Page 47 of Cooper's Command

Blake moved the helicopter in beside them, close enough she could defend them without the downwash hampering his vessel,

Cooper clicked his radio, shaking his head as he looked over at her. “As crazy as ever, Crossroads.”

Blake huffed. “I swear, if you try and bring that nickname back to life, I’ll start calling you CT.”

He chuckled. “Always straight for the jugular. Glad to see some things never change.”

“Endeavor to do more, Coop.”

“Hell, yeah. And while it might not have been your favorite nickname, you’ve got to admit, you have crazy-ass skills. The likes of which seem awfully suspect.”

“I’m not denying the claim, just trying to keep my secret from getting out. And I’ll let you off the hook this once since you didn’t blow my cover when you first came to the island. But use it again…”

“Consider it buried. Now, you will give us a lift once I beach this baby, right?”

“Not that the ride will be any smoother but… I’ll follow along in case this weather gets any worse and you end up going into the water. But Kian won’t be happy if he and Waylen have to rescue your asses.”

“Copy that.”

Nova arched a brow once he’d replaced the handset. “I get the Crossroads reference but CT?”

He chuckled. “It’s short for Chew Toy. And yeah, I hated it, too.”

Bellamy, Rusty and Ethan gathered next to him, still watching the horizon in case there were more boats.

Ethan nudged Cooper’s shoulder. “That was some scary shit back there, buddy.”

Cooper shrugged. “Beats dying.”

“Damn straight. Which brings up the question… Why didn’t those mercenaries take out the cabin with that drone instead of targeting the generator shack? A betting man would have gonefor the sure thing. Even if some of us had survived the initial hit, we wouldn’t have been in any condition to fight.”

“Beats the hell out of me.”

Nova cleared her throat, looking each of them in the eyes before sighing. “That’s because of the ledgers.”

Ethan frowned. “You mean ledger, as in one.”

She winced. “No, I mean ledgers.”

Cooper twisted to face her. “There’s more than one?”

“Two, actually.”

“And you’re just telling us this now?”

She straightened. “In my defense, I wasn’t really in any condition to talk when you picked me up. And the memory got lost in the trauma until an hour ago when you mentioned the possibility of another ledger. Not that it matters when we can’t exactly retrieve it.”

“Why not? Where the hell is it?”

She bit at her bottom lip, glancing around his team again before shaking her head. “In close proximity to the office.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“It’s not like I had many options. And I knew you’d eventually go there if I was killed. Would be able to track it down and find a way to throw Simmons’ ass in jail.”

“Because it’s coated in your blood, too, right?”

“The dogs need something to scent.”

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