AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Oliver’s shoulder shrugged. “It’s enough for an errand. Orto purchase some intelligence.”
She didn’t like Oliver Knight. “He wouldn’t sell his countryout for any amount, much less five grand. You know his family is well off,right?”
“His uncles are,” Sami mused. “His parents, not so much.Theo and Erin are relatively middle class. I know they didn’t pay for theirdaughter’s college.”
“No. My dad and uncles did that,” Kenzie said, her eyesnarrowing. “And they offered to pay for TJ’s, too. Devi wanted to go to a privateschool. Most families can’t afford that, but there’s not a lot Uncle Case’smoney can’t buy. Which is why it’s ridiculous to think TJ would take five grandto do something that could ruin his career when all he has to do is ask hisuncles and they’ll pay for anything he needs.”
“Case Taggart’s money belongs to his wife,” Oliver pointedout.
“I assure you Aunt Mia would disagree,” Kala argued. “Look,none of this matters because you’re not going to believe us until we tear apartyour evidence. Which Lou’s going to do.”
Zach stared at his screen, his hands working the keys. “Ineed a date. When was this sale TJ was supposedly close to, and when was themoney transferred?”
“We believe The Jester was in Bulgaria to finalize a sale onthis date. Two days later, the money went into the account.” Sami wrote on apiece of paper and slid it Zach’s way. “You have to understand why we’ve beenso cautious. If your team is involved in any way, we have to be careful.Honestly, we haven’t wanted to work with the Agency since we realized TJ waspotentially involved. The Taggart name opens some doors we would rather stayclosed.”
“Meaning the Agency would come in and take control and coverthings up if they needed to,” Kala said, polishing off one of the cinnamontwists.
“We all know they would,” Oliver agreed. “And that’s whysome of our bosses in MI6 don’t even know how far down the rabbit hole we’vegone. Like your team, we’re considered young, and our parents give us somecover. We get left out of some intel that would be helpful, but we also flyunder the radar when we need to.”
Something about the way his eyes narrowed made Lou wonder.“Do you think The Jester has contacts in more than one intelligence agency?”
Kenzie nodded, picking up on what Lou threw down. “Theythink MI6 is involved, too. I can tell you Ben doesn’t trust everyone in hisagency. He thinks CSIS might be compromised.”
“By Huisman,” Cooper prompted.
Kenzie’s eyes flared, the light of battle coming into them.“I know we haven’t been able to prove Ben’s theories, but I didn’t likeHuisman. I know he presents as this inspirational, rational man, but that’s amask.”
“Says the woman who wants to get into Parker’s pants,” Zachreplied, his eyes still on the screen.
“Don’t.” Kala frowned Zach’s way. “I’m with my sister onthis one. I’ve watched the man, and something is off about him. He’s not theperson he pretends to be. I’d like to know more about him before we shrug offthe Canadian’s concerns.”
Lou leaned over, watching what Zach was doing. He cursed,and she realized he was in a military database, pulling up information.
“TJ was in Sofia, Bulgaria, that day,” Zach said. “I’ve gothim and his whole team in the city, so that piece of the intel checks out. Ifthat is indeed The Jester in the Berlin picture, then we can place TJ inrelative proximity to The Jester twice. Whatever the team was doing there isclassified. I can probably find out.”
“Or we could ask him,” Cooper shot back. “I don’t like thatwe’ve left him out of this.”
Lou had been planning on doing exactly that, though shewouldn’t admit it in front of the Brits. Or Zach, who had to be careful. If heknew TJ was talking about classified assignments, he would have to turn him in.Lou did not.
“I’ll look into it. I bet I can find out,” Lou promised.
Zach sat back, groaning. “Just don’t tell me about it. I’llpretend you have access.”
“I’ll have something for you this afternoon, but I need touse the system at the 4L office,” Lou explained. “It’s got better security thananything the Agency has. I get the feeling I’m going to need to break into somefun systems. Like Interpol. That should be easy, right?”
“Why would you break into Interpol?” Oliver asked, thoughthe question wasn’t tinged with outrage, merely curiosity.
Lou started to pack up her laptop. “Because I want to knowwho sent you that intel.”
“It’s anonymous,” Oliver pointed out.
Sami snorted. “You know nothing is truly anonymous, and thatgirl right there is one of the best hackers in the world.”
Lou glanced back at the hallway and halfway wished TJ wouldcome walking out, yawning and ordering her to stay with him all day. The otherhalf thought she should move and fast. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able tothink. “Who’s coming with me because I suspect TJ will be upset if I go to theoffice alone.”
Kala stood and stretched. “I’ll babysit you, bestie. I’msure we’ll find something to talk about since you fell asleep in TJ’s lap inthe lounge last night and then ran to your room when we got back here. I waspromised gossip.”
What she really wanted to know was if Lou was okay.
