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He didn’t like the sound of that, like Tasha was a game piece and they moved her around wherever they needed her. Like she was expendable. “Why change it for this team?”
“Well, mostly because Big Tag wouldn’t let his kids join the Agency any other way. He’s a freaking legend. I joined the Army right out of college. Always planned to. I had an aunt who was my safe place when my dad got angry and the whiskey was flowing. She’d been in the Army for years. It seemed like a good place to be. I wanted to join up after high school but she insisted I get a degree so I could go in on a commission. She worked with Big Tag way back when he was a Green Beret. I heard all kinds of stories and then I actually met the man and all I wanted to do was be as good as he was. And it turns out I’m a ruthless asshole like everyone else. You see, I did know who you were that night. I knew where you would be.”
That was news to him. “How would you know? Were you working with the other team? It seems like they were watching me.”
“They were watching you because they were backing up Ben Parker. Sometimes we work with CSIS. That’s the Canadian equivalent of the CIA. They’ve ramped up operations in the last few years. They’re our closest allies, and we give their operatives ground support when they need it and don’t have a Canadian team in place. And no, I didn’t have a clue the other team was here, and I didn’t know Brian was actually Ben. I bought his cover at that point. But I did think you might be important. I had studied up on everyone at the conference. I knew you were going to be there and that you were actually closer to the head of the company than our original target.”
Only because he didn’t understand the full story. “I might be closer to the CEO’s office than Middleton, but I assure you he probably knew more about my father’s business than I did. He keeps me in the dark about a lot of things.”
Zach shrugged. “I wasn’t aware of that. I decided to hedge my bets and see if I could gather more intelligence, so when Tash said she wanted a night out, I sent her and Kara and Lou to the pub I knew you had been frequenting from Ben’s social media. I thought you would go for Kara. I didn’t expect anything to happen that night, but I thought you would get a look at her and when you ran into her again at the conference…”
“She wasn’t interesting to me. She’s a beautiful woman, but there’s something cold about her.” He didn’t think his choice would have changed if Miss Hugs-a-lot had been the one sitting in the bar. He’d only had eyes for Tasha. From the minute she walked through the door. “Besides, Ben was into her. He called dibs. I was left with Tasha and Lou. Lou was very quiet, so Tasha it was.”
“Sure. That’s how it played out. You picked her because you didn’t have another good choice. Keep telling yourself that.” Zach pulled the chair out, sitting down across from him. “I didn’t think Tasha was serious. It’s been months since she correctly broke off that insane engagement of hers. How she thought she could be with that massive ass… Anyway, I never actually believed she would go through with the whole get-back-on-the-horse thing. She didn’t ride many horses. Even when she had a horse to ride. I think Whittington was far more interested in having a connection to her boss than in loving Tash.”
“Don’t you mean her father?”
A long breath blew from Zach’s chest. “He told you. Wow. I’m surprised. Ian usually plays things slow.”
“I believe he’s looking for reciprocity. He needs me to do this job, and he thinks if he pushes the right buttons, I’ll be a good boy. One of those buttons is letting me think I’m in his confidence and that he trusts me.” He’d known what Taggart was doing. Half his business was selling. A salesperson had to figure out what the buyer wanted, what would motivate the buyer to pull the trigger.
Tasha’s father had figured that out very quickly.
What if he hadn’t? Now that he was sitting here thinking, he had to concede there might be another scenario. If he couldn’t fix the problems with his father, he could force Tasha to go with him. He could drag her to hell because she wasn’t the sweet thing he’d thought she was. She could handle herself in hell and then he wouldn’t be alone. She could be his solace. Not that he would allow her to ever know that. She would simply be paying him back for the pain she’d caused by making sure he wasn’t alone. By sleeping with him. Being with him. He might be able to survive if…
