Page 65 of Spy With Me
“Should I follow him?” Cooper asked. “Zach, I mean.Obviously TJ made bad choices. I don’t think I need to, but we did come here tolook for him.”
Kala waved him off. “Nah, he’s not going anywhere withouthisdorogaya. Yeah, we’re going to talkabout that. He’s not supposed to speak anything but some high-school levelSpanish. Kenz, Tash, and I have had entire conversations we thought he didn’tunderstand.”
“Did you talk about how hot he is?” It’s what Devi wouldhave talked about.
“No. We might have talked about how we thought he was aplant,” Kala replied. “And long detailed discussions of our periods. We switchto Russian for those to save tender male ears. Tell me about Lacey Rook. I’mserious, Dev. She doesn’t exist.”
“Again, like you don’t exist,” Devi reiterated.
“My point exactly. Zach isn’t thinking straight.” Kalaglanced around. “Though I will admit, this place is cool. You know I’ve thoughtI would make a good bog witch. Like get a cottage in the woods and have a bunchof animals around me.”
“That dream died when we got married.” Cooper moved towardDevi, his arms out. “Did I thank you for all your help? She was both beautifuland comfortable. You did a fabulous job, and the lingerie was chef’s kiss.”
She hugged him. She hadn’t realized how much she missed herfamily. She’d been so focused on Zach and her own pinging between misery andcuriosity. She’d given her cousins permission to raid her apartment. She hadlots of samples there, and she was happy they had gotten used. “I’m glad youliked it. I’m sorry you had to cut your honeymoon short to come find me. Ireally am okay.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Lou looked concerned, and notabout her boyfriend. “I’ve discovered some unsettling rumors on the Dark Web. Iknow it sounds crazy that we went to all this trouble to find you, but Kalawants to make sure you know what you’re getting into.”
“A call might have worked.” Devi was well aware that sheneeded some pants. Wales was chilly even at this time of the year.
“How could I know he wasn’t influencing you?” Kala asked asCooper managed to get the rope off her. He loosened it and let her gracefullystep out. “Also, I didn’t want to have this meeting over the Internet. I wantedto lay eyes on you. I mean not as much of you as I actually saw, but eyes.Babe, something’s wrong here.” Her cousin leaned over and gently eased MissRachel down. The other chickens clucked around her. “I have this feeling in mygut. Something’s wrong.”
“I do not understand this place.” TJ jogged up. “First, it’sthe goose. Like I’m never going to think of geese as nice again. I’ll eat thatmotherfucker if someone wants to roast him up. Then I finally get away and agoat tries to headbutt me.”
Cooper was obviously taking his wife’s instincts seriously.He had his hand on his gun and was taking careful measure of the area aroundthem. “We should move inside. Kala has a bad feeling.”
“Maybe we could go inside and get some dinner,” TJsuggested.
“What did you say the chickens were named?” Kala asked, herhands in fists on her hips. She didn’t seem deeply concerned they were about tobe murdered. That wasn’t her cousin’s we’re-in-physical-trouble face. It washer thinking face. She was putting things together.
Devi had zero idea what the chickens’ names had to do withwhat was going on in Kala’s head, but she offered them up. “You know MissRachel. That’s Miss Callie and Miss Jen.”
Kala’s eyes closed, and her expression went blank. “And thegoose who only gets violent when he isn’t left alone is Caleb. The cows?”
“What’s going on, babe?” Cooper asked.
“Mel and Cass,” Devi replied, an uneasy feeling in her gut.
“Fuck me.” Kala’s eyes opened, and that was herI’m-going-to-murder-someone face. Yeah, she’d seen that expression a lotgrowing up.
“That is something you and Cooper should talk about.” TJ hada hand on his gut. “I need a sandwich. Devi, do y’all have any ham?”
“I suspect there is no ham here, TJ,” Kala said betweengritted teeth. “Tell me something, cousin. Didn’t you spend some time in Bliss?Do your eyes not work? Or has she gone the full-onMission Impossibleroute and she’s wearing someone else’s face? I suppose she could have used herskills in the dark arts to change her appearance. It’s what fucking demons do.”
Lou gasped. “No. No. It can’t be her. Didn’t you see her dada couple of weeks ago?”
Cooper moved near Lou as though they needed to standtogether to face whatever was coming.
“I haven’t been to Bliss in years. Gosh, I think the lasttime I spent any real time there I was like nine. I went to Carys’s wedding,but I had an interview. I stayed one night and I was on a plane in the morning.TJ went with Seth and Travis more often than I did. I spent summers in Dallaswith my friends.” She was confused. Bliss was a small town in Colorado whereher Uncle Ian owned a cabin. He spent many weeks during summers there andsometimes went to ski as well. So did the Dean-Miles family, and she’d gonewith Brianna a couple of times, but when she was a teen she’d preferred tospend her summers at home.
Her sewing machine was at home. She would spend summersworking with local theater groups making costumes. She kind of missed that.She’d really enjoyed those summers. Was she so determined to make it big thatshe was forgetting how much she loved small jobs, ones where she knew thepeople she was designing for?
“Isn’t Rachel the name of Paige’s mom? The one with the twohusbands, and one of them is a little wild?” TJ asked.
“They all have two husbands.” Kala shot out every word likeit was a bullet. “Well, except Lucifer’s mom, and yes, I recently talked toHenry and he did not bother to mention Lucifer was working a guy from my team.”
“Oh, shit,” Cooper said. “Baby, it’s not her. That would beinsane. Your dad would know.”
“She is walking chaos, so insanity is kind of her thing.Also, I will be having a long talk with my father. I should have known therewas a reason he and Mom took the whole ‘Zach’s in the wind thing’ like champs,”Kala said and started for the house. “We’re going to need to blow the place up.Bullets won’t work on her. TJ, do you have C-4?”
