adate with got kidnapped. While she’s sitting there with him. But the rest ofthe team is on the way. Tris is already looking into private airfields aroundthe area. I want to see the security tapes.”

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