Epilogue #2
“Olivia, too.” Jagger added, referring to Jake’s incredible wife.
“I will.” Jake nodded. “She wanted to be here, as well, but with the kids and work—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Ro waved a hand in the air between them. “Back to the announcement that apparently isn’t a baby.”
The entire group—including Jake, who’d just been interrupted—released a collective laugh. When the joyous sound died down, Jagger pulled in a deep breath and made the big reveal.
“Okay, well…you all know Talia resigned as an agent with Homeland before moving in with me here, in Chicago.” When he was met with the women’s wide, expectant stares, he continued with a smirk.
“I’m sure you also remember how many of you have given your guys grief these last few years about how Delta Team doesn’t have any female operatives. ”
“No way!” Megan nearly shouted as she turned her gaze toward Talia’s. “Oh, my gosh, is he serious? Are you really going to join Delta?”
“Please tell us that’s it,” Raegan pleaded. “These guys are in serious need of a badass female cohort.”
With a smirk of her own, Talia told Rocky’s FBI agent wife, “Funny. I thought that was you.”
Raegan snorted. “Please. Rocky and I would probably kill each other if we both worked and lived together.”
“What makes you so sure these two won’t do the same?” Derek teased.
Jagger and Talia shared a look that told him all he needed to know.
“We already know we make a great team.” He leaned down and gave his wife a short, sweet kiss. “Isn’t that right, darlin’?”
“Yep.” She didn’t so much as pause before giving her answer. “In and out of the field.”
“So…” Megan looked to the bride with a hopeful expression. “It’s official, then? You’re actually becoming a Delta Team member?”
When Talia nodded, Ro clapped her hands together so loudly, the sharp sound echoed throughout Christian and Megan’s outbuilding-turned-wedding-venue.
“Well, hot damn!” She pulled Talia in for another hug. “Knowing you’ll have our husbands’ backs out there is even more cause for celebration.”
“I second that notion!” Gwen chimed in from where she stood next to Emmett. “It’s nice to know I won’t be the only female R.I.S.C. operative on this side of the country.”
Alpha Team had Mac, Echo had Gwen, and now Delta was going to have Talia on their team.
Emmett’s dark gaze met Jagger’s with an outstretched hand. “Congrats, man. I’m happy for you both.”
“Thanks, man.” Jagger returned the gesture. “And thanks for coming. It would’ve been great if the whole team was here, but I understand why the others had to stay back.”
Draven, Blake, and Lucas each had various prior commitments that couldn’t be avoided.
“Maybe, once we finally get our shit together and get the office up and running, our teams will work a joint op again.”
“Never know.” Jagger shrugged. “But I’d be happy to help out any time you need me.”
“Same goes for me.” Talia gave the other man a friendly hug.
“And hey!” Jagger slapped a hand against Emmet’s muscular bicep. “You do know it’s only a matter of time, right?”
Emmett frowned. “For what?”
“For your turn at the altar.” Jagger wrapped an arm around his bride and pulled her in close. “May as well accept it now, my man. I mean, workin’ for R.I.S.C., it’s pretty much an inevitability at this point.”
Emmett smiled but there was something keeping it from reaching the man’s eyes.
“I think I’ll leave this sort of thing up to you and the others,” Echo Team’s leader rumbled.
Emmett quietly excused himself when someone else came up to greet the happy couple. Jagger watched him go, hoping the other man would, someday, blessed same kind of happiness and love he’d been lucky enough to have found with Talia.
Because finding her had changed his life in the very best of ways.
The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying cake, champagne, and a barbeque buffet behind the secured gates of the Hunt’s private—and quite expansive—property. It wasn’t that long ago that they’d stood together on this very same land.
Jagger often thought about that day when he and Talia had stood near the team’s outdoor range. He’d purposely pushed every button the woman possessed, and she’d called him on his shit.
He was fairly certain that was the moment he fell in love. He smiled to himself, remembering the way Talia had seemed so determined to prove herself as the capable leader of the op.
To him. To his team. And to the members of Echo.
And the highly trained woman had done so in spades.
There wasn’t a single person here who would ever question her abilities or loyalty to the team. So when it came time to vote on whether to accept her as an equal member, every Delta Team member had instantly agreed.
Talia would be an incredible asset to R.I.S.C.’s Delta Team. Jagger knew it. They all did. But most importantly—
She’s going to be an incredible wife.
Wife. Life partner. Mother of his future children. When Jagger looked at his bride, he saw all those things and more. And he couldn’t wait for the rest of their lives to finally begin.
“You look awfully deep in thought, Mr. Brooks.” Talia broke away from a conversation with the girls to sidle up to his side. “Anything you want to share?”
“Just wondering if these jokers would notice if we skipped out of the party early, Mrs. Brooks.”
His entire being grew warm with an overwhelming sense of love and peace, knowing he’d never, ever get tired of hearing his name joined with hers.
With a laugh, Talia reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Jagger’s hands went to her waist, his fingers gently clutching her hips. Rising up on her tiptoes, she closed the distance between their mouths.
The kiss she gave stole his breath the same way she’d stolen his heart.
“I think this is our wedding, and we can do whatever the hell we want.”
“Well, in that case…”
Talia let out a playful cry when Jagger suddenly scooped her into his arms.
“Y’all keep on celebratin’!” he hollered out over the crowd.
Every head in the place turned their way as Talia laughed and Jagger sent them all an unashamed wave goodbye. The sound of their friends cheering and wishing them well followed them out the door.
When they got to Jagger’s car, he carefully lowered his bride to her feet. He cupped her face and pulled her in for their first private kiss as husband and wife.
“I love you, you know that?”
Talia nodded at his rumbled whisper. “You’d better, because it would sure be a shame if this thing was all one-sided.”
“You sayin’ you love me, too?”
“Oh, yeah. I definitely love you.” She brought her mouth back to his with a smile. But before she kissed him, her lips brushed against his when she whispered, “Now take me home, husband, so I can show you just how much.”
Delta Team Conference Room
Two weeks later…
“Thanks for coming in, gentlemen.” Ryker stood at the front of the room. His dark gaze slid to the woman sitting at Jagger’s left when he added, “And lady.”
Talia dipped her chin the powerful man’s way before glancing back at Jagger with a grin. He smiled back, wondering if he’d ever lose the way those smiles of hers made him feel. He sure as hell hoped not.
They were the very best parts of his days.
“Jagger and Talia,” Ryker addressed them both as a pair. “Before we get down to business, I just want to say again how happy I am for the two of you. And my apologies, again, for not being able to make the wedding.”
“It’s okay, Jason,” Talia responded to her former boss before Jagger could. “I know the shitshow at Homeland has been keeping you busy.”
Ryker scoffed. “You can say that again. The blowback from what went down with Miller is still causing fires that need putting out. Between the CIA holding onto their lie that they had no idea Julian survived the bomb in Afghanistan, to Agent Vaughn’s arrest for aiding in the orchestration of the abduction of a federal agent, to—”
“Sanchez?” Liam cut the man off.
The highly respected Homeland agent nodded. “To the continued search for Arlo Sanchez.”
Jagger and Talia had been keeping a close eye on that specific part of the investigation. In the months since the kidnapping, there’d been whispers of sightings and claims of inside knowledge. But so far, the gun-smuggling criminal had managed to evade authorities.
“We will find him.” Ryker looked at Talia then. “I won’t let them stop until we do.”
Jagger reached over and placed his hand over his wife’s beneath the table. With a little squeeze, he conveyed he’d be right there, at her side.
He still couldn’t help but be grateful to Sanchez for his actions that fateful night. The guy could have easily pulled that trigger. But he didn’t, and because of his choice, Talia had been given the chance to live.
So for that reason alone, a part of him would always be in Sanchez’s debt.
“I know you’ll keep looking,” Talia responded to Ryker. “It’ll all work out in the end.”
With a nod and sigh, Ryker switched gears completely. “In the meantime, we’ve got another team that still needs a sixth man.”
“Or woman.” Talia grinned.
To which, Ryker gave a tilt of his head and a well-deserved, “Touché. But man or woman, I don’t have a preference. We just need to hurry the hell up and find someone to replace Baxter.”
“Oh, yeah.” Cade looked to Jagger and then back to the man at the front of the room. “What ever happened with Jimmy?”
Jimmy Baxter was a man Jagger would most likely kill if he ever saw the worthless son of a bitch again.
“I have no idea where Jimmy is now, and frankly, I don’t care.” Ryker gave a shrug. “But I was finally able to answer the question of how the hell a guy like that ever got far enough to be assigned to one of R.I.S.C.’s teams.”
“Let me guess.” Cade smirked. “He got a rich and powerful daddy somewhere always paying to erase his mistakes?”
“Close.” Ryker met the man’s stare before bringing it Jagger’s way. “His mother is Ohio Senator Marilyn Baxter. Like her son, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth.”
“That explains Jimmy’s sense of entitlement and privilege.” Jagger shook his head in anger. “Wonder what else Mommy Dearest’s cash and power managed to sweep under the rug.”
“More than I care to admit, I’m afraid.” Ryker’s tone grew deep and serious.
With his hands in his pockets, he gave a quick run-down on all he’d been able to uncover. A past that had been buried so deep, even McQueen’s guy, Derek West hadn’t been able to find it.
Once Jimmy’s facade of the all-American hero started to slip, however, his true colors came shining through.
“My wife almost died, thanks to that son of a bitch.” Jagger’s hardened stare met Ryker’s so the man knew, “I ever see him again, there won’t be a conversation.”
I’ll just choke the bastard out and the problem will be solved.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather my husband not spend the rest of our marriage behind bars for murder.” Talia turned his way.
Jagger grinned. “I’ll only go to prison if I get caught, and we both know that will never happen.”
Despite the macabre subject of their conversation, both he and Talia smiled. Because they both knew—hell, everyone in that room knew—Jagger wasn’t a cold-blooded killer.
“Okay, so back to the current problem at hand.” Ryker addressed the group as a whole.
“I’ve spoken with Jake, and he has his guys, as well as Bravo and Charlie putting out more feelers.
But Echo Team was slated to open their doors weeks ago, and as you all know, time is money.
So we need to find someone to take Baxter’s place ASAP.
That being said, after what happened with Talia, we also need to be confident in whatever choice we make. ”
“That could take weeks.” Rocky joined the conversation. “On top of the time that’s already been wasted.”
Ryker agreed. “The problem is, I don’t see that we have any other choice. We need someone fast, but we also can’t risk rushing headfirst into another mistake.”
“I might know someone.” Jagger shared a quick look with Talia, who appeared a bit confused. He rolled his red-leathered chair backward on its wheels and told her, “I’ll be right back.” To Ryker and his team, he added, “I just need to make a quick call.”
When he got to the hallway, he closed the door behind him and pulled up his phone’s contact list. Finding the number he wanted, Jagger tapped on the screen and put the device to his ear.
He waited as it rang. Once. Twice. A third time, and a fourth. The automated voice that came on instructed him to leave a detailed message.
Jagger didn’t leave details, but rather, kept his choice of words purposefully vague.
“It’s me,” he greeted the man he hoped would get the message. “And before you hang up, I know you said never to call you unless it was important. Well guess what, brother? This is important. So call me back ASAP.”
Ending the call, Jagger kept his phone in his hand as he walked back into the conference room. His team was still discussing the situation with Baxter’s replacement when he settled back down into his seat.
Talia leaned in close as he sat the phone on the table, her voice low so only he could hear. “You going to fill me in on whatever that was, or am I going to have to pull it out of you later?”
Jagger shot his wife a grin. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether or not I want the enjoyment of your special brand of torture to end.”
His wife shook her head with a breathy laugh. “I swear, I married a child.”
“You love me, and you know it.”
The smile she sent his way next lit the golden color of her eyes. “Guilty as charged.”
Forgetting where they were and who was around, Jagger couldn’t resist leaning in for a kiss. Halfway there, however, his phone began to ring.
Everyone in the room stopped talking and turned to look their way. At the same time, he paused mid-reach to glance down at his phone’s screen.
There was no name. Only the initials he was hoping to see.
JB
“Excuse me, will you?” he asked politely to the group. When Ryker shot him a glance, Jagger told the man, “Trust me, you’re gonna want me to take this.”
Ryker, who’d gone back to being Delta’s Homeland handler for the time being, dipped his head in approval.
Jagger picked up the phone and sat back in his seat. With a slide of his thumb across the screen and a grin sent Talia’s way, he greeted the caller with a drawled…
“Hey, Jethro. Thanks for callin’ me back.”