Page 65 of No More Spies

“Is he under the car?” Cooper asked, moving on smoothly.Like she would just accept that he would hold her hand in public.

It felt nice. And he needed it. She was nothing if not hislongtime friend. She spanked asses when subs told her they needed it. She’ddone far more intimate things for the subs under her care. So it was fine togive Cooper what he needed.

“He is,” Lena replied, and Kala could feel her judgment fromacross the room. “He’s good. The only time the camera catches him is that briefmoment before he goes under the car. We believe he attached the bomb to hervehicle at this moment. The rest of the footage is normal until the vehicleexplodes almost an hour later.”

“Okay,” her dad said, his eyes now firmly on the screen infront of them. “I want to see the enhanced footage again.”

“Enhanced?” Cooper whispered the question.

“Just watch,” she replied with a sigh.

Lena clicked a few keys on her keyboard, and the videochanged to a series of still shots, mostly from the beginning of the camfootage. She zoomed in on the figure who wore all black, the hood of his jacketpulled over his face, obscuring his features. She didn’t zoom in on the face,however. She went for his left hand, zooming in far enough that it was clear hewas Caucasian with large hands and a scar that went from between his thumb andforefinger, trailing up to the arm of his jacket and disappearing.

Cooper’s hand tightened around hers.

“And there it is.” Her father sat back.

Cooper let go of her hand. “It’s not Zach. Someone fuckedwith the footage.”

She’d thought about that, too. “I checked it out. I eventook it down to my Aunt Chelsea and had her review it. She says it hasn’t beentampered with.”

“You did what?” Lena asked, genuine surprise in her tone.

Did Lena even know who she was? “Trust but verify, and Idon’t know anyone who is better at verification than my Aunt Chelsea. I thinkyou’ll find she’s still got clearance. Though if you want to fire me, I coulduse the nap.”

She didn’t know what the hell she would do if she got fired.Given all the shit she pulled, she probably should have a plan B. She might gothe private detective route, but her friends Harlow and Ruby already had thatgoing. She could do the professional Dominatrix thing.

“What did Chelsea say?” Cooper asked. “Because whoeverfucked with the footage wants us to believe that’s Zach. You know he had hishand cut and had to do PT for six months after one of the first missions we rantogether. He took a knife to the hand in Hong Kong.”

Yep. She knew it well. She’d known he wouldn’t thinkstraight about this. “She said there was zero proof it was altered. It’s Zach.”

“It can’t be Zach,” Cooper said stubbornly.

“Of course it can be.” Her father was a realist. He movedhis hand to the control panel and flicked a switch, bringing the lights backup. He looked a bit weary. “We knew he was hiding something. I didn’t think itwas this big.”

“He wouldn’t kill someone,” Cooper argued.

“Sweetie, you’ve seen him kill people,” her mother said withsympathy. “But I do tend to agree with you that I’m not sure we shouldimmediately jump to conclusions. Which is why we’re sending the two of you onan assignment.”

She’d expected something like this. “You want us to find hisaunt and figure out if she knows anything. Shouldn’t I just go after Zach on myown?”

“You’re not going anywhere without me,” Cooper said, histone deepening. She turned his way, and he shrugged. “No one goes alone, andI’m the only one left. Unless you want to hang with your dad.”

It wouldn’t be bad if her dad would let her work in peace,but he would want to talk. For a dude who claimed to shove his feelings realdeep, the man loved to talk about other people’s feelings. She wanted to avoidall the feelings talks. It would come, but she could put it off. Maybe evenlong enough that they would have broken this unwritten contract of theirs andshe could chalk it up to random, meaningless sex.

Damn it. Her father would never buy it.

“He’s not wrong,” her dad replied. “And neither is your mom.I want you to find Joyce Reed. I’ve sent her dossier to you along with a map ofthe national park I’m fairly certain she’s living in right now.”

“National park?” Cooper asked.

“I might have mentioned she’s nomadic,” her father pointedout. “I’ve had some people I know tracking her movements, and she’s definitelynot doing seasonal work right now. She’ll often work the holiday season tocollect the money she needs to move around. About four times a year she’ll workfor a couple of weeks. She recently did a three-week stint in a town close tothe Rocky Mountain National Park, and my investigators believe she’s campingthere for the time being. They’ve found her van parked at the store she wasworking at, and the owner admitted to letting her stay there.”

“Then we should simply watch the van,” Lena said with ashake of her head. “We don’t need high-level assets out in the wilderness. Wecan send someone else.”

“I want Kala and Cooper to handle this,” her father said,turning Cooper’s way. “Read the dossier. She requires a somewhat soft touch.Joyce has seen some shit.”

“Soft touch?” Coop asked, his lips quirking up, and then hebrought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “I will attempt to make upfor my partner’s blunter approach.”

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