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)
Once many years before, she’d heard rumors that Tennessee Smith had tried to build a team he could use, the same men every time. Men who would get to know each other, watch out for each other. A true team for spies.
It had fallen apart because Smith had been disavowed. The team he’d carefully organized had been pulled apart and only brought back together outside of the Agency. They’d gone to McKay-Taggart where the teams operated so differently.
Her brain was working overtime as she swiped her Oyster card and found the proper platform.
A team wouldn’t work for all missions, but it could help to have a couple of groups that worked together, learned everything they could about the operatives around them so there wasn’t this crushing sense of vulnerability.
She felt it. It pressed on her chest. Why should she trust Brad—a man she’d barely spent any time with?
Of course Drake had tried that with his sister and Kyle Hawthorne and it hadn’t worked out for him either.
The Agency would have to be careful. Each team member would have to be thoughtfully selected.
Wind gushed through the Tube station, and she heard the whirring sound that let her know a train was coming in.
Almost time.
Get in. Do the job. Get home.
Home was anywhere Drake was. Drake would be waiting for her. He wouldn’t be gone this time, and he wouldn’t allow the job to sweep her away. He wouldn’t let her get drowned by this, her personality and wants ignored in favor of the mission. Drake wouldn’t let it happen. He would come for her and fight to have a place in her life, to give her a space outside the job.
No matter what happens to you in life, do not forget who you are, dushka. You, my darling girl, you have been my salvation. You are the reason I am still me. I got to be your father or I would have only ever been a weapon. You made me human.
Tears pierced her eyes at the thought of her father’s words. He said them a few weeks before she’d gone to Romania to wait for him. They’d been in Havana for the doctor’s appointment. He’d been staring out over the ocean, and they’d had that comfortable silence they always seemed to find together. Then he’d said those words and kissed her forehead and they’d gotten breakfast.
She’d built Constance Tyne as armor she could place around her body and soul. She’d created Constance so she didn’t have to be Taylor, and if Drake hadn’t come along, she would have stitched Constance into place and allowed Taylor to recede into the background, the bare foundation of the weapon she would have become.
“Hey, are you all right?”
She turned and there was a woman standing next to her as the train whooshed in and the doors opened, letting out the passengers that were still traveling past ten in the evening. There were only a few people waiting on the train, and it unnerved her that she hadn’t realized this woman was standing so close to her. She gave the blonde a smile. “Oh, I’m good. Thank you.”
She turned and entered the train, hoping she could shake off the woman with the long blonde hair. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses despite the fact that it had been dark for hours, and her accent was pure American.
Yet when she sat down, the blonde sat beside her. The train pulled away and the blonde sat back, flipping her sunglasses up and showing off vivid blue eyes. She crossed one leg over the other. “Are you nervous, Constance?”
Fuck. She felt a chill go up her spine and realized that she wasn’t ready for this. Not in any way. Maybe Constance was, but falling in love with Drake again had softened her up enough that she wasn’t sure she could play the Constance role.
But she had to. Starting right now.
She banished all softer thoughts and forced herself to go cold. No one else was sitting in the car they occupied. “I thought we were meeting in the lobby.”
“Why do you think I told you to get on the train? The lobby of that hotel is busy even at this time of night. There are too many eyes and ears, and I suspect someone is onto me,” the woman said. “I’ve got connections I don’t like to think about. Now let’s talk.”
“We haven’t been talking all along?” Something was off with the woman.
“We’ve been dancing around, and it wasn’t always me. That’s what you need to understand. When you talk to one of us, you talk to all of us. There aren’t many of us, and you should understand that if you can’t get the job done, the severance package from the group is rather permanent. Which is exactly what happened to the last woman you spent time talking to. Hence, I’m here to do cleanup.”