Chapter Four #5
“You were wearing that ridiculous dress that had every man in the room panting after you.”
She’d dressed for him. “Including you?”
His hand smoothed over her hair. “Oh, so including me. I was jealous of the target. That was when I knew I wanted you. You were distant before and then we clicked.”
She suddenly needed him to know. She rolled to her side so she could look at him. “I should explain that. Why I seemed like two different people at times. Ben, I want to be honest with you.”
The clock caught her gaze.
1:10
No time. No time at all. Seventy seconds of life left.
She laid back down and wrapped her arms around him.
“It doesn’t matter. Just know that I always wanted you.
I knew it from the moment I saw you. I knew you were the one for me and even though it was complicated, I was always going to end up right here.
With you. This is how we end, Ben Parker. We end together.”
He held on to her and found her lips with his. He kissed her again and again, but there was no expectations of anything this time. This was love and affection with no other reason than they loved each other. With no other goal but to die in his arms.
It was almost time. She wrapped her arms around him and held on.
For way longer than a minute.
Like she could lose track of time, but this was a bit much.
Kenzie sat up and looked at the clock.
“What’s happening?” Ben sat up beside her.
What the hell was going on? She glanced over and the clock read 0:00.
It held for one second and then another.
“It didn’t go off.” Ben started to get out of bed. “What the hell? Fuck. Manny did this.”
“Uh, I don’t think we should be upset that the bomb didn’t kill us.” He was having an odd reaction.
Ben stood in front of the bomb. “This was a trick. He did something. I don’t know what, but I’ll find out. He’s obviously not fucking dead. He planned this.”
He changed so fast. One minute he was her sweet lover and the next… He hated Manny Huisman, and that felt like all that mattered.
She was about to ask him to come back to bed when she was startled by a clanging on the outer door.
“I’m coming in. Dear god, please cover up and don’t be doing something that will make me vomit,” a familiar voice said.
“Oh, shit.” Well, she wasn’t going to have to tell Ben. He was about to meet her sister. For real this time.
Ben went for his gun.
“Don’t. She’s friendly,” Kenzie explained. “I mean that in the secondary usage of the word. She’s actually mostly rude, and she’s going to be very familiar to you. Ben, I’m so sorry.”
The door came open and Ben was left facing… Well, he was facing a second her.
Kala winced as she looked at Ben. “Dude, way more than I wanted to see.” She turned back to Kenzie. “Okay, sis, there’s good news and bad news.”
Kenzie reached for the mems cube, though Kala wasn’t at all affected by her nudity.
They didn’t have a lot of boundaries when it came to that, though she didn’t like her sister getting a look at Ben.
She was nervous again. Moments before, everything seemed perfect.
Besides the whole “we’re about to get blown to bits and scattered across Asia” thing.
But she and Ben had felt done. Ready. Settled.
Now the ground was shaking again. She could feel his eyes on her, and they were narrowed with seeming irritation.
Or rage. She had lied to him, and the proof was standing in front of him.
“I take it the good news is that we didn’t blow up, and that’s awesome.
How did you manage to shut down the bombs? ”
“Lou did,” Kala replied. “With some help from the Canadian dude. He’s not a complete moron, though his British accent is shit. I can’t believe Devi fell for it. Also, we’ve got Devi. She’s cool but we need to move.”
“I don’t understand.” Ben said the words calmly, but there was a hard undercurrent.
Kala sighed and turned his way. “Twins, buddy. I would have thought that was clear now. I’m the one who did all the fun stuff like shooting at you and leaving you behind on a plane with a bunch of killers.
She’s the one who flirts and sighs and signs your name in her journal and shit.
Also, thank god now we can be clear. I’m married to Cooper. Please don’t kiss me again.”
He stood there wearing nothing but his pants, his arms over his chest as he watched them. “I meant the mission. How the hell did Lou and Tim handle the bomb? Everything is down—Internet, electricity, comms. Or it was. Do you think we didn’t try to get a message out?”
He sounded so cold. Shouldn’t he ask her about the elephant in the room?
She’d waited too long, and now he wouldn’t forgive her.
Kala huffed. “We got the messages. How do you think we knew to send Lou and Tim after that bomb? Devi saw Huisman, by the way. How did he get by you?”
“He faked his death,” Kenzie admitted, knowing damn well what came next.
“And you didn’t put a couple of bullets in him?” Kala asked, all the judgment in the world in those words.
“I thought he was dead.” She wasn’t going to tell her sister she hadn’t done her job because she hadn’t wanted Ben to see her do that to a corpse.
Her sister’s glare told her they would talk about this later.
“He was convincing. I won’t make the same mistake again. I’ve learned appearance can be extremely deceiving,” Ben said. “When did the damn comms come back online? You know there’s a system in here. You could have contacted us. You didn’t have to…”
His voice trailed off, and she realized he was talking about the sex. He wished he hadn’t had sex with her.
She was not going to cry.
The question came from Ben, but Kala turned Kenzie’s way.
“The comm problem was totally one way. We could hear everything, and also, there are cameras that fed out even after the power went off, so way to make a sex tape, sis. Dad’s trying to bleach his eyeballs.
” She finally addressed Ben. “He’s going to kill you, dude. ”
“Your father?” At least he’d lost the angry look. It had been replaced with pure shock. “Maggie, is your father your handler?”
She forced a smile on her face. She might have made a sex tape, but honestly, who hadn’t at this point.
It might be her only souvenir of her entire relationship with Ben.
She hoped Lou had kept it. “It’s Kenzie.
Kenzie Taggart. My father is the man you know as Ian or Mr. Lemon, which I’ve told him is cringe but he’s like totally Gen X and does not care. ”
Ben’s head shook. “Mr. Lemon is fucking Ian Taggart? The single, scariest dude in the whole of the intelligence agency? He’s a legend. And he’s your father? What the fuck else do I not know?”
Kala had a hand on her. “You’re a spy, dude. Figure it out. We’ve got to go. Tim’s waiting for you. Byeee.”
Kenzie pulled back. “I need to…”
Kala leaned in, whispering. “We have to go. We have Zach’s mom, and if we wait around someone will show up for her. Dad’s letting Henry take her to Bliss. We’re going to hide her, but we need to go and not let the Canadians know.”
Naturally her job fucked them over again. She turned back to Ben. “Can we talk later? Maybe you could come to Dallas for a debrief.”
Kala’s grin was slightly sinister. “Come for family dinner, dude. I’m sure my dad would love a word.”
Ben ignored the taunt. “We need to find Manny. And get all the data we can.”
Kala pulled her toward the doorway. “Already have it. Well, we have what Lou managed to get before Huisman’s protocols went into effect.
We’ll go through it back home. I believe you’re wanted in a debrief in a couple of hours, and then our agencies are going to form a team.
That should be fun now that little sister scratched her itch. ”
Kenzie frowned her sister’s way. “He wasn’t an itch. You know that, Kala.”
Kala sent her a sad smile. “I know. But we have to move. We have to get that helo back or Coop will be in trouble.” Kala winked at him. “And nice package, Parker. I’m glad I didn’t wreck it.”
Kenzie stopped at the door. “Ben…”
He shook his head. “I guess I’ll see you next time. Good-bye, Maggie.”
There was nothing to do but follow her sister. And leave her dreams of Ben behind.