Page 141 of Jonas

Never in my life had I been more grateful for team shit talk. Yesterday, Derrika had gone through hell. Now she was sitting next to me smiling and laughing. I reached over and grabbed her wrist, brought her hand to my mouth, and kissed her palm. When I was done with that, I slid my hand into hers, laced our fingers together, and dropped our hands to my thigh.

“Chen required more than one patch,” Zane told us. “Three to be exact. Cock. Balls. Taint.”

I tried. I really did, but I couldn’t hold back my roar of laughter, and when Derrika asked in a hilariously horrified voice, “You had to lift the balls and go for the taint?” I had to close my eyes to stop the tears from leaking out.

Cash shoved back from the table.

“I hate all you fucking people. I’m going to wash my hands.”

That only made everyone laugh harder.

“Oh come on, Cashy, you love us,” Lore shouted.

When I finally got my laughter under control, I asked, “Please tell me Cash’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain?”

“First, Kira’s not here because she went back to the office. Weston Beil will stay with her. But she needs her other computer. Nixon and his crew, minus Weston, picked up Ryan Clarkson and took him back to their office. He says his only part in this was to turn a blind eye to encryption being stripped, and if anyone raised an alarm to tell Rutte, and he’d take care of it.”

“Do we believe that?” Derrika inquired.

“Nixon said he’s inclined to believe him. He pressed Clarkson about the Secretary of Defense. He swears the secretary doesn’t know what’s happening. Clarkson knows he’s screwed. If there was a buck to pass and he had proof, he would’ve played that card. Especially when Mr. Green and Mr. Black showed up to pick him up.”

“So the CIA has him now,” I groused.

“Yeah, I didn’t like turning him over, but I had no choice. That also means we’ll get no more intel from him because you know the spooks won’t share.”

“Why are CIA officers called spooks?” Penny inquired.

Easton immediately fielded her question, “It’s from the Dutch, it means ghost. Or as the Germans say, spuk which is a ghost or apparition, but it first showed up in America in the early eighteen-hundreds in German-settled parts of Pennsylvania. CIA officers in clandestine services work as ghosts—hence spooks.”

“Are we done with the etymology lesson?” Zane snarked.

“Rude!” Derrika muttered. “But also impressed you know what etymology means.”

“Yeah, that’s me—impressive. And by the way, you’re fired.”

“You can’t fire me before I even apply for a job,” Derrika returned, matching Zane’s sarcasm.

“Rule number one, I can do whatever I want.”

“Incorrect,” Cash rejoined, coming back into the room. “Rule number one is wrap it before you tap it.” He paused to look at me. “You remember rule number one, don’t you, buddy?”

“Actually,” Kira broke in. “Rule number one is, no falling for a woman involved in drama. Rule two is, no falling for a woman who will cost me money. Which is mostly redundant, but whatever. Rule three is, Zane’s in charge of said woman until the mating ritual is complete and she’s claimed. And rule number four is, no glove, no love.”

“Kiss ass,” Cash muttered.

“Don’t be a hater, wiener toucher,” Kira said and transferred her gaze to me. “So, rule number four…”

She let that hang, I didn’t bite.

Unfortunately, Derrika’s choking gave us away.

“Great, now I’m gonna have two knocked-up employees,” Zane bitched.

“Can we just get back to the briefing?” I inquired.

“Rutte’s a piece of shit,” Zane continued. “But not the top of the heap piece of shit. He was promised the Oval if he was a good little boy and followed orders. Lore’s intel was correct, all of it. The plan was to take out POTUS and the next two in succession, leaving Rutte next in line. In exchange for the White House, he made a deal with Chen to loosen restrictions on foreign entities purchasing land and the import of Chinese goods. He knew the attacks were coming, he knew they were meant as a diversion first and as a financial burden second, which would help him when he got the Presidency to make deals with the Chinese to cover the debts incurred, but more importantly there’s nothing like a tragedy to build unity in a common enemy. The Chinese knew multiple terrorist organizations would take credit and the US would put everything they had behind retaliation while no one looked at the Chinese.

“He was also tasked with keeping Ryan Clarkson in line. Another reason I’m inclined to believe Ryan was nothing more than a low-level pissant. Rutte was also responsible for keeping the leak at the Pentagon in line, which was pretty fucking easy for him seeing as he’s known the kid since he was in diapers. We missed the connection because the kid’s not family, but Rutte’s friend’s son. Only declassified intel was supposed to be transferred to Delcon.”