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“This isn’t like ops you’ve done before. This one is personal.”
That got him to focus on her. “You don’t think the last couple have been personal? We lost the chief and Saint. Every time you got yourself in trouble, it’s been personal.”
“You know what I mean,” she said. “You might find out something that you don’t like, and you’ll have to deal with someone talking about your business. Most of what I know about your past comes from what other people have told me because you hate talking about your past that much. Are you worried that you won’t be able to control yourself?”
His shrug moved both of them, and he scooped a hand behind his head. “Sure, if he pisses me off, he’ll get a bullet between his eyes. But that’s likely to happen anyway. Once we know what he knows, we can erase him.”
Zara was worried that Brodie would struggle to restrain himself. He could be volatile if someone overstepped the mark, and by his measure that was guaranteed tomorrow. They were going there specifically with the goal of finding out a truth Brodie had coveted for so long.
“If it gets too difficult, if you need to walk away, then walk away,” she said. Another reason for taking Tuck was to take the pressure off Brodie, who might not be thinking clearly. If Brodie freaked out and wailed on someone or threatened to murder them or just flat out left the building, she and Tuck would be able to hold the meeting together and get what they came for.
“I would never leave you unprotected,” he said, pushing her head onto his shoulder, probably because looking at her while he was contemplating the possibilities was too revelatory. She was getting good at reading him and watching the nuance of his expression would tell her how he was handling the prospect of tomorrow.
“I won’t be unprotected, Tuck will be with me,” she said, tracing her fingertip down his abdomen, into and out of his belly button, then down the line of hair that led to his groin. The blanket was draped over his hips, limiting her access to her toy. “We’re there to support you with whatever you need tomorrow, and when it’s done and we’re back here… we’ll deal with whatever you need together.”
“I’m not worried about hearing his story,” Brodie said. “It’s not gonna be nice, but whatever, I’ll deal with it. I’ve heard criminals spout all sorts of shit.”
She didn’t doubt that, she’d been a part of the Kindred world for a short time in comparison to Brodie, and she’d already heard some whoppers of ego spin their yarns. “By not volunteering anything, I have to guess,” she said. “I know something’s on your mind.”
“I’m thinking about what comes next,” he said. “If we get the names of the people responsible for sabotaging Future’s Hope.”
“Then you’ll want to go after them,” she said. “That makes sense and that’s what we’re all planning to do. You don’t have to worry about another mission, we’re prepared.”
“I promised to take you away. Maybe it’s not worth chasing the past when for the first time, I have a future to think about.”
Brodie didn’t think about the future, and when they first met, he’d told her that he didn’t make plans beyond tomorrow because life was dangerous and no one could be sure they had a future. Art had taught him that every person was on a path to the one day in their life when they wouldn’t come back. Art had reached his one day in the Atlas warehouse, and on that day he had told Brodie to embrace a normal life because he had a woman to love.
Since she was thinking of the chief, it stood to reason that Brodie was too. “Are you thinking about Art?” she asked, and Brodie’s hand stilled in her hair.
“How did you know that?”
“Because Art was the one who told you that you had a future. He told you to embrace what we have… Are you finally thinking that marriage and kids and normal could be a part of your life?”
“Is that what you want?” he asked. “Marriage, kids, normal.”
Brodie had turned her traditional thoughts of the future on their head until she wasn’t sure what might crop up further down the line. “I want whatever will make us both happy,” she said, sensing how carefully she had to tiptoe through this minefield of a subject. “If you want to get married and have kids, we’ll do that. But you’re the one who told me you had mortal enemies. I think it makes sense to eliminate as many threats in our lives as we can before we can think about settling down into the bliss of normalcy.”
“That means taking out Caine and Sikorski. We’d have to get rid of Kahlil and whoever else he might point his finger at.”
“I know,” she said. “We have plenty of time to think about normal. Let’s just focus on where we are now and the task that needs to be done.”
This was like a role reversal conversation. Brodie was usually the one reining in her talk of superfluous things. She didn’t begrudge Brodie his hesitancy, and it was flattering that he was so concerned for her future and her safety.
Tomorrow, Brodie would get the last piece of the puzzle about his past, and the news would send them on a new journey. Zara just hoped he wouldn’t self-destruct while listening to the distressing story about the loss of his parents on the day that had haunted him for more than half his life.
TWENTY
Zave and Thad’s plane was delayed. Typical that both men should have the ability to fly aircraft themselves, yet they were stranded at an airport. The mission carried on. Kahlil wouldn’t care about their cohorts being held up. Their reduced numbers were a bonus for him. Brodie didn’t want to give Kahlil extra time to prepare or call reinforcements. They had to go ahead.
In a rare occurrence, after the van was stocked, the main gate was opened, and Zara was the one allowed to drive through it. Brodie and Tuck were on their motorcycles to give them the option of a quick escape should the need arise. There wasn’t anything in the van that couldn’t be left behind as a last resort, and she knew how to stay low and loose if she had to ride bitch with Brodie to make a break for freedom.
The men on their bikes flanked her front and back, making her feel like the President being escorted by two trained lethal weapons who were on the lookout for any threat who may try to get to her. Having Brodie in her line of sight through the windshield and Tuck in her side mirror was reassuring. Each of them wore earpieces that allowed them to communicate, and she was wearing her pendant that transmitted a picture to the manor.
Stopped at a light, she began to murmur the words of a song that had been stuck in her head. She couldn’t have the radio on to distract her, as it might interfere with the signal they were transmitting to each other.
“Don’t be nervous,” Brodie said, and the sound of his voice in her ear startled her.
Talking to herself was a habit she was accustomed to, though other drivers might be surprised to see her lips moving in conversation. “I’m not nervous,” she said.
