Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Benjamin Parker. He worked for Canadian Intelligence, and TJ’s former team had backed him up when he was on assignment in Australia. Unfortunately, that assignment had collided with his uncle’s team’s assignment and everything had gotten seriously fucked up.
And his cousin had apparently been thinking about the handsome agent ever since.
Ben’s eyes went right to Kenzie. Who he thought was Kara but he was certain that wasn’t her real name, so he’d made one up so everything was extra confusing.
Okay, his uncle was right. The sexual tension was kind of nauseating. It wasn’t like with him and Lou. That was fine, exciting even. But watching his cousin drool a little was…a lot.
“Do you ever take meetings in anything but a sex club?” the Canadian asked, his eyes still on Kenzie.
She’d been right about her boobs distracting him. He hadn’t looked at anyone else in the room.
Kenzie’s lips curled up. “Why would I when it works so well?”
“Mr. Parker, would you like to explain to me why you attempted to kidnap one of the members of my team? And while you’re at it, make a good argument as to why I don’t send you back to your handler in pieces.” His uncle got right to the point.
But TJ had spent time with Ben. He knew exactly what motivated the man. “Because he either thinks Emmanuel Huisman is The Jester, or The Jester can lead him to proof of Huisman’s crimes.”
It was the only explanation. TJ was sure Parker had worked a lot of ops, but his primary focus was bringing in Emmanuel Huisman, a childhood friend who he believed with all his soul was also a terrorist. If there was one thing he’d learned about Parker, it was how focused he was on bringing down that man.
It had worried him in the field, and it worried him even more seeing the Canadian looking at his cousin like he could devour her in two bites.
Lou nodded his way, a cookie in her hand. “I think you’re right. And one of the things I’ve heard is that The Jester is the arms dealer who sold the weapons used in the Jakarta bombings. He blamed Huisman for those attacks.”
There was history between Parker and the man who ran the world-famous Huisman Foundation. They specialized in neurological studies and were known for backing innovative projects like the one that had saved his cousin Tasha’s life a few weeks back. He couldn’t forget that it had been a drug with research funded by the Huisman Foundation that had helped Tasha recover when they thought she would die from the wounds she’d received in the field.
It could have been Lou, and he would never have told her how much he loved her. She wouldn’t have known that she was the best part of him.
Lou leaned in like she was thinking the same thing, her eyes on Tasha as she sat down beside her father.
TJ leaned over and brushed his lips against her hair, loving the fact that she didn’t move away from him.
“And that is why I wanted to talk to Lou.” Ben pulled out the chair across from Kenzie. “If that’s her real name. Like Ms. Magenta. Hello, Maggie whatever your real name is. I assume everyone lied to me.”
So he was still bitter about the op. “Like you told the truth.”
“I certainly did to you,” Ben countered. “But it feels like you kept a couple of secrets from me. I trusted your team.”
“You absolutely lied to me.” Kenzie sat back, looking completely comfortable in her own skin. “And if you think Sergeant Taggart here is involved with an arms dealer, then you don’t know him at all. I assume you wanted to take Lou to get information about TJ out of her. Tell me something, Ben. Did you take her because you remembered how she reacted to seeing TJ? Did you think you could convince her that he was some kind of evil go between?”
“My name really is Lou, and he’s not involved with this guy,” Lou said, sitting up straight and going professional.
“I wanted to talk to Lou because I thought she would be the most reasonable of all of you,” Ben said, settling in. “I thought about having my boss call your boss, but the truth of the matter is my boss isn’t interested in listening to my theories right now. I’m afraid he didn’t appreciate the way I handled the last op.”
“Are you telling me you did this without your handler’s approval?” his uncle asked.
“I’m saying I am working with MI6 on this project, and they had final approval,” Ben countered.
Oliver sighed. “Well, we all know I didn’t handle things the way I should have, and I’ve certainly apologized. In my opinion, bringing in a member of Sergeant Taggart’s team was necessary to ensure that an important CIA asset wasn’t being used to further the interest of terrorists.”