"Evie."
I turned to see Coop frowning at me. I sighed, "Piss off, Coop. I'm thinking."
He pointed, "I can tell by the steam coming off your head."
I flipped him the bird and continued to pace, "There’s something about it all that doesn't quite make sense, but then if you think about it all as a bigger picture, maybe it does. How does he keep getting so lucky and how did he get involved in the first place?"
Coop cocked an eyebrow, "What?"
I waved a hand at him, almost thinking aloud, "What if James knew about my father being the Master Key from the very beginning? What if he was only dating me because he was a plant from the start, and my father was the enemy's best guess at who the Burrow's protector was? We both know he accidentally got me pregnant and married me because he had to, but honestly, what if it was all an act? What if him being in the CI was the act? What do we for sure know about him?"
Coop sat in the spot I had been, the only spot without any pigeon shit. "We know he was an only child to two older parents. Both are dead now, but they were at your wedding. They got sick and died of cancer in the last couple years, did they not?"
I frowned, nodding, "You know, I always thought it was weird they both got cancer. I always was scared for my kids."
He nodded, "It is weird, but not uncommon nowadays."
I sighed and paced, "He marries me, gets his in with the Burrow. What if he was a plant from the start, like a kid plant? What if he isn’t loyal to our country? What if he's a spy, like a real one who's leftover from the cold war?"
Coop looked like he might scoff at the idea but he didn’t. He sat there, thinking. I could see steam coming off his head after a minute, "If he was a plant from the start, he must have been planted in the US when he was a kid or picked up as a young cadet. He was a cadet, wasn’t he?"
I nodded, "He was. He always busts on Mitch for not wanting to be a cadet."
Coop sighed, "Fuck, if he's a real spy, not just a sold-out double agent, then we have major issues on our hands and no one is going to back us up. We are in too deep now. We can’t blow our cover and ask for aid without risking your kids and God knows what else."
I put a hand up, "We take this down, just us."
"Just us and Servario?"
I shook my head, "No, just us. I don’t want to ask him for help until we know what his plan is. He’s to aloof and sneaky."
"It'll go faster if we use Servario to lead us to James. I don’t want to waste a lifetime chasing James. I want him dead just as badly as you do."
I slumped on the seat next to him, almost on him to avoid the poop, "Fine. But I want you to know I'm really sorry I let Luce get hurt."
He shook his head, "I know she was protecting you."
I looked at my feet, "She and James knew each other."
His face jerked to face me, "What?" I handed him the note he had stuck in her fingers.
'Meet me tonight at dusk at Caesar's Curia!'
He read the note as I muttered, "Apparently, they might have been lovers. He asked her if I knew about them. He said she was still just as beautiful as before and he missed her. Something to that effect."
Coop's face was stoic, but I could see his eyes were on fire. He got up fast, bolting from the rooftop. I sat there a minute longer, trying to imagine how it would all work out. How I could find the agent I once was and let go of the mom I seemed stuck as. Coop was right. The only way to end it was to become the emotionless thing I used to be. No pain no gain. I got up and walked to the door, slowly cutting the ties to my emotions and worries.
Chapter Ten
The History Lesson for Dummies
I had followed Coop down to the hospital room, but he wasn’t in the hallway with Jack when I got there. I sat across from Jack. It took me a minute to notice the strange look he was giving me. His lips twitched like he wanted to say something but he didn’t. I sighed, nudging him with my foot, "Just say it. Just tell me."
He swallowed hard, "I have a bad feeling about a couple things I found in his phone."
I nodded, "Okay." My heart was racing but I pushed my feelings down.
"Firstly, he is an avid fan of some really weird p**n sites."
I wrinkled my nose, "He's a sex addict, I knew that. I guessed anyway." It felt weird saying that to Jack.
He gave me an odd look as he nodded, "Yeah, awesome. Even awesomer, I think he has a thing for the voyeuristic fetishes and girls getting touched on city transit."
"Awesomer isn’t a word." I paused for a second, "Are there any young people on the sites?" My brain was panicking, full-fledged, four-alarm panic.
He shook his head, "No, all nineteen and up but some are dressed in schoolgirl outfits, and they are always matched with older guys. It's mostly Asian girls getting groped and shit on trains and buses. It looks like it's supposed to be like the girl doesn’t know it's happening, but the acting is pretty bad. Like how do you not notice an old dude’s finger going up your…"
"STOP!" I shuddered, "Okay… God. I don’t want to know. Fine, so he likes grown women in schoolgirl uniforms getting molested on buses?"
He nodded again, "And trains."
"Jack!"
"Right, sorry. The other sites are all equally as dirty."
I rubbed my eyes, "I can’t say I never saw this coming." I also couldn’t say that I was okay with it all.
Jack looked mystified, "Did you think he would need to go to the sites a couple times a day? His history has him on these sites several times a day, for prolonged periods."
I waved my hand, "Moving on."
Jack looked like he might get sick, "The other thing is, he has your mom on speed dial, but the number is one none of us have. I dialed it, she answered with some crazy code, but I knew it was her voice, instantly. I hung up before she figured out it was me."
I sighed into my hands, "For f**k's sake. Is anyone ever just going to give me the whole story? Just one story, all at once? Like really, this is annoying. This is some shit. Give me the phone."
He gave me a hesitant look, "Maybe we should wait for Coop?"
I snarled, "Dial the number, Jack."
He jumped, pressing a button, and handing the phone over to me. I sat there with it up to my ear.
"4475293-Nightingales and butterflies have it in common?"
"MOM?"
She paused, "Evie? Was that you who called earlier? How did you get this phone? Oh God, Evie, what have you done?"
"Jesus, Mom. What the hell? You've been calling Servario? You have a nightingale code with him? What the hell? Are you guys friends?"
She sighed, "This is my secure line, Evie. This is how I am put back into active duty by my boss. Whose phone is this?"
My stomach dropped, "You don’t know?"
"Whose phone is it?"
I gave Jack a look, "I don't know. Servario had it."
"Hang up now and never call me again. We won't be here when you get home. We'll be safe. Don’t worry about the kids, honey. Too many phone calls in one day. I'm out but don’t worry. Okay, love?"
I nodded, hanging up, "Jack, are you sure this is Servario's phone?"
He looked funny, "You took it off of him?"
I couldn’t cut my emotions off. I felt sick, "What if he took it off of someone else? What if he left it there for me to take? What if it was a bait phone? Oh shit."
Jack's face paled, "I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD WAIT FOR COOP!"
My hands started to shake, "I know!" He got up and ran to the room.
I sat there in shock.
Coop came out, "We gotta move her. If someone besides Servario had that phone and Luce has been humping James, we need to move her to keep her safe."
I sighed, "American Embassy is the safest place I can think of."
He nodded, "Agreed."
Jack walked out of the room looking sickened, "We came as Canadian, we have to take her to the Canadian one. What do you mean, she and James?"
I shook my head, "We won’t know anything until she is awake." His face didn’t improve. I gave him a smile, "James tried to kill her—I'm sure they didn’t have anything going on, and if they did, it was a LONG time ago."
His look changed but not for the better. He looked like Coop, stoic and indifferent and cut off. "We need to move her, she's stable. I'll call the order in like it's from the Embassy." He turned and walked back into the room.
Coop winced, "I didn’t know he was right there."
I shook my head, "We shouldn’t keep any secrets. If we have secrets, they have ammo. Look at my mom and the phone—who knows why Servario has the leader of MI6's phone. But whatever the reason, we need to know."
I walked past him into the room and listened to Jack make the call.
"Yes, she is a Canadian citizen who has been attacked in a hotel here in Rome. We think it was a robbery attempt but she fought back. They never got her passport or other identification, but her money is all gone and her jewelry." He paused, listening to what was being said, Yes, Canadian, female, twenty-two, Julia Scottsburg from Toronto." He paused again, nodding, "Yes." He smiled, "Thank you." He hung up, "The ambulance has been instructed to bring her to the Canadian Embassy the minute she is able. Canadian military officials are sending over two guards. It's the best we can do. They won’t let her go there until she is completely awake and stable."
I winced, "I wish we could guarantee her safety."
Jack's face was void of emotion, "We have to continue on with the mission, Evie. It's the way it works. If it had been any other team, she would have been left for dead."
I looked at Coop in the doorway, he nodded.
We walked out of the hospital, leaving her identification and passport with her. I gave the doctor the number of one of the pay-as-you-go phones I had bought. I wouldn’t use it for anything but Luce.