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)
She’d run like a scared mouse, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him. “Yeah. I’m heading back to their place when we touch down. It’ll make it easier to talk about the op. We still have no idea why they think I know this dude. We’re supposed to get more information on the guy in the next couple of days.”
“They were serious if they were willing to kidnap your mother in order to make you talk,” his father pointed out. “So they have to have a reason to believe you’re involved. You need to go over every op you’ve been on in the last couple of years, everyone you’ve worked with.”
“I think we’ll all be doing that over the next couple of weeks.” Cooper was standing in the aisle, a mug of coffee in his hand. “Hey, TJ, Zach wants a word. Call me if the plane starts going down.”
Shit. What did Zach want? He wasn’t close to Zach. He’d worked with the man on a couple of occasions, and he reminded TJ a lot of his uncle. Zach was an authority figure with a capital A. Some people went into the military because they didn’t have another place to go or wanted to use the training to get good jobs. Zach had gone in because he was practically the poster child for the all-American soldier.
He got to his feet and marched toward the cabin, wishing he was moving to the back of the plane. At the back of the plane was a small kitchen and bathroom, but more importantly it was where Lou and Kala had set themselves up. He would think Kala was trying to ice him out, but she’d been the one to tell him he could stay with them the way he almost always did when he was in town.
Which was good because his other option was sleeping on Seth and Lucas’s couch, and that meant watching at least one chick try to sneak out in the early morning hours. Sometimes two, but he’d seen as many as four sneaking away, and he didn’t like to do that math.
Would that have been his life if he hadn’t met Louisa Ward? Would he have ditched the military and worked for one of his uncles and screwed as many women as he could? The strange thing was he didn’t find it appealing at all. He genuinely preferred hanging with Lou and Kala and Kenz, watching movies and playing games or taking Bud 2 to the dog park. He liked going over to Lou’s parent’s house and hanging with her little brother.
Had he screwed this up so badly he couldn’t hope for that life now?
He glanced back when he made it to the cockpit door, but Lou wasn’t looking up. She was leaning forward and talking to Kala, a serious expression on her face.
He wanted to go back there, take her hand, and show her where her place was, but his uncle might have a heart attack, and his father had counseled patience at this point.
He had weeks with her. Unless she freaked and kicked his ass out.
He knocked on the door and then entered when Zach gave him leave.
Zach was sitting in the pilot’s seat, his masculine features illuminated by the lights coming off the instrument panel. “Hey, man. Have a seat. We’re in full autopilot mode for the next couple of hours, and I thought we should have a chat.”
That sounded bad. “In a captain to sergeant way, or a don’t fuck up my team you nitwit way?”
A ghost of a smile hit the man’s face, and he gestured to the chair beside him. “Can’t it be both?”
TJ managed to slide into the copilot’s seat. He wondered if Zach had changed seats since Cooper was the pilot and if he’d done it for intimidation purposes. Not that he was. “Sure, except you should remember this is my team, too. I grew up with them. They’re my family, so you should understand I will never willingly put them in danger.”
“And yet you did today.” Zach was all business now. “Sergeant Taggart, did you or did you not stop down in the middle of a mission to kiss my asset?”
“She’s not your asset. She’s Lou.”
“Do you think I don’t know that? Do you think I don’t know exactly how many missions she’s run and what her kill rate is? Zero. It was zero until today, and I planned to keep it that way. You fucked that up. You are the reason she was forced to do something counter to who she is. She was supposed to get in, hunker down with you, and wait until comms came back online so she could blow the door and get away. You distracted her.”
“That’s not what she said.” He’d heard her telling someone before the conference meeting that it was all a way to keep him from saying something he shouldn’t. Bullshit. He didn’t believe a word of it.