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Sitting down in the chair beside her bed, he reached out and covered her fragile, vein-lined hand. “Hey, Mom,” he murmured, and her light blue eyes fluttered open. The exact same glacier-blue eyes ringed in midnight as his.
“Lucas.” She smiled. “Did you bring the nurses scones?”
He nodded. “And tea.”
“Good. They deserve it for all their hard work.”
Even though it killed him to see her like this, he visited her every day. Sometimes twice a day, if he could. Their time together was running out and he wanted to be there as much as possible. So while they talked, he held her hand and did his best to comfort her.
Reaching for the remote, he turned the TV volume up. “Are we watching a new Hallmark movie tonight or are they still playing Christmas ones?”
“I’m not sure, but you know I love them all.”
Cheesy made-for-television movies used to make him want to pluck his eyeballs out, but the Hallmark movies he watched with his mom? He wouldn’t admit it, but they’d started to grow on him. At this point, he could use a guaranteed happy ending. Lately, his reality was growing more dark and painful. He yearned for some light, a breath of fresh air in the staleness and approaching death that had constantly surrounded him this past year.
Like always, they settled in and watched the movie together. It was a repeat, but not that it mattered. They were all the same. Cheesy and formulaic, yet comforting on some weird level. At some point, she fell asleep and he turned the volume down. She slept a lot now because of the heavy drugs that eased her pain.
When the movie ended, Lucas stood up, tucked the blanket up higher on her small form and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Love you, Mom. See you tomorrow.”
Battling his emotions, Lucas turned and abruptly stopped short when he saw Inda standing in the doorway, an unreadable expression on her face. Shock nearly knocked him off-balance and he froze.
“How the hell did you get in here?” he asked, more baffled than anything. The place had a strict visitor policy but, then again, look who he was asking. Inda could find a way into Fort Knox if she wanted.
“Hello, Lucas. Or, should I say Cipher?”
Shit.
???
Inda decided to strike when Lucas was at his most vulnerable, and the startled look on his face told her she’d succeeded at throwing him off his game. But her upper hand only lasted for a moment before he whipped a curveball at her.
“Hi, Leoa. Or, should I say Inda?”
Oh, fuck.They were both busted.
“We need to talk!” Inda declared.
His shock quickly morphed into anger as he stormed past her. “Not here,” he hissed.
Hurrying after him, she followed him out the side door, and once they were on the street, she started slinging questions at him. “Who the hell are you?”
“I said,not here.” His sharp gaze nearly fileted her, and she instantly shut up.
“Then where?”
He heaved out a weary sigh, raked a hand through his dark hair and cursed under his breath. “My place,” he finally said.
“Fine,” she snapped. “Let’s go.” Of all the things Inda had expected to find Lucas doing, it wasn’t sitting with a woman whom she assumed to be his sick mother, holding her hand as they watched some corny, melodramatic TV movie together. And the fact the woman was receiving round the clock hospice care meant she was a little more than just sick. She was dying.
Doing her best to ignore the empathy tightening her chest, she chose instead to focus on the harsh, unavoidable truth: Lucas was Cipher, and Cipher was working for The Agency, and The Agency was trying to kill her team. All he deserved was a big fuck you and a bullet to the head. He was a dangerous enemy she couldn’t afford to underestimate.
But she didn’t want to kill him. At least not yet. She wanted to talk to him and try to gather information. Maybe there was something she didn’t know. Yeah, it was probably wishful thinking, but stranger things had happened.
Inda remained wary and alert once they were in his Jeep, even though her head was spinning.Jesus.She’d almost slept with the enemy they’d been trying to track down for months. What was wrong with her?
“How do you know who I am?” she asked.
He gave her a side glance and snorted. “Oh, I know a lot about you, Ms. Diaz.”
