Page 28 of Tempting Tessa

But suspecting there was something else going on behind the scenes made the whole thing not sit right with her.

Trust was a weapon. You could never have true friends when you were a spy. Conrad Flynn had taught them all that.

The train brakes hissed as it slowed to navigate a bend. Tessa briefly glanced toward Tommy, who was in an aisle seat facing her direction and drumming his fingers on the table between him and his fellow passengers. At least, he’d given up staring a hole in her. Only his profile was visible now, and although he appeared calm and detached as he read something on his burner phone, she detected the strain around his eyes and mouth.

A mouth she’d kissed and wanted to again.

Like her, his neutral expression was a shield. A calculated façade. She wanted to talk to him about Jessie, the virus, and everything—but maintaining their cover was critical. They had to appear as strangers. They’d fumbled at the station with their banter and his impulsive dash into the crowd, but no one had seemed to notice. Still, Tessa’s training and instinct told her not to take chances. The shooter from the previous day materialized in her mind, and she gave the compartment a casual scan of those she could see. No one stood out to her, and none of the faces resembled Jessie at all.

Her mind replayed the chase—the shot that shattered the glass but would have missed entirely if she hadn’t pivoted. The way the shooter had caught up to them in the alley but missed again when she’d fired and then abandoned the pursuit.

Amateur or professional? Could be either, depending on the outcome they’d been after.

Could it be the Jessie imposter?

Could it be Jessie?

Tessa shut down the impossible thought, even as those pesky doubts lingered and continued to gnaw at her. If Jessie was alive, what did that mean? Why would she keep it a secret? Why would she shoot at Tessa and Tommy?

Was she tied to the pending EMP attacks?

Tessa’s pulse spiked again, her breath catching at the idea of such a betrayal. It was too much, even for her jaded heart and cynical mind. Until she could get some solid answers to her questions, all she was doing was creating more dragons to slay.

Her phone vibrated, the sound muffled in her pocket but still jarring. She had two now, and this wasn’t the burner that only Tommy had the number to. She frowned, angling the screen so her neighbor couldn’t read it.

Spence.

In all the time she’d known him, he’d only ever contacted her directly a few times. They’d always been friends but not teammates. Why was he calling now? To join Meg’s recruitment campaign?

“Hey,” she answered stiffly. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know: Meg and Dec fighting. Flynn yelling. End of the world shit.” He gave a half-hearted chuckle. “I should ask you the same thing. What’s going on?”

She glanced at the passengers in her booth. “I’m heading to London for a few days. I’m on the train now. I’ll call you back once I’ve landed, okay?”

“Don’t lie to me.”

She should hang up. Pretend she’d settled things with her caller, and all was fine. “I know why you’re calling, and I’m sorry, but the answer is no. I can’t. Talk soon!”

“Tess, wait, luv.” His voice softened, catching her before she could disconnect. “I know I don’t say this often, but I care about you. We all do.”

His admission took her by surprise. Something inside her that was hard and cold melted a little. Out of all of them, he could do that to her—make her feel more human.

“Look,luv,” she warned, using his term because she didn’t want to say his name. It was an old habit, born of her training, but using real names, even over a secure line, was dangerous.

He bulldozed over her. “I cared about Jessie, too.” His voice cracked, and its roughness surprised her as much as his previous admission. “More than just a teammate. I never told her. Never told anyone. I don’t wanna make that mistake again. I want you to know that, regardless of whether you join the team or not, I have the utmost admiration and respect for you. You’ve been a true friend, and I appreciate that. They’re hard to come by in our line of work.”

Tessa’s pulse skipped and then hammered hard. It was as if he had read her thoughts. She pressed her back into the seat, wishing she could disappear into it. “She knew.”

The return shocked silence told her she’d surprisedhimthis time. “She did?” His voice hitched. “You’re saying Jessie knew I…”

“That you were in love with her, yes.” In some way, they all had been. Jessie had been a free spirit while being so good at her job. She’d made everyone believe they were special. Made them all think that she would do anything for them, no matter the consequences. No matter what the mission took out of her or what line she might have to cross to protect them.

She had given each of them the rarest gift of friendship—total and unconditional loyalty.

She was one of the few I trusted.

The realization caught her in the chest, and she hiccupped. One of the men across from her glanced up at the sound, and she quickly focused on the landscape flying by the window again.

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