Page 96 of Tactically Acquired

“If it were up to me, she wouldn’t go,” Thumper shrugged.

Yeah, that’s what I had in mind, too. But then I remembered how I lied about her mom dying before. If I didn’t tell her now…that had to be some horrible kind of karma that would come back to bite me in the ass at the worst time possible.

“It has to be up to her,” I finally said. “I don’t think we should take her. The timing is shitty and it feels more than coincidental, but if this is real and her mom really is dead…I can’t be the one to keep this from her.”

“Because you have feelings for her?” Thumper asked. “I thought that’s why you wouldn’t sleep with her—so you wouldn’t develop feelings.”

I ground my teeth together, trying to keep my cool. “No, it’s not because of that. When I took her to the hospital and had to pretend she was my wife, they asked if anything traumatic had happened recently. I said her mom had just died.”

“Shit,” Rae muttered.

“Which is why I can’t fucking lie to her about it now.”

“Well, shit,” Thumper grumbled. “You couldn’t have told them she had a traumatic experience at the salon or something?”

“That’s not a thing,” Rae retorted.

“Sounds like a thing,” IRIS agreed with Thumper.

That was it then. We were telling her, and we’d have to be prepared that she might want to go home. And if her mother really was dead…if we could get confirmation of that, this job would get a hell of a lot harder.

“Does Lock have another team to spare?”

Rae shook her head. “Everyone’s out. Unless you want?—”

She instantly shut her mouth and looked away.

“Unless I want who?”

“Crap,” Thumper muttered. “Not them.”

“Fox? That’s who Lock has for us?” I snapped.

“It’s the only team not in the field.”

“Meaning, it’s the only team no one is crazy enough to want on a detail,” I concluded. Sighing, I scrubbed a hand down my face. “What choice do we have?”

“Between death and going on our own?” Thumper asked. “I’d go on my own.”

“It’s not that bad,” IRIS argued.

“It’s FNG,” I reminded him. “The man gets blown up or killed about once every six weeks.”

“And somehow survives,” Rae shrugged. “It could be worse.”

“We could have Max fly us out. At least we wouldn’t have to make the drive. That would cut out some of the danger of crossing the fucking country,” IRIS added.

“Yeah. Trade the danger of being attacked for going down with a drunken pilot,” I snorted. “The choices are amazing.”

“Well, at least Fox isn’t in his yoga phase anymore. Imagine how it would be if he still was and met Spencer in the morning.”

We all looked at each other, imagining the horror of what we would walk in on. Icelandic throat singing, pants that were way too tight for any man, deep breathing and humming…nope. It would be a fucking disaster.

“Well, good luck with that,” Thumper nodded.

“You’re coming too,” I grumbled.

“Yeah, but you have to tell her.”

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