13
“You sure you want to do this? I gotta say, it kind of surprised me when you jumped at the chance to leave town the way you did.”
Coop kept one hand on the wheel while he used the other to hold his phone to his ear. Jake had called him after he left without waiting for Derek to escort him home. Wanted to make sure everything was okay.
It was about as far from fucking okay as they could get.
“Not really sure of anything, anymore, Jake. Other than I know I can’t be here right now.”
Jake’s voice softened. “Have some patience with Mac, Sean. She’s been through a lot, lately.”
The hell?“Boss?”
“Trevor filled me in. Not on everything, of course, because he doesn’t know everything. Only that you and Mac had gotten…closer recently, but something happened. He didn’t know what, and I’m not asking. All I’m saying is, give this assignment some thought before you go all-in. You have until Monday to decide. Who knows? Maybe Mac will have come around by then, and you won’t want to leave.”
Shehadcome around. That was the problem. He couldn’t quit seeing the excitement in her face as she’d come running across that damn parking lot. When she’d told him to ask her to marry him again, part of him had wanted to jump for joy. The other part needed to hear her say the words.
I love you.
If she’d said those three little words, even once, he would’ve dropped tobothhis knees. But she hadn’t.
Jake talked about time. He’d given her fucking time. This past week. The past sevenyears. And he was done waiting.
On a loud exhale, Coop told his boss, “Send me the itinerary for the interviews. I’ll be at the airstrip Monday, packed and ready.”
There was a long pause before Jake spoke again. “I had Derek put together files on all the men and women you’ll be looking at. I’ll have him send you those, as well, so you can use the flight to look them over. Get a feel for what they’re like before you meet with them.”
“More teams.” Coop flipped on his turn signal. “You ever think R.I.S.C. would be this successful?”
“Not at all.” Jake laughed into the phone. “Not at first, anyway. Hell, Mike and I were just two guys shooting the shit when we came up with the idea. Sitting on our asses, waiting for a bunch of pencil pushing politicians to decide our fate and that of those we’d been sent to rescue when the idea struck.”
Coop couldn’t help but grin. “I’d say it was one hell of an idea.”
“Yeah,” his boss agreed. “It was.”
“How is Mike?”
“Good. Olivia called him a little bit ago after everyone left. He’s catching the next flight out and will be here by morning.” A few seconds of silence passed. “I’ll be sure to send you those files, and Sean?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re a good operative. One of the best.”
“Thanks, Boss.”
“So is Mac.”
Just hearing her name made Coop’s heart ache to the point he wanted to rub his chest. “Thanks.”Did that come out like more of a question?
“I can’t imagine Alpha Team running without you.”
“But?”
There was definitely one coming.
Jake sighed again. “What I’m trying to say is, you decide you need a change, I’ll make it happen.”
Coop’s gut began to churn. “You talking about a permanent change, boss? You want me to transfer to one of the new teams?”
