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He’d forgotten how fragile the older generation could be.Probably because his mom would have given him advice on exotic lubes and hisdad would have been right beside her. Not everyone had such tough parents. “Iwill definitely feed her. Hey, Lou wanted you to know there’s a half acheesecake in the fridge. I could get you a piece…or get you a fork. We cantalk about the Cowboys. I think they’re looking good this year.”
Boomer sat back down. “I guess I could eat.”
TJ got up and headed to the fridge. At least he knew how tohandle one Ward.
Now he just had to figure out the most important one.
Chapter Fifteen
Lou stared down at the phone and thought seriously aboutgrabbing her things and heading back home so she could stop the absolutedisaster that was apparently occurring there.
“Did you tell TJ about the cheesecake? It’s turtle. Yourdad’s favorite,” Kala called from the couch where she was currently reading amagazine. She twisted her body so she was looking Lou’s way. “You know I wishwe had the whole place wired for video and sound. I would like to see how TJ’shandling your dad.”
“Apparently he’s telling him everything.” She’d thought hemight deflect, maybe use the op to keep her dad calm. That did not sound likewhat he was doing.
They’d talked about condoms?
“You know if it was my dad, he would make TJ show him thecondoms and then no matter how good the condoms are, he would complain aboutthem. You should count yourself lucky that your dad is just going to be happyhe’s wearing them.” A brow cocked over Kala’s eyes. “He is wearing one, right?”
“Not right now he isn’t.” Lou was feeling… She wasn’t surewhat she was feeling, but it wasn’t a nice, peaceful thing. It was anxiety andanger and guilt and anticipation because TJ would be coming up here after hewas done screwing things up with her dad, and what would she do about that? “Hemight never have to wear one again.”
Kala sighed and sat up. “It was inevitable. At some point intime my dad was absolutely going to tell your dad that you’re sleeping with TJ.We all told you to cut him off at the pass. You didn’t want to because youdidn’t want to lie to your parents.”
“I wasn’t going to lie.”
“You were if you were going to tell them that it’s all aboutan op, and that’s all I’m going to say about it because you are going through adelusional stage.” Kala stood and crossed the big room that contained heroffice space and what she called her workshop. She technically took up whatthey referred to as a lab here at 4L. There were several floors that weredivided into quarters for the scientists and teams who worked here. She sharedthis floor with Dr. Madeline Murphy, who worked on satellite tech, and Dr.Noelle LaVigne-Hutchins, whose work centered onhelium conservation. The fourth large space was security, including a couple ofAgency plants.
Needless to say she felt safe here in this building. Whichis why it would have been great if Kala had been willing to drop her off so shewouldn’t have to talk about her delusions. Because she knew damn well herfriend was right.
“So what do we have?” Kala asked, moving behind her so shecould look over Lou’s shoulder at the screen of her laptop.
Before she’d figured out her dad was paying TJ a visit,she’d been taking apart the “evidence” MI6 had sent over.
The problem was that photo was well done. She was fairlycertain it was real. “Nothing tells me it’s a deep fake, and I’ve isolated somebackground items that can help me pinpoint the day it was taken. There’s arestaurant in the background, and I can get a closeup on the menu they have ona sign outside. After I checked with their website, I can confirm that thispicture was taken on the day MI6 thinks it was taken on. It’s not just themenu. If you look at the club across the street, the only night they had livemusic that month was the day MI6 believes the picture was taken.”
She’d looked for anyway to disprove the picture.
“And all of that lines up with when TJ was in Berlin. Zachplaced TJ in Bulgaria when MI6 believes The Jester was making a deal. So that’stwo times they have him in close proximity,” Kala murmured. “Still merecoincidence. Also, there’s no decent picture of the man they claim is TheJester. I still don’t know how we can’t find a single picture where we get thisguy’s face. What can you tell about him from his clothes?”
“I would say he’s American. Those shoes he’s wearing werebrand new at the time. Basketball shoes. They hadn’t been released outside theUS at that point. The rest of his clothes are typical American,” Lou explained.“I want TJ to look at it again because I think this is someone he knows. Maybesomeone on his team.”
“Someone who knows how to hide his face? Maybe if they wereon an op, but TJ is obviously not,” Kala pointed out. “How about the money? Youknow how little money five grand is in that world.”
It was good they were on the same page. “I tracked it down,and like most crap with crypto it’s hard to pinpoint who owns what. I can tellyou that the transfer got pinged around the globe. No surprise there.”
“But you can unravel that thread, can’t you?”
Her head was starting to hurt. She shouldn’t have skippedbreakfast. “Given some time. I think that’s the way to go. Follow the money.You’re right—the rest could be coincidence, or it could be someone who wants tofuck with TJ. Who would do that? Everyone loves TJ.”
“I wouldn’t say everyone, but I do get your point. Besidesstringing you along for years he’s fairly unproblematic. More importantly, whatwould they get from framing TJ?” Kala stared at the screen. “Unless the pointis to hurt our team. I can think of a lot of people who would love to get me ina bad position. If fucking Chet was alive, I’d point the finger at him, thoughhe said he was coming specifically after my dad.”
Chet Whittington.
Who hadn’t liked having to deal with Taggarts.
Chet, who worked for the Agency and might have known aboutThe Jester.
“I need to talk to Zach,” Lou said. He might be able tofigure out if Chet had worked with any team that might have known about TheJester.
