Page 92 of Sweet Little Spies

It was good he’d learned to speak Big Tag over the years.Ian was leaving the decision to him. He’d been given clearance to bring CSISfully up to speed if he thought it was necessary. He’d been alone with onlyZach and Tara for the longest time. “I’m The Jester. Or at least I have beenfor several years.”

Parker sat back, his poker face on. “This is newinformation. Did you kill the original Jester? What have you found out abouthim? If I’m allowed to know.”

He was a prickly dude, but then he’d had his world tangledup by twins, so Tris was giving him a pass. “I didn’t kill him, though I didkill his assassin. I was lucky Zach came after me because it was a close thing.Zach walking in startled the fucker long enough for me to get a shot in.”

“I didn’t realize Zach was there,” Ian said quietly.

“It’s in the official report, sir.” Zach had his tablet out.“I’ll send it to you. We both wrote up one. Tara and I were in town with Tris.She caught the assassin on CCTV as he was going back into The Jester’sbuilding.”

“He had an Interpol red notice on him. It wasn’t hard to IDthe man,” Tara admitted. “I sent Zach in because I thought Tris might needbackup. He hadn’t gotten the comms back up at the time, so I couldn’t warn him.There was a jammer in place, and the assassin had knocked out the CCTVs on theactual building. Luckily I managed to slide into the ones on the undergroundentrance a block away.”

“All right,” Parker said. “So the assassin kills The Jesterand then what? Went out for lunch?”

“I believe he probably heard something that scared him off,”Tris explained. “Our theory is he left and when he realized no one had calledthe cops, he came back to get what he’d really come for. The laptop. It was ina safe. It took me a couple of hours to crack it, and then I got to work on thesystem itself. I had access to certain things like his basic communicationsystem, but his financial and business records took longer.”

“So you clean up the scene, leave the assassin’s body behindas a fuck you to whoever hired him, and take over The Jester’s online persona,”Parker surmised. “Or was it more? Have you been selling arms?”

“I had to keep up the cover if I was going to find thebombmaker. Over the years I’ve been in contact with the man but only throughencrypted messages,” he replied, not wanting to look Carys’s way. Would sheunderstand why he’d done what he’d done? “I also used the position I was in totip off the authorities if I felt the public was at high risk. The truth ismost of the weapons I’ve sold were to cartels or syndicates, and they tend touse them mostly on each other. I’m not proud of what I did, but it was the onlyway to find him.”

“Except you haven’t found him.” Parker pointed out hisfailure.

“I think we’ve come close.” He prayed they had. “I had setup a buy for his new version of a dirty bomb. He claims he can do three timesthe damage with half the nuclear material. I was also supposed to see a test ofhis new detonation system. According to what we were told it could be used forbiological weapons dispersion. But he never showed. And he hasn’t been heardfrom in six months. Hence the desperation to figure out who’s close to someonewho can give any information about the bombmaker.”

TJ raised a hand. “Not me. I know nothing, and it’s how Ilike it. Though I do wish everyone knew so they didn’t try to blow up myfriend’s wedding. We didn’t even get cake. Lou’s mom made this gorgeous cakeand no one got a slice. Well, I bet Boomer did. Baby, did your dad eat thewhole cake?”

“My brother helped him,” Lou admitted. “But not the point. Ihave some questions since, unlike some of us, I have gone over the wholereport.”

Big Tag’s lips curled up. “You know I’ve had a lot to do.This scenario is exactly why I have a Lou. I can count on you to studyeverything.”

“I did as well,” Tasha said. “Lou and I talked about it onthe plane. Beyond questioning the entire idea that Huisman would send ahelicopter to disrupt a wedding of two people he doesn’t know, I have to wonderwhat he gets out of it.”

Tris had been thinking about it, too. He had a theory. “Ifhe is in touch with the bombmaker, then he might want to get rid of anyone whoknows who he is. If he gave the bombmaker enough money, he might want the manto exclusively work for his group, and taking out anyone who possibly knows hisidentity would protect his asset.”

“Manny was looking for the bombmaker a few weeks ago when heworked with the Germans to kidnap TJ,” Parker pointed out.

“And he couldn’t have figured it out in those weeks?” Kalaasked, her tone respectful but with a hint of challenge. “According to youHuisman is a genius when it comes to an evil plan.”

Parker nodded. “It’s possible. And since we firmly believehe managed to get the formula for the new anthrax from Dare’s father’s company,he’ll be looking for a delivery system. So I can accept that if he believed TJwas The Jester or close to him and knew the bombmaker’s identity, it could beto his advantage to take him out.”

“But it wasn’t the best method.” Carys sat up, obviouslyforcing herself to speak when she probably wanted to blend into the wall andforget she was here. “I don’t understand. There were plenty of places to put asniper.”

Ian’s head shook. “I assure you I checked them all. I ranthe security since several members of my team were in attendance, and I wouldhave found any sniper.”

Carys’s shoulders shrugged. “Okay, then why the wedding? Whynot learn his habits and do it quietly? If I was going to kill TJ, I wouldfigure out a way to poison the hot dog he gets almost every day from the shadyfood truck outside the building where Lou works.”

Lou turned to her boyfriend. “You said you were cutting outprocessed meats. We made a deal.”

TJ went a nice shade of red. “They’re good. I don’t knowwhat they do to make it taste so good. But fine, Carys is right. It probablywould be easier to take me out when I’m not in a crowd.”

“But that’s not what Manny would find fun about it.”Parker’s eyes seemed to go dark as he spoke. “I’ve known him since he was achild, and there’s nothing Manny loves more than chaos. He thinks it’s theultimate shield. It’s where we’ll be able to trip him up. He can’t resistpoking a wound, and there’s nothing he loves more than getting revenge on hisperceived enemies. I’ve done some research, and I believe the real targetwasn’t TJ at all. I believe it was Carys.”

“What?” Tris’s gut turned. “Why the hell would he want tohurt Carys?”

“Because her last name is Taggart.”

The whole room seemed to go still. Ben Parker wasn’tsupposed to know he was sitting in a room full of Taggarts. Ian had never toldthe Canadian operative his real name, and no one else would have. He had acover in place should anyone go looking for him. So did Charlotte, the twins,and Tasha. Tris himself had worked with Lou to make sure they were solid, andhis papa had checked their work.

But they couldn’t do the same for Carys.

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