Page 84 of No More Spies

Oh, she was fully in her Ms. Magenta, badass persona, and hedidn’t think he would be getting her back anytime soon. It was time to retreat.Lucky for him, he had the sat phone and could call for reinforcements. He wouldwalk away since she didn’t need him and call back to base. Drake, not Big Tag,who would absolutely side with his daughter no matter how she wanted to fuck upan op. Kala was Big Tag’s precious girl who could do no wrong.

He kept his hands up, moving back toward his pack. It heldthe blankets they’d wrapped themselves in, the meals she’d made for them.“Fine. You guys have a blast. I can see I am not needed here.”

He would walk away, throw it all in Drake’s lap, and quit.He would go back to the Navy and not come home again. Not for a long fuckingtime.

Zach sighed. “Don’t reach for that pack, man. Please, Coop.Don’t make me do this.”

“He’s not going to listen,” Kala said with the saddest sigh.“He thinks I betrayed him.”

“How would you know?” Zach asked.

“He’s not thinking logically,” she replied.

“Fuck you both.” They were acting like this was a nothingsituation. Like it happened every day and he should chill.

“Auntie.” Zach said her name like it was an order she shouldknow how to obey.

“I’m so sorry, Jon,” Joyce said right before picking up herrifle and firing.

A dart hit his thigh. Damn. He’d thought it was a realrifle, but then he’d also thought what he’d had with Kala was real this time,and he was wrong about that.

Still, he looked her way as the drugs started to coursethrough his system. She ran toward him, getting her arms under him, though hisweight immediately dragged her down.

She was the last thing he saw as the world went dark.

* * * *

Well, that had gone about as poorly as it could.

Kala eased Cooper’s unconscious body into what seemed like acomfortable position, gently maneuvering his head onto a pillow she fashionedfrom her jacket.

Her heart ached. It felt like it had broken utterly, but shekept her expression calm. There would be time later to cry. Alone. She wouldn’tcall Lou or her sisters. She wouldn’t contact her mom.

She would deal with this alone because that was how she wasgoing to be for the rest of her life.

“Are you okay?” Zach asked like he hadn’t betrayed his teamand walked out and oh, never mentioned he had ties that they couldn’t imagine.Also, he was a dumbass because he offered her a hand up. “He didn’t mean any ofthat, you know. He was overwhelmed.”

She calmly took the proffered hand and allowed Zach to haulher up. Then the minute she was on her feet, she used her other hand to punchhim right in his nose. Hard.

He groaned and winced. “Damn. I should have seen thatcoming.”

“Zach?” Joyce asked, pointing the tranquilizer gun towardKala.

That was not happening. “I will fucking end you if you tranqme.”

He waved a hand his aunt’s way. “Don’t. She’s the reasonableone. And honestly, I deserved that punch and more.” He stared down at Cooper.“I know you won’t believe me, but I never meant for him to find out. Certainlynot that way. I guess somewhere in the back of my head it would come out oneday and he would be happy about it. That’s never going to happen.”

She wasn’t so sure. “Cooper can be very forgiving. I thinkonce he calms down and you explain the situation to him, he’ll want to talk.He’ll certainly be curious.”

“Yeah, but I think he’ll be talking to you,” Zach returned.“He didn’t mean a word of that, Kala. He loves you. I’ve always known that.”

But he didn’t. He was pretending she was something shewasn’t. Or maybe there was a softer part of herself that he brought out, butshe couldn’t shove the rest of her soul away and become some chick who hidbehind him during a fight.

The sad part was she couldn’t even argue with Cooper. Heknew her. He was right about most of it. She was ruthless. She did put the opfirst. If he’d been carried out of that house in Toronto and she’d thought hewas dead, she would have broken inside, but no one would have seen it. Notuntil her whole team was safe. She owed it to the op and her team to keep herpersonal feelings hidden away. And for Cooper that meant she didn’t have any.

He was so lovely, and she’d been right all these years. Theycouldn’t work. He was holding on to someone who never existed.

He thought she was capable of betraying him. It was the mostridiculous accusation, and if he thought about it for two minutes, it wouldn’thave come out of his mouth. But it had. When he didn’t think, didn’t plan hiswords, he told her what he truly thought of her.

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