He made a point of facing the other direction as he kicked off his shoes and socks, unbuttoned his shirt. Decided to keep his pants and undershirt on. Behind him he heard the faint rustle of fabric, and his mind flashed an image of her pulling her shirt over her head, imagined a delicate cream bra over caramel skin.
Whoa there, Agent Cooper. Where did that come from?
He chalked it up to a long day of shared adrenaline, underscored by male chemistry, and left it at that. He slid into the sleeping bag, rubbed his eyes. A moment later, he heard the click of her turning off the elephant, and the room went dark. Pale green stars glowed on the walls and ceiling, swirling constellations of an idealized night sky, one where the stars had neat points and sharp edges and were only barely out of reach.
“G’night, Cooper.”
“Night.” He folded his hands behind his head. He was too old to be sleeping on the floor, but too tired to care. As he lay there, staring at the stars of that better sky, he found himself thinking back to the game, the looks on the faces of those kids as they played with toys barely imaginable to most of the world.
It had been six months since last he’d seen his children. Six months of pretending to be someone else, of burying the life he loved in order to fight for it.
When it came down to it, everything he had done was for his children. Even the things he had done before they were born, before he’d even met Natalie. It was a truth he never could have understood until he’d become a parent, and one he would never be able to forget.
The world is changing, Lee had said. It has to.
Cooper hoped he was right.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The man was waiting for them.
He was as big as Cooper remembered, broad-shouldered and muscular beneath pudge; a man who didn’t lift weights because he lifted heavy things for a living. He looked right at home in the loading dock.
“What the hell?” He spat the words as Cooper and Shannon climbed the steps.
“Excuse me?”
“Paying for my ID. You trying to be the big man? You think you know me?” The abnorm shook his head. “You don’t know me.”
“Whatever.” Cooper started past, but the big man grabbed his arm. The grip was stone.
“I asked you a question. What do you want?”
Cooper glanced down at the man’s hand, thinking, Twist sideways, right elbow to the solar plexus, stomp the arch of the foot, spin back with a left uppercut. Thinking, So much for good deeds. “I want you to get out of my way.”
Something in his tone made the man hesitate, and the grip loosened. Cooper brushed his sleeve, walked past.
“I didn’t ask for this. I don’t owe you nothing.”
He stiffened, the irritation growing. Turned. “You do, asshole. You owe me six months of your life. The phrase you’re looking for is ‘thank you.’”
The man crossed his arms. Held the stare. “I’m not anybody’s slave. Not Schneider’s, and not yours.”
“Bravo,” Cooper said. “Congratulations. You’re an island, alone unto yourself.”
“Huh?”
“I’m so tired of people like you. Of twists like you. Schneider claimed six months of your life on nonsense, and you just laid down and took it. Okay, fine, your choice. But then an angel bought you that time back. And what’s your first thought? He must want something. He can’t just be trying to bear his neighbor’s burden. He can’t just be an abnorm who doesn’t like seeing another one treated that way.”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “Nobody does nothing for free. Abnorm or not.”
“Yeah, well, no wonder we’re losing.” Cooper turned away and walked for the door. Over his shoulder, he said, “I don’t want you to be my slave. I want you to not be one at all.”
Then he yanked open the door and stepped inside. Behind him, Shannon chuckled. “You’re a piece of work, Cooper.”
“Let’s go find Schneider.”