Page 90 of Fourth Point Of Contact

I slid down the stairs on my ass, refusing to do things the hard way, and then worked my way over to the kitchen, snagging a banana for when I got to work. Thankfully, there was always coffee made in the OPS building, even if it was shit.

“Where are you going?” my mother asked, sneaking up behind me and scaring the shit out of me.

“Work.”

“Work? But you’re injured.”

I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m just running a background check. Nothing in the field.”

“But I had brunch scheduled for you!”

I internally cringed at the word brunch, hoping she meant for just the two of us, but deep down, I knew better. “Sorry, Mom. I can’t.”

“Patrick Christopher Cook!”

I winced at the middle name. It was always bad when your mother said your full name, but even worse when I knew if I turned around, my mother would be standing with her hands on her hips and a disappointed look on her face.

But I turned around anyway because she was my mom. “Yes?”

Her chin quivered, which was nearly always my kryptonite. “Patti, I just want you to find someone.”

“I understand that, but I have a job.”

Wiping the tear from her eye, she took a step forward. “Why won’t you settle down? Is it something I did?”

“Mom, this has nothing to do with you. In fact, I’m just not like you and Dad. I don’t want to get married. I’m not looking for the perfect woman, and I don’t care if dinner is waiting for me.”

“But—”

“Mom, I swear, I’m happy. Why can’t you believe that?”

“I just want you to be as happy as I was with your father.”

I hated when she brought Dad into this. I knew they had this epic love story, but that just wasn’t for me. I was happy with my life the way it was. I didn’t need a woman at home with me or any of the other things she thought were so important in life.

“Just promise me you’ll meet this woman. Even if you don’t marry her,” she added quickly. “She’s very nice. I think you’d really like her.”

There was no getting out of it. Not if I didn’t want to break my mother’s heart. “Alright. What time is she going to be here?”

“Ten-thirty.”

“I’ll be back in time to meet her.”

With that, I kissed my mom on the cheek and headed out, wishing I could break the other leg just to get out of this meeting. Because that’s what this really was. An interview for a potential bride. That’s all my mom saw, and all I felt was nausea swirling in my gut at the thought of walking down the aisle.

I got in the golf cart one of the guys had brought over, and used my left foot to press the pedals. It was a little rough going at first, but I made it work, only hitting the fence twice before getting the hang of it. FNG was outside with an umbrella, doing some kind of Chinese fighting as he tested out his newest product. IRIS was sitting at a table, wiring a bomb, and IKE…I didn’t want to know what he was thinking as he polished his gun in his three-piece suit.

I nodded to Lock as I walked in, ignoring the confused look on his face since we were supposed to have a few days off. It didn’t matter. I’d only be here for a few minutes running a database search. As long as no one suspected what I was doing, there would be no need to look into my search history. And I didn’t plan on giving anyone an excuse to look any deeper than necessary.

I slid into the chair in front of the desk I normally used, quickly pulling up the database I needed. Getting the information was simple since Edu gave me his father’s information. I was in and out in no time, already shutting down the computer when I looked up and nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Jesus Christ, Lock. What the fuck are you doing?”

He cocked an eyebrow at me as he leaned against the doorframe, studying me intently. “You just couldn’t let it go.”

“Let what go?”

He sighed, pulling up a chair to sit down. “Look, I get it. It’s hard to let go.”

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