Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“No, that’s the point,” Kim agreed. “Brad lives for this job. He’s what I like to call a true believer, and the Agency is sort of his religion. He doesn’t have anything but this job, and if he’s not careful he never will. You, on the other hand, don’t care about the job.”
“Excuse me? I’ve done nothing but prep for this job for almost two years. I would definitely say I care about it.”
“You don’t care about the job. You care about what you’re going to get out of the job,” Sandra argued. “There’s a difference. Brad has a goal. He wants to get this job done and look good to his bosses so he can move up in the organization. I’m sure there’s a part of him that wants to bring down The Consortium, but that’s his primary motivation. It’s why he’s been testing you so hard this week. Also, way to punch a tit, Taylor. Solo here was massaging that sucker like it was her life’s work.”
Kim frowned, and sure enough her hand came up to cover her left breast. “Hey, that was painful and yes, to Sandra’s point, I do believe that’s exactly why Brad is so serious about this op. He’s ambitious, and he thinks he sees a mission and an agent who can aid him in those ambitions.”
She did not understand what point they were trying to make. “I don’t see why that’s a problem.”
“Because you do not want the same thing,” Kim replied. “You don’t care about the outcome of his op for the same reasons. He wants it to work for professional reasons. You want revenge, and you don’t care about how you get it. You don’t think about your life after the op because you don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
“You’re walking into this op thinking you’re not walking back out,” Sandra added. “And that, my girl, is going to get you killed. Normally I wouldn’t care, but I’ve come to like you, Taylor. So I’m going to give you advice I normally would never give another woman. Pick the boy.”
“Pick the boy,” Kim said with a half smile. “I would tell you something different if I thought you were passionate about this job, but you’re not. You think this is what your father would want for you. I’m a mom. I wouldn’t want my son to avenge me. I would want him to have an amazing life. I would want him to love all the good things we had and find his happiness. There is no happiness with revenge. You’re not going to finish the job and sit back and find the peace you’re looking for. You’re going to die or grow old looking for something that doesn’t exist.”
“I assure you the person who killed my father exists,” Taylor argued. “The person who set him up exists.”
“And the person who signed off on killing him exists,” Sandra said. “There was probably someone else. When does it end? When are you satisfied? And what do you do after? Like I said, I know it seems like a route I would never advise another young woman to take, but this isn’t your career. You haven’t found that yet. This isn’t your passion. You haven’t found that either. You’re running on rage and fear, and it’s going to get you killed.”
Taylor sat up straighter. “Did you have this conversation with Drake?”
“No, I did not because it’s different for him,” Kim replied.
“Because he’s a man?” She didn’t like how they were making her feel. The truth of the matter was she’d only ever worked for the Agency because of her father. If he’d been alive a few more months, she would have been out of the game altogether. She would have been halfway through her first semester at whatever community college would take her. She would have been Drake’s girlfriend and looked forward to the time they spent together. She would have made some friends and put down roots for the first time in her life.
She shook her head at the thought. She wouldn’t have been Drake’s freaking girlfriend because he’d been playing her. He hadn’t meant to follow through on any of his promises. He was playing her now because he wanted in on the op.
They’d had good talks, but there was still doubt in her mind. He was excellent at his job, and right now his job was managing her.
“Because his family is at stake.” Kim set the big glass down. “Because his sister is alive, and she’s coming for one of the only people he’s ever called a friend. I’m sure if Julia has her way, she’ll burn down everything and everyone she has to in order to get Kyle. I know because that’s what Levi would have done to get to me. He would have killed Beck. He would have killed our son. He would have burned the world down to satisfy his belief that all he needed was to get me alone and I would love him. He didn’t understand the meaning of the word. You know Drake had a hand in taking him down. He could have lost his job for what he did, but he did it anyway. His favorite cousin had fallen under Levi’s spell. When Levi couldn’t find me, he decided to marry someone who could help further his career. He made a mistake. He thought Drake was like him. Drake does understand what the word love means.”