Delta: Revenge (33 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

They were the three unlikely amigos: Sophia, her mom, and Brock. In what world this was happening, Sophia had no clue, but her mom palmed a .22 as gracefully as she might a couture clutch. Brock jerked his head, Rambo code for “go that way,” and Mom read him loud and clear as if it wasn’t her first day out of designer heels.

Their intel had been deemed as accurate as possible. They had all but a live visual of Hana. Other than breaking into a hot facility, probably monitored by an underground terrorist cell, the op was a piece of cake, a simple smash and grab. Literally. There wasn’t time for sophisticated security dismantling even with Delta’s tech genius in their earpieces scrutinizing their every move.

Javier was in their earpieces, too. Brock, who had an eye for relationships or at least tried to insert himself into them—gruff and dickish though he was—wanted to know if that would make her nervous or not.

And her mom had asked as well. Another stunning shock, maybe even more shocking than the fact that Irene Cole was on Uncle Sam’s armed-and-dangerous payroll, was that she seemed genuinely interested in their relationship. She even went as far as prying, whereas Brock pretended he was
not
listening when he
most certainly
was.

The plan was simple: Brock would do the dirty work. Sophia would never see any of that. Mom might see some of that—a fact that Sophia was still coming to grips with—and Sophia’s only job was to be the friendly face that Hana needed to see to keep quiet.

Brock estimated the job should take less than two minutes, which included jumping out of the running car into the rain and returning with their high-value target. Hana. Her friend.

Between her friend, her mother’s involvement, and Brock’s oddball answers to hypothetical questions, Sophia was left chewing the inside of her mouth.

“What if someone steals the running car?” she asked.

“No one would be that stupid.”

“But what if?”

“Then, kaboom.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’d blow up someone who stole your car?”

“Sophia, don’t gape.” The mother she knew came out, reprimanding, and Sophia snapped her mouth closed.

“Trust me,” Brock grumbled. “In our world, it’s not the worst thing when something gets blown up.”

“Doesn’t sound great.” Sophia glanced at her mom.

“Better than some
body
blowing up.”

Sage advice from Mom the spy.

“Tango one.” The low whisper of Brock’s voice tickled in her earpiece. “Subdued—Irene, behind you.”

A quick jostle of noise, and an unexpected second enemy made bile slosh in Sophia’s stomach as she quickly ran to the room Hana was determined to be in. She’d memorized the blueprints in the car on the ride over, but even as her feet moved with purpose, Sophia was waiting for her mom’s confirmation that everything would be alright.

“Second man down,” Mom announced.

Sophia’s heart jumped, then she opened the door, hoping to find an unsuspecting Hana. She put a finger to her lip, in case her friend needed shushing. Hana startled, but when she caught sight of Sophia’s face, she stood up without a word. The two of them took off.

Mom came into sight, heading out the door they’d initially breached, Brock following. The rain hit Sophia’s face, slapping cold and hard. But the sudden jolt was a taste of near freedom.

The SUV was still running, still in place, just as Brock had promised. Doors flew open. Hana and Sophia piled into the back, Brock took the driver’s seat, and Mom rode shotgun. The tires squealed as the people at Titan HQ hooted their approval of the job well done. Several voices were on the line, but Javier’s was the only one Sophia heard or cared about. She sank back into the seat, relaxed and dripping wet, freezing and head-over-heels in love, needing to tell him before she did anything else.

The earpiece was of no use anymore. She pulled it out, and Mom was doing the same.

Hana reached over and grabbed her hand, resting her head on Sophia’s shoulder. “Thank you, my friend.”

Sophia squeezed her, their soaked clothes and hair doing little to warm or soothe one another. But it was nice to actually have her safe. “I told you I would get you to the US.”

“You also told me that I’d get a date with your brother.”

“Haha.” Sophia tossed her head back, laughing hard. “Let me introduce you to the team. Front passenger, my mom. Meaning Colin’s mom. And Brock Gamble, his boss.”

Hana laughed as hard as Sophia had. “Fabulous.
Mi amiga
is a black ops ninja girl now too?”

“Apparently, it runs in the family.”

“Apparently,” Mom said then turned to face them. “You know what else I heard runs in the family?”

“Hmm?” How many more surprises could she take that day?

“Falling in love with military men.”

“Mom!” Who was this woman? First she was a spy, and now she wanted to gossip about Sophia’s love life. “How would you know?”

Mom’s head tilted toward her source.

“Brock!”

The man didn’t turn around, but Sophia could see his cheeks flex as though he were trying not to smile.

“I swear,” Sophia mumbled. “Men are almost worse than women.”

“With what?” Hana asked.

“Gossip.”

“Oh, this isn’t gossip,” Hana said. “It’s fact.”

“Hana!” Sophia pulled back and gave the stink eye as though she hadn’t just been part of the rescue to save her friend’s life.

Hana shrugged to Mom. “She won’t say
I love you
. She says she wasted it on her waste of a groom.”

Oh. Shit. Sophia’s eyes flew to her mom, having no idea how the ambassador’s wife—spy or not—would take
any
comment like that about the good doctor Josh.

Mom hummed, lost in thought, and for every rain-sloshed moment Brock continued to drive down the highway, Sophia wondered if her mom might accidentally turn back into a society lady and implode.

“Then,” Mom said, “don’t say it how you said it before.”

Sophia’s brow pinched as she tried to figure out if that advice was code from her mom, a spy, or a society lady. “I’m… sorry, wh—what?”

“A word is a word is a word, Sophia. Get new words.”

Ha. “
I love you
is pretty much
it
, Mom.”

“Or is it, sweetheart? There’s more than one way to say many things, especially when English
is not
his language.”

Hmmm. Discounting that this was their first personal mom-daughter conversation, and that Brock was eavesdropping, Sophia turned to Hana, who nodded as though it made sense.

“
Adoro su hija, la señora Cole.
”

Mom’s gaze held onto Hana. “Exactly.”

Hana’s native tongue was Spanish, most of which Sophia could pick out. She adored Mrs. Cole’s daughter. “Cute.” But Javier was Brazilian Portuguese. “How do you say—”

“Tell him,
eu te amo
.” Mom’s words were like a hug that they’d never shared.
I love you.
In Brazilian Portuguese.

This
I love you
offered Sophia a way to bridge her gap with Javier and brought her and her mom together more powerfully than sharing their first day in the field together ever could. “Thank you.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The maternity wing wasn’t the way Sophia would have imagined. She would have guessed there’d be pinks and blues, teddy bears and balloons. She hadn’t thought about it before, but walking into the security zone, she realized there was a high level of surveillance and protection in this place.

Hand in hand, she and Javier were buzzed in, passing Colin as he signed them in at the visitors’ station. The waiting area was down the hall, but Jared Westin,
the
boss of Titan, had put all their names on a list of people to be sent in when they arrived. With a quick show of ID and a name on a form, Sophia and Javier were directed to a private suite.

Javier rounded into the room first, and Sophia’s steps went heavy as she saw Jared, holding a very tiny newborn.

“Oh,” was all she could whisper.

“Hi.”

Sophia pulled her gaze from the tiny baby and the man who was normally almost scary looking but at the moment was just… a proud daddy quietly shifting his weight back and forth in his boots, soothing a sleeping bundle of blankets—his wife and other child. “Hi.”

Javier used their joined hands to point as he made introductions. “Sugar and Asal.”

Sugar smiled. “And that’s Violet.”

Jared walked over, quietly saying hello. Javier offered congratulations, and Violet was slipped into Sugar’s arms. Asal curled around her mom. The Westins were a family of operatives—badasses, often irreverent and always interesting to hear about. From the little that Sophia knew, that clan led an exciting life. But at the moment, this was their bliss. Wow.

Jared cleared his throat quietly. “You heard about Rodrigo Moreira?”

Javier’s grip in Sophia’s hand flexed. “Yes, sir.”

“The team found a ton of actionable intel. Enough to smoke out the last of the top dogs in the Primeiro Comando.”

“Yes, sir. I heard.”

Jared nodded to Sophia. “You made the right decision on which job to choose.”

He raised his chin as though preparing to walk into a firing line. “Thank you, sir.”

Jared continued. “I heard you two had come out of the closet. Though changing an op midstride was already a neon sign of an announcement.” The baby stirred, waking and quietly flapping its mouth open and shut, turning its head side to side.

“I think Vi-Vi’s hungry.” Asal leaned in, inspecting the infant.

Sophia took a step back. “Do you want us to leave?”

Sugar shook her head, readying to nurse. “Nah, it’s okay. I’m sure it’ll become easier—”

“Because we can leave.”

Knock, knock.

“There you go.” Sugar ignored the door and blew out a breath as a doctor walked in.

“I’m Dr. Josh Ject, the pediatrician on rotation. Just a quick stop to check on…” He picked up the clipboard at the end of the bed. “Violet. How’s everyone doing?”

Josh looked up from the chart, catching Sophia’s eye. “Oh.” It was the first time they’d set eyes on each other since she’d walked away from the altar.

“Hi,” Sophia said. “We’ll step out.”

His gaze dropped to Sophia’s hand, which was clasped in Javier’s. Javier’s other arm was around her protectively as he leaned into her from behind.

“Funny!” Sugar, who seemed highly amused but was moving slowly because of the baby on her breast, tossed her head back against the pillow. “I don’t need introductions to know we’ve got an ex in the room.”

Josh cleared his throat. “Mrs. Westin—”

“Sugar,” she corrected.

Sophia’s ex-fiancé smiled awkwardly. “Sugar.” He stepped forward as Jared moved closer to her bedside.

“We’ll step out.” Sophia tugged Javier behind her. “Thanks for letting us visit.”

“Just come back in a few.” Sugar snuggled Violet to her.

“It was nice seeing you, Sophia,” Josh said.

“We should go.” Gripping Javier’s hand with more force than needed, Sophia wasn’t sure if her vehemence was because she wanted to strangle Josh for the hell of it or if because he’d ruined something she wanted to give to Javier. She
still
hadn’t told Javier how much she loved him. Whatever the case, Javier didn’t react to her ex. He simply guided Sophia through the semi-open door and into the hallway.

“Waiting room.” Javier tilted his head toward the sign. “Let’s go.” Nothing fazed him.

“I need a candy bar. Or a balloon bouquet. Something over-the-top to erase the last few minutes from my mind.”

He laughed. “You okay?”

“That was
so
awkward.” They entered the small area. A few couches and chairs, a couple piles of magazines, and a row of vending machines awaited her. “So. So. So awkward.”

He shrugged. “Could’ve been worse.”

“Ha. How?”

“It could’ve been you lying in bed, holding our baby, when random ex-slash-doctor-on-duty rolls in.”

The simple casualness of his words didn’t take away from the monumental suggestion he’d just made. Between her spinning head and her swooning, Sophia managed to close her gaping mouth and not pass out. “
Our
baby?”

“You don’t want kids?” A slight concern showed on his face.

“Are we having this conversation?” Eyes peeled wide, Sophia fumbled for a couch, still clinging to his hand.

“Do you want to?” he asked as though it were that simple.

Sophia nodded, head in a haze, thoughts of little Javier Almeidas making her dizzy. His children would be so beautiful…
their
children? God. She couldn’t breathe.