“You didn’t have to do this.” He brushed his fingers through her hair.
“Cat’s lying in a hospital because of me. The least I can do is cut my hair,” she said softly. “I had a little trouble with changing the color.”
He glanced at his palm covered in a coating of the light desert-sand color. “Is this camo?”
Nodding, she appeared quite happy with herself. “I was searching for a pair of scissors in the kitchen drawers when I saw the camo face paint. I figured, why not give it a try until I can get to some tinted spray.”
“There’s just one—”
Drake loudly cleared his throat. “You did a good job, Liz. Next time I talk to Cat, I’ll tell her.”
“See? He says I did a good job.” Liz nodded as she took a seat in one of the chairs, then glanced up at Mitch. “You scowl.”
Before long, she’d be the one scowling enough for both of them. Getting camo face paint out of hair was no easy job.
To change her look had taken guts, and that defiant little lift of her chin as they’d all first seen the new her had been powerful. An expression he wouldn’t soon forget.
The one thing he didn’t like was the way she seemed to be inching her way into his psyche. No one had permission to go there. No one.
“I hate to break up this moment”—Reese pointed to his earbud—“but, the chopper’s ETA is now twenty.”
“Got it.” Mitched turned toward Drake. “I want some answers. Now.”
“Bottom line, OPAQUE can’t get a handle on what’s happened to Liz’s dad, Russ,” Drake said. “This isn’t like one of his usual call reports.”
Isn’t likeone of his usual call reports? This time was different? Mitch didn’t need a brick upside the head to pick up on the insinuation. “He’s one of ours?”
“Not exactly.” The boss caught each of their gazes with his own then stared at Liz. “About nine years after her family went into WPP, a couple of representatives from Coercion Ten showed up at their front door. Russ fought to keep them outside.”
Liz’s expression paled as she stood up. “Oh, for all that’s holy. That had to be when my mother dragged me through a doorway behind the bathroom linen cabinet. There was a room I’d never seen before. No windows, just a dim light. A couple lawn chairs, a cot, a small table in the corner with an even smaller fridge underneath.”
The look on her face and tone of her voice was all Mitch needed to know for certain she’d had no idea what this case was about. Or anything else that involved OPAQUE or CT all her life.
“My mother locked the door and told me to stay quiet. She was trembling as she sat me at the table and handed me a coloring book and crayons.” Liz’s forehead scrunched into furrows, her lips parted, and she blinked repeatedly, but still tears formed. “I was so afraid. But she wrapped her arms around me and whispered it was only a game. A hide-and-seek game.”
Drake looked at Mitch. “Russ was able to keep them out long enough for Liz and her mother to hide in the safe room I’d helped him design. Just in case.”
Mitch zeroed in on his warning—just in case. Every OPAQUE agent knew the term for safe room and just-in-case situations. Especially the agents who were married. They all had taken that precaution in their homes. Single agents like him usually didn’t bother with that safeguard. He always figured he’d face CT down, be captured, or die at their feet. There’d be no hiding for him.
Reese pointed skyward. “Ten minutes.”
“Needless to say, the two CT operatives shoved their way inside the house and overpowered Russ.” Drake quickened his speech. “They said they knew he was in WPP. That they weren’t there to kill him. And then they told him the job they needed him to do for CT. He said no.”
“My dad wouldn’t help people like that,” Liz raised her voice with her answer.
“No, he wouldn’t usually.” Drake bit his lip. “But all that changed when they pulled him into the bathroom, yanked the cabinet out of the way, and tapped on the locked hidden door.”
Liz sucked in a loud breath as she steadied herself against the railing. Panic seemed to roll across her entire body. “The knock on the door scared me, and before I thought, I yelled out, ‘Dad?’” Liz wiped her cheeks free of her tears. “My mother yanked me against her and clamped her hand over my mouth.”
Mitch reached out to comfort her, but she stop-signed him with her hands. She turned away for a few seconds, and when she turned back, she’d gained some control.
“Russ agreed to work for them. He had no choice. Took him almost a month before he felt it was safe enough to contact me or the WPP,” Drake said. “That’s when I came up with a plan to use his involvement with Coercion Ten to our best advantage. Your dad agreed.”
Liz shook her head. “I’m still confused. You mean to OPAQUE’s advantage.”
“OPAQUE. CIA. FBI. There were a lot of times he worked for all of us.”
Reese stared at the open sky. “I used to be an undercover agent with the CIA. Your dad furnished good intel for us on the front line.”
