Page 17 of Cooper’s Promise

“Yep. Anyway, I lead the operation to rescue the wife.” She saw from his expression that something had gone wrong. He looked like he was in pain. She reached out and covered his right hand that was resting on the table.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But I wish you would.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ve come to grips with it. We were down there for two weeks. We told the husband exactly what to do. Unfortunately, even though he had asked for our help, he didn’t listen to us.” Cooper’s voice trailed off. He was lost in though.

“What did the man do?” Brenna prompted.

“Behind our backs, he contacted another local rescue team, who convinced him that he needed to pay a good faith payment to the kidnappers. Of course, they were just lining their own pockets. At the last minute he realized he was getting swindled, and he tried to back out. He was almost beaten to death.”

“Oh, my God! I feel bad for him, but what the hell was he thinking?”

“Since he had called us, I didn’t think he would pull something so stupid. So it was my fault that I hadn’t had somebody watching him.”

“Cooper, it’s not your fault he was an idiot.” She gripped his hand, he turned his over, and twined their fingers together.

“I’m supposed to account for every contingency. But he was so involved with us. He was in the war room every day and night. He had actually contacted his brother-in-law to work with the locals.”

“Cooper, you are not responsible for the Western Hemisphere.”

“Yeah I am, it’s in my job description.” He looked so serious. She couldn’t help but wonder what the hell was written into his job description.

“What happened to his wife?”

“That’s what made this so much worse. He knew how close we were to finding her. He just needed a little more patience. But apparently he’d been scared about us making a raid on the kidnapper’s stronghold in the mountains. He was worried that his wife might get hurt during the rescue attempt.”

“And of course she didn’t.”

Cooper gave her a startled look.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I know you. You accounted for every contingency?”

“Then why were you worried about me going after Josiah?” he asked reasonably.

She blushed. It took a moment for her to gather her thoughts. “Guilt,” she finally said. “I trust you in every other circumstance. But the fact that you had to do something on my behalf is killing me. I don’t want to be one more person that is a burden to you.”

“But, don’t you get it Brenna, you’re the one person I want to do things for. I want to be your champion.”

She tried to pull her hand away from his, but he wouldn’t allow it. So instead she redirected the conversation. “So tell me what happened to the wife.”

“We got her.”

“Did anyone get hurt?”

“None of our team. The surviving kidnappers are now spending time in a Brazilian jail. Now, finish your dinner. I want dessert.”

“You haven’t even seen the menu,” she protested as she picked up her fork.

“I plan to indulge myself with just a taste when we get back to your apartment.”

She sure as hell hoped so.