#2
Zach walked back into the kitchen, his heart heavy. How had he forgotten? In all the drama of the last day and a half, he hadn’t told her the biggest secret of all.
“I didn’t tell her about Cooper. I…should have. Her mom told her and she’s angry all over again.”
Lacey looked up from the stove where she was stirring something that absolutely would not include a side of beef.
“When were you supposed to tell her? She pretty much woke up and started yelling at everyone. Honestly, not what I would have expected from a Taggart.”
“You keep saying that. Almost like you know a few.”
Zach was confused. Lacey was normally completely cool under pressure. Her calm demeanor was one of the reasons he trusted her and had for more than a year. Lacey knew a bit about the team he’d been on. She knew about Big Tag and his daughter Tasha. But as far as he knew she thought what the rest of the world did. That Ms. Magenta was Kara.
Lacey shrugged.
“Only by reputation, but I would expect her to have a bit more fire.”
“She’s fiery enough.”
He should know since she singed the fuck out of him. He could still feel himself bleeding. He had to be stronger than this. He wasn’t supposed to…feel this deeply. This was why he should never have touched her. He shouldn’t have brought her into his world.
“No, she’s bratty and privileged. She’s not thinking about any situation but her perceived one.”
He thought she was being a little harsh.
“She’s been through something traumatic. I lied to her about a lot of things.”
“You had to. Look, Zach, if you want me to assign blame, I can do it. You shouldn’t have started a relationship with her. Your life is far too dangerous with your mother unwilling to come in and your father in play now. This is not the time to look for love.”
She glanced over to the door that led out to the hallway and then focused on the task of plating again.
“In fact, I’m going to say you were much more reasonable when your affections were directed at the other Ms. Taggart.”
He did not need to talk about that.
“It was a crush. I never meant to make a move. Devi is different.”
“Different how? Because I don’t understand. From my perspective she’s nothing but trouble. She was annoyed by the cat.”
Despite the fact that he’d recently had the revelation that he shouldn’t have brought her in, Lacey saying it bugged him. Seriously bugged him. And he didn’t like the way Lacey was talking about Devi. He had a deep protective instinct when it came to his sub.
“She was not. She was surprised, and then she made a whole plan of how she’s going to befriend the damn cat. You don’t know her. You met her on what must be one of the worst days of her life. She had to watch her cousin get taken away by Huisman. She fought. She was brave. Don’t talk about her like that. I won’t listen. If you dislike her so much, we can both leave. Don’t forget. I help you out, too. Well, I’m calling in those favors for her.”
“See, just when I’m ready to hate you,”
a soft voice said. Devi walked in. She shot Lacey a look.
“You shouldn’t do that to him.”
“Do what?”
Zach was confused. She looked awfully pretty in her new jeans and button-down. Her sneakers were the only thing left from her previous outfit. She’d taken something plain and made it interesting by rolling up the bottom of the legs, showing the difference in color and tying off the bottom of the shirt so it clung to her curves and exposed a bit of her midriff.
Devi walked a few steps into the kitchen. A bit wary, looking around like she needed to know where the exits were.
“She knew I was standing here, and she baited you into saying a bunch of nice things about me. She knows damn well I’m fine with the cat. She helped me set up the bedding for her in the closet. Her name is Sunny, by the way.”
“Not how I would have gone,”
Lacey said, taking two plates to the small table and setting them down.
“Did you want to know what he honestly thought or not? I was trying to do a sister a solid.”
Yep, still confused.
“I thought you didn’t like her.”
Lacey shrugged.
“You’re right. Our first meeting was awkward. Also, sorry about the drugs. They can affect you long after, but when I got back from town with her clothes and all of the supplies, we had a fine time. Well, we had a painful time because Sunny has sharp claws.”
“So he never tried to bring my cousin to meet his underground warrior woman?”
Devi asked.
Lacey grinned.
“See, that’s why I’m fond of her. I really am an underground warrior woman. I should get a tattoo. Mum would be so proud.”
“How did you two meet?”
Devi sat down like they were having an everyday regular meal.
“Devi, we should talk.”
She nodded.
“And we will, but I have questions. I have been utterly out of control for weeks now. Give me this. How did you meet? I’d like an answer, and I’d like it to be detailed and thorough.”
A snort came from Lacey.
“She wants to know if we’ve shagged.”
Zach grimaced at the thought. He had never viewed Lacey that way. There was zero between them except work and a friendship he’d come to rely on. “No.”
Lacey grabbed a third plate and sat across from Devi, leaning over conspiratorially.
“Not that he’s been a saint. Quite the opposite. He’s a horny bastard.”
“I am not. I am a regular sex drive bastard.”
She didn’t have to put it like that.
“I’ve been single and quite frankly, despite her uncle’s rules for his daughters, he’s willing to throw me out as man meat a lot.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Devi’s brow had arched, and she looked a lot like her mom in that moment. Her mom when she was trying to figure out if it was time to kick a little ass.
“Because I happen to know that my uncle has a honey pot rule, and yes, I know what honey pot means in the spy world. It’s flirting for information and potentially having an entire sexual relationship to work a target. I happen to know my cousins are forbidden from doing that, and I’m fairly certain my uncle would never ask Cooper or Tris. You’re telling me he’ll toss you in?”
And she sounded as fierce as her mother.
Lacey grinned.
“Oh, from what I can tell Big Tag often throws Zach to the wolves, and by wolves I mean any target who finds him attractive. Once he flirted with a man in an airport for over two hours so a member of his team could steal his laptop, download the information, and get it back in his bag. The bugger had shown zero interest in Miss Magenta, but he perked right up when Big Tag sent in Zach.”
Devi frowned and looked at Zach.
“She knows about the twins?”
Fuck. Big Tag was going to kill him. “No.”
Lacey’s eyes narrowed.
“Twins. Bugger all. That’s what I’ve been missing. You keep talking about your cousins. I thought you were using the plural because you grew up with them. I knew Tasha Taggart was on the team. Is Kara a Taggart, too? Did the Agency scrub her? Or them? Twins explains a lot.”
Devi had gone pale.
“Oh, I did that.”
He reached out and took her hand in his, guilt threatening to swamp him.
“Sweetness, you are not an operative. I don’t blame you. Your uncle won’t blame you. The twins won’t blame you.”
He squeezed her hand and looked her right in the eyes.
“You have done nothing wrong. You’re in a world you’re not used to. Look at me. Your cousins are fine. Lacey is an ally, and one I assure you Big Tag will vet thoroughly if I bring her in. Which I’ll probably have to at this point.”
Lacey’s head shook as though that was a terrible idea.
“I don’t think we need to do that at all, but Zach is right about one thing. I’m not about to go out and shout it to the world. The truth is I don’t care. I have my job and that is to infiltrate an organization called Disrupt. Particularly Disrupt Europe.”
“I don’t know what that is,”
Devi admitted.
She wasn’t alone. Outside of politicians and some think tanks, it wasn’t a wildly advertised group.
“It’s a bunch of wealthy people who got together with intellectuals and politicians to create new ways to solve problems. Like water in Africa. They basically brought together a group of innovators and are working on real solutions to bring water to dry areas of the continent.”
“That doesn’t sound bad.”
Devi sat back, seeming to find some calm.
“Yes, it certainly seems fine from the outside,”
Lacey agreed. She scooped up some of the beet, carrot, and kale salad she made.
Zach sighed and wished he had a burger.
“There’s a second level to Disrupt. A darker one.”
“And that man who took my cousin is involved.”
Devi winced.
“I need to stop saying cousin.”
“You don’t. I was serious. I have a vague interest in some of the stories Zach has told me about Ms. Magenta. I won’t talk about it to anyone,”
Lacey promised.
“I owe Zach a lot. So to answer your original question, I have to talk a bit about my mum. She’s a legend in activist circles. She works mostly on the environment, but she will champion animal causes as well. One of her friends was working with Disrupt Europe on animal testing. She called my mum one night and said she found evidence that there was a group within the group, and they were buying bombs.”
“Why would they need bombs?”
Devi asked.
“A good question, and very specific bombs.”
Lacey passed Devi the wine she bought.
“Do you recall the terrorist attacks in Jakarta a few years back?”
She nodded.
“Yes, because I was working on a project with a company at the time. It was some post-grad work I did for a professor designing a sportswear line. Our manufacturer was in Indonesia, and we ended up having to shift to Vietnam because the shipping lines were screwed up for months.”
“Yes, the word disrupt works for both parts of the organization,”
Zach agreed.
Devi looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Why would they want to blow up some transportation sites in Asia?”
“Because of what comes out of Asia. An enormous amount of merchandise, and more importantly, parts we use to build things here come out of Asia. Disrupt those shipping lanes and you disrupt the world,”
Lacey explained.
“I know it’s hard to understand, but what I’ve uncovered is a group of extremely wealthy people behind the front-facing organization who use the legitimate parts of Disrupt to do what they actually want to do. Which is burn the world down so they can make a profit and rule over what’s left.”
“What happened to your mom’s friend?”
Devi asked.
Lacey stopped and put her fork down. She took a long sip of wine.
“She disappeared. She was supposed to meet my mum in Munich to give her the files and the evidence she found. She didn’t make it. Three weeks later her body was dragged out of a river in Croatia. Any reports you read will claim she was drunk and fell in. She didn’t drink.”
“So she was murdered,”
Devi surmised.
“She was, and my mum was heartbroken. She’s strong but she’s not capable of violence. It’s not in her soul. It is in mine. My father had another life before he married her, and it seems I take after him. My original plan was to find her killer and bring some justice. I brought blood and pain. I don’t think it qualifies as justice, but it did feel good,”
Lacey said, her voice steady.
“However, I found nothing that would stand up in a court of law, so I decided to keep my cover and go further. And that is when I met Shannon Reed.”
“Zach’s mom.”
He nodded.
“I’ve told you about her. True things, like she was in and out of jail.”
Devi studied him as though she could see to his soul.
“For drug possession. You told me she cooked meth.”
Not exactly what he’d said, but he could understand her confusion.
“She created designer drugs. My mother was…is a gifted chemist. My father met her while she was on a full ride to Stanford. He was a low-level drug dealer who started to move up the ladder once he convinced his girlfriend to make his product. My mom managed to refine his drugs. She did some time in California. When she came out, she went right back to my bio dad, and I was conceived. She managed to stay out of jail while she was pregnant with me.”
“When did she have Cooper?”
Devi asked.
Lacey whistled.
“You are excellent at putting ice on your words. Zach, do you need a jumper?”
He frowned Lacey’s way.
“We don’t need your sarcasm.”
He turned back to Devi.
“After she got tagged the second time, my aunt left the military so I wouldn’t go into the system. I was very young. I don’t remember much about my father beyond the fact that he would show up every now and then and scare the hell out of my aunt. The longest time my mom did was for my dad. She took the fall. Not like she had a choice. She was in jail when she found out she was pregnant. By then she had figured out Ray sold her out to the cartel they were working with, and she was terrified. That was when she and my aunt decided to find a family for the baby.”
“They sent him away to protect him but kept you in the line of fire?”
Devi managed to sound irate on his behalf.
The inequity was something he let go of a long time ago.
“Ray already knew about me. My aunt managed to pay off enough people in the prison that they kept my mother’s pregnancy secret. From what I’ve been told she didn’t show until late in pregnancy, and she spent the last six weeks in solitary. The baby’s adoption was arranged by a private broker.”
“Did Uncle Alex buy a baby on the black market?”
Devi asked.
“All right, how big is this family?”
Lacey asked.
“And does that make you cousins in some way?”
“No,”
he and Devi said at the same time.
“Alex McKay is my uncle’s best friend. He was very much a part of my childhood. We had a lot of adults around who we weren’t biologically related to, but they were family,”
Devi explained and then frowned.
“And now I realize how I could have handled talking about my cousins. Anyway, I don’t expect you to understand. I know the world values blood.”
“I think I understand more than you can imagine,”
Lacey replied quietly.
“From what I’ve been told the adoption was perfectly legal, and Mr. McKay had no idea he was adopting the child of someone who knew who he was.”
“My aunt worked with Big Tag in the Army. She liked and trusted him. She heard from some of their Army buddies that his best friend was trying to adopt,”
Zach explained.
“So she made it happen.”
And now she would put it all together in her angry brain and come to the conclusion that everyone in his family was trying to use everyone in hers. She would be right back to the whole he was going down the line of Taggart women looking for a way in.
He only wanted inside one of them, and she would probably shoot him if he tried. Or sic her recently acquired attack cat on him.
“So your mom was worried Coop would be one more thing your dad could hold over her head?”
Devi asked carefully, as though weighing her words.
It was better than the bile she’d been spewing all day.
“Yes. I was a toddler at the time, but everyone in the cartel knew I was her son. She thought if she could get Cooper out, he would be safer.”
“And your aunt went to the man she trusted,”
Devi continued.
“Ian doesn’t know. I mean he does now, but he didn’t know at the time,”
Zach explained. He didn’t want her lumping her uncle into the lying pile of shit men she had now.
“Ian had no idea I’m Cooper’s biological brother. I didn’t know he existed until years and years later.”
“Did your dad use you against your mom?”
He didn’t like to think about how shitty his childhood had been.
“Mom was out for a couple of years while he was in South America working. He came back to the States and picked me up from school one day. Charmed his way in, explaining he was my dad and only had a few days before he had to be back to work. I’m fairly certain the woman thought he was being deployed or something, though I assure you my father would never join the military. Too much sacrifice. He took me to a motel, and I don’t remember a lot except that I ate pizza and watched cartoons and my mom cried and shook when she finally got me back. And she agreed to start working on a project for my dad’s new bosses. She drifted in and out of my life after that until I was fourteen. I didn’t see her again, though she would send money back and talk to me every now and then on the phone. I didn’t lay eyes on her until I was twenty-two and starting to work intelligence.”
“That’s when he found out about the career change,”
Lacey pointed out.
“So your dad’s new bosses were terrorists,”
Devi surmised.
Not exactly.
“They were arms dealers. They didn’t have a political agenda. They were into making money,”
Zach replied.
“By this point my mother was no longer with my dad. She was paranoid and involved in several underground groups that I’m sure a couple of governments would label as terrorists.”
“Including the one my mum’s friend was heavily involved in. It was an animal rights group that operated out of Liverpool.”
Lacey took over her part of the story.
“It was Shannon who told us about the strange requests she was getting from an arms dealer called The Jester. She did some work for him, and he had a client who was deeply impressed with how she reworked certain aspects of her bombs.”
“She made them smaller. Easier to carry and conceal. Her bombs are also capable of handling small nuclear devices. Think of them like a bullet that goes off without needing a gun to deliver it.”
Zach was well aware that his mother was one of the most dangerous people walking the earth right now.
“They used her bombs in the Jakarta attacks and in some more focused assassinations that were played off as accidents.”
Devi took a sip of wine as though she needed the fortification.
“Did she know what was happening?”
See, there was his hope. Her deep belief in people. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play up her optimism here.
“There’s no good way to use one of her bombs. She didn’t know exactly what they would be used for, but she accepted the money for them.”
“She did it for more than money,”
Lacey countered.
“Devi, I’ve met Shannon. I consider her something of a friend. Shannon has faced an enormous amount of trauma. It’s affected her mentally. She sold those bombs because she was trying to protect herself and her sons. I believe the people around her used her family to put her in terrible positions.”
“My mother is paranoid. Not on some funny level. She’s taken shots at delivery people because she forgot she ordered a pizza and decided the man was coming to kill her.”
He wanted Devi to know the whole story.
“So to say tracking her down has been difficult would be an understatement. Now after all of that, I met Lacey when we were both looking for the man known as The Jester. He worked with Disrupt and was responsible for her mother’s friend’s death. This is where you’ll likely hate me again. Lacey and I worked outside of the Agency to find The Jester. We found him, fought him, killed him.”
“I think that was more me than you,”
Lacey argued.
“Men. They come in and take all the credit.”
He ignored her because this was the bad part.
“At the time I was working with Tristan Dean-Miles on the same case for the agency. I couldn’t let him know about Lacey, nor that I killed The Jester, so I sent an assassin up. I wasn’t about to let Tris die. I had it planned perfectly, and Tris killed the man he believed to be The Jester and then took over his identity.”
“You used Tris to find your mother.”
Sure enough, her icy demeanor was back.
“I did.”
He wasn’t going to lie or prevaricate.
“By this point in time Lacey and I had drawn some conclusions about the Disrupt subgroup.”
“We believe they were behind the attempted assassinations of certain heads of state in Europe a few years back. It didn’t work because they were attempting to replicate Shannon’s bombs.”
Lacey was all business.
“They failed. The man we believe to be the head of the group decided the best way to fix the problem was to bring Shannon Reed in.”
“That Huisman guy,”
Devi said.
“Yes. He’s been looking for the bombmaker for a long time. It was precisely why we had to take out The Jester. Apart from my biological father, he was the only person connected to that world who knew her name.”
Zach had not started the day thinking he would end it with a debrief of his girlfriend.
She frowned his way.
“Why didn’t you go to my uncle?”
“Because while I trust Ian implicitly, I know there are those in the Agency who would do anything to see him fail, including screw with ops he’s running and fuck with intelligence he brings to the table.”
He would love more than anything to dump this whole mess on Ian’s lap, but he couldn’t, and he had another confession to make. Somehow it was easier to make it to the man himself than it was to Devi.
“I was sent in to gather intel on the group and make it easier for the bosses I worked for to dismantle the team.”
“You did what?”
Devi pushed back her chair.
“He did nothing.”
Lacey’s eyes went steely.
“He took the place on the team because he knew Cooper was his brother at that point and he was curious. He wanted to meet his brother, but he was cautious and didn’t want to disrupt his life if he didn’t have to. Zach Reed helped his team.”
“Tris might disagree,”
Devi challenged.
“It took two of us to take that man out.”
Lacey didn’t back down.
“Tristan Dean-Miles was reckless and stubborn, and if he walked in and faced the real Jester himself, he would be dead now. Zach gave him the opportunity to look like the big man and take all the credit. Devi, I wasn’t lying before. I do see your point of view, but you don’t understand this world. You said you were kidnapped because of your cousin. I’m assuming you’re talking about Ms. Magenta.”
“Lacey,” he began.
Devi nodded.
“Huisman tortured her.”
“And did she blame Zach?”
Lacey asked.
“No. She didn’t. Neither does my mom,”
Devi replied.
Lacey pushed back her chair and stood, grabbing the wine bottle.
“Look, forgive him, don’t forgive him, but understand he did all this because he thought it was for the greater good. He’s trying to balance saving his mother with being true to the team he came to love, and then you have to throw in the fact that he’s madly in love with you. He’s juggling a lot of dangerous balls.”
Devi’s mouth opened, that stubborn look coming into her eyes.
Lacey was having none of it.
“Believe him. Don’t believe him. I honestly don’t see why you think he would be playing you at this point. Your family trusts him. His life and career are on the line, and he risked the entire mission to save you and bring you here and put my mission and Arthur’s on the line. You want to play out some drama in your head that you’re the poor little wallflower he had to choose because your more glamorous cousin was taken, go for it. If your life is so boring you have to make up drama in your head, good on you, but I’m not wasting my time dealing with this. If you stay, you’ll have a list of chores. If you don’t, like I said, you know where the sea is.”
“Hey, I don’t…”
Devi began.
Zach put a hand out.
“Don’t. She’s done. She’s apparently overstimulated and should probably go read in her room.”
She shot Zach the finger.
“I think I’ll do exactly that, and you and the princess here can argue, but we have the problem of your father to deal with, and I’m hoping your mum responds to one of my messages in the next few days. The good news, Devi Taggart, is this might all be over soon and you can go back to your dating apps and girls nights and all the fun things an overly privileged girl like yourself loves. He’ll more than likely be dead or in jail, so he won’t bother you anymore. Marrying a Taggart wasn’t going to keep him from that fate. It would simply make his last days of freedom sweeter. Think about that while you’re in a comfy bed and he’s on that ratty couch. He’s trying to save his mother and the bloody world. You’re trying to spare your pride. Weigh them and see which one is more important.”
With that Lacey marched out like the bitter queen she often was. Followed by a mangy part pit bull and a three-legged terrier.
“She took the wine.”
Devi sat back.
“I think I needed the wine. That woman is very judgmental.”
He couldn’t argue with that. He passed her his second beer.
She popped the top and drank half of it in one swallow, an impressive display. She sat back with a huff.
“So the answer to my question is no, you aren’t hiding some relationship with her.”
“I was absolutely hiding a relationship with her. A working relationship that is sometimes friendly and absolutely never romantic. She’s like that cousin who is helpful because she’s got mob ties and doesn’t mind busting some ass.”
“So she’s Kala.”
Devi took another drink.
“I’m sorry about telling her Kara is twins.”
“She knows a lot of things she doesn’t tell me. Don’t worry about it. Once we take down Huisman, Lacey wants out,”
he told her.
He stared down at his food.
“Zach?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s no reason for you to sleep on the couch. I’m pretty sure one of the cats already claimed it for the night. It’s not like we haven’t slept together before. Though we’re sleeping. Just sleeping.”
She was letting him in bed with her.
“I appreciate that.”
“And I’ll do the chores and stuff, but I need to talk to Tasha soon and see if I’m fired.”
She picked up her fork again.
“I’m supposed to design her wedding dress.”
“I’ll make the arrangements, and I’ll get you a tablet like the one you work on,”
he promised.
“Thank you.”
She picked up her fork.
Zach got to work on dinner. He was suddenly hungry again.