Irished (The Invincibles Book 7) by Heather Slade (the top 100 crime novels of all time txt) 📕

didn’t it feel like it would soon be over? When would the fear of knowing that every day could bring the death of more agents end? When would the night come that I could fall asleep without feeling I had no right to? Or wake in the morning without dread in the pit of my stomach?

“Irish?”

When Decker came outside, I was sitting in a chair, bent at the waist, head in my hands, crying like a baby. “Leave it alone, Deck.”

“You got it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I didn’t look, but I heard his truck start up and drive away.

It happened the last day of February—the twenty-eighth since it wasn’t leap year. Fisk was the first to be taken down but only by a few seconds. Law enforcement agencies around the world assisted, but it was teams of US Marshals that carried out the arrests. Only men and women vetted by Decker Ashford, Senator Henry Clay Copeland, and Kellen McTiernan were tasked with carrying out orders that would shake the intelligence world to its core.

Cope contacted me at dawn—via a video call. It was the first time I heard his voice since the day in the hospital when I didn’t have the strength to respond. The last time I saw him was at the federal courthouse.

Today, my voice was strangled with emotion and I had to turn my head to hide my tears.

“This is it, Irish. You did it.”

I shook my head and looked back at my phone’s screen. “We did it.”

“It never would’ve happened without you, Paxon.”

“How’s Ali?” I asked, needing to deflect attention I wasn’t prepared to handle.

“I haven’t seen her yet.”

“When will you?”

“Later this morning.”

“I’m happy for you, Cope. I hope it works out between the two of you.”

“I’ve got something to ask you.”

“Shoot.”

“Never mind. There’s something I need to ask her first.”

One month later, Cope asked Ali—the reporter who had been T-boned in his car and who he fell in love with while I was in jail—to marry him. The same night, he asked me to be his best man. I was glad for him, truly, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. I wondered if it would ever go away. I wouldn’t tell him that, though. I wouldn’t spoil his happiness.

“Hey, you,” said Ali, coming out to the backyard of Cope’s parents’ house.

“Congratulations,” I said, hugging her.

“Best wishes.”

“Huh?”

“You congratulate the man and offer best wishes to the woman.”

“Yeah? I don’t know much about shit like that.”

Ali pulled me over to the garden bench. “Someday, you will. I hope it’s soon, Irish. You deserve happiness, maybe more than anyone I know.”

Did I? On the day of the arrests, I asked Decker if he’d kept count of the agents killed. He shook his head, but I didn’t believe him. I would trust, though, it was a number I didn’t want to know.

16

Irish

Washington, DC

May

“This is a wedding, not a damn job interview,” I said to Money McTiernan, who had me cornered at the bar for the last fifteen minutes.

“It isn’t an interview, Irish. I’m asking you to take the same job you had before.”

I knew the answer to my next question, but I’d ask anyway. “Is Cope?”

Money motioned to the bartender with two fingers. I really didn’t need another drink, but what the fuck, it wasn’t every day your best friend, the man you went to hell and back with, got married.

“I’m going to wait until after he and Ali return from their honeymoon to ask.”

“You’re trying to get her to come back too, aren’t you?”

While Ali had been undercover as a reporter covering my trial, her real job was as an internal affairs agent for the CIA. It was the only division that operated independently, and for good reason. Ali had originally been brought in by Money to ascertain whether Cope was also a double agent who had betrayed his country like many believed I was.

A few still hadn’t received the memo that I’d been undercover too, and couldn’t stop themselves from looking at me like the traitor I wasn’t.

I looked across the yard at one in particular. TJ Hunter was her name, and she was actually a reporter. She and Cope had been friends for a long time. I also got the feeling she wanted more, but that was when neither of us had the brain space to think about relationships. Although, when Cope met Ali, he found some quickly.

My gaze met Stella’s—a nickname Cope had given her, and everyone used—and I raised my glass. As I anticipated, she didn’t do the same. Instead, she turned away.

“It’ll take time,” said Money, watching the exchange.

“You know what? I really don’t give a shit.”

I walked away, planning to find a quiet place inside the house where I didn’t have to see or talk to anyone. Before I reached the door, Decker intercepted me.

“Tell me you’re not thinking of going back to the agency.”

I laughed. “Why? You got a job offer for me?”

“More than that, Irish, and you know it. We want you to come on board as a partner.”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure I can work for a company that calls themselves the Invincibles.”

“Fucking Rile,” Decker mumbled. “I never should’ve gone along with it.”

Everyone knew it had been Rile who came up with the name. And coming from him, it hadn’t been a surprise. The guy was an arrogant asshole, as far as I was concerned, and I couldn’t stand him. Then again, there weren’t many people I could stand.

Cope, sometimes. Decker, sometimes. Ali, sometimes. It was a short list.

“I need some time, Deck.”

“I know you do, and I’ll quit pestering you. What I won’t do is let you go back to the agency.”

“What about another firm?”

“If you’re about to say K19, I’ll…”

K19 Security Solutions was the Invincibles’ equal and rival when it came to private intelligence and covert ops firms. A guy named Doc Butler headed it up with some partners. Doc