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It was Tristan’s turn to laugh, but there was nothing amusing about the sound. “I think you’ll find my fathers might be relieved to not have to worry about me anymore. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the fact that we made the same call you would have made. I’ve read your files, and time and time again you followed your instincts. Why can’t you let us follow ours?”
Her father pointed a finger Tristan’s way. “Because your instincts led you to tie a Canadian operative to a sex bench. The least you could have done was get him face down, ass in the air on a spanking bench if you want to humiliate the guy.”
“Well, he tried to kidnap Tash,” Cooper countered. “We had already suspected he was some kind of plant, but we had to act when he decided to take Tasha in. Were we supposed to let that happen?”
“Of course not. But you didn’t call it in. You continued to go it alone. You fucked around and now you’re finding out,” her father announced. “Your mother and I are taking the op over for both teams. We’ll be overseeing the rest of the mission, and understand that you’re lucky I’m not canceling the entire thing. Kenzie and Kala, you are not to allow the Canadian to know you’re twins. Work it out. I don’t care how you do it, but CSIS doesn’t know Ms. Magenta is two people, and we’re going to keep it that way. Decide now who’s staying and who’s getting smuggled out of here.”
Kenzie held up a hand. “I’ll go. I’m attracted to him. I need some space.”
“He’s Canadian. Did you hear that part?” Her dad asked the question with a desperate air.
“Well, I thought he was American,” Kenzie conceded. “Of course he thought I was Australian. Hey, you know Dare is Canadian, too. I’m walking away from my maple-flavored hottie. I don’t think big sis is going to do the same.”
“Yeah, we need to talk about that. Let’s clear the conference room for now. We need to decide how to move forward with this guy. He did not seem interested in hanging around,” her father said. “Everyone but Tasha take a twenty-minute break, and then we’ll have both teams in along with the Canadian. Kenz, you can listen in, but don’t walk around until we’re sure the coast is clear. I don’t like the fact that fucker Chet knows, but I trust he won’t tell. Mostly because he knows I would pull his intestines out of his body.”
There was some shuffling about as everyone did what they were told, and in a few moments she was alone with her parents.
“What happened, Tash?” Her father’s voice had gone quieter, the usual authority in his tone softened.
“You know what happened.” Her mother moved off her father’s lap and came to sit beside Tash, her hand going over hers. She squeezed gently. “You are in deep with this guy, aren’t you, baby?”
Now that everyone was gone it was okay to let tears cloud her eyes. This wasn’t about the op. This was her mom offering help. “I love him, Momma. I didn’t mean to, but I fell for him completely, and it’s not like it was before.”
“Chet was a mistake. He’s attractive, and you both work for the Agency,” her mom explained. “He made sense to you at the time, and you decided you wouldn’t find anyone better. That’s not love. That’s practicality.”
“She’s known this guy for less than a week,” her father argued.
That earned him a death stare from her mom. “Seriously?”
Tasha sent him her own stare because he was being a hypocrite. “You married Mom within a month of meeting her. You’re telling me you didn’t know you loved her early on?”
Her father sighed and sat back. “I knew I loved her the night I met her. But we had problems because we didn’t take the time to truly know one another. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes.”
She knew her parents’ love story quite well. “I promise not to fake my own death and stay away from Dare for five years and build a business selling classified information. Not that it looks like I’m going to get the chance.”
“His father is sketchy,” her dad said. “I spent the time on the plane getting to know the family. They’re pretty awful.”
“His father is terrible. He’s insisting Dare marry a woman of his choice and start having kids he’ll hold hostage to get Dare to do whatever he wants,” she explained. “He’s held Dare to impossible standards all of his life. When Dare tried to break free, he started threatening his siblings.”
“So he feels trapped, and his father knows he’ll need another method of control since the youngest sister is only a few years away from being an adult,” her mom mused. “So we need to figure out how to take the father out. We need leverage. Unless you’re cool with assassination.”
