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Despite the fact that she knew how to take care of herself, adrenaline flooded her system, a pure fight or flight response. She was alone with a much larger man, and she didn’t have a gun. Calm. She had to stay calm. The best tactic was to get him to go away or to get away herself. If she could avoid a fight, she would. “I can call him and ask again. Actually, I’ll have Kara call. He’s got a soft spot where she’s concerned.”
She’d call the base house phone, and then at least someone would know who she was with and that she was worried. They had certain words they only used when there was danger and they couldn’t talk freely. Cooper had been tailing Brian. He might still be close. She wasn’t sure how worried they would be given the conversation they were having. It could sound perfectly normal on the video feed, but on a call she could make it clear she needed some backup.
“Put the phone away, Tasha.”
She glanced up, and he had a gun in his hand. Damn it. Why had she worn a damn thong? If she’d had some granny panties on, she might have been able to carry, but no, she couldn’t ruin the line of her designer dress.
Her mom had always said vanity would be the death of them all.
“What are you doing?” She set the phone on the side table. It wouldn’t help her at this point.
“You know exactly what I’m doing. I suspect you’re the reason I’ve suddenly got a tail. So tell me, Tasha—if that’s your name—who are you working for?”
“I work for my dad.” No lies there. She held her hands up, trying to let him see how scared she was. Where was the camera in here? She couldn’t remember but there was one thing that they couldn’t miss. “Why do you have a gun?”
“For the same reason your people bugged the suite,” he replied. “Thanks for that. It saved me the trouble, and I’ve been piggybacking off you.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” He—or his team—had to be good or Tristan would have picked up on that.
He was moving toward her now. “Let’s stop playing games. You’re working with a woman known in certain circles as Ms. Magenta.”
Fuck. He was talking about intelligence circles. Kara—whether being played by Kenzie or Kala—often introduced herself as Ms. Magenta. It was a joke from their childhood. From the first time she’d met her sisters. She’d only been seven, but she remembered that day so vividly. They’d been in Paris, and they’d snuck to the stairs to listen in on what Dad was doing. The name was joked about when they mentioned the CIA’s use of “color” names to protect their operative’s real names. When the time had come, Kenzie had introduced herself as Ms. Magenta, and she hadn’t looked back.
She had to protect her sisters. No one outside of the Agency knew there were two of them. The fact that they were twins gave them a unique advantage.
“Ms. Magenta?” If he knew that name, then he had intelligence ties no matter who he worked for. He could still be with a mafia, syndicate, or cartel and have intelligence ties.
“Yes, the woman you call Kara. I believe she works for the CIA, or at least has worked with them in the past.” He shook his head. “I’ve misplayed this whole situation, and your team is probably on its way. I think it’s time we move this interrogation somewhere else. I’ve got a couple of hours before Dare will start looking for you. Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
Oh, she was going to owe Lou so much. Lou could be paranoid and overly protective, and Tasha was going to have to indulge her every instinct from here on out because Lou was going to save her. She fisted her hands at her side. To him it would look like a frustrated gesture, but she managed to prime the microdoser.
It would be her only chance against him. She’d seen him fight, and he had far more practice than she did. Maybe Kenz or Kala could take him, but Tasha doubted she could best him. “You’re scaring me.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” he replied. “Come on. We need to move out. I’ve got a car waiting.”
So he had backup, and that would way lower her chances of getting away.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said gravely. “I need some answers. I need to know where the Agency stands on Huisman. You don’t know who he really is or what he’s capable of. Let’s make this a friendly meeting.”
“You don’t seem so friendly with that gun in your hand.” Her cell phone had started buzzing. She could hear it. It was likely her team telling her they were on the way. No matter what he said, she couldn’t afford to believe him. She had to give her team a chance to save her—a chance to turn this around and take Brian in instead.
