Page 45 of No More Spies

“They’re sending us CCTV footage from around theneighborhood,” Drake said since the gang was all here. It was a whole lot ofAgency in his happy place. “I’m surprised Huisman didn’t find a way to turn offthe cams.”

The woman at the end of the table cleared her throat, andall eyes turned to her. “Have we considered the fact that this might not beHuisman?”

The profiler/therapist the Agency had sent was here as well.She sat beside Drake, who was as casual as he’d ever seen the man in sweats anda T-shirt, with rumpled hair. Like he’d rolled out of bed to get here, which heprobably had. Unlike Ian and Charlotte, he hadn’t been at Sanctum since hiswife wasn’t with him.

Lena Gallagher, however, looked like she was ready for work.If the late hour bothered her, it didn’t show. She wore a perfectly tailoredbusiness suit, her chin-length bob smooth and straight, and her makeup done.

Big Tag’s brow rose. “Who the hell else would it be? Dr.Walsh is a renowned neuroscientist. She’s a researcher at this point andworking on curing Alzheimer’s. Do you think the disease is sending out bombs tokill her?”

Big Tag was spicy when he was tired. Kala’s gaze slid hisway, her eyes flaring slightly as if to sayhere we go. He let hislips curl. She was endlessly amused by her father, and they loved to watch whenhe got started up. Cooper loved sharing it with her.

And then she shut down as though she remembered what hadhappened.

Was that all she was remembering?

“Well, Mr. Taggart, it feels petty for Dr. Huisman,” Lenabegan, ignoring the sarcasm from Big Tag. “I’ve made a study of the man, and hetends to be a big-picture sort of guy. Don’t get me wrong. I’m certainly notsaying the doctor isn’t capable of murder. He obviously is, but I believe hewould do it in a more spectacular fashion.”

“He likes bombs,” Kenzie pointed out. “He’s blown up shitacross the globe. Sounds like Huisman to me.”

Kenzie was glaring at the psychologist, which was oddbecause Kenz was almost always friendly. But then she kind of glared at himright now, too. He would bet Kala hadn’t said a word about what had happened.

If he hadn’t made a big deal, hadn’t let his ego get in theway, she wouldn’t have had to. She might have been able to quietly disentangleherself.

Thank the fucking universe for his ego because he wanted tobe entangled.

“Huisman isn’t the only one who is heavily connected tobombs,” Lena pointed out, also ignoring Kenzie’s pointed jabs. “What I mean bythe big picture is everything Huisman has done to this point has benefitted hisplans for the Disrupt organization. The shadow one, of course.”

“Uhm, pretty sure Kala would disagree,” Lou said. She’d beenwatching him, too, obviously trying to figure out what had happened.

“I don’t know about that,” Kala replied. “In this I mightagree with the doc.”

“How so?” Charlotte’s head tilted slightly, taking in herdaughter. “I think what was done to you was pointedly about the grudge he hasagainst your father.”

“But that wasn’t his plan.” Kala turned in her seat, facingher mother. “Taking me was a mistake. He even told me he hadn’t planned to moveso quickly, but he wouldn’t waste the chance. He wanted information fromTristan, and more importantly, Zach.”

“Exactly,” Lena said, nodding Kala’s way with an approvingsmile. “Huisman’s plans were about discovering the identity of the bombmaker,which brings us to Zach.”

“Yes, he obviously knows more about the bombmaker than weunderstood.” Big Tag sighed as though tired of the whole thing. “But if you aretrying to convince me Zach planted that bomb, you’re barking up the wrong tree.Zach barely knows Dr. Walsh. He met her briefly once. He has no reason to hurther.”

“Unless he’s in league with Huisman, and he lied aboutwanting information from Zach.” Lena sat back. “We’ve already established thatHuisman’s true goal is chaos. What better chaos than to be working with amember of your team? Especially if there’s a possibility of Zach returning insome way to the fold. He would be able to give you a lot of misinformation.It’s obvious you don’t believe Zach is capable of this kind of crime, but wehave already established he’s murdered one man in cold blood.”

“The Jester,” Charlotte said. “Who is an arms dealer who fedmultiple wars and criminal organizations. I get what you’re saying, but youdon’t know Zach. There’s something bigger here we don’t understand.”

“All right.” Lena studied Charlotte for a moment. “You carefor Zach and I understand, but I would like for the group to at least considerwhat I’m saying. I wasn’t placed in this position for my good looks. I knowwhat I’m talking about, and in this case I believe I can think more clearlyabout the situation.” She held up a hand as if to ward off the inevitablearguments. “If I’m wrong, all you’ve done is be more careful. I suspect you’llhear from Zach at some point, and he’ll come with explanations and apologies.He’ll play on the sympathy he knows he’ll get from you. Be careful, Mrs.Taggart. Your operatives need to be careful as well.” She stood and collectedher designer bag, settling it on her shoulder. “Now, I’m going to get back tomy hotel and get some sleep since it’s easy to see I’m causing problems here.”

Drake looked up at her. “Lena, you don’t have to go.”

She shook her head. “They’re emotional, and I’m making itworse. I’ll be back at the Ferguson Clinic tomorrow. Mr. Taggart offered me anoffice in his building, but the clinic is quite nice, and I won’t be a focalpoint there. Please keep me up to date on anything I need to know. Kala, I’llsee you soon.”

Cooper winced at the thought but Kala merely nodded, andLena exited stage left. He wondered what she thought about being dragged into ameeting at a lifestyle club. Drake was in the lifestyle, and he and his wifeattended a club in DC, but somehow he couldn’t see the perfectly controlledtherapist being interested in D/s. He could be wrong.

Drake looked Ian and Charlotte’s way, his eyes narrowing.“You know who she is and what she’s here to do.”

Charlotte tucked a strand of strawberry blonde hair behindher ear. “I know she’s trying to sway my team to believe Zach is the bad guyhere.”

“She’s not wrong,” Ian said tightly. “I’m not saying Zach isevil, just that we should be careful and keep an open mind. We don’t know whatforces are pushing on him right now, what kind of trouble he’s in. We don’tknow who or what he’s protecting.”

“Well, I would think it’s the bombmaker,” Tristan said witha frown. “At least it seemed that’s what Huisman believed. But I can’t see Zachtrying to kill Dr. Walsh. He wouldn’t have any reason to.”

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