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She stopped because her ears had to be deceiving her. That voice was familiar. Too familiar.
“Chet?”
A deep chuckle. “Holyeeee shit. Tash? Is that you?”
“Tasha?” Another familiar voice came through the darkness. “Damn it. I thought I saw Coop moving in the shadows. Hey! Hey, Lou, baby! Turn on the lights. It’s me.”
The lights immediately came on, and Tasha was faced with the biggest mistake she’d ever made.
Chet Whittington stood there in the middle of the dungeon, his lean body covered in black fatigues. He looked cool and collected as his lips curled up and his eyes wandered over her. “Damn, girl. You look good. You know I always thought you were sexy as hell with a weapon in your hands.”
Dare moved in front of her. “Whoever you are, I’ll go with you, but you have to leave her out of this.”
Chet frowned, looking Dare up and down. “Who the fuck are you? And I can’t leave her out of this since I suspect she’s the one who knows where my lost Canadian operative is.”
A tall guy with broad shoulders walked in with a tablet in his hands. “He should be right here, boss.”
“Tasha, you remember Mike Johnson. I’ve worked with him plenty of times before,” Chet turned to the soldier. “As you can see he’s not here. Is there an upstairs? That might be what’s confusing the signal.”
Her heart threatened to seize because this was absolutely the worst-case scenario. They were here for Brian. It was all about to fall apart.
Dare turned to her. “What is happening? Tasha, how does this man know you?”
“I know her biblically,” Chet said with a chuckle.
She thought seriously about using the rifle in her hand.
“I fucking don’t know what you mean.” Dare’s shoulders had squared. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
Her cousin TJ moved in beside Chet. “I think we can bring the testosterone level down. We’re all friends here.”
Chet wasn’t listening. He never liked to bring the machismo level to a reasonable degree. He just went for it. He sent Dare a smug look. “I’m Chet Whittington, and I work for the CIA. The woman you’re standing next to does, too. I suspect I’m going to get called out for ruining whatever play she’s running on you.” He glanced back at Tasha. “Thought you didn’t screw for intel. Guess Daddy’s girl isn’t as pure as you said you were.”
TJ moved in. “I would watch what I say if I were you. I’m on your team right now, but that can change really fast.”
“I’m not sure how,” Mike replied, obviously standing by Chet. “Don’t forget I’m the CO here.”
“Fucking Taggarts,” Chet said under his breath.
“Seriously?” Kala strode toward them. “What the hell, Whittington? TJ? What is going on? I’m glad I didn’t kill the dudes I took out.”
TJ sighed and touched his comm unit. He looked a lot like his dad, like all the Taggart men. Six foot three with blue eyes and sandy blond hair he kept in a military cut. “Stand down. We’re in friendly territory. I repeat, stand down.”
Dare had gone utterly still.
Tasha turned to him. She had to save this. She had to. “Dare, we need to talk.”
“Hey, guys. We’ve got a spot of trouble coming.” Nate walked toward them. “I mean real trouble. Like this mess is a bit of sunshine compared to the storm that’s coming our way.”
Everyone went tense, guns reappearing.
That was the moment the doors swung open, and she realized she hadn’t hit worst-case scenario before. Nope. Not even close. The massive Viking striding her way was worst-case scenario. He was her own personal apocalypse.
Ian Taggart walked right up to her, pointed a finger her way, and gave her a look she remembered from childhood. It was his mad-dad look, and it always made her think twice.
“I said no honeypots,” her dad declared.
Tasha wished a hole would open up and swallow her whole.
* * * *
Dare felt numb.
How had the world turned over in a single instant?
One minute he’d been holding Tasha and planning a future with her, and the next he was surrounded by men with guns, and they had zero interest in him. He wasn’t even the person they were looking for. It was some kind of weird coincidence.
“Okay, I need for you to remember that we’re in the middle of an op,” Tasha was saying to the massive man who’d walked in and immediately gotten into her space.
The big blond dude straightened up, and his jaw went tight. “As if I could forget that.”
“Oh, I think you did, babe,” a soft voice said, and a woman with strawberry blonde hair stepped up next to the scary guy. “We’re not alone, and you need to remember that.”
She looked like his natural mate. The woman was tall and lovely and reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t quite place the familiarity. The two seemed to fit together. Like he’d thought he and Tasha fit. He liked looking in the mirror when she was with him because she seemed to make him look better, as though he was missing something when she wasn’t there.
