Page 76 of Spy With Me
“Rude,” Lou complained. Her eyes were wide behind herglasses as though she was waiting for the drama to start.
“I don’t love to drive,” TJ admitted.
Kala ignored him. “Also, the four of us going on vacationtogether won’t cause any real suspicion in our handlers. They’re used to it.”
“So why did you need to find Devi Taggart outside of Agencyoverview?” Parker asked and then shook his head. “Scratch that. I get it. Youdon’t want Zach there arrested. But I thought you didn’t want the big guy toknow what you were doing. I’m trying to get a lay of the land here.”
Cooper chose that moment to enter, and he had forgotten tobutton his top button. He looked like he’d rolled around for a while with hisbrand-new wife. Dumb ass. Henry’s eyes closed briefly as though he was holdingback on the lecture.
Parker’s eyes widened, taking in the state of Cooper’sshirt.
“Parker,” Cooper said with a frown.
“McKay,” Parker returned with an equally dour expression.
Tim leaned over and whispered Devi’s way. “Cooper likedMaggie and for a long time Ben thought Maggie was with Cooper, but she was alllike no, eww, we pretend for ops and I like you. But Cooper got all freaked outwhen she almost died. Like soap opera hero freaked out.”
“I did not.” Cooper frowned Tim’s way. “And you weren’t eventhere.”
“But the security cam footage was,” Tim replied, utterlynon-plussed that a six-foot, five-inch Navy pilot looked like he was going toeat him for lunch. He was too busy flirting with Devi. “It was a lot, and Benwas super sad because all he thinks about is Maggie.”
“Hey,” Parker began.
Devi grinned, turning that high-wattage charm on Tim. “No,tell me more, Tim. I’m new to this whole spy thing. I got involved with Zach ata lifestyle club. I thought he was an out-of-work student my brother knew. Hewas trying to get a job at my uncle’s restaurant. Washing dishes, but nope. Heturns out to be a big old spy, and now some weird doctor person wants to murderme because my last name is Taggart. So I’m interested in how everything works.Maggie loves Ben now and not Cooper, who she just played around with.”
At least she had the story down. She was having way too muchfun with this. He knew she would want to call Daisy and Brianna as soon aspossible.
“We don’t need to get into this.” Henry valiantly tried tostop the snowball that was starting to roll downhill.
“I don’t think they’re doing it yet,” Tim whispered her way.“If they are, then Ben is awfully uptight, but now it looks like Cooper’sgetting some and this could become a fight.”
“I am not with Cooper,” Kala stated, sounding more likeherself.
“We are not together,” Cooper agreed. “I’m over that stupidcrush.”
“Yes, he is.” Lucy entered with a breezy smile. She lookedCooper up and down and tsked, her British accent perfect again. “And I did notproperly dress you after our reunion.” She rebuttoned Cooper’s shirt. “Sorryabout that.”
All of the American eyes went straight to Kala, who wasprobably about to commit murder.
“Sorry. Cooper and I worked together several times before.We haven’t seen each other in ages, but let me tell you the chemistry is stillthere.” Lucy ran an arm through Cooper’s and leaned against him like he was herbeloved boyfriend. “At least he won’t have to sleep on the couch.”
“Fuck me,” Henry said under his breath.
But Parker seemed to buy it. He relaxed and leaned over,whispering something in Kala’s ear that made her go pale. Still, she smiledgamely and seemed to agree.
“If you two lovebirds could sit down, I think we have a lotto talk about,” Kala said in her most professional tone. “As for why I left myhandler out of it, well, I’ve come to suspect he leaves his team out of somekey decisions, so it felt like fair play. Mr. Bishop, are you or are you notworking under direct orders from my handler?”
“I wouldn’t call them orders,” Henry replied. “I don’t workfor Ian. I work with him from time to time, and I trust him. My operative,Lacey, and I were in the perfect position to work our way into Zach’s world.”
He could guess what that position had been. “You werealready in my mother’s world.”
Lucy laced her fingers through Cooper’s and dragged him tothe table, sitting them together across from Kala, who would likely play in herentrails soon. “Mr. Bishop and I have connections in certain undergroundmovements, including a couple Shannon Reed is involved in. My specific missionfor the last couple of years has been to investigate Disrupt Europe. We’veworked with MI6 trying to track down the people who attempted to assassinateseveral members of Europe’s royal families a few years back. That was when webecame aware of the bombmaker. It took us some time and another one of ourassociates to confirm the identity of her. At this point we believed the twomissions were not connected. We knew Zach was involved in some way, but wedidn’t suspect Shannon Reed was his mother.”
“Like Lacey explained, in the beginning we were tasked withfiguring out what Zach was doing and if he was a direct threat to Ian’s team,”Henry continued.
“Threat?” Parker stuck on the word.
It was time for his confession. “When I was assigned as themilitary liaison for Ian’s team, my real mission was to report back to my Armybosses and a certain contingent at the Agency who did not like the thought ofIan being in charge of a team. His team is considered experimental, and somepeople thought it was Ian’s way of acquiring power. I was sent in to find thedirt so they could break up the team while keeping the assets they wanted. LikeKara and Lou. They would have quietly put Ian and Charlotte out to pasture.”
