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The problem was that Gabe knew something was wrong, too. I was too keyed up with him. "What are you guys doing?"
"Lock is in the background trying to convince me to have a baby. And there are moves, too. Do you want to see the dance?"
I snorted a laugh. "No. Oh my God, I cannot. No one needs to see this dance.”
"Right? That's what I said. But he's doing this dance for me and it's pure torture."
Lock's voice drew closer. "Tabs, tell your girl that we need to make a baby. A really, really pretty baby."
"I agree. You do. But please, stop dancing for her. You're going to ruin your chances."
I could hear her sending Lock away so we could talk with some privacy. "Come on, Tabs, what's with you?"
"You know what I was saying about Gabe?"
"Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened. I just… I don't know. Don't mind me. It's just been a long night. The stakes are higher than I thought."
"Honey, you can talk to me. You know that."
"Oh, I know. I just have a lot on my mind."
She sighed and I knew she could feel it. The distance, my distraction. My turmoil. I wore them like a badge.
"You've been off for a minute. This is when you should talk to Gabe. That's what a handler is for. To help you center everything and keep your mind on the mission."
"I know. I just can't focus right now. I'll get it together, I swear."
"This isn't me trying to force you to do anything, love. I'm just trying to help."
"I just need to get my mind right. I didn't think that being undercover would be like this."
“If anyone is up for the challenge, you are. Or are you worried that you’re not?”
“I’m up for it.” Then to try and prove it, I added, “I’m just thinking things through. It’s a lot, but you don’t need to worry about me. Worry about finding more on the Tates. Speaking of, I think we need to get into his office. So far I’ve found nothing at the house. Mention it to Gabe, would you?”
“Sure, I can do that. Hell, I won’t even give you shit about not doing it yourself. Just promise me the moment you don’t have your head on straight you’ll call me, okay?”
“Of course,” I lied smoothly.
19
Gabe
Tabatha was lying to me. I just didn’t know what about. Saff had tried to get through to her. I had tried. She was holding something back. It was like the moment she got this assignment she became an entirely different person. Sure, she was always cagey with me. I got it. Hell, she probably should be cagey with me.
My lack of control when I was around her since that bloody kiss was problematic. Also, I had the propensity to be a wanker. But Saff wasn’t. At least she’d given Saff an indication that we’d have to dig deeper with Tate in his office. I suppressed the flare of anger that she hadn’t talked to me about it.
Those two were thick as thieves. They told each other everything. Right after I recruited Tabatha and she was being put through the program, Saff became fascinated by her.
And she was fascinated by Saff too. Normally, I would have tried to keep them separate, but Saff was insistent. And the two of them had gone together like a house on fire. And hell, my sister had needed some friends. Sure, she had schoolmates. But at the end of the day, she needed someone real, someone she could confide in, as she couldn't share anything with her schoolmates, at least nothing real. But with Tabatha, she could be herself and vice versa. So why the hell wasn't Tabatha telling Saff what was bothering her?
I headed downstairs to our sublevels, which was where we had most of the indoor training facilities, sparring rooms, the gym, conference rooms, and briefing rooms. Then we had our tech wings and our servers, everything vital. It was a lot easier to secure something when you hid it from sight and kept it underground. Which, unfortunately, meant some of my best agents spent more time underground than they did above.
Rook was good in the field, so at least he was getting some experience. I needed to get Devlin out there more, but the kid wasn't technically a field agent yet. He was somewhat self-centered, but Phineas Devlin, son of a disgraced billionaire financier, was a huge asset.
He was here mostly to piss off his father. The old man had wanted him to go into the family business, but Devlin wasn’t interested. When his father tried to force his hand, Devlin started getting himself in a spot of trouble. I found him before he actually got in too deep and gave him a reason not to be a prick and not to get arrested. The kid couldn't be forced. He had to want to be part of Rogues. Which meant at some point he was going to have to go back and settle things with his fucking parents. But baby steps.
