Chapter Thirteen
Cooper wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was clear Kala had picked up on something important. It was there in the way she’d sat up, in the gleam in her eyes. Sometimes he simply liked to watch her work. But there was a weird feeling in his gut, some instinct that put him on edge.
“Zach told me his brother was given up for adoption. His mom was in prison and wouldn’t be getting out for a long time, so she gave him up. I suspect the dad was completely out of the picture by then,”
he said, trying to move the conversation along.
He thought about making some excuse to leave. He wanted to check around, to see if he could figure out if Zach was coming back or if Joyce was getting confused. She’d said Zach had shown up but that he came and went. This wasn’t the kind of place where one simply showed up out of nowhere and left just as quickly.
And it wasn’t like they didn’t know where he’d been last week.
The thought of arresting Zach made him kind of sick to his stomach, but he had to do it. He had to bring him in, and then they would figure everything out. Now that he knew more about Zach’s mom’s story, he understood how he could have had ties that dragged him down.
Could his father have resurfaced and brought him into something dangerous?
“Ray came in and out of Shannon’s life. I still don’t think he knows about…”
Joyce nodded his way like she couldn’t stand to talk about the other boy. She probably felt guilty for not taking him in when she’d taken in Zach, but she’d had her reasons.
“But he knows Zach?”
Cooper hadn’t thought a lot about Zach’s father. Zach didn’t say much about him. Were they in touch?
Joyce nodded. “He lived with them for about six months before things got real bad, and he left them hanging out to dry. The cartel got upset with him. He was skimming the profits.”
“Joyce, I need to know about the adoption,”
Kala said, leaning in.
“I’m sure it was closed if she was in prison and worried about someone finding out.”
Cooper knew a bit about adoption since both he and Hunter were adopted. Kala should know something, too, though he was pretty sure Tasha’s adoption hadn’t been entirely legal.
Kala’s eyes stayed on Joyce. “You helped her.”
“She’s my sister,”
Joyce said. “Of course I helped her. I’ll always help her.”
“Do you know where she is?”
Cooper asked. Maybe they were going about this the wrong way. Maybe bringing in Shannon Reed would tempt Zach to come in and explain what was happening. “The last time I talked to Zach he said she disappeared when he was fourteen. He said she’d fallen back in with a bad crowd. Was it with his dad?”
“She stopped cooking drugs, if that’s what you’re asking about,”
Joyce replied with a frown. “No. While she was in prison she made other connections. I thought the cartel was bad.”
He was interested in those connections. They might tell him something about why Zach was doing what he was doing. “If she wasn’t cooking drugs, what was she into? Zach made it sound like she was still involved with something criminal.”
Kala frowned his way. “I’m fairly certain she started making bombs, Coop. I would bet anything she’s our bombmaker and Zach is trying to protect her. Now let me ask my questions.”
Damn, it stung when she talked like that.
She softened. “Babe, I’m sorry. I think…I think it’s important.”
He thought the fact that they might know the name of the bombmaker everyone was looking for was kind of important. But hell, he was just the dude who carried the backpacks. “Sure. Proceed.”
Kala looked like she wanted to argue with him but turned back to Joyce. “You helped her pick. You picked the adoptive parents. How did you do it? Did my father help you? Does he know?”
Something cold snaked up Cooper’s spine. What the hell was going on? He felt dumb. She knew something he didn’t. “Why would your father know about Zach’s brother?”
But Kala could be hyper focused at times. She ignored him. “I need to know, Joyce.”
Tears shone in Joyce’s eyes. “He didn’t. Lord, I didn’t tell him. I talked to him right before I went out to visit Shannon in prison. I called him because I knew I was going to have to get legal custody of Zach, and Big Tag always helped out his old Army buddies. He gave me some good advice.”
Shit. Did Big Tag have something to do with this? Kala was going to be pissed if her father knew something and hadn’t told her.
“You didn’t tell him about your sister’s pregnancy, but he told you something, didn’t he?”
There was a breathless air of expectation in Kala’s voice.
A tear slipped from Joyce’s eyes, caressing her cheek. “He told me all about his best friend. He said Alex was looking for a kid to adopt.”
The world seemed to slow, time slipping into some weird place where he was there and not there.
Alex was looking for a kid to adopt.
He was the kid Alex McKay adopted.
In a closed adoption. His parents didn’t know who the birth mother was, had been told to never expect contact with her. The records had been buried.
“I put you in the safest place I could, Jonathon,”
Joyce said. “That was what she named you. She knew it wouldn’t stick, but it’s what she calls you when she dreams about you. Jonathon Michael Reed. You were safe. I made sure you were safe.”
“Babe, are you okay?”
Kala asked. “Do you need to…like do you want a hug?”
He was Zach’s brother. His full-blooded brother.
No. Fucking no. Hunter was his brother. Vivi was his sister. Alex and Eve McKay were his parents.
“Jonathon, don’t be mad at her. She was trying to save you. She knew they would use her babies against her.”
Joyce stood up, her arms coming out. “I missed you so much. Zach missed you.”
Zach played some fucking hard-core games. “My name is Cooper.”
“Joyce, I think he needs a minute.”
For once Kala sounded like the cool voice of reason.
It wasn’t fair to think it, but he wasn’t feeling very fair in the moment. How could she have brought it out like this? She’d known where this was going. She’d used that big brain of hers to pick up on clues he’d missed, and she hadn’t thought maybe they should have a private conversation? “Did my father know? Fuck. Why did I even ask that question? Of course he didn’t. My dad is always left out of the spy shit, but I can’t believe for a second that your dad didn’t realize it. Which means he probably knew my biological brother wormed his way onto my team. Maybe I should ask if you knew.”
Kala’s face flushed and then became a perfectly polite blank. “If I knew I wouldn’t have asked the questions. I would have brought it in front of the team, and we would have figured out how to handle it. Joyce said my dad didn’t know.”
Cooper stood. Tag could play some deep games, too. And maybe Kala wasn’t the only one who’d never forgiven him for being a dumbass kid. “Sure, he didn’t. Your father is the absolute most paranoid asshole in the history of time, with deep connections to people who can find any record they want to, but he let his best friend adopt a kid without knowing anything about it.”
“He wouldn’t have wanted to jeopardize the adoption, and why would he have any reason to think there was something weird about it?”
Kala asked.
“He wouldn’t have found anything.”
Joyce looked miserable standing there staring at him. “I have connections, too. So did Shannon. If he’d looked, he would have found what we wanted him to find. One of the women she connected with in prison was involved in a group of radicals.”
The hits fucking kept coming. “Disrupt? That group?”
Kala frowned. “If she was involved in Disrupt, wouldn’t Huisman know how to find her?”
Awesome. Something he’d put together before her. “Not if she did what she seems to do and left the group and went on the run.”
“That wasn’t the name, though I do think at one point she did some work for them. You have to understand how scared she was when she was in jail. The cartel could get to her in there. She needed protection,”
Joyce tried to explain.
He didn’t want to hear it. He still didn’t buy that Big Tag hadn’t known. Nothing this woman told him would change how he felt, and it was time to do the fucking job they’d come to do. “I’m calling Flanders. He can meet us in the meadow about half a mile back. Joyce Reed, I’m taking you into custody.”
Her eyes went wide.
Kala stood. “Hey, we need to talk about this.”
“Now you want to talk? You didn’t think about talking before you blew up my entire childhood?”
He loved her but damn it could be hard sometimes.
“I wasn’t certain.”
Kala’s tone was so even, he knew she was forcing herself to stay calm. “I thought she might be talking about you, but I wasn’t a hundred percent. I didn’t think it was a good idea to stop the conversation. You know some people freeze up.”
“So it was all for the op.”
She nodded like it was good he understood. “Of course.”
He was afraid he understood all too well. “I kind of thought you cared more about me than an op.”
“I do. Didn’t you want to know? Coop, Zach is your brother, and he’s doing all of this to protect your mom.”
“Eve McKay is my mother,”
he insisted. “I doubt he’s protecting her. And Zach is not my fucking brother. He’s a liar who betrayed his whole team. That team. That’s my family.”
“And he was part of it. Babe, I know you’re upset, but think about how he treated you.”
He didn’t want to think about anything at this point but getting home to his parents. He wasn’t being reasonable, and there were warning clangs going off in his head that he should slow down. Cool off. “That was my family, but if you Taggarts kept this from my dad…”
“You Taggarts?”
Kala asked.
“I mean your dad.”
She shook her head. “No, you didn’t. Which Taggarts are you talking about? My mom? I’m pretty sure if Dad knew she did. He likes to play the spy, but he’s actually a surprisingly gossipy old dude. My sisters? I don’t think so. You’re talking about me. You’re sitting there wondering what? If I knew about this the whole time and suddenly decided to spring it on you here and now? Do you think I set the whole thing up?”
Of course he didn’t. “Did you?”
She huffed. “Why, Coop? Why would I do this? You’re not acting rationally. I know it’s a lot to take in, but I need you to be Cooper McKay right now. You know I wouldn’t do this to you. I’m as surprised as you are.”
He couldn’t tell. “I would bet your blood pressure didn’t even rise.”
“Ah, we’re at the cold-blooded snake phase of the argument. Well, I’m sorry. I was trying to do my job the only way I know how, and it did not include a bunch of drama.”
He got into her space, something nasty twisting inside him. “Oh, because you never cause drama.”
She stared straight at him. “I don’t. I handle this job with precision. Do you think I lost my shit when I found out my sister got shot? I didn’t. I did my job.”
She was bringing this up? “You’re mad at me because I was upset I thought you died?”
“You blew a whole lot of cover,”
she shot back. “Why do you think Ben Parker wasn’t there when Kenz got to Canada? We lost a valuable asset because you couldn’t keep it together.”
“Because I thought you were fucking dead.”
He shook his head, anger flaring. He loved this woman and she was bitching at him because he was upset she got hurt? “I suppose if it had been me, you would have shrugged and moved on, Ms. Magenta to the core. Do I mean anything at all to you? Is this your way to get back at me?”
Her shoulders fell. “Of course not, and yes, you do. But Coop, what we do is important, and we can’t allow personal feelings in. Not until we’re alone.”
Her head shook. “This is stupid.”
“Of course it’s stupid. It’s my feelings so it’s stupid.”
“Damn it. I didn’t mean that.”
He shook his head. “No, you didn’t. It’s all feelings, isn’t it? You don’t have any so all emotions are useless.”
A blank expression spread across her face, and he could see her shutting down. “I think you should go and call Henry. I’ll handle the rest of the interview. You’re obviously too close to this. If I’d known you were Zach’s brother, I would never have brought you with me.”
He felt his fists clench. “Oh, do you think you can bench me, baby?”
“I think I just did, and don’t call me that again,”
she said quietly. “If this is what you think of me, our relationship is over.”
He should have known how she would handle this. “One fight? One fight is all it took? The great Kala Taggart can’t handle a single argument?”
“I’m not doing this with you right now.”
She turned to Joyce, who stood watching them, hands shaking. “Joyce, I’m not bringing you in, but I would like to talk further with you. Is it all right if I hang out with you? Maybe bring in my dad? Your sister is in real trouble, and so is Zach. It’s serious, and I want to help.”
So fucking kind. So reasonable for someone who’d lied. Never for him. No. She wouldn’t ever play a role for him. He loved her and this was how she treated him?
Like you’re her safe space. Like she doesn’t have to pretend with you.
He wasn’t listening to that fucking voice right now.
His whole life was a lie, and so was she. How did he fucking know that he wasn’t bait? That she and her father hadn’t used him like they’d once used Dare. They’d nearly wrecked Dare’s life. He knew what they were capable of.
And you were with them. You were there. And you know she’s right about what happened with Parker. You set the whole team back with him. This is the spy game, not some fun afternoon in the fucking park.
Was she serious? Was she picking the job over him?
Or was he being a butt hurt idiot, and she was trying to keep things together?
“I’m not going anywhere, Kala.”
He was right about a few things, and they would need to sit down and discuss this whole situation when he’d calmed down. Deep inside he trusted Big Tag. He loved Kala. It was too much to process right this second. The best plan of action was to pull everyone in. If Zach was worried about his aunt, he could come to Dallas to find her. “Not without Joyce Reed. You’re not my boss in the field no matter what you seem to think. I’m calling it. We head back.”
That brow cocked, a sure sign she was getting stubborn. Getting more stubborn. She’d been born that way, and he wasn’t handling this situation properly, but then she’d done absolutely nothing to handle him properly either. Why did it always have to be him?
Joyce started to move.
That wasn’t happening. “Move again, Joyce, and I’ll have you in cuffs in a heartbeat. You can either come in willingly or I’ll drag you.”
“Or I can take you out right here and now, brother,”
a deep voice said. “Hands up, Coop. Right fucking now. Don’t think I won’t take out a knee or something.”
Zach stepped out from behind a massive cedar wearing fatigues and holding a Glock on him.
“Don’t you fucking call me brother,”
Cooper replied, anger surging at the sight of him. But he put his hands up. “Kala, get behind me.”
All Zach would have to do was get hold of Kala and Cooper would be forced to do whatever he wanted.
“Boys, there’s no reason to fight. Jon…Cooper, Zach loves you,”
Joyce said.
Kala still hadn’t moved.
“Coop, I’m not joking,”
Zach said, his eyes moving from Cooper to Kala and back again. “Do not make a move. I won’t kill you, but I can’t let you take her.”
A long sigh came from Kala. “But girls are too emotional to make big decisions. Sure.”
“I said get behind me,”
Cooper reiterated between clenched teeth.
“Who the fuck do you think I am, McKay?”
Kala asked. “I was right. You want some sweet thing you can protect. I don’t need protection. If I wanted to take Zach out, I would have done it. I think it would be way more productive if we all sat down and had a chat. Joyce, you got any booze? I could use a drink.”
Oh, she was fully in her Ms. Magenta, badass persona, and he didn’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 would walk 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 up an op. Kala was Big Tag’s precious girl who could do no wrong.
He kept his hands up, moving back toward his pack. It held the 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 fucking time.
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 nothing situation. Like it happened every day and he should chill.
“Auntie.”
Zach said her name like it was an order she should know how to obey.
“I’m so sorry, Jon,”
Joyce said right before picking up her rifle and firing.
A dart hit his thigh. Damn. He’d thought it was a real rifle, 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 course through his system. She ran toward him, getting her arms under him, though his weight immediately dragged her down.
She was the last thing he saw as the world went dark.