Page 83 of Spy With Me
“I prefer meeting her here. If we were in London, we wouldhave to involve MI6 because Damon wouldn’t be able to pretend he knowsnothing.” Her uncle was talking about Damon Knight, who ran the London branchof McKay-Taggart and also had a few spy kids of his own. “He’ll tell us if hehears anything and try to give us cover, but we don’t want to alert the Agency,and that’s what bringing in MI6 would do.”
“What is the point? Are we bringing her in? Protecting her?Asking her to make a couple of fun bombs for us?” Kala did look tired, but thenshe’d always needed her beauty sleep.
“We’re making first contact and treating her like a scareddeer we need to be gentle with,” Henry replied.
“She’s a bombmaker,” Tristan pointed out. He relaxed back ashe looked her uncle’s way. Tris was a lovely man with dark hair and green eyesand a body he honed in the gym. “The woman has been in and out of prison mostof her adult life. I don’t think we should be treating her with kid gloves.She’s killed people.”
“She built something that killed people.” Zach’s tone wasbland, like he didn’t care. “I’m not making excuses for her, but she got caughtin something bad, and you can’t imagine that life. Tris, you’ve always hadpeople who cared about you. Who would move mountains for you. You literallyhave three parents who treat you like the sun in the sky. She never had that.What she had was a genius-level IQ in a poor household where her mother didn’tcare about her bouts of depression, her anxiety.”
“I know I have loving parents, but I assure you I dounderstand what it means to get caught in a life that’s not good for you,” Lucysaid softly. “I would bet she started because she was trying to please someone,likely your father, and the truth of the matter is jail doesn’t rehabilitatecriminals most of the time. It merely gives them access to other criminals.They became the only people she could halfway trust. Zach, I’m with my father.I’m going to treat your mother with care. Your father is another story.”
“How do you feel about that, Zach?” Uncle Ian studied Zachwith sympathetic eyes.
“If you see him, don’t hesitate,” Zach replied in thattoneless voice he used when he was far too emotional. “He already tried to takeDevi. And that’s my fault. The Canadians believe Huisman had someone follow methe night we broke Devi and Kala out of the house in Virginia.”
“I’d like to see their data,” her uncle said. “But I believethem. That was weeks ago. Why wait until now to make a move on Devi?”
“Oh, I’ve been sitting on that farm taking care of chickensand horses and all the kittens.” She wished she could have taken one of thekittens with her. Sweet little things. “That was the first time I was allowedoff the farm, and I get the feeling I’m going to pay for it. I don’t know whyZach decided today he wanted to be a Dom. He literally could have picked any ofthe other days when I was perfectly well behaved.”
She felt him place a kiss on her ear. “You’re neverperfectly behaved and you know it. You’re a force of nature when you want tobe.”
Her uncle ignored them utterly. “We think Huisman has a planhe would like to execute soon. There’s a meeting of the world economic councilin a couple of weeks. We think he wants to disrupt it.”
“But not in the traditional way,” Henry continued. “He’scareful when it comes to anything close to what he considers intelligencecircles, but he can be a bit reckless when he’s working with criminals or whatwe would call underground activists.”
“A few months ago, we found some chatter on a couple ofsites I monitor on the Dark Web,” Lucy explained. “They started to talk about agroup that stole a sample of weaponized anthrax.”
The room seemed suddenly on edge. Oh, they knew somethingshe didn’t. “Is it Huisman’s group?”
“Huisman used us for cover to steal that. My fiancé’s fatherowned a lab that was doing some risky research.” Tasha took over the narrative.“At the time we didn’t realize who Huisman was. We were researching him. Wecertainly didn’t realize he would use the raid on the business to slip in andget the formula they developed.”
“Anthrax is bad?” Devi didn’t keep up with medical stuff.
“Anthrax is a bacteria that occurs in nature.” Naturally Loutook the scientific explanations on. “It’s rare but humans who catch it usuallydo from contact with an infected animal. Depending on the way the spores areintroduced into the body, the mortality rate is between forty and fiftypercent.”
That sounded bad. “So he stole some of this bacteria?”
“He stole the formula to aerosolize anthrax. What they’retrying to do is take something rare with a high mortality rate and make it easyto spread and over a wide space. It could kill half a city quickly if dispersedin the right way. It would need to come from above. We think he’s made hisanthrax and is looking for a place to test it. What he needs is a way todeliver it.”
Now she understood. “He needs something he can use as abiological bomb.”
“Which is where my mother comes in,” Zach explained. “She’sknown for targeted explosions, which sounds like it wouldn’t work, but thetruth is she can adapt. With the right chemistry and tech, she can ensure thespores get delivered to the city’s biggest population centers.”
“And if they do it in the right place, that kind of terrorattack can upend the economy,” Henry concluded. “If some false information getsout, a few conspiracy theories in the right ears, and suddenly the world is apowder keg waiting to go off.”
It sounded diabolical. “But he can’t do it without ShannonReed.”
“We believe he hasn’t had a lot of luck in reverseengineering her work,” her uncle continued. “I think it’s frustrating himenormously, which is why he’s desperate to find her now. He’s on a timeline.There’s intelligence pointing to him building some kind of facility in themiddle of Nepal. In the side of a mountain.”
“My mother is prepared to protest him. Don’t discount that,”Lucy offered.
“Your mother is never getting close to him. She’s going backhome after we talk to Shannon and hand her protection over to her son and BigTag.” Henry stood up. “Speaking of, I’m going to call her before I go to bed.I’ll see you all in the morning, and I expect a full briefing on how you intendto cover the train station and the area around it. I’m looking at you, Tristan.Also, unless Kala wants to blow her cover or violate her marriage vows, Kenzieshould be on the ground tomorrow when we meet the Canadians.”
Kenzie clapped her hands. “Yes. I’m so excited. I haven’tseen him since our dinner date. Sis, you need to tell me everything he said.Oh, have you been pretending to be me?”
Kala’s brow rose.
“Are you serious?” her uncle said. “You’re trying to pullthis shit on me? Do I believe for one second Kala didn’t tell you and youdidn’t cover for her?”
