Page 4 of Spy With Me
His brother’s brother. Hunter was a good kid, but Zach feltawkward around him. Cooper loved his brother, was good to him.
Hunter had taken his place, and he couldn’t blame the kid,but he still felt weird about it.
He glanced down at his cell and frowned. Lacey.
Lacey was a contact in his mother’s world. She was thedaughter of a woman his mom had met a couple of times over the years, thoughmiraculously, she trusted her therefore would actually talk to Lacey. She was avegan, tree-hugging near anarchist, but she was excellent at digging upinformation and had contacts in the underground world his mom occupied that hecouldn’t match.
He liked Lacey. She actually kind of reminded him of Kala.But he didn’t want to answer that phone. He wanted to pretend he wasn’t who hewas for the night. It would have been perfect to do that with Devi Taggart, butit wasn’t happening.
So he moved past Lucas and Hunter and back toward theshowers where he was absolutely certain no one would hear him. He slid histhumb across the cell to answer the call. “This is Reed.”
Captain Zachary Reed. Soldier. Operative. Liar.
“Hey, Zach.” Lacey’s British accent came over the line.She’d been born in Liverpool and kept a house there. From what he could tell,Lacey Rook came from wealth, but she’d rebelled against her traditionalistparents and joined all kinds of activist groups. “I wanted to let you know Igot in touch with a contact who swears he’s seen our friend.”
His gut tightened. “Where was she?”
“He wouldn’t say. I’m working on him. He doesn’t trust me,”Lacey replied. “Not yet, but you know I can calm the most paranoid conspiracytheorist. Personally, I think she’s here in Europe somewhere. The man I talkedto is what I would call a procurement specialist.”
So he basically worked logistics for underground groups andcriminals, which often were a perfect Venn diagram. “He trying to buy somethingfrom her?”
Always her and she. He never said her name or called hermother.Lacey wouldn’t either. He’d been working with her for over a year, and she wasthe closest he’d come to actually getting in the same room with his mom.
“You know everyone loves her pottery.” Lacey followed theircode words even though he trusted she would be on a somewhat secure line. “I’msure he’s trying to make a sale to a high-value client.”
He didn’t want to deal with this tonight. Whenever he triedto handle his mom, he felt fucking helpless. Likely because he was helpless.His mother was excellent at hiding. She was even better at building bombs thatcould shake the world—precisely the reason Emmanuel Huisman was looking forher. “Is it for the Canadian gallery? I know she wasn’t interested in showingthere.”
His mother was terrified of Huisman, hence her going toground for the last couple of years.
“I can’t be sure. It was a hurried conversation,” shereplied. “When do you think you can get back across the pond? There are a fewspots I’m looking at that might be a better fit for her.”
So she had some places to check out. The problem was if heleft now, it would be noted. “I’m afraid I’m pretty deep in the weeds at work.I’ve got a new project. I’ll be in Canada next week.”
Aidan O’Donnell had been invited to a medical conference byone Dr. Emmanuel Huisman. Aidan was a resident in trauma surgery, and theHuisman Foundation sponsored a whole lot of research in the medical world.Unfortunately, they also sponsored terrorism.
“Then I’ll check it out myself,” she replied.
“Hey, you need…” he began.
“I’ll be careful. And you do the same. I’m worried aboutsome movements I’ve seen recently, but we can talk about that later. I’m sureit’s late where you are,” Lacey said.
“It’s almost dawn where you are.” If she was in Liverpool,it would be five in the morning. “Are you up early or late?”
A husky laugh came over the line. Lacey was a gorgeous womanwith long hair she changed as often as the twins did. The last time he’d seenher the long tresses had ended in a beautiful jade green color. And yet hedidn’t feel a pull her way. They’d worked together for months, and he’d nevermade a move on her. He wasn’t even sure she liked guys, but it was weird he’dnever felt anything for her when she was very much his type.
A vision of Devi brushed across his brain.
Maybe she needed to get to know him better. Or she didn’twant to get involved with a guy who worked with her brother. He couldn’t fixthat. He might be able to convince her though. He just had to get some timewith her.
Why was he thinking about this when he should be gettingdressed and heading back to Cooper’s, where he was staying for the week? Hecould get on his laptop—the encrypted one—and get some work done. Maybe trackdown some of the leads Lacey was offering.
But he wasn’t going to do that. He was here. He was going tospend a couple of damn hours being the man he wanted to be. And if Deviwouldn’t play with him, maybe she would let him buy her a drink at the end ofthe night. There was so much to catch up on. He’d missed the wedding wherehelicopters sent by Huisman nearly took out the wedding party. All he’d gottenwas a stupid report that left out all the fun stuff. He would bet Devi had somestories.
Yeah, that might be his in.
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, mate,” Lacey said over the line.“Well, I’ll let you know if I come up with a workable plan for our friend.Until then, keep me up to date on whatever I need to know. If you find yourselfin Liverpool, I’ll buy you a drink.”
“I’ll keep you to that,” he replied. “Bye, Lace.”
