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)
“I didn’t meet with anyone except my team in Berlin.” And shortly after, the team had been called to Australia to babysit a Canadian operative. The mission that led to his CO getting offed by his cousin.
“All right, Sergeant. It seems you need other motivation. It is unfortunate, but a reality we are prepared for. We will secure it and speak again. Enjoy the accommodations in the meantime,” the voice said. “Klaus, dose the sergeant and secure him in his cell. We’ll decide between his mother or sister. He can watch us use them, and then we’ll see who he values.”
“Please not my mom. My mom… Don’t hurt my mom.” His mother would kill these fuckers if they touched her. She’d been a deadly soldier most of her life, and he would still put her up against most of his teammates to this day. But Devi… His sister wasn’t as well trained. She knew some self-defense, but Devi would get hurt.
“Or perhaps the little mouse you hang out with when you’re home. What was her name?” There was a whisper. “Oh, yes, Louisa. She works for a think tank. She might be an extra prize herself.”
Fuck. Not Lou. He couldn’t be the reason Lou got hurt.
He kicked out, his mind going red at the thought of Lou in these bastards’ hands.
Then he felt the prick of a needle against his bicep, and the world went dark.
Chapter Two
Lou hustled into the conference room at the McKay-Taggart building. It was usually empty on a Sunday, but the conference room held the twins and Cooper McKay.
It was Cooper who looked up bleary eyed as she strode through the glass doors with Zach.
“There better be a good reason I’m here on my day off,” Coop said, yawning behind his hand.
“He’s grumpy because play at The Hideout last night went into overtime,” Kala said with a smirk. “I told you that beam wasn’t going to hold that rigging.”
She’d skipped her regular Saturday hangout at the BDSM club her friends ran in favor of sitting at home with Bud 2 and watching old reruns of Mission Impossible. The sixties version. She’d been up and out of the house before the twins had woken up. But she didn’t have time for a rundown. “TJ is in trouble.”
That got everyone sitting up straight.
“What do you mean? I texted with him a couple of days ago,” Kenzie said. “He was hanging out at Ramstein. He had a lot of paperwork to do after his CO got whacked. He blamed Kala, despite the fact that we kept her murdering him out of the official reports, but he knows her pretty well.”
“The dude was going to kill my sister. I would have fucked up Chet, too, if he hadn’t cried like a baby,” Kala said under her breath.
Chet Whittington had been a CIA operative who’d gone bad, and TJ’s CO had been in on it with him. They were both dead now, and she’d taken some comfort in it since Chet had openly declared he was at war with the Taggarts.
“What did you text him about?” Zach sat down at the head of the table where he’d placed his laptop. He flipped it open and started typing.
“About him coming home,” Kenz explained. She bit her bottom lip. “He had a couple of questions.”
Lou could bet on what those questions were. “Did he want to know if I was still mad?”
Kenzie sighed. “Yes. He wanted to know how to talk to you. He feels bad.”
“He should,” Kala declared. “He’s been fucking up Lou’s life for more than a decade now.”
She wasn’t here to talk about her love life or lack of one. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the fact that until twenty-four hours ago, TJ had been planning to come home for a couple of weeks. Cooper, did TJ text you?”
There was something about the tight set of Coop’s jaw that let Lou know he was hiding something. He’d been completely relaxed until he’d seen her. It wasn’t the first time Coop had felt bad for her about something TJ had done.
Cooper sat back. “TJ is fine. He just changed his mind about coming home.”
A brow rose over Zach’s eyes. He was slightly older than the rest of them. At twenty-nine, Zach was the team’s Army advisor. He was in charge when it came to the military teams they used as backup, but they all looked to Zach when it came to the physical aspects of a mission. “Did he send you pictures?”
Coop unlocked his phone. “Yeah. Does Lou need to see this?”
“Yes, Lou needs to see this.” She reached out and looked down at the screen. There was TJ, smiling next to a gorgeous blonde. They were at some swanky ski resort looking cozy and all coupled up.
Change of plans, brother. I’m going to hole up with this cutie for a couple of weeks. See you soon.