Page 113 of Sweet Little Spies

“It would be better if you went back to sleep, Carys,” avoice whispered from her left. “Pretend if you have to. I don’t want to get tothe torture part of our day.”

They’d been in the bar at the hotel, and someone had druggedthem. Except there was a problem with that scenario. Her head was so foggy shebarely registered what that voice had told her.

She forced her eyes open because panic was starting to pushall that fog to the side. She tried to move her legs but came up against somekind of resistance.

“Or you could ignore me.”

There was no way to mistake the sarcastic tone. Kala.

Carys forced herself to breathe, to take stock of where shewas. On her back, staring up at a vaulted ceiling. There was a circle of lightabove her, bright light. Was that a surgical lamp? “What? Where?”

She heard the sound of someone speaking in French in thedistance.

“And now he knows we’re both awake,” Kala said quietly.“Remember we’re on a mission, Ms. Taggart.”

Why the hell was her cousin calling her Ms. Taggart?

The night flooded back. The mission. They weren’t supposedto be cousins. Kala was supposed to be her bodyguard. She remembered rightbefore the world had gone dark someone else had called her Ms. Taggart. “Whathappened?”

She heard the sound of a door opening, and terror threatenedto overwhelm her. But she couldn’t seem to move her limbs with any precision. Alight came on, brightening the room to a painful degree. That was when sherealized she was on some sort of exam table.

“Well, turns out beyond researching new neurologicaltherapies and drugs, the Huisman Foundation also dabbles in ways to make daterape easier,” came Kala’s reply.

A deep chuckle slithered through the room. “Ah, not true. Wecreated these particular drugs to make it easier to take out the people I needtaken out. Date rape is simply a secondary use, though I suspect I’ll make somemoney off of it. Welcome, Ms. Taggart.”

Carys felt her stomach roll but forced herself to focus. Sheknew that cultured voice. Aidan had listened to some of his lectures inpreparation for the symposium that wasn’t going to happen now. At least notwith them attending. “You’re making a mistake, Dr. Huisman.”

“Am I? Or am I fulfilling a long-term plan?”

He wasn’t looking down at her. She turned her head towardwhere the voice had come from and realized Huisman was standing over Kala, whowas laid out on another exam table.

Carys tried to move her arms, but she felt the restraintsaround her wrists.

So like the ones Aidan and Tris had used on her, and forsuch utterly different reasons. It was odd how the same items could cause suchvarious reactions based on who was using them. When Tris and Aidan tied herdown, she felt safe, beloved, and worshipped. These scared the hell out of her.“I’m Ms. Taggart, by the way. She’s just my bodyguard. And she didn’t do agreat job. Those test strips didn’t work. Someone should talk to your boss.”

Another chuckle and Huisman turned, unblocking the view ofKala’s body. Unlike Carys, she wasn’t tied down. Her arms were at her sides,her legs unrestrained.

Why wasn’t she killing this fucker?

Huisman took the three steps separating the tables andlooked down at Carys. He was a handsome man in photos, with dark hair andseemingly intelligent eyes. His hair was slightly long, brushing the bottom ofhis earlobes. He had a full mouth, but his eyes held something Carys couldn’texplain. Something that scared the fuck out of her.

This was the real Huisman. The mask was gone, and hisinsanity was clear in those dark eyes. This was the man Parker had talkedabout, the one who wanted to burn the world down.

“Yeah, I’m probably going to get fired after this,” Kalasaid, only her mouth moving.

“I seriously doubt she’ll get fired. As for you, Ms.Taggart, you’re slow. The drugs are definitely harder on your system. We’vealready gone over this. The drugs I gave you aren’t covered by those teststrips whores use,” Huisman said, the almost kindly smile on his face betrayedby his words. He slid two fingers under the restraint, pressing against herpulse. “I have some very intelligent people working for me. They’re alsomorally ambiguous, which I find helpful. Now that we have the explanations done,I can tell you how surprised I am to see you here, Ms. Taggart. I was expectingthe other one.”

“Other one? I don’t have a sister. I have three brothers,and one of them has a particular set of skills.” She was starting to feelstronger.

“You’re fine,” he said with another chuckle. “And I scarcelythink Kyle Hawthorne is the one I should be worried about. Like I said, you arenot supposed to be here. I wanted the other Taggart. I wanted her sister.”

A chill snaked up Carys’s spine. “What are you talkingabout? She doesn’t have a sister.”

Kala stayed silent.

“Oh, she has two, and a pretty cousin who unfortunately gotcaught in my net,” Huisman said with a shake of his head.

“You were after Tasha.” The words seemed forced out ofKala’s throat.

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