Page 107 of Sweet Little Spies

“Fine. I want to see where it’s going with Devi. The lastweek has literally been the best of my life. We went to Top the other night andCooper and Kala were there. It was the nicest time. It was…like being aroundfamily,” Zach said in an almost wistful way.

It was hard to remember some people weren’t constantlysurrounded by family and friends who’d known them all their damn lives. Itcould be annoying, but then he realized how alone Zach must feel. “I’m gladit’s going well. Devi is great. And I bet Coop will be happy to have someonewho doesn’t immediately fall in love and move. I think Nate lasted like a weekand a half before he was living with Daisy. Take your time with Devi. I thinkCooper needs some stability.”

“I can do that,” Zach promised. “Devi’s got a lot going on.I want to add to her life not give her more to do. I need some time to figureout how we can fit into each other’s lives.”

“Let’s get going.” Tristan looked around the room. “The lastthing we need is Tash honking at the door.”

“You okay?” Zach asked, studying him. “I know what thismission has meant to you and what you gave up for it. You seem to be handlingthis like a champ, but you have to know this means Big Tag’s going to take overeverything. Well, if the higher-ups let him.”

What he’d given up was precious time with Carys and Aidan.He didn’t want to lose more. “I think the fact they allowed him to take overthis op means they’re coming around. You were sent in to discredit the team.It’s been a couple of years and you haven’t managed it.”

“I was sent in to report back with an unbiased eye,” Zachcorrected. “I’m going to admit something I wouldn’t to most other people. Iwasn’t ever unbiased. I wanted on the team.”

“Because it sounded like a beautiful train wreck?” Tris gotto work. Despite what Aidan had said, Tris didn’t mean to leave their stuffbehind either. Though he wouldn’t call for a bellman. They’d checked for bugs,but the absence of them in the room didn’t mean there weren’t still eyes onthem. Especially once they hit the elevator. He intended to walk out beforeanyone could think to stop him. He grabbed his laptop and shoved it in his bag.

Zach grinned and picked up Carys’s laptop bag, moving it tothe table at the front of the outer room. “It is most of the time. What I lovedabout the idea of the team was the family aspect. It felt more military to methan Agency. I liked the idea the team would care about each other, would knoweach other. So often a Mr. or Ms. Black would roll in, order my Special Forcesteams to do their will, and then never see a one of us again. Big Tag gives adamn about everyone he works with, and he’s passed his philosophy on to histeam. I wanted to be part of that.”

“I can see why it would be appealing.” Tristan mentallycounted their baggage and the likelihood he and Zach could handle it. Luckily,he packed light. The good news was they hadn’t gotten around to unpacking morethan toiletries since they wouldn’t be staying more than the night. It was easyto shove the dirty clothes in the outer pockets of the luggage and then roll itto the living room where Zach moved it into place. “Tell me something. Did youknow about the whole taking the last parachute and leaving Parker behind to diething?”

Zach chuckled. “I did. I kind of watched it happen, thoughfrom a distance. In Kala’s defense, she didn’t believe they would kill Parker.He’s being kind of dramatic when he says that.”

Tristan scoffed at the idea. “She did not care.”

“Okay, she didn’t, but what else was she supposed to do?”Zach asked, proving he would back his teammates even when they were a littlepsycho. “She did catch him, and she did make sure he made it safely to theground. It was a hell of a thing.”

“Why didn’t it make your report?” Tris was always careful togo over mission reports even when he wasn’t involved in the op.

Zach stopped, and Tris could have sworn there was thefaintest flush to the big guy’s face. “I don’t know.”

“Yeah, you do.” He knew exactly what had happened, but hewanted to hear Zach say it.

Zach shrugged. “Fine. Because you don’t tell on your sister.I’m not a snitch. You know what they say.”

Except there was one problem with what Zach had said. “Youwere literally hired to snitch. Also, you should be happy you didn’t becausesnitching on that particular sister wouldn’t lead to stitches.”

“Nope. It leads to a body bag, and what can I say, man? Idrank the Kool-Aid and I want more,” Zach admitted. “I came on board becausesome of the directors worried the team would be unstable. Don’t ever tell ourLangley handlers, but those directors wanted Big Tag and Charlie in. It’s theonly reason Drake and Taylor were allowed to form the team. They knew if theyhad the twins, they had their parents. Some of them thought if we could getshit on the team, they would have leverage over the whole Taggart clan.”

Tris stopped in his tracks, feeling his eyes widen. “Ianwould eat them all if he knew.”

“Which is why we’re not going to tell him, brother,” Zachsaid. “It would cause problems. I handled it for him. They’re no longer talkingabout shutting it down at Langley. Instead, they’re giving the team moreimportant assignments, and that’s why I think this one is going to fall to BigTag. Honestly, bringing your dad in is the nail in the coffin to the people whowant to shut this team down. If we have Adam Miles, no one’s going to arguewith us.”

His father was being used as a chess piece, but he had totrust his dad could handle it. Between his father, Big Tag, and Charlotte, theywould likely upend the whole game and change all the rules. If there wasanything he’d learned from all of this it was to trust the people he loved.“Well, then one good thing came out of all the mess I made.”

He went into the bathroom and grabbed Carys’s makeup bag andhis and Aidan’s toiletries.

“You didn’t make a mess,” Zach said from the outer room.“You did what you could with what you were handed. Everyone was impressed youcould even find the fucker. He was well hidden, but you tracked his ass down.You couldn’t know you were going to walk in and find The Jester face down onthe floor, man. You did what you had to do.”

“Nice of you to…” Tristan stopped, focused on what Zach hadjust said.

Face down on the floor.

By the time Zach had shown up, Tristan had turned him over.He’d had to see if the man could be saved and along with him, his knowledge.When Zach had walked in, The Jester had been lying face up, his unseeing eyesstaring at the ceiling.

“Hey, I cleared out Kala’s stuff,” Zach announced. “She hadeverything in a duffel. I think we can manage it on our own.”

What else had Zach been sent in to do? Who was Zach reallyworking for? Maybe he was being fucking paranoid as hell. Maybe it was a turnof phrase, something that dropped from his mouth without thinking about it.

Except Zach Reed was always precise.

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