Chapter Five
Ben Parker sat at the conference table staring at his mentor. Joseph Caulder was in his late forties and had been working intelligence for twenty years. So long that there was almost no way he didn’t know who Mr. Lemon was. “How long have you known?”
Joseph looked up from his notes. “Parker? You’re still here? Do you have a problem with the new assignment?”
It had been three weeks since that day in Nepal, and he hadn’t spent a single second thinking about anything but Mag…Kenzie Taggart.
His whole body felt alive when he thought about those minutes they’d spent together.
He’d made a mistake. He shouldn’t have allowed her to walk away.
He should have thrown her over his shoulder and forced her to come with him.
He’d seen it in his head. He could find a nice cell for her and she could serve him until she’d made up for lying and making him look like a fool.
Then he thought about the hollow look in her eyes, and he wanted to call her, to ease her and soothe her.
Which was exactly what she wanted.
“I think I should be the one to go to Dallas. Now answer my question.”
Joseph stared at him for a moment. “How long have I known what?”
“That our American contact was Ian Taggart.” He’d spent every spare moment he had learning everything he could about the Taggarts. On paper they were a family of five with an adopted eldest daughter, Tasha, and two sons, Seth and Travis, and one grandson, Colton Taggart.
On paper Kenzie Taggart and her twin didn’t exist.
Joseph sat up and took his glasses off. “I’ve known Ian for a long time. Most of my career, actually. I got involved in a case that revolved around his nephew many years ago. I was a field agent then.” He sighed. “I suppose this is about Ms. Magenta.”
“So you know she’s his daughter.” The betrayal cut through him.
“I suspected, and I suspect she’s not the only one.
If I recall he had twins. Two girls who looked an awful lot like their mother,” Joseph said softly, as though remembering.
“If you look today there is no mention of the twins. Given that I know for a fact the young woman who runs the team and coordinates with base for them is his oldest kid, I did think it was more than possible Ms. Magenta was Ian’s as well.
The whole team is something of a family.
TJ is his youngest brother’s son. Cooper McKay is his best friend’s kid, and Tristan Dean-Miles belongs to a family Ian’s worked with forever. So yes, I suspected.”
“And you didn’t think to mention it to me?”
“Well, I don’t gossip about other agents, Ben.
” He took a long breath as though considering the situation.
“I know you’ve had trouble with her and you suspected her of keeping intel, but Ian always made sure we got it.
He’s a valuable asset to our agency. I know things are touchy with the Americans, but he’s solid.
So no, I didn’t give up his secrets because you didn’t need to know them, and before you say something you shouldn’t, fucking another operative in the field is not enough to make me cause a rift between our team and Ian’s.
Though I think you’ve managed to do exactly that. ”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means we have data the Americans don’t have and when I suggested you go down and debrief the team, they requested another operative,” Joseph replied.
A wave of anger surged through Ben. She thought she could fuck him over? “If they want the data, they can get it from me or they don’t get it at all.”
Joseph groaned. “And then we don’t get their data. For fuck’s sake, Ben, I thought you wanted me to take Huisman seriously. Well, here I am. Taking him seriously, and you’re the one screwing around. Literally. Can you think with your actual brain for ten minutes?”
Not when it came to her. He’d proven that time and time again.
What made him ache was how peaceful he’d felt with her in his arms. He’d lain there and known he was going to die and it was okay because she was with him. She’d been everything in that moment, and she never bothered to tell him she was two different people.
Gaslighting. He was pretty sure this was a textbook case of gaslighting since he’d mentioned several times it felt like she was two different people and she’d blown him off saying it was a work persona.
“You kept important intel from me, Joe.”
A brow arched over icy eyes. “So you needed to know which twin you were dealing with when all you were supposed to do was work with her? Did you need to know which twin you were passing intel to? Or did you want to know which one you were hitting on? Tell me—did you sleep with both of them or just one?”
“I’m pretty sure it was only the one.” Tim walked in, carrying a folder. “You see, boss, there was a good Maggie and a pretty evil but still hot Maggie. I think he liked the sweet one. I’ve thought about this a lot and I think the one Huisman tortured is the mean one.”
Yes, he’d come to the same conclusion. He’d spent days and days going over every op he’d been on with the Americans, and he’d split up the times he’d dealt with Kenzie’s twin. Kala. That was her name. Kala Taggart. Well, Kala McKay, if what she’d told him was true.
“Is there a point, Tim?” He didn’t need input.
“Many,” Tim said with a sigh and turned to Joe.
“I’ve tried to talk to him. He’s got this thing going where he thinks the twins have been like laughing behind his back or something, but Lou says Kenzie’s been crying for weeks and that she’s listened to something called her sad-girl mix, which from what I can tell is a lot of sad songs about how guys are assholes. ”
She’d been crying? “When did you talk to Lou?”
That felt like a betrayal too. Tim had been talking to the Americans behind his back? Was he working for another team? Damn it. Could he find a single person who was loyal to him?
Tim handed over the folder to Joe. “We’ve been working through the data. Not all of it. Rest easy, friend. We’re all still holding out on each other, but I think we have enough that we should work with them. I know you’re going to be mad, but I’m going to Dallas with the new girl.”
Hannah Hayes, a long-term operative who’d been working in Europe for the last several years.
She sometimes worked with MI6. The same MI6 team Ben had worked with when TJ Taggart was kidnapped.
She was good, but she didn’t know Huisman.
“So I’m out. I do all the work and I’m out because your relationship with Taggart is more important than taking down Huisman.
Am I being benched? Should I start looking for another job? ”
“The only reason I’m benching you is your attitude.
And honestly, your professionalism. I get it,” Joe explained.
“She’s a beautiful woman. Are you done with her?
I’ll rethink everything if you can promise me you’re not going to take some kind of revenge on her.
She had a job to do, too. It’s actually brilliant, if you think about it.
They managed to have an operative who could literally be in two places at once if they needed her to be. ”
“He won’t be able to do that,” Tim said quietly. “He’s in love with her.”
He hated that word. “I am not. I don’t even know who she is.”
Tim sighed. “Then it’s best you leave her alone and let her heal, man. I worked with them, too. And now that I know what I know, I do feel like I can tell them apart, and Kenzie was always fair with me. She was always nice. I know Kala was rough, but I think that’s just who she is.”
“She left me to die,” Ben pointed out.
“And caught you and took you down with her when you jumped,” Tim replied. “She could have fought you off, could have let you fall, but she didn’t. And I know you’re pissed because she was in love with Cooper, but she isn’t Kenzie. So Kenzie didn’t lie to you.”
“Oh, she lied.” She lied about everything. Her name. Who she was half the time.
And yet he could see how brilliant a play it was. One of them could be out in public while the other worked in the shadows and no one would question her.
He fucking missed her. That was the worst part.
“So did you.” Tim frowned his way. It sucked because often Tim was the only one in his life who seemed to be in a good mood.
“Do you think I forgot the Australian op just because you left me behind? You didn’t walk in and tell her who you were.
She thought you were Brian Peters. You didn’t tell her who you truly are until you tried to kidnap her sister and they caught you. ”
Not his finest moment. And he’d only had questions for Tasha. He wasn’t really trying to kidnap her. Still, Tim had a point. “All right, I’ll give that to you. I didn’t intend to ever tell her my real name. But after…”
“She works for another Agency. She had a secret. If you don’t want a woman with a couple of secrets, hop on a dating app and put no spies as one of your requirements,” Joe said with a long sigh.
“Maybe it’s for the best. I think you’re too close to Huisman.
He’s escalating. We have reports that he’s planning a strike somewhere in Asia.
He managed to get out with one of the bombs and his formula for the anthrax.
We have it, too, but he knows so he’ll likely change it now.
I need someone to go down and explain the situation to Big Tag.
Thank god I can call him that again. I swear that asshole picked Mr. Lemon because he knew it sounds stupid.
You should get ready for your new assignment. ”
“I’ll quit before I leave this case,” Ben announced. His brain was trying to wrap his mind around the problem. What if he could kill two birds with one stone? He could keep his place and get Kenzie Taggart out of his system. “Look, that team is angry with us. I should go and smooth things over.”
Joe snorted.