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Zach’s head shook. “Because your uncle saw it. Because he’llabsolutely mention it to her father.”
“I can handle Boomer.” He would tell Boomer that he was goingto marry Lou and protect and love her for the rest of his life, and the big guywould chill.
“How am I supposed to work with you if you won’t admit thatwhat you did today was reckless and counter to every bit of training you’veever received?” Zach asked. “I can understand what happened, but I cannotcondone it, and if you expect me to then we need to move you to Langley andwork this problem from there.”
Fuck. He hadn’t even considered that as an option. “My unclewon’t let you do that.”
Zach’s head shook as though he was deeply disappointed. “Ah,but I’ll go around your uncle. I’ll go straight to Drake Radcliffe and explainthe situation. That’s why I am here, you know. I act as a check and balance towhat is basically a family operation. There’s no other team like this in all ofthe intelligence world, and I can’t tell you how many people want us to fail. Iwill not allow you to be the reason we do. Cooper can’t view this with anunbiased eye. He grew up with you. You’re family. Kala will rage against youall day and in the end, she’ll still let you close because you’re her cousinand she trusts you. Tash is far too kind to even consider dumping her cousin inDC and getting out of it. So I have to be the bad guy. Are you going to make mebe the bad guy, Sergeant?”
He had put Lou in danger. Crap. He’d been running on pureemotion, and he needed to get his head out of his ass and acknowledge thesituation. He wouldn’t take it back. Not the time they’d spent in his cell.They’d been as safe as they could have been there, but he’d kissed her anddistracted them both in the middle of hostile territory. “I apologize, sir. Iwill acknowledge my mistake and not allow it to happen again. I’ll accept anydiscipline you think is correct, but I would like to stay with the team.”
Zach’s lips turned down as though he’d kind of hoped for afight. “It can’t happen again. You shouldn’t work with Lou.”
He disagreed, but he wasn’t going to argue with the man whowas basically his CO right now. As long as he was working with the team, ZachReed was his direct superior. “I understand. I hope Lou is able to go back toher former technical role. She did an amazing job today, but her real value isbehind a computer.”
Zach’s brow rose. “You trying to say she’s the goddess ofinformation and your cousins are cannon fodder?”
“Not at all,” TJ replied. “My cousins are forces of nature,and what they’re doing with the Agency is going to change the way teams canwork. But Lou is…special. She’s a freaking gift, and I worry the Agency won’tsee how valuable she is.”
“I assure you that your uncle and aunt understand, and so doI. Louisa Ward has a role no one else has. She’s allowed an enormous amount offreedom to do what she does. She’s already made some technical innovations thatwe’ve implemented in the field. The altered C-4 worked brilliantly, from what Icould tell. What was your assessment of how the op went, Sergeant?”
“With the exception of my fuck up, I think it went well.Agent Ward handled the situation with professionalism.” There was no way hewouldn’t back up his girl.
Zach snorted.
TJ shrugged. “Once she realized the comms were back, she wasall business. She didn’t hesitate and showed strong instincts in the field. Shewas excellent at her job.”
Zach seemed to think about that for a moment. “I didn’texpect that either.”
“What? That I would back up Lou? I suppose you don’t knowmuch about our relationship.”
“On the contrary. I know pretty much everything about thetwo of you,” Zach countered. “I’m the only member of this team who didn’t gethis diaper changed by Ian or Charlotte Taggart. I had to learn this team fromback to front or I would have been out in the first couple of weeks, and Ididn’t want that. I studied them all, and I understand the dynamics of theirrelationships. I know Kala and Kenz will fight constantly, right up until themoment they need to move as one person, and then no one on earth can tell themapart. I should know because I’ve watched them fool their father. They do itsimply to keep up the practice and never would tell him because they love theirparents in a way I can’t comprehend. I know that Cooper is still trying to payfor something he did as a kid. You want to let me in on that one? It’s the onesecret I can’t crack.”
He only suspected, but he would never tell if he did.“That’s Kala and Coop’s story.”
Zach nodded, accepting the response. “I know that Tristan isa reckless asshole who is probably in over his head, but I can’t convince himthat not everyone in the Agency is trustworthy. I suspect he’s working for acouple of teams, but I can’t get the information I need to vet them and figureout how dangerous his side projects are.”
The thought of Tristan working dark ops made him worry. “Butmy uncle knows, right?”
“No. He doesn’t, and that’s what scares me. If Drake knows,he’s not talking, and that makes me nervous. We all knew he was doing somesupport work, but we thought it was for the military. I wasn’t too worriedabout it until I tried to contact him for this op. I was told he was on a high-securitymission and wouldn’t be available for a few weeks. I worry Tristan is trying toprove he’s as good as his father, and it’s going to get him killed. Tasha isgrace under pressure. She can handle anything and she never panics. And thenthere’s Lou.”
“Don’t try to tell me you know Lou better than I do.”
“Oh, but I do.” Zach stared out at the dark night. “I knowthe Lou who lives for the thrill of the op. I know the Lou who’s living outsome of her childhood dreams right now. And I know you. You view Lou as thisprincess in a castle to be worshipped from afar.”
He didn’t like how intimate Zach sounded. “I assure you Iworshipped her from up close, and I intend to do it again. Zach, if this isyour way of telling me you have a thing for Lou, I need to make myself plain. Idon’t care what power you have over me. She’s mine until the minute she cuts meout of her life and even then, I’ll protect her. I don’t care if something’sgone on between the two of you. I love Lou, and I won’t let you or anyone elsestand in my way.”
Zach’s head fell back on a groan. “That’s the last thing Ineed.” He brought his head up, shaking it in a weary fashion. “Do you know howhappy I would be if this team was like every other team? On other teams themission is the only thing that matters. No one gives a fuck about theirteammates because they don’t know each other.” He took a long breath, his facea bit ghostly in the light. “It’s easier and maybe more efficient. This is hardbecause I care about every person in the field, and I know they care about me.I am not in love with Lou. That’s not where my heart went, but that’s neitherhere nor there. What is important is you’re going to be working with us for thenext couple of months, and that means I have to trust you.”
“So you’re not leaving me at Langley?”
He was well aware that he was on a timeline. He wouldn’t beallowed to stay with Lou’s team forever. He had to convince her because if hegot sent away on assignment for a couple of months, he wasn’t sure she would bewaiting when he got back.
Zach waved him off. “Oh, that was an empty threat. I wantedto make it plain that if you put my team in danger again, I’ll take care of youmyself. I complain about them. I worry about them. I sometimes don’t fit inwith them, but they are my team, and I will do whatever it takes to protectthem and this experiment of ours. So are we clear?”
He was jealous of Zach, jealous of the place he had in alltheir lives. “As crystal, sir.”
Zach nodded. “Excellent. Keep your mouth off her in thefield unless she needs CPR. That is for home or the club, and try to keep thedrama to a minimum and we’ll be okay. For now, you’re going to have to do someof Tristan’s work because I don’t know when he’s coming back.”
