Page 115 of No More Spies

“Can we cut the electricity from here?” Lou was supposed tobe in the van with Tasha, but she’d shut down the notion of being support inthis case. She was going in to save her best friend and wouldn’t be talked outof it. TJ hadn’t even argued with her, merely told her she would be by his sidethe whole way.

“We can, but then he’ll know we’re coming,” Tris argued. “Ikind of wish we had Parker with us. No one knows this asshole better, and quitefrankly, he’s proven good in a fight.”

“I wish we had Ben here, too, but he might have questionsabout how we’re rescuing me.” Kenzie had her hair hidden under the balaclavashe would soon pull down to mask her face. “Believe me. I wish I hadn’t beenforced to leave him. We were really talking. And now he’s talking to Dare.”

It had been the plan to extricate Kenz without making it tooobvious to Ben that something was going on. Dare had joined them and asked tospeak to Ben. The good news was that Dare had definitely softened on his formerfriend and was actually ready to talk to him. Kenzie had set them up in aprivate room at Top with expensive Scotch and cigars, and according to Tashthey’d stayed until about thirty minutes before.

Kenzie had told him she’d meet him for a late lunchtomorrow.

If she was still alive and not in mourning. If they lostKala, all bets were off, and it wouldn’t matter anymore if Parker or everyoneelse figured out they were twins. “We should think about letting him in on thesecret. I don’t know that it’s fair that Huisman knows and he doesn’t. It givesHuisman a weapon to use against Parker and us.”

“I’ll think about it,” Ian returned.

Kenzie let out a deep breath. “Good. We’ll talk about itwhen we get my sister and Devi back.”

“I still think we should have brought Daisy,” TJ said in ahushed tone. “I know y’all think bringing a civvie in is wrong, but she foilsbad-guy plans all the time. We would just have to have her, like, walk by thehouse and it might fall down.”

Cooper wasn’t sure that TJ was joking. After all, the lasttime Devi found herself in a shitty situation, Daisy had handled it, and shehadn’t even needed a gun. Not that she would have been able to hide a weaponsince she’d walked out and distracted the bad guys with her nudity.

Cooper was absolutely sure it wouldn’t work on Huisman.Nothing would except the element of surprise. “What’s going on with thecameras? Can we take them over?”

“I can patch on to them, but it’s going to be a while beforeI get control,” Tris said with a frustrated growl. “This software is verycomplex. It’s almost like he knew someone would try to take over.”

This guy was always prepared. He was always one step ahead.“Do we have any idea how many people he has with him?”

“I’m going through the feeds.” Lou had a laptop open aswell. “I’ve got ten armed guards, I think. They’re all dressed alike, so Imight be off by one or two. He’s got them patrolling a half a mile area aroundthe house, and he’s got one on the tunnels.”

“Can you see the basement?” Charlotte asked. “It’s almostsurely where Kala will be when they’re not…”

Torturing her. Charlotte might not be able to say the wordsout loud, but it didn’t change what was likely happening to the woman he loved.

“The basement is one of the rooms they have blacked out,”Tris admitted. “I can see there’s a camera there, but it’s offline. Same for acouple of the rooms upstairs.”

“That’s where she’ll be,” Ian said firmly. “We need toaccess those rooms. The ones with cameras on aren’t important beyond letting usknow where the bad guys are. But you have to consider that the blacked-outrooms will have potential threats in them.”

“Like more guards?” TJ asked.

“Or traps,” Charlotte replied. “Don’t trust anything in thathouse at this point.”

“My wife found a bunch of medical equipment being shipped tothis address within the last three weeks,” Drake said, staring down at histablet. He was in touch with his wife, Taylor, who also worked for the Agency.“It appears they’re trying to show this as some sort of clinic on paper. That’sdisturbing. He’s done a good job. He had the whole area rezoned as a mentalhealth center. Like a rehab for wealthy people. It allows him to legally shipdrugs in without gaining the eye of law enforcement.”

“He did all of this for her,” Kenzie said, not quite able tohide the horror in her tone. “He bought the house because it was attached in away to our family, but he prepped it after he took her the first time. We haveto think he’s got some kind of fascination with Kala. What’s happening to her?I wish we had that twin thing where we can feel each other.”

“He won’t kill her right away.” Ian’s tone had gone stony.It was how he talked when he was in focus mode. No sarcasm. No emotion.

But the emotion was there. It simply didn’t control him.Like Cooper was learning to do with his own. Kala didn’t shut down because shecouldn’t feel. She did it so she could focus on the problem at hand and notgive the enemy information they didn’t need to know. He felt a steely resolveharden in his gut. “She’ll survive. No matter what he throws at her, she’llsurvive it, and we’ll all be there for her.”

“I don’t know if my sister can,” TJ said, for the first timesounding a little on edge. He’d been a soldier for a long time and he’d had tofight for his teammates, but Devi was his baby sister. And she didn’t have thetraining the rest of the family had. “Survive, that is.”

“Kala will do everything she can to make them look at herinstead of Devi,” Cooper promised. He knew his girl. She would take the pain soher cousin didn’t have to.

And she thought she was some kind of villain?

“Devi’s tougher than you think,” Kenzie added. “She’s got acore of strength inside her. She won’t break.”

“We have movement to our left,” Drake said. “About a hundredfeet away. There’s someone out here moving through the trees.” He pulled hiscomms unit. “Tash, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

The radio crackled and then Tasha’s voice was heard. “Yes. Isee him. He’s roughly six and a half feet, and he’s wearing fatigues but notthe ones the guards wear. He seems…familiar to me. It’s something about the wayhe… I think it’s Zach. Don’t shoot. He’s making his way to the van. Are you outof camera range?”

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