Page 31 of Spy With Me
Oh, she knew nothing. “He didn’t talk about his father. Hejust told me his mom was in and out of jail and his aunt raised him.”
“I’m surprised he mentioned them at all. He was vulnerablewith you, and you stabbed him right where he told you to. Like I said, now Ibelieve you’re a Taggart. Should I move the cat or can you leave her be?”
Devi blinked back tears. He had told her about his mom. Theylaid in bed between bouts of ridiculously hot sex and he talked about hischildhood and how hard it had been.
And she’d slid the knife in.
But damn it, he lied to her. He wrecked her damn life.
“I’m not going to hurt the cat.”
“Then I’ll let you be. Like I said the sea is that way,” shesaid, pointing to the east. “You can walk right in and swim your way back toyour fabulous life where you don’t have to worry about the world exploding orburning, or well, any of the tragedies we’re on the verge of. You can swim offand go back to your happy life. If you don’t, we have tea at four and supper at7:30. I’m off to town to pick up the list of shite Zach thinks you need. Ishould also apparently pick up something stronger than Mum’s tea since Zach isgoing to end up on the couch, and it won’t fit him. He was right about the onebed. I’m certainly not giving up mine.”
Lacey walked out and shut the door.
Guilt swamped Devi but she took a deep breath and sat backon the bed. To the side, the cat hissed again.
Yeah, she knew how that feline felt.
* * * *
Zach was still reeling three hours later as he looked outover the peaceful pasture. It was all green and covered in grass andwildflowers. Beautiful. There were goats and chickens and a number of alpacas,and the weird shaggy cows Lacey gushed about. There weremangydogs hanging out with kind of mean geese. It was not a place he ever thought tobe. Most people thought he was a country boy when he mentioned he grew up in atrailer. Nope. He was urban white trash. Land cost money, and his family neverhad that, despite all the crimes his parents participated in. Shouldn’t therehave been some kind of upside?
A horse wandered by, huffing as he moved. The horse was oldand probably slated to be glue when Lacey’s group swooped in and brought him tothe farm so he could eat grass and fart and die peacefully.
Zach wished there was a farm for spies.
After the debacle with Devi, he’d gone over the reportsconcerning the night before. None of them mentioned that Zach had been at theVirginia estate that burned to the ground. Devi’s name hadn’t made the reports,either. According to the reports filed by his former team members, it had beenCooper McKay who saved the day and the team.
Kala Taggart had done pretty much everything she promisedhim when they met in the Colorado woods, and Cooper finally figured out who hetruly was. Instead of arresting him, Kala had listened and told him she wouldhelp. Made him promise to come home when he had what he needed.
It was almost surely Kala who sent him the writeups of thefallout from burning down Huisman’s place in Virginia. He sent her a singlename.
Raymond White.
His dad. Biological dad. That man hadn’t given a real damnabout him except in how he could use his son to manipulate Shannon Reed.
And it looked like nothing had changed with dear old Dad.
Kala would put it together quickly, and he had no doubt shewould have Lou on it before they got back to Dallas.
Had he made a terrible mistake? Devi hated him. Hated him.Somehow he hadn’t thought she would hate him. He’d known she was mad. He’d kindof viewed her acting out as a call for him to pay attention to her, but what ifthis wasn’t about him beyond the fact that he was the bad guy?
He stood outside the pretty cottage he was going to have toshare with her for now. He should call her mom, send her home, and pray shefollowed directions this time.
“Well, Miss Stella is looking perfectly fit, and you are aswell, so I think I’ll be heading out. Unless you want me to look at yournew…guest.” Arthur Beddoe was the vet Lacey worked with when it was her turn towatch over what her group called “the farm.”
“She’s not a guest and you know it, doc.”
Arthur was an older man. Probably sixty or so, but he lookedyounger. He was fit, with neatly cut dark hair and warm brown eyes. He worecargo pants and a short sleeve button-down, all of which might be normallooking until you got to the socks and Birkenstocks. They were a dead giveawaythat this was a man who cared about the environment and probably smoked alittle weed in his time. A brow cocked over those kind eyes. “Are we notplaying games, then? Sometimes when Lacey brings…friends…around they like topretend. I think the last one asked me to call him Mr. Noir and pretended to bean attaché with the French embassy.”
That made Zach chuckle. “Yeah, I suppose that’s a dig at theAgency, but I understand it. How much do you know and are you former orcurrent?”
Because there was zero way this man wasn’t intelligence orhad been.
Arthur studied him for a moment. “I was SAS in my youth andworked a bit of intelligence, but I’ve been out of the game for a while. Raisedmy kids. Got back in for them, I suppose, though I changed teams. I’m notinvolved in any state-sponsored intelligence agency, and I’m strictly logisticsand aid now. I’m the one who brought Lacey in. Consider me her mentor, and Ipretty much know everything except who the young lass in the big bedroom is. Ineed to know if she’s going to take us down.”
He would have said no an hour ago. He would have said DeviTaggart would never want revenge. “I don’t know, but if I get even a hint thatshe’s going to bring in the authorities, I’ll take her and we won’t bother youor Lacey or the group again.”
