25. BBQ, Bonding, and a Bit of Spycraft
CHAPTER 25
BBQ, BONDING, AND A BIT OF SPYCRAFT
LEDGER
I have wanted to kiss Zoe so many times over the past week and a half. Right now, for instance. We’re stopped at a stop light, and I’d love to reach over, cup her cheek in my hand, and press a kiss on her lips.
But I was the one to initiate our first kiss back in Moldova . I didn’t know it, but things hadn’t even been real for Zoe then. This time, it feels like everything is different. And this time, I’m going to let her make the first move when it comes to kissing. I’m not going to make the same mistakes as last time. I only want this relationship to move forward if she wants it to move forward, too.
And I think she does. But until she’s ready, I will patiently wait for her, no matter how long it takes, and no matter how much I just want to grab her and kiss her.
Zoe was looking out her window, and then she turns her focus to me. “ It feels weird to be out doing normal stuff while we have an active mission. ”
I flex my jaw. There are plenty of moments as an intelligence operative that are spent waiting. But this does feel different. Probably because we’ve got so many resources dedicated to finding the men who’ve been stealing the Trust pieces, yet so far, we’ve come up with nothing. No leads at all to where they might be or where they are headed next. It’s almost as if they’ve disappeared.
All we know is that they haven’t attempted to get the Trust pieces in either Dublin or Belgrade . And that the Trust piece we placed a tracker on in Belgrade is still in Savovi?’s mansion, so it either didn’t sell in the auction or wasn’t put up for sale.
And because we know so little, it’s worrying me and everyone else at the CSA . Enough that we’ve started to come up with alternate plans.
None of that needs to taint tonight, though. I paste on a smile, which helps me to feel it, and say, “ Agreed . But since we don’t have any actionable intel…” I shrug.
When we get out of the car at my mom’s house, I try to not walk next to Zoe as if I’m constantly ready to reach out and help if she stumbles. She’s gotten so much stronger over the past week since her injury so she needs it so much less. And I know she won’t appreciate me acting as though she’s weak or incapable. She’ll want to walk like everything is normal and she isn’t struggling, and I respect that.
Even if I didn’t already know that everyone is out back, I would know it from the sounds of something fun going on. So I lead Zoe around to the side of the house. Before I open the gate that leads into the backyard, I stop and look at Zoe . “ Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?”
“ Ledger ,” she says, “don’t baby me. I’m good. Fastest healer in the, well, east.”
Her healing has gone remarkably fast, just like Nehir , the nurse in Ankara , guessed it would. But she’s still human, and I know she still hurts. And I know the boot is still awkward and that she hates it. But I grin, nod, and say, “ Okay , then, let’s do this.” Then , I open the gate and lead her into the backyard I played in for most of my childhood.
Jace , Mackenzie , Miles , and Charlie are throwing a football on the grassy area, and Jace yells, “ Head’s up!” as he tosses it to me.
I catch the ball and tuck it under one arm. I point at Jace and say to Zoe , “ I’m pretty sure you’ve run into my older brother, Jace , a time or two in the field. That’s his fiancée, Mackenzie , over there.” I gesture up at the deck. “ That’s my oldest brother, Blake , at the grill, and, of course, my second oldest brother, Emerson , and my mom at the table with my two-year-old niece, Heidi .”
From my blind spot, I’m suddenly tackled. About the time my backside hits the grass, I realize it’s Miles . I can’t believe he caught me so off guard. Enough off-guard that I’m not only on the ground, but he also stole the football from my arm.
He bounces right up, football tucked under one arm, and shakes Zoe’s hand with the other. “ Hi . I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m Ledger’s older brother, Miles . I was born the year before him.”
I get up and steal the football right back. Then I clap him on the shoulder enough that it nearly knocks him off balance, too. “ He was born twelve minutes before me.”
“ Yes , but in the previous year.”
Zoe’s eyebrows raise. “ December thirty-first baby?”
“ I was,” Miles says, putting a hand on his chest before putting the hand on my shoulder. “ Little brother here was a January first baby.”
“ And guess who can beat who in a race?”
Miles is saved from having to admit that I can sail past him in a race any time any day when Charlie , Mackenzie , and Jace reach us.
“ Hi , I’m Charlie ,” my sister says, skipping the hand shaking and going straight for a hug that she, thankfully, remembers to give a little more gently than her normal. “ It’s so great to meet you in person! Especially after talking to you over comms. Plus , I’ve been hearing so much about you for, what?” She glances at me. “ A year and a half?”
I catch the smile that Zoe tries to hide. She has to know I’ve talked about her— I know she saw the white board in the office that shows how many missions each of us has won. And since we got back from Turkey , every moment I haven’t been working, I’ve spent with her at her hotel. Of course I’ve talked about her. Non -stop. I’m not embarrassed by it.
Jace and Mackenzie both shake Zoe’s hand, and Jace says, “ It’s good to see you again when we aren’t trading intel or evading capture.”
We start heading toward the deck to say hi to the others, when Zoe says in a low voice, “ You have so much family.”
“ Just how I like it.”
She nods as we walk up the stairs. I know the boot is awkward, so I try to go a little slower than normal. “ It’s nice. Um …” She pauses a moment, so I glance at her. Her brows are drawn together in confusion. “ I’m surprised you don’t live like operatives. You’re all… living normal lives.”
“ Yep . Which proves it’s possible.”
“ But when you’re a field operative, having people you’re close to makes you vulnerable.”
“ I disagree,” I want to say more, but we’re already at the grill, so I say, “ And this is Blake . Blake , I’d like you to meet Zoe .”
He sets down the spatula to shake her hand and say, “ I’m glad to meet the woman who enchanted my brother and has him smiling like a fool.”
Okay , I might be a little embarrassed about that. I grab the spatula and peek under one of the burgers. “ You’re burning them.”
In one swift move, Blake has the spatula in his hand and my arm pinned behind my back, which just shows that he can disarm an opponent as easily as any of us. No CSA experience needed. He releases my arm and we give each other playful shoves. “ The grill: not part of your mission, bro.”
I turn to Zoe , and in a stage whisper, say, “ And you thought I didn’t like my mission being encroached on.” Before I turn around, Heidi stands up on the bench where she was sitting, coloring at the table, and leaps onto my back. I grab hold of her legs and turn so that she and Zoe can see each other. “ And this is my niece, Monkey . ”
“ Silly Uncle Ledger ,” Heidi says, completely butchering her L’s and her R’s in a way that I never knew could be adorable until she came along. “ My name is Heidi !”
“ Right ,” I say. “ Heidi Monkey Lancaster .”
She giggles and slides down from my back onto the bench again, then goes back to coloring.
“ And of course, you’ve met my mom, Evelyn , and my brother, Emerson .”
“ Yes ,” Zoe says as she shakes my brother’s hand. “ I just didn’t know you were Ledger’s brother at the time.”
My mom sits down with Zoe on the bench at the table and says, “ I’ve been trying to let you rest and not have to think about work, so I haven’t gotten a chance to thank you in person for all your work on the mission with Ledger . I’m sorry you got injured. Ledger says you’re going back into work tomorrow. Are you feeling up to it?”
“ I’ve never felt more up for anything. A week is a long time to be off work.”
“ And your injuries?”
“ The doc says I’ll have to keep wearing the boot for several weeks, but the ribs and spleen are healing quite well.”
I know it’s been so hard for Zoe to stay away from work. I get it. I would be going stir-crazy if I were her, too.
Blake announces that the burgers are ready, and we all bring the sides and condiments from the fridge in the house to the outside table. Everyone is chatting, like normal, and Zoe is joining in, for the most part. I know she grew up in several foster homes where there were multiple kids, but she’s been out of the system for eight years. So she’s been the only one in her “family” for that long. I can tell that this is very much not what she’s used to.
Mackenzie is looking at the potato salad on Jace’s plate that he’s covered in mustard like she’s equal parts curious and repulsed by it, so Jace gets a fork full and holds it out for Mackenzie to try. She gives in and takes a bite, then actually looks surprised that she likes it and gives Jace a kiss. Charlie has an elbow up on the table, her chin in her hand, watching them all wistfully.
Then she says to everyone, “ So , who do you think will be the next of us to get married?”
“ The twins,” Emerson says.
Blake grunts. “ Like that will happen. Miles is a player and Ledger won’t ever give up his freedom.”
Charlie says, “ I don’t know. Ledger is in the middle of his enemies-to—” I kick her under the table, so she finishes with “in the middle of his Zoe era, so you never know.”
“ And ,” Mackenzie says, with her burger halfway to her mouth, “ Ledger is the only other person here who brought a date, so…”
“ Even though he’s the oldest,” I say, “ I think Blake will be the last because he is just going to growl at anyone who might potentially want to date him.”
“ Nope ,” Heidi pipes in. “ He’s going to be sooo nice ‘cause I want a mom and he said he’ll find me one.”
Everyone looks at Blake .
“ I said ‘someday.’ So don’t go getting all cheerleader-y about it.”
Zoe turns to Heidi . “ I don’t have a mom, either. ”
Heidi’s face lights up. “ We’re twins! Did your mom die, too?”
Zoe nods. “ She did.”
“ Mine died when I was a tiny baby. But she gave me to daddy because he loves me the best.” She looks up at Blake and grins at him with a smile smeared with ketchup.
“ You’ve got that right,” Blake says.
“ So a stork didn’t bring you?” Zoe asks. I had forgotten that I told her that.
Heidi looks confused, then shrugs. “ Charlie , you tell her. I hungry,” she says, then takes a bite out of the piece of watermelon she’s holding.
Charlie looks to Blake with an eyebrow raised, and he nods his head. It’s his story, not mine, so I’d never tell it without his permission, either. Then Charlie turns to Zoe . “ Blake went on a date with Heidi’s mom once. He didn’t know she had a baby until she showed up with Heidi . He and Heidi’s mom weren’t a good match, so they never went on a second date, but my brother here,” Charlie says, clapping him on the shoulder, “was apparently adorable with Heidi .
“ So , a couple of months later when she needed help and had no one to turn to, she showed up at his door and asked if he could take her for a week. And because Blake is a good guy under all that gruff exterior, he said yes. She didn’t come back for six weeks, though, and by then, we’d all fallen in love with Heidi .”
“ Cuz I’m loveable,” Heidi says as she goes in for another bite of watermelon.
“ That you are,” Charlie says.
Blake clears his throat. “ When she came back, it was with paperwork to give me full custody of her. She found out she had terminal cancer, and the doctors thought she might only have days to live. She didn’t have any family and didn’t want Heidi to go into foster care. I didn’t want her to, either.”
I glance at Zoe and see her looking at Blake with curiosity and admiration. Like she’s seeing him differently.
“ None of us did,” my mom says.
“ So we all rallied together to help,” Charlie says, “and now we get to love Heidi forever.”
My eyes are still on Zoe , and I can see that the story is making her emotional and that she isn’t okay with everyone seeing her get emotional. My mom is watching Zoe closely, too, and it hits me that she probably understands so much more about how Zoe grew up than I do.
I’m trying to think of a way to change the subject but come up empty. My mom doesn’t, though. She says, “ If it’s not Blake , maybe Emerson .”
“ He is the nicest and most adult of us all,” Jace says.
“ Or Charlie could fall for someone at any time,” my mom says. “ You never know.”
“ Well , there is someone I kinda have a crush on,” Charlie says, dragging out the word “kinda.”
Everyone is whooping and Charlie is blushing and I’m pretty sure Charlie never would have made that announcement in front of everyone if she hadn’t also noticed that Zoe was uncomfortable and was looking to take the attention off her. Charlie’s amazing about things like that .
“ Tell us more about him!” Mackenzie says, “ What’s his name? What’s he like? What does he do for a living? How did you meet him?”
“ His name is Owen . I don’t know his last name. He’s got dark hair, some scruff, kind eyes, a happy smile, and… I really don’t know much more about him— he just moved into the townhome attached to mine in the middle of last week. I don’t know what he does for a living. I’ve seen him on three different days so far. On one of the days, he was wearing a suit. Another day, he was wearing construction clothes— work boots, jeans, a t-shirt, all covered in dust. And the third time, he was wearing gym clothes.”
“ His job has a very confusing dress code,” Mackenzie says.
“ So ,” Miles says, “either he is a member of a Village People cover band and sings YMCA on the weekends, or he’s moonlighting as a superhero with the worst disguise ever.”
Charlie laughs. “ I’m sure it’s one of those. To answer how we met… Um , do you remember how the washer went out in my place last week? Well , I came home from the laundromat with two garbage bags full of wet laundry—”
“—because your dryer still works—” Jace cut in.
“—yep, and they were heavy and awkward. One of the bags caught on a thorn from the rose bush, and I left a trail, all Hansel -and- Gretel -like, of clothes from the roses all the way to my front door. I didn’t notice until I got to my door just as Owen was pulling in.”
“ Oh , no,” Mackenzie says. “ Please tell me that bag didn’t have your ‘delicates’ in it.”
Charlie nods. “ They were right where the bag tore open. Okay , we don’t need more of that story because I’ve already done a pretty good job repressing it and I’d like to keep it that way. Let’s just say that I only know him well enough to have a tiny crush on him.”
I sit up a little straighter. “ But do you know him well enough to know if he’s good enough for you?”
“ You won’t go out with him if he’s not, right?” Emerson says.
“ Do you want me to question him for you?” Blake asks. “ Because I will. I’ll find out what he’s really like. See if he’s good enough.”
Charlie raises her hands, palms out. “ Everyone . Thank you. But no— I don’t need that. I don’t even know him well enough for that yet.”
“ It sounds like you need to do some recon,” Zoe says.
Charlie practically chokes. “ Like spy on him?”
“ You literally grew up in a family of spies,” Zoe says looking around at everyone. “ Does it really seem strange to you?”
“ I can’t use agency resources for that. It’s illegal.”
“ No , but you can do your own recon, like go through his garbage. Once it’s out on the street, it’s fair game. You can learn a lot by going through someone’s garbage.”
“ I’ll keep that in mind,” Charlie says.
Mackenzie has been on her phone since she asked Charlie for the guy’s name. She turns the screen toward Charlie . “ Is this him? ”
Charlie leans in close, then takes the phone. “ It is! How did you find him?”
“ I’m really good at social media,” Mackenzie says. “ That’s his Instagram .”
Everyone , even my mom and Heidi , gets up and crowds around Charlie , looking at the phone. He’s a decent-looking guy from his profile picture. But that doesn’t tell much of the story, of course.
Zoe points at his short bio. “ He’s an architectural restoration specialist. He ‘restores historical buildings to their former glory.’”
“ Oh !” Charlie says as she taps on the first picture, which shows him wearing construction clothes, including a hard hat, in front of a building. “ He’s restoring the historic theater downtown! So when I saw him in the suit, maybe he was addressing the city council or at a fund-raising gala or something.”
“ He’s cute,” Mackenzie says. “ And this picture was posted just twenty-seven minutes ago.” She gasps. “ We should go see if he’s still there.”
Charlie hands the phone back to Mackenzie . “ And do what? Because I’m not ready to bump into him and have a conversation.”
“ You could just observe,” Miles suggests. “ Try to get a sense of what he’s like.”
Charlie pauses a moment, then nods slowly. “ Okay .”
“ Yes !” Mackenzie pumps her fist. “ We are going on a recon mission. Who’s in? Zoe ? Will you come with us?”
Zoe looks shocked that they are asking her to join in. If she knew my family at all, she wouldn’ t be. I love the smile that spreads across her face right before she nods.
“ And if Zoe is in,” I say, “ I’m in.”
My mom says that she and Heidi are going to stay back and have a treasure hunt, if Blake wants to join in on Operation : Spy on Charlie’s Crush .
Twenty -five minutes later, dinner is cleaned up, Charlie is wearing a mic and a button camera, and Blake , Emerson , Miles , and Jace are in Blake’s Honda CR - V half a block away. All of us are wearing comms units. They aren’t as nice as the ones the agency has, but they’re plenty good enough for this kind of range.
Me , Zoe , Charlie , and Mackenzie are sneaking from where we parked at an ice cream shop next to the theater to a couple of pallets of bricks that we plan to hide behind. We’ve got a separate video camera to place on the bricks, and we’ve got a tablet both here and with my brothers in the SUV , both showing feeds from the brick camera and Charlie’s button cam.
On our front-line team, we’ve got two field operatives, one handler (who is very experienced in setting up successful ops), and one physical therapy tech. Which , granted, isn’t a skill particularly needed for this op, but I remember how good Mackenzie was at evading her FBI tail not long after I saw her for the first time.
Our backup team contains two field operatives, a brilliant analyst, and a dentist. Also not a helpful skill in this situation, but if we ever needed to disarm a bomb, he does have some impressively steady and precise hands.
For the amount of skill crouched behind these bricks and in the compact SUV half a block away, you’d think nothing could possibly go wrong.
My gut tells me, though, that it will. Zoe gives me a look that tells me she thinks there is a high chance of that, too, and that she’s going to wish she had a big bucket of popcorn to eat as it does.