Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 139606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 558(@250wpm)___ 465(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 698(@200wpm)___ 558(@250wpm)___ 465(@300wpm)
Nate was friends with Aidan O’Donnell, and that meant he knew Tristan, since the two had been practically attached since they were…well, born. She couldn’t remember a time when Tris and Aidan hadn’t been so close they could be brothers.
She’d been surprised Tris had been willing to do the pickup. She’d half expected him to turtle the minute he heard someone who knew him from his happier days was coming.
Dare thought she was on her way to the airport with her sister and cousin. One more lie she’d told him.
Maybe she wasn’t so relaxed.
Lou turned in her chair. “I’ve looked everywhere and cannot find a thing on this guy except what he wants me to see.”
“I don’t like it.” Kala had played Kara today. She was in a chic business suit, her magenta-colored hair tied back in a neat bun, and she’d already stowed the suitcase she toted around complete with real information on new clinical trials Millhouse Pharmaceutical was running. “We should kill him.”
A pillow shot across the room, which Kala batted away without even looking.
It had come from Kenzie, who was still in pajamas despite the fact that it was well into afternoon. “You are not killing him. What is wrong with you? You always go straight to ‘let’s kill him.’”
“It’s the easiest way to ensure he doesn’t kill us,” Kala shot back.
“It also gives us no intel.” Lou settled in her chair as though perfectly willing to watch the twin smackdown.
Tasha didn’t have time for a smackdown today. “You two chill. No one is killing Brian. I’m still not convinced he’s mob, and if he’s intelligence, he could be a friendly. Hell, he could be one of ours. You know sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
The Agency wasn’t the best when it came to cooperating—even with their own teams.
“Now I am worried about that,” Lou said as the twins seemed to calm down. “Zach said he’s heard something about another team in play here in Australia. He’s making some calls.”
That was the last thing she needed. Any other team would be more senior than hers, and they would try to take over. Not just try. They would likely be allowed to do it, and she could lose the ability to protect Dare. “What would they be doing? This is a surveillance mission. We don’t need two teams.”
“Unless they know something we don’t.” Kala shrugged out of the jacket she’d worn. “And they’re using us to do the surveillance and intend to swoop in and pick up the prize.”
“What prize?” It was the mystery she’d been thinking about all morning. Well, when she wasn’t under Dare.
When she’d been under Dare, she hadn’t thought about anything but him. She’d let the world fall away, and she hadn’t been an operative, hadn’t been working him for intel. She’d simply been his.
“I don’t know,” Lou admitted. “You talked to Brian last night and he told you he’s worried someone wants Dare for reasons beyond mere money.”
Kenzie gracefully leapt over the back of the sofa and landed next to her twin. “I read the report. He thinks there’s something in the Nash Group’s portfolio.”
After Brian had left, she’d ensured the suite was bug free and then written a quick report to let her team know what had happened and that she was in place and safe for the night. She’d detailed her conversation with Brian. “Yes. Did you look into the subsidiaries?”
“There are more than Brian found,” Lou explained. “I’ve been able to tie forty-two smaller companies to the Nash Group, and of course there are many more they’ve invested in. From what I can tell they really enjoy investing money in cash-strapped researchers and then taking the majority of the profits when they inevitably sell. Their contracts are heavily favored to their side. In one case, they even stole the patent for the process from a group of technicians who found a way to make MRIs run better. I think we also have to consider the fact that Dare’s family has a lot of enemies.”
Kala’s head shook. “No. This isn’t revenge or we wouldn’t have competing teams. The Nash Group is important in a way we haven’t figured out yet.”
“We’re not here to solve that mystery,” Kenzie insisted. “We’re here to get close to Emmanuel Huisman and report back on our findings. That’s all. Anything else is outside of mission parameters.”
“So is you trying to hump the enemy,” her twin shot back.
Kenzie gave her sister her middle finger and then looked back to Tasha. “We don’t know he’s the enemy, and I’m merely trying to be the voice of reason. You know what we’ve been taught. We’re supposed to do the job and get out as quietly as possible. If there’s another team on the ground, they’re here for a reason. This isn’t a game we’re trying to win. We get close to Huisman, find out if Oakley is trying to manipulate him, and then let the ’rents figure out what to do next.”