Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Chapter Fifteen
Lou stared down at the phone and thought seriously about grabbing her things and heading back home so she could stop the absolute disaster that was apparently occurring there.
“Did you tell TJ about the cheesecake? It’s turtle. Your dad’s favorite,” Kala called from the couch where she was currently reading a magazine. She twisted her body so she was looking Lou’s way. “You know I wish we had the whole place wired for video and sound. I would like to see how TJ’s handling your dad.”
“Apparently he’s telling him everything.” She’d thought he might deflect, maybe use the op to keep her dad calm. That did not sound like what he was doing.
They’d talked about condoms?
“You know if it was my dad, he would make TJ show him the condoms and then no matter how good the condoms are, he would complain about them. You should count yourself lucky that your dad is just going to be happy he’s wearing them.” A brow cocked over Kala’s eyes. “He is wearing one, right?”
“Not right now he isn’t.” Lou was feeling… She wasn’t sure what she was feeling, but it wasn’t a nice, peaceful thing. It was anxiety and anger and guilt and anticipation because TJ would be coming up here after he was done screwing things up with her dad, and what would she do about that? “He might never have to wear one again.”
Kala sighed and sat up. “It was inevitable. At some point in time my dad was absolutely going to tell your dad that you’re sleeping with TJ. We all told you to cut him off at the pass. You didn’t want to because you didn’t want to lie to your parents.”
“I wasn’t going to lie.”
“You were if you were going to tell them that it’s all about an op, and that’s all I’m going to say about it because you are going through a delusional stage.” Kala stood and crossed the big room that contained her office space and what she called her workshop. She technically took up what they referred to as a lab here at 4L. There were several floors that were divided into quarters for the scientists and teams who worked here. She shared this floor with Dr. Madeline Murphy, who worked on satellite tech, and Dr. Noelle LaVigne-Hutchins, whose work centered on helium conservation. The fourth large space was security, including a couple of Agency plants.
Needless to say she felt safe here in this building. Which is why it would have been great if Kala had been willing to drop her off so she wouldn’t have to talk about her delusions. Because she knew damn well her friend was right.
“So what do we have?” Kala asked, moving behind her so she could look over Lou’s shoulder at the screen of her laptop.
Before she’d figured out her dad was paying TJ a visit, she’d been taking apart the “evidence” MI6 had sent over.
The problem was that photo was well done. She was fairly certain it was real. “Nothing tells me it’s a deep fake, and I’ve isolated some background items that can help me pinpoint the day it was taken. There’s a restaurant in the background, and I can get a closeup on the menu they have on a sign outside. After I checked with their website, I can confirm that this picture was taken on the day MI6 thinks it was taken on. It’s not just the menu. If you look at the club across the street, the only night they had live music that month was the day MI6 believes the picture was taken.”
She’d looked for anyway to disprove the picture.
“And all of that lines up with when TJ was in Berlin. Zach placed TJ in Bulgaria when MI6 believes The Jester was making a deal. So that’s two times they have him in close proximity,” Kala murmured. “Still mere coincidence. Also, there’s no decent picture of the man they claim is The Jester. I still don’t know how we can’t find a single picture where we get this guy’s face. What can you tell about him from his clothes?”
“I would say he’s American. Those shoes he’s wearing were brand new at the time. Basketball shoes. They hadn’t been released outside the US at that point. The rest of his clothes are typical American,” Lou explained. “I want TJ to look at it again because I think this is someone he knows. Maybe someone on his team.”
“Someone who knows how to hide his face? Maybe if they were on an op, but TJ is obviously not,” Kala pointed out. “How about the money? You know how little money five grand is in that world.”
It was good they were on the same page. “I tracked it down, and like most crap with crypto it’s hard to pinpoint who owns what. I can tell you that the transfer got pinged around the globe. No surprise there.”