Page 35 of Sweet Little Spies

Because Huisman already knew. Because Huisman wanted to knowif Aidan would lie to him.

“Married?” Huisman sounded surprised, but then the fuckerwas an excellent actor.

“Yes.” Aidan wasn’t, but he didn’t need to act now. “We putit off a couple of times, so I wasn’t willing to disappoint my fiancée again.She’s a doctor, too, so she understands how important being invited to thissymposium is.”

This would be an excellent way to let Huisman down. And itwould be all his own damn fault. The doctor wanted Aidan and Carys in hisgrasp. Well, it wasn’t happening. If Huisman hadn’t pulled this shit today,Tristan would have had to work much harder to come up with a reasonable excuseto get Aidan out of this trap.

“But you saidsupposedto get married.” Huisman’svoice was all sympathy now. “Did something go wrong? Forgive me if it’s none ofmy business. I know you might not understand, but we actually have aconnection, you and I. I didn’t realize it until I saw where you were from. You’reLiam O’Donnell’s son, right?”

Sure, he hadn’t realized. Tristan was sure Huisman knew whothey all were and what they did. And how close they were to exposing him. Whichwas precisely what Tris had been trying to avoid. By splitting off from Aidanand Carys publicly, he’d hoped to take them out of the line of fire.

He’d failed. Well, everyone had told him he was a dumbass.

“Yeah, he’s my dad.” Aidan was looking to Ian for hisprompts. Not to him.

Ian nodded, letting him know to keep going. But then Ianturned to the white board and wrote.

This is your choice.

It took everything Tris had not to growl right back. Itwasn’t Aidan’s fucking choice. It was his. He wrote again.

Tell him you have to cancel.

Aidan turned away. “Li O’Donnell is my dad. And we had sometrouble. I’m still not exactly sure what happened. My family and Carys’sfamily… They’re involved in the security and intelligence worlds. I think maybeher uncle’s business came back to bite us in the ass, or shoot us in the ass,so to speak. I’m sorry. I’m still a bit rattled.”

Thank god. He was going to bow out. It was going to be okay.He was surprised at how hard his heart was beating.

Aidan was talking to Tristan’s biggest fucking nightmare. Itwas everything he’d attempted to avoid, but it was going to be fine becauseAidan was sane. Carys would do it just to throw him her middle finger. WhenCarys got mad, things could go seriously south, but Aidan was reasonable. Aidanwould make the right choice.

“Of course you are,” Huisman said. “Is everyone okay?”

“Well, the dudes in the helicopter aren’t,” Aidan repliedwith a long sigh. “I’ll be honest my fiancée’s uncle has some…roughconnections. I think something went wrong and someone was looking for revenge.I won’t probably ever understand it. I’m sorry I can’t talk about it. I’m sureit’s classified.” Aidan groaned. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Maybe Aidan was better at this than he thought.

Cooper had made his way over while Ian watched Aidan. Heleaned in. “I looped Zach in earlier today. He said he’ll be in Dallas in themorning. I’m sure he’ll want an update.”

Zach Reed.

On the outside they were simply teammates on the group runby Ian and Charlotte. They weren’t even very good friends. Zach held himselfsomewhat apart, though he hung out with Cooper a lot. When he was in Dallas hewas friendly with the gang at The Hideout.

No one knew Zach was his partner in tracking down The Jesterand had been since the beginning.

“Good,” he whispered. “We’ll debrief in the morning afterwe’ve settled Aidan and Carys into the safe house.”

A brow rose over Cooper’s eyes. “Sure.”

“It’s not a problem, Dr. O’Donnell,” Huisman replied. “Itsounds like you had a troubling day, but you don’t have to worry you’ve saidsomething you shouldn’t. Like I said, I have some ties to your family. I assumethis has something to do with the Taggarts. Your father is an executive atMcKay-Taggart, correct?”

Aidan’s frown deepened. “I’m sorry, how would you knowthat?”

“Our families go back quite a ways,” Huisman admitted. “It’swhy I was so surprised to see your name and called you on a Saturday eveningwhen I should have waited until Monday morning.”

Sure, that was the reason for the call. Tristan didn’tbother to hide his eye roll.

“I want to assure you you’ve said nothing to betray yourfamily,” Huisman continued. “Mere months ago I approached Mr. Taggart about aproblem I found myself in. I consider him an intelligent and wise man. Pleasefeel free to talk to him about the symposium and contact me. I can assure yoursafety and comfort. If your worried, I’m more than willing to make arrangementswith him.”

Ian’s jaw tightened, but his eyes remained on Aidan. He gavehim the slightest nod.

---