Chapter Fifteen
Zach pulled the baseball cap lower on his forehead and was deeply aware of where the cameras were. The main concourse of Liverpool Lime Street Station was covered by a glass and steel dome meant to let the light in. Unfortunately, it was an overcast day and the rain pelted down, the sound a low thrum against the multitudinous voices and the clang from the trains.
“Comms working?”
Cooper moved in beside him. He wore nondescript clothing. Jeans. Dark tee. Light jacket that covered the weapons he was packing.
“Testing,”
came the sound of Tasha’s voice over the small earpieces they wore. “Zach?”
He gave his brother a thumbs-up before quietly replying.
“We’re a go on the west end.”
Tasha and Lou were sitting at one of the small cafes, laptops open in front of them like they were a couple of travelers getting some work in while they waited on their train. Lou had already cut into the CCTV cams and was monitoring them, including several blocks around the station.
“We’re a go on the east,”
Big Tag said.
“You need to start making your way down. The train should be here in ten minutes, and it’s coming in on platform six.”
He’d studied the maps this morning over breakfast. With Devi in his lap, which should have been distracting, but he found she helped him focus. If she wasn’t on his lap, he likely would have been watching her, trying to see if she needed anything. Or if she was plotting her revenge for the spanking she’d gotten this morning.
Liverpool Lime Street Station was technically two stations. High and Low. They were in the mainline station called Liverpool Lime Street High Station. Below was Low Station, that handled the underground and took passengers all across the city. High Station handled overland trains like the one from London his mother was currently on.
At least Henry’s wife said they were on it when she texted Henry this morning.
Zach was waiting for it to all fall apart.
“Heading that way,”
Cooper reported back and then started to move, gesturing for Zach to join him.
Big Tag and Henry were watching from the other side of the station.
“I don’t like the fact that we split up,”
Zach said under his breath as they walked toward the platform.
“We should have left more people with Devi.”
Kenzie and Tristan were meeting with the Canadians to go over what they knew about the Nepal base and Huisman’s recent movements. They were meeting at a pub called The Phil. Public. Where it would be hard for someone like his father to ruin things.
Devi wanted to go with them because something about John Lennon drinking there and they had weird old loos she wanted to see, but they decided it was better for her to stay in the safe house.
He wanted to be with her, doing stupid tourist stuff and holding her hand and taking pictures so he could remember the days.
He was so tired of living in the shadows. Devi was his sunshine.
She’d waved off being stuck inside and promised to make some cookies since she was about to meet her future mother-in-law and wanted to make a good impression.
“I assure you Kala’s not letting anything happen to Devi,”
Cooper replied.
“She’s been worried about her for weeks.”
“The fact that she didn’t even fight to go in the field tells me she’s worried,”
Zach muttered. Kala Taggart didn’t like to be benched. Ever. He expected a big fight when her dad announced the assignments and she was left behind to guard her cousin. He expected the argument to be that Kenzie had control of where Parker and his tech were, so they shouldn’t worry they’d be found out. Instead, she’d given her father a peace sign and drank her latte and promised to only maim Lucy, who was staying behind as well.
“It’s not only that. She’s pulling away from a lot of active field work,”
Cooper explained.
“The last bout with Huisman nearly killed her. We’re still figuring out the extent of the damage. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be in this line of work.”
“Damage? From what Huisman did?”
He’d heard about the experiments Huisman ran on Kala Taggart. First in Toronto, and then Virginia. He’d tried an experimental paralytic to keep her still while he poured yet another experimental drug into her veins. One that made her feel like she was on fire. But he hadn’t heard anything about long-term injuries.
“Yeah.”
Cooper looked like he was checking the board for arrivals.
“Her heart stopped both times. She’s stable, but they’re worried about what could happen in the future. I don’t think she survives meeting that asshole a third time. So she’s letting Kenzie take lead on the Kara construct role and she’s going to transition to background.”
His heart ached for her. Kala was the one who put everything into her job. Except she seemed happy.
“She’s okay with it?”
His brother’s lips curled up.
“She’s started talking about the fact that she can’t give her parents hellions to make their old age fun if she’s dead. She’s also started talking about the fact that if we take over the company, we’re a McKay-Taggart who can get it on in the conference room.”
It was a sweet thought and one that made his heart ache a little.
“You’re leaving the team?”
“Not now, but sometime in the next couple of years,”
he replied.
“Or hell, who knows? Maybe she loves being in the background and we stay for life. I only know one thing.”
“Where she goes, you go.”
Zach nodded as they started moving again.
“Where she goes, I go,”
Cooper repeated solemnly.
“You okay being stuck in New York or LA watching your girl move up in some fashion design house?”
“Yes. I’m okay with whatever, but I don’t think that’s happening. I think she’s going to be brave and follow her voice and start her own business. I think I’ll be stuck in Dallas, and that sounds like heaven to me,”
Zach said, his heart twisting with every true word.
“Then you’ve never been in Dallas in August, brother.”
They made it to the spot.
“I’ll be fine.”
He stood and waited with the crowd. Still a few more minutes before the train from London would be coming in. Nell told them they were in the fourth car from the front. He estimated where to stand.
“The question is are you fine?”
Cooper stopped at a place fairly close to where the front of the train would end up.
“Because I’m about to meet the woman who gave birth to me? I don’t know. I love my mom and my mother’s name is Eve McKay, but I have to admit I’m curious. Is she going to be like your aunt? Will she call me Jonathon?”
This part made his stomach twist.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her in so long, I have no idea if she’ll even realize who you are.”
“I’ll tell her. I’m not trying to hide, but I want you to know that I’m standing here with you not because I need to meet her. I’m here for you. Because you’re my brother,”
Cooper said.
“Although you should understand what that means. Hunter thinks you’re super cool and if I have you as a big brother, he should get you, too. Vivi wants to meet you. I was hoping we could hang out in London when this is done so you can get to know her. Mom’s worried she’s into Oliver Weston, and Kala’s going to threaten to take his balls if he puts one STI infected hand on her.”
“Don’t.”
Zach couldn’t take much more. Not in public. The idea of being welcome, of having a family that didn’t disappear for long periods of time… He just couldn’t. Later when he had Devi in his arms, he would let it all out. It was safe for him, but not here when there was a job to do.
“Sorry, man.”
Cooper slapped him on the back.
“I should remember how it feels to have one of the olds break you down. Big Tag, especially. It’s like he’s all sarcasm and congenial assholery and then he gives you the talk and it’s like the man lays your soul bare, breaks you down, and then builds you back up again.”
It was an apt description of what Big Tag had done the night before.
“Well, we’ll see if he can work his magic or my breakthrough is going to be spent writing letters to my wife from prison.”
Cooper’s brows rose in obvious surprise. “Dude?”
Zach couldn’t help but smile.
“I need to get her a ring, but she said yes. I’m going to trust her and hope it all works out.”
Cooper smiled brightly.
“It will. I promise. We’re going to fix all the crap Huisman broke.”
“The train is approaching.”
Lou’s voice came over his comms unit.
He touched his ear to open the connection that would let the team hear him.
“Got it. We’re in position and ready. How’s the underground, TJ?”
“All’s quiet down here,”
TJ replied.
“I’ve got someone I’m watching,”
Big Tag said.
“Tash and Lou, there are a group of five men walking into the front entrance. I need you to see if you can get facial ID on them. They’re walking past the Boots store right now.”
The train pulled in, sound humming through the space and making the floor buzz under Zach’s feet.
“Where do you want to take her?”
Zach asked.
“We can’t talk out in the open. Do you think she’ll agree to come back to the house?”
Where she could meet Devi. Where he would find out how deep in she was and how hard his father would come after them all.
“She’ll come back with us and we’ll figure it out from there,”
Cooper said with a surety Zach didn’t possess.
“I wish we were the ones rolling in via train. I would feel better if we were meeting them at The Garden. It’s got great security.”
And was packed with MI6 agents who would be derelict in their duty if they didn’t bring in the wanted criminals. It was precisely why Ian set it up this way.
At some point his mother would be forced to trade her expertise for safety because there was nowhere safe to keep her off the government’s radar. Huisman or the Agency. They would want the same thing from her. He hoped they would have different means of achieving their goals.
“We have facial ID on one of the men,”
Tasha said in a completely calm tone.
“He’s Interpol, and we’ve got a couple of metro police vehicles pulling up now.”
Shit. He didn’t like the fact that they weren’t coming in vests. They were sneaking in. Like they wanted to do this quietly. Because that was how they would bring in a rogue operative. He would bet there was someone with MI6 with them.
“It could be something else,”
Lou offered.
“I’m not hearing radio chatter about Zach.”
“Stay calm. The train is almost here,”
Ian said, his tone perfectly even.
“Let’s see where they go. It looks like a couple are heading down. TJ, blend in.”
“Will do,”
TJ answered.
There was a little static in his ear. He started to reach for the comm.
“There are tunnels, you know.”
The new voice in his ear made Zach still.
A voice that haunted his fucking nightmares. He looked around as if he could see Huisman watching them. How the hell had he known?
“Is that?”
Cooper began and his hand went to his jacket pocket.
“It’s Dr. Huisman, Mr. McKay. How is your beautiful wife?”
Huisman’s voice sounded silky smooth over the comms.
“Congratulations on your nuptials. I was so sorry I did not get an invitation.”
His brother stepped back and had his cell out.
“Not talking to me?”
Huisman chuckled over the line. He spoke English with a French accent, having spent his formative years in Quebec.
“Well, that’s all right. I’ll see how she is myself when my men bring her to me.”
Zach touched his earpiece.
“Tasha? Lou?”
“Oh, I’m afraid they find themselves without connections right now. My group has some inventive men in it. Geniuses. They can ensure that certain devices in a small space cease functioning,”
Huisman purred over the comms.
“I find it infinitely helpful. A complete communications blackout would disturb people and have them asking questions. Thank you for placing your techs where I could use the device on them but leave your comms working. This wouldn’t be as much fun if I couldn’t talk to you.”
Don’t panic. His first instinct was to pull his gun and start looking around for Huisman, but what if that was exactly what Huisman wanted? What if Huisman didn’t know where he was, and a man suddenly looking around would be an X marking his spot.
“Zachary?”
He turned and his mother was there.
Older. Far more worn than the last time he could remember seeing her. Shannon Reed’s dark hair had grayed, and she had it in a long braid that curled around her neck halfway down her chest. She wore dark pants and a flowy blouse, and seemed to have all her things in a worn leather backpack she slung over one slim shoulder. He registered the woman standing next to her, but she was like a blur since he could only concentrate on two things at a time—his mom and the beast that stalked them all.
“Mrs. Flanders, you need to go,”
Cooper said, his voice tight.
“We’re compromised, and he has eyes on us.”
A gasp came out of his mother’s mouth as she took in Cooper.
“You’re him. My sister told me she found you. You look like my father.”
Cooper gave her a nod.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Reed. I would love to talk further, but we need to move. Quickly and quietly. Don’t attract any attention.”
“Where will you go?”
Huisman asked.
“The way I look at it, you have two choices. You can try to run, but your mother won’t be able to keep up. Or you can stand there and wait for Interpol to arrest you in front of her and hope your biological brother will get her out in time. Which will you choose?”
He noticed Henry was jogging down the platform, but there was a group behind him.
Nell’s face lit up at the sight of her husband, and his mother didn’t seem able to see anyone but Cooper.
“Zach, we need for you to go. Now,”
Henry commanded.
“Get down to the lower level and take the first train to pull in. Better yet, find one of the tunnels and get out that way. Cooper, you’re going to need to distract them. You look enough like Zach they might think you’re him if you act up a bit.”
Interpol. Fuck.
“I’ll talk to them. I’ll talk my way out of it.”
“Oh, I’m afraid I won’t allow that to happen, Captain Reed,”
Huisman said.
“I’m going to have you murdered while you’re in custody. One of the Interpol officers is a member of my organization. We like to recruit the authorities. Which one do you think it is? Won’t this be a fun game?”
Huisman was an asshole. He touched his ear.
“What do you want?”
“Well, I want the bombmaker, but it appears that CIA operative is going to take her from me,”
Huisman admitted.
“It’s all right. I have a backup plan. I hoped this would go easy.”
He laughed.
“Who am I fooling? We both know I hoped it would all go to hell. More exciting that way. Here’s how this goes. I’m going to set this place on fire and see who comes out alive. If I can’t have the bombmaker, I’ll take the next best thing. I think Louisa Ward already knows how to make the bombs, and if she doesn’t, well I have someone new to experiment on.”
Henry was hustling Nell and his mom away.
Cooper gripped his elbow, turning from the group of men obviously looking for them.
“I know you’re panicking. I can hear him, too, and somehow the fucker can hear us.”
“Of course I can,”
Huisman said.
“But if you get rid of the units, you won’t hear what I have in store for your women. You know you would be much better at this job if you treated women as they should be treated. Disposable. Only useful for a few biological needs.”
Cooper pulled his comm out and tossed it on the ground before stepping on it.
“I need you to get to the next platform. There’s a non-pedestrian platform between six and seven. It’s used to turn trains around. It’ll take you outside. From there make your way back to the safe house. I’ll handle things here.”
“He’s going after Lou.”
Zach forced himself to go cold. Calm. Panic would cause more trouble than he could handle.
“And if he knows we’re here, than he likely knows where the safe house is. He said he would check in on Kala himself.”
Cooper’s jaw tightened.
“Big Tag will go for Lou and Tash. Henry’s getting your mom and Nell out. TJ is probably already on his way up. I need you to get the fuck out of here before they realize where you are. I know Big Tag can get you out, but it will be too late if what that fucker said is true.”
“Everything I say is true,”
Huisman promised.
“Why would I lie when the truth is so much more fun? Your safe house isn’t safe, but then nowhere is safe for you, is it, Captain Reed? Mother loved her comfort more than her own son. She protected Cooper but left you as a target. Do you wonder about that?”
He started to pull the comm out of his ear.
“Tell Benjamin I appreciate the distraction.”
Huisman sounded positively chipper.
“You know the best weapon is the one we plant ourselves. He was my best friend. That kind of loyalty never dies. Of course sending him millions of dollars helps.”
Shit. Parker was part of this? Or Huisman was lying to throw him off. It didn’t matter right now. What did matter was the fact that something was happening at the safe house.
“He’s going after Kala.”
“Go,”
his brother commanded.
“Contact me when you’re safe. We’ll take care of Devi.”
Cooper glanced down at his cell and started to dial.
“Fucker couldn’t jam the cell phones. Hey, babe…”
“That is cheating,”
Huisman said in his ear.
“Well, I wanted to play hard ball anyway. Good luck, Captain Reed. I think you’ll find your mother is about to be reunited with your father.”
“Ray’s here. He’s going after Mom.”
Zach was about to pull his pistol and race after Henry…or race back to Devi. Fuck. He needed to get to Devi.
A dark instinct crept up Zach’s spine. They had picked a public place because they didn’t believe Huisman wanted to start his war yet. What if he was ready and they’d unknowingly walked onto his battlefield?
“Yeah, you need to…”
Cooper began.
And the world exploded. The back car of the train on track seven blew sky high, sending shrapnel into the domed ceiling and lighting a flash fire.
There was another explosion, this one seemingly underground, and then people were everywhere. Running. Screaming. Trying to save loved ones.
“Look at them, Zachary,”
Huisman purred in his ear.
“Rats. They’re all rats, running from the flames. They aren’t worthy of saving. They need a king to rule them all. You’re a smart man. No one has ever helped you. Your family weighed you down. The government didn’t help when you were hungry. Think about yourself this time. Bring me your mother or Louisa Ward and I’ll make it so you never worry about money again. You should do it. Benjamin did.”
“Tell me where you are and I’ll bring her to you,”
Zach lied. He stood in the center of this localized apocalypse, the world falling apart around him. If he could get to Huisman…
“Oh, never mind. I don’t need you now,”
Huisman said.
“You should check on that CIA operative. He doesn’t seem to have liked your father’s present. Although his wife seems to be good with first aid. Tell Louisa if I don’t get what I need out of your mother, I’ll come back for her. And tell Benjamin I said hi. And don’t worry about Devi. I’ll take care of her for you.”
His blood threatened to run cold.
He turned and saw his brother up ahead, kneeling on the ground with Henry’s wife. Both trying to save the older man. He couldn’t see what had happened.
“We need to go.”
Tasha jogged up to him. Her previously perfect dress was streaked with blood.
“TJ has Lou. My father will stay with Henry, but we need to get out. His orders.”
“We need to find my mother or he’s coming for Lou.”
He had to shout over the noise around him as something else blew.
“They’re gone, and we’re not finding them in this chaos. You know what to do,”
Tasha ordered.
Report back to base.
What was he doing? He had to find Devi. He knew it was probably a damn distraction to get him to not follow his father.
Well, it was a distraction that worked.
“We go out in the crowd and break off before they can question us. Head down. We have to get out far enough that we can call base.”
Tasha nodded.
And they joined the fleeing crowd, praying everyone he loved survived.