The End of Games (4 page)

I sighed, “I know. How are the kids?”

He nodded, “Good. Older and sassy. You know how it is. Twelve and ten this year. God help me.”

I laughed, “Yeah and both daughters—ouch.”

He speared his broccoli, “Yup. So you outta here before tomorrow then, for real?”

I nodded and my stomach cramped a bit with nerves.

He shook his head, “Wherever you end up, this number is secure and will bring the thunder down on whatever you are fighting.” He slipped a white card with a nine-digit number. I pocketed it, “Thanks, sir.”

“No prob, Angela.”

Chapter Four

Smallville

The car couldn’t drive fast enough. My insides were in a knot. When I saw the helicopter coming into view in the empty field, I got even more excited. The idea that my children were there had me dancing inside. My arms needed to hold them and check every inch of them for injuries I had not had the chance to kiss. Happy tears hid in my throat as we got near. I jumped out and tried to run for the helicopter, but it was more like watching Quasimodo run, my body was bruised and battered. Inside was a face I didn’t expect. It wasn’t my mother or my children, but Jack. He smiled at me, “About time, Evie. Jeesh.”

The happy tears turned to angry ones, “Where are they, Jack?”

His face dropped, “Picking out their bedrooms. It’s okay. They’re waiting for us. Get in.”

I limped and pulled my exhausted body into the helicopter. He put a hand on my thigh as I strapped myself in, “It’s going to be okay.”

It was weird for us both. He was always the detached and funny one, not the comforting one. I smiled and wiped my face, “It just feels too long. Too much. I can't do it anymore. I need a house and my kids and routine.”

He nodded, regardless of having no idea of what I was talking about. He, Luce, and Coop lived the life of an agent. They didn’t do comfort and cozy. The pilot lifted the chopper into the air and took off. The ride was intense. I was on edge, feeling like I was constantly chasing my kids and never holding them. Servario was gone, as always, and my poor mother was saddled with everything else.

The worst part was that we were no closer to finding a solution for protecting the Burrow, and yet, giving the military something to make them stop looking. It was a giant pile of crap, all placed at my feet, and it felt like it just kept getting bigger.

We landed at an airfield. I sighed and followed Jack off the helicopter and walked to the small plane. We climbed aboard to discover we were the only people there. The helicopter left us.

He walked to the pilot seat and strapped himself in. I frowned, “You can fly this?”

He gave me a sarcastic look, “You can't?”

My right eye started to twitch as he closed the hatch and started the plane. He took off, turning us to the right and flying low to the ground.

“This is creepy.”

He nodded, grinning like a kid playing a video game, “It’s awesome.” He flew us around mountains, over fields, and past rivers until suddenly he landed in another field. I clung to my seat for dear life as he stopped the plane, still grinning. He unbuckled and dashed to the back, “Hurry, Evie.”

We left through the hatch. When we were across the field, crunching our feet along the dry grass, he pulled something from his pocket and pressed the button. I leapt to the ground as an explosion filled the air. He laughed, “Sorry, should have warned you.”

I looked down at the dirt and grass, “I am going to kill you, not now ‘cause I’m tired, but it is going to happen.”

He smiled sweetly at me, “Okay, Evie.” He continued walking. I got up and followed him into the woods. He walked until we got to a random spot. He stopped and looked around for a second, and then like a light bulb was coming on, he smiled and turned. He walked through a small grove of trees to a street. There, on the side of the road, was a minivan with Luce at the wheel. My heart leapt seeing her. Not only was she easier to be around than Jack, but she meant I was close to seeing my kids. I nudged Jack, “How hard was it to tell me this was what we were doing? You’ve had me peeing my pants this last couple hours.”

He shrugged, “Plane might have been bugged and the helicopter definitely was. Never know.” He gave me his patronizing smile, “I knew what we were doing, Evie. I got this.”

I could have choked him. Instead, I climbed into the front seat, beaming at Luce.

She grinned, “Who had fun at basic?”

I shook my head, “So bad. Worse than I remember.”

She hit me in the arm, “You need to toughen up, marshmallow.”

I pointed, “Drive.”

She chuckled, “Don’t get too excited. We are a ten-hour drive from the house. Get comfy.”

I gave her a desperate look, “What?”

She nodded, “Gotta make sure we don’t leave a trail. It was this or Canada.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose the way Coop always did, “I don’t want to talk about it, just drive.”

Ten hours in a car with Jack and Luce was like driving with my kids. Annoying music, drive-thru food, bickering about who was in what movie, and Jack kicked my seat an awful lot. I did my turn driving, tuning them both out. Finally, just as I was about to bitch for the hundredth time, Luce pointed, “Right here.”

I looked at the sign for the town and frowned, “Jamesville? Where are we?”

Luce shrugged, “Montana.”

I shook my head, taking the right and trying not to lose my mind. The town was tiny. Larger than a village but way smaller than a city. I couldn’t stop staring at the quaint little houses and small shops. “How many people live here?”

“Eight thousand.” Jack answered nonchalantly.

“What the hell are we going to do here?”

Luce laughed, “You are a stay-at-home mom. Coop, your brother, owns the new horse tack hut, and me and Jack are a married couple who own the computer store.”

“Where are my kids?”

Luce glanced at me, “They’re at the house you just bought. Your mom picked it out.”

I sighed, “Which way?”

“Go left at the end of this road. We all live on the same street.”

The landscape was beautiful—trees, mountains, rolling hills, and God knew what else. It was stunning. I turned left and headed into what seemed like farm country. The hills were not mountains but they were nice and big. They made you feel safe and enclosed, maybe. The trees weren't big but they were beautiful. The sky was as far as you could look in every direction, not like Boston where the horizon was the ocean or small hills, trees, and buildings.

I drove until I saw her face. She was standing on the porch of a beautiful country home, looking as anxious as I was. I parked and jumped from the van. My mom ran to me, wrapping her arms around me. I trembled until I felt the small fingers of Jules’ hand creeping into the embrace. I spun, wrapping around my children. Jules pointed, “The house has an attic upstairs, Mom. It’s kind of creepy but I like it.” I held back my tears, not wanting to scare them. Mitch clung to me, “You were gone so long.”

I nodded, “I know. I’m so sorry. I thought that it would go faster.”

His fingers dug in. My mother pointed, “Just like you asked, a beautiful home where the kids can grow up with horses, bunnies, and dogs.”

I gave her a look. Mitch looked bummed, “Mom, I don’t want to live in Montana. This is the middle of nowhere.”

I rubbed his head, seeing his father on his face, “Sweetie, this is better for us. I promise.”

I dropped to my knee, “How was your birthday?”

Jules shook her head, “It wasn’t the same without you, but Grandma gave the girls Monster High dolls and Madison Mitchell was so jealous. She said at her birthday she was going to give them out too and her mother said that it was excessive.”

I laughed, “I’m sure she did.” I looked at my kids and smiled earnestly, “Guys, our little family needs this. Uncle Coop, Aunty Luce, Uncle Jack, and us, and grandma—we need this. A new start, where we don’t have to think about how sad we are about Daddy and how sad we are about everything else. This is our fresh start. Okay? Can you try for me?”

They both gave me a hesitant look and then nodded. I pulled them in and hugged them again, kissing each cheek. I looked up at the huge white farmhouse and nodded, “How old is it?”

Mom gave me an annoyed look, “New. I know what you’re like about old houses. It’s three years old and built to look old fashioned.” I noticed the way it looked like a fairytale house and nodded, “They succeeded.”

She sighed, “Come inside and see the place before you judge it. You are so like your father.”

It made me smile. I wrapped my arms around Mitch as Jules ran to catch up to my mom, bursting through the door. “Mom, come and see my room! I got all new stuff ‘cause of the fire.”

I could feel my heartbeat lessening with every step we took. This house could be a safe place for my mom and my kids. It wasn’t fancy like my house, my pile of ashes, but it was nice. The counters were granite and the cabinets were white country but modern still. The floors were maple and the trim was all wide crown molding. It was a nice home.

I glanced at my mom, “Did I buy it? Do I own it?”

She nodded, “You do.”

I could feel it settling inside of me, the idea that I was okay. I still felt like maybe a bomb would just be dropped and we would all be dead, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop the attack. It was an impotent feeling. I hated it.

Mom reached for my free hand, “Darling, you will get used to this. This house will become a home. We have state of the art security.”

I could have almost cried. Mitch looked up at me, “I can’t believe we have nothing from our old house. I can’t believe it burned up."

I didn’t have anything for him but a hug, "I know, baby. I can’t either. Seems like it's been such bad luck lately."

He looked into my eyes skeptically but said nothing.

I finished looking at the immaculate first floor and climbed the stairs. It had four bedrooms up, and the one with Jules in it, jumping up and down, was adorable. The room was pink with white lace curtains, very girlie. The bed was actually built into the closet to make it like a tree house, with the closet below for extra storage. There was a second closet on the other side of the room. She climbed the wall ladder, “See, Mom. Look, it’s a tree house bed.” Her face was split wide with joy. I almost cried, but I knew where I needed to cry and her bedroom wasn’t it. I nodded, “This is amazing. I am so excited you love it. Grandma did such a good job picking out a house for us.”

Jules giggled, “I helped.”

“You did amazing too. Want to show me the way to my room?”

She climbed down quickly and raced down the hallway to the master suite. It was huge and, no doubt, already bugged. I looked around for the spots he would put them. Damned Coop.

The bathroom was glorious with a huge soaker tub and everything I would need to be happy.

Montana? I never saw that coming. I had to be honest with myself and admit I wasn’t happy. But looking around, I knew I could be.

Happy was safe kids. And my mom.

The rest would have to work itself out. I walked down the hall to Mitch’s room. He was already on his bed with headphones on, playing Minecraft. He looked miserable.

“What's up?”

He gave me a frown, “I have no one to play with. Jack erased all my other data. I have no friends or anything. He said 'cause you had to go back to work for the government we have to say goodbye to our old life. You don’t even care about us, you just want to have your old job back.”

I knelt next to him, “School starts in two days. You will have new friends. I promise you that."

He shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Whatever."

It was one of those moments where I wanted to smack him upside the head for giving me the eye-roll whatever, but I knew he was right, I had done this to him.

His father and I had been part of something that never suited children, no matter how hard we wanted to justify it as a job.

"Did Grandma tell you I'm switching back to my CI name? The one I used when I was undercover."

He snarled, "Anything to be rid of the memory of Dad, huh? You'd rather have a fake name, than his?"

It stung that I was taking the blame for it all. I was the cold widow who didn’t give a shit about my husband being dead.

"That’s not why. I'm back to work. Your father is gone and I have to have a job, Mitch. Evie Evans needs to be gone. You know the work we did. It was all top secret."

He gave me a look, "I don’t care, at all."

I gripped his hand, "You need to remember that, okay? You and Jules."

I kissed his head, got up and walked back to my room. The way he had pulled back, disgusted with my kiss, picked at me.

I shouted down the stairs, "Mom, I'm hitting the shower. Okay?"

"Sure, dear. I'm making muffins and cookies anyway."

I smiled, desperate for the smell of her baking to fill the house and make it ours. When I got back into my bedroom, Ralph was chilling like a villain on my bed, purring and doing his laundry. I knelt at the bed, stroking his soft fur, “Hey buddy!” He seemed to be of the opinion the new house wasn’t such a big deal.

I turned and shuffled into my bathroom, stripping only when the door was closed. I climbed into the shower, sat on the floor with my legs pulled into me and let the water rain down on me. It couldn’t rain fast enough though, the tears flooding my eyes blinded me. I cried until I couldn’t because there was nothing left inside of me.