Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
“Well, I was taking your dad’s advice,” Zach shot back. “He helped me make the spanking bench. I should have asked why the vet knew so much about furniture building.”
“Eww,” Lucy said, bringing her knee up to catch Kala in the crotch.
“Way to confirm your dad’s here,” Kala shot back with a wince. “The good news is he can build your coffin.”
“No. Bad Kala. No.” Lou moved in, spraying her bestie with the water.
Kala growled but she moved off Lucy. “Lou, I told you that’s rude.”
“Yeah, Lou, don’t be rude,” Lucy said in a singsong, sure to frustrate Kala tone.
Lou turned the water bottle on her. “Bad Lucy.”
“Hey.” Lucy scrambled to her feet. “What the hell?”
Devi grinned as she turned to Lou. “Can I try it?”
“Not a good idea. Lou is trained.” Cooper moved to the center of the room and looked the women over. “You two need to chill the fuck out because the Canadians are on their way. We need to get ready for a meeting, and that means keeping everyone’s cover.”
Zach stood because this was news to him. “The Canadians?”
Kala seemed to sober at the thought. “Yeah, how do you think we found you? Ben Parker has been looking for you. Zach, that is. Though I suspect he used Devi being missing as another starting point.”
“The last time I saw Parker, he was still upset with Miss Magenta.” Did everyone know where he was? Because it was hard to believe that if Henry Flanders knew, Big Tag didn’t, and what was the game? It was obvious Big Tag was playing a long one.
“Miss Magenta, gag.” Lucy said.
“It’s better than Lacey Rook. You sound like some chick with an OnlyFans,” Kala shot back.
But now that he understood all the relationships, Zach got Lucy’s name. “Her dad went by John Bishop. She used Rook instead. Both chess references.”
“Very good, Zach. I wasn’t going to be a pawn.” Lucy straightened her shirt. “And now I need to call my dad since apparently we’re hosting the Canadians. It would have been nice if someone told me they were here.”
“It would have been nice if you were never born,” Kala shot back and then held up her hands because Lou was serious about the water bottle. “Sorry. I can be professional.” She turned to Zach. “Miss Magenta and Ben Parker have made up and are working together well now. It’s why he agreed to help us out. We couldn’t look for you with Agency contacts because they would report back and be surprised when we don’t arrest you. At least that’s what we thought. Now I wonder how much my dad isn’t telling me.”
“The Agency doesn’t know,” Lucy admitted. “I mean they know I’m working on Disrupt Europe, but I’m hunting a terrorist with ties there. They don’t know that I found the bombmaker, and they certainly don’t know Dad and I are working with Zach. Hopefully your friend doesn’t feel the need to update the Agency.”
“Parker is going a little rogue on this op,” Cooper admitted.
“Kind of like we are,” Lou said. “There’s a reason the whole team isn’t here. We’re doing this without Big Tag and Charlotte. I don’t think Ben’s going to rat us out.”
“You found her? You made contact with her?” Zach felt his heart threaten to seize. They were missing the big point.
Devi’s hand found his. “Your mom is here?”
“No, she’s in South America, but she’s coming here,” Lucy explained. “That’s what I was working on this afternoon. My mom made contact with her. She’s been living with an underground group in Argentina. They call themselves climate warriors. They do things like make it hard and costly for companies to log in certain places, and I don’t like to think about what they’ve done to convince certain governments to change their policies. Pretty sure they know how to blackmail a politician.”
“Your mom is involved?” How far was the Agency taking this whole familial thing?
“Yes, but not the way you would think. Some of these underground groups are focused on the environment. They’re activists. Some, over time, turn to more criminal pursuits, and that’s when my mom starts asking questions,” Lucy explained. “She’s got a lot of pull in that community. A few years ago, one of my parents’ friends had a daughter who got involved in a bad group. My mom pushed my dad to help her find the kid and he talked to Big Tag, and we’ve been working with the CIA ever since.”
Kala put a hand to her heart as though it was strained. “My own father betrayed me.”
Lucy ignored her. “My dad said he thought someone was in town. He worried it was the Agency looking for Zach. He was going to do a review of all the CCTVs coming in and out of the village.”