Then he rose to his feet. “Gotta get home, or my sister will come looking for me, and we both know she will not be happy that I came here.”
“O’Malley?”
He stopped beside Kap. This close, there was no denying he was Eden’s twin. They shared the same eyes. Darkness clung to him, but the eyes…they would always remind Kap of Eden.
“Yeah. I figure you can follow the footprints.”
“Way not to be a creepy CIA operative.”
“You forget, ex-CIA.”
He headed to the front door and slipped out without another word. Dammit. Now, he knew he wasn’t going to rest until he started to look into whoever O’Malley was and how he fit into the entire situation.
“Where the hell have you been?” Eden demanded the moment he walked through the front door.
“Like Sam didn’t tell you,” he said, letting one eyebrow rise.
“I needed you here to talk to Ian.”
“Did you tell him?”
“I had to. He’s former MI-6. He already knew something was up.”
He grunted.
“There’s moco loco in there for you. Well, the patty and rice. The eggs were gross.”
“Thanks.” He barely looked at her as he passed by. Alarm raced through her. This felt like it did when she’d pulled him out of that hellhole, when he had almost died. Desperation gnawed at her gut. He was shutting down again, and she couldn’t have that.
“El,” she said. He paused with one foot on the first step that led upstairs and looked at her. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “It’s been a long few days with the trip back from Japan.” He always had an issue with jet lag. “And I know that Sam called you.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because she’s a busybody like my sister. Don’t worry. I’m fine, Ed.”
She nodded as she watched him trudge up the stairs. Worry in her gut. This whole thing was spiraling out of control, and she worried she would lose her brother for good. After he physically recovered from his torture, he was a shell of himself. Before, smiles had been easier, but even three years later, every smile he gave the world seemed to cause him pain. Eden wasn’t sure he would ever be the same.
Her mind filtered back through the memories. She had been dating Kap for a month and had finally gotten permission from Uncle Marv to tell him that she was a CIA asset. While he had been an NCIS agent at the time with security clearance, her family had been different. Decades of spying for the US government had made it hard to be honest with anyone she dated. Even her best friends had no idea, except Sam, but then, she was CIA, too.
If she hadn’t been so wrapped up in Kap, she would have noticed the moment her brother disappeared, or she would have picked up that he was going down a bad road. Something.
Because, when she’d asked Sam if she was her brother’s keeper, they both knew the truth was that she always had been. Eden was five minutes older than her brother. She couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t looking out for him.
No, wait. It was when she was infatuated with a tall drink of water, who still got her hot whenever she saw him. Even after he turned his back on her, she’d wanted him. In her bed, in her life…but she didn’t really think she could trust him. Not now with so much at stake.
“Jesus, did you go home?” Graeme asked as he stepped into Kap’s office.
“I’m wearing a different outfit. And yes, I did, but I had a late-night visitor.”
“I don’t want to hear about any women you picked up.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head, exasperated with his temporary partner.
“Then who?”
“Elwood Carlyle.”
