#3
Zach stared at the picture on his phone.
Kala and Cooper were married, and they both looked so fucking happy. His brother was married and all he got was a couple of pictures.
He flipped through them. Erin Taggart had been the one to send them, but she explained it was Cooper and Kala approved.
“Zach, we should talk.”
Lacey stood in the doorway, and there was no possible way to miss the fact that she waited until Devi put on her boots and went out to deal with what she called that donkey. The Fabulous Miss K was kind of her nemesis.
“Have you heard something?”
Zach asked since he knew damn well if this was a talk about Devi, she would have it out in the open. Lacey had no filter and would simply say her peace.
But she did have discretion when it came to the mission.
She nodded and joined him on the porch. She stared out over the field, and in the distance Devi could be seen walking toward the barn.
“Yes. Huisman liquidated one of his offshore accounts to the tune of fifty-five million dollars. I’m working on tracing the money, but I’m worried a portion of it is going to bounty hunters.”
He sighed and slipped his phone into his pocket.
“Well, that was inevitable. I’m surprised he waited this long.”
“I believe he thought he could use you to bring her in, and then he thought he could use one of your old team to bring in you, and then you would bring in your mother,”
she pointed out.
“I’ve heard a couple of rumors that your old team thwarted at least one kidnapping attempt.”
His heart threatened to seize. “What?”
Lacey waved him off.
“Idiot tried to send in a mercenary to take Charlotte Taggart.”
He huffed at the thought.
“So there’s one more body on the farm, I suspect.”
“Yeah. We won’t hear from that mercenary again, but I think we’re reaching a critical point,”
Lacey said.
“Huisman is wanted for questioning by several intelligence agencies, but on paper he still looks good. I don’t know how he’s kept the press from reporting anything.”
“That’s the Agency as much as Huisman.”
Right now they were in a standoff, but Huisman wouldn’t leave it alone for long. He would want to make his move and soon. The trouble was what kind of move would he make? That was what kept him up at night. That along with his aching cock.
“Well, I’ve sent a friend to talk to your mum. She’s well known in those circles.”
He nodded and realized he had a question because it had been days since he’d seen their friend.
“Where did Arthur go? Wasn’t he supposed to check in on the cows?”
She shrugged.
“The cows are fine. He’s on assignment, and I don’t ask questions. As long as the group is giving me good intel, I keep my eyes open and mouth closed.”
Well, that was pretty much what he was doing, too. His eyes were always on Devi and his mouth was closed so he wouldn’t try to eat her like the fucking treat she was.
“You need to do something about that, mate. It’s getting disturbing,”
Lacey said with an edge of snark.
“I’ll let you know when we make contact. We should think about heading to Liverpool in a week or two. I think that shark you call a teammate is sniffing around, and Devi is the world’s worst spy.”
Zach shifted because he realized she had been talking about his erection. Yup. This was his life now. Spy shit and anxiety and his unruly cock. He wished she would show him her boobs. He missed her boobs. Sometimes she didn’t wear a bra and his whole body damn near revolted at the fact that his hands weren’t on them.
“She’s not a spy at all.”
“Well, you treat her like she’s your assistant.”
“I treat her like she has a stake in what happens, and she does.”
He wasn’t leaving her out, though he also wasn’t planning on putting her in danger, and it would be way harder to watch her in Liverpool.
“How big is your place there?”
Lacey leaned against the railing.
“Well, there will be more than one bed, so you should factor that in.”
She sighed when he didn’t take the bait.
“It’s not my place. It belongs to my parents, and they are far wealthier than I am. It’s big by city standards, and it’s got everything we need to monitor the streets around us. We need to think about bringing in extra security if we convince your mum to come in.”
“I have to tell Ian.”
“Do you?”
Lacey stood up straighter.
“Somehow I think the man will know. He seems to have psychic powers. But seriously, you need to be sure of Devi before we go to Liverpool. I know she seems to have settled in here, but there will be a lot more opportunity for her to cause trouble in the city, and I would feel better if I knew she was loyal to you.”
If she knew he was sleeping with her.
“I’m not going to cause her a shit ton of emotional damage so you feel better.”
She moved back to the door.
“I also think you would be in a better mood, mate. But what do I know. I’m a lowly underground activist. Think about it. Time is running out. Just a couple more weeks and this should be done.”
He wouldn’t think about anything else.