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“The Jester is a new player in my world, and I would like anintroduction,” the German who he couldn’t see explained. “But you know thatvery well.”
Oh, they were under several misconceptions. “I knowabsolutely nothing. I am dumb as dirt when it comes to this.”
And he’d been dumb as dirt when it came to Lou. God, now hecould see it so clearly. He should have kissed her that day.
Being close to death brought life into sharp focus, and hismeant nothing without Louisa Ward.
“I don’t think so, Sergeant Taggart.”
TJ’s gut twisted. They knew exactly who he was, and he’dbeen targeted. But he couldn’t figure out why. Yes, he often worked with Agencyteams, but he wasn’t a spy himself. He was the Special Forces version of agrunt. Oftentimes he barely knew why they were doing what they were doing. “Idon’t know what you’re talking about, man.”
There was the sound of a throat clearing, and then painbloomed over every inch of his skin as his captor lit him up.
He was never again going to make fun of that chick at TheHideout who liked a Dom to tase her pink parts. That woman was tough. She mightbe a goddamn national treasure when it came to having a high pain threshold. Heneeded to talk to her about getting on one of the teams because if she’d beenhere, she would smile and ask for another.
He just wanted to see Lou again.
Although not getting hit with the prod came in a closesecond.
Something was going on. Something he didn’t understand, andhe had to figure out what these assholes wanted because he wasn’t going to diehere. Wherever here was.
His shoulders ached, and his hands had long gone numb fromholding his whole body weight.
Why would they think he knew some dude on the Internet whocalled himself The Jester? Or that he would know what “business” his captor wasin.
“Sergeant Taggart, I can do this all day.” The guy’s Englishwas good, but his accent was German and thick. “All week, even. No one knowswhere you are. I’ve used your phone to send some texts to your fellow teammembers letting them know you’re taking the week off to spend some time with awoman you met at the bar. My team, you see, is good at crafting a fiction whenthey need to. We sent pictures as well. No one is going to look for you, so youmight as well tell us what we want to know.”
“I would if I had any idea what you’re talking about.”
There was the sound of murmuring, and that was the moment TJrealized there were at least three people in the room. The torture fucker, theone who spoke, and apparently someone who didn’t want TJ to hear his voice.
The actual boss.
He twisted his head around, trying to see into the shadows,but the light was so bright.
“All right, perhaps you might…remember…more if I let youknow how much we know. The Jester is what we call, in our line of business, aninformation broker. I assume you know what that is since in addition to yourwork for the Army, your team often backs up the CIA.”
He knew exactly what an information broker was. His auntsused to be the best in the business. Chelsea and Charlotte Denisovitchhad made a name for themselves selling secrets. But they didn’t anymore.
TJ had to consider the fact that he might know more than hethought he knew. His family still had ties to the DenisovitchSyndicate, though he’d never actually met any of them.
“I work on classified missions, but that doesn’t mean Iunderstand the ins and outs of them. They tell me who to shoot and I do it.That’s all I am. You’ve got the wrong guy.”
“Oh, we don’t think so. We happen to know that you met withThe Jester a mere month ago, and lying about it won’t help you.” There was thesound of fingers snapping and then his torturer moved briefly into the shadows,coming back with a tablet in his hands. He held the screen up.
It was a grainy picture of two men walking down aEuropean-looking street.
But it was clear from the photo that one of the men was him.
The other man’s face was concealed by the heavy hood of hisjacket.
“This is you walking with a man we’ve identified as The Jester.You were in Berlin, meeting him six weeks ago.”
Six weeks ago he had been in Berlin, but this meeting hadn’thappened. “I was in debriefs the entire time I was in Berlin. This is a deepfake.”
“I don’t believe it is. I believe you are protecting yourreal boss, but that will only buy you pain.”
“I didn’t meet with anyone except my team in Berlin.” Andshortly after, the team had been called to Australia to babysit a Canadianoperative. The mission that led to his CO getting offed by his cousin.
