Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“Let me see your gun,” Huisman commanded. “I need to make a point to our guests.”
The guard handed Huisman his SIG Sauer without question.
Two other guards moved in behind Tris and Zach while the others were at attention.
“Please don’t hurt her,” Tris said quietly. “I’ll give you nothing if you hurt her.”
“She wasn’t the Taggart I wanted, you know,” Huisman admitted. “I honestly thought I would have to take my time. My plan was to monitor the so-called bodyguards coming in with Dr. O’Donnell and his fiancée so I could figure out where the safe house was. From there I was going to take the lovely Natasha and use her to get the intelligence I need.”
Zach went still beside him. “Tasha?”
Tris didn’t understand. He was missing something. “Why Tash? Don’t get me wrong, I would come in for her. I wouldn’t let you hurt her, but if you want me to…” Fuck. He’d been such an idiot. All along. Big Tag should fucking draw and quarter him. Not once in all of this discussion had Huisman mentioned Tristan as anything but someone he had to deal with. “You didn’t want me.”
Huisman ignored him, walking up to one of the other guards. “Gervais, how did this happen? You brought me the wrong Taggart.”
Gervais seemed to understand something had gone terribly wrong. “My team was supposed to pick up the women in the bar. Pierre told us…”
Huisman brought up the gun and put a bullet in Gervais’s head before he could finish his explanation. The sound shook the big room, and he watched as Carys jumped in her chair, tears in her eyes.
Gervais’s body hit the floor, and Huisman stepped over him like he was a bit of trash. “From what I can tell, it was bad timing. When I realized the captain and Natasha were at the hotel, I sent in a team to bring them in. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, they had already gone upstairs, and then Tasha and Zach seemed to have split up. Like I said, poor timing, but that idiot on the floor thought he’d found Tasha because Pierre referred to Carys as Ms. Taggart. They thought they were bringing me what I wanted. Now they understand what happens when they fail.”
“Then you don’t need Kala,” Carys tried.
“Shut your mouth, woman.” Huisman sneered her way. “Your voice is not required here, so don’t make me take your tongue. I explained why Kala Taggart is a delightful surprise. It doesn’t mean the failure to bring in Tasha should go unpunished.”
“Baby, just do what he says,” Tristan begged, though he was starting to realize how bad the situation was. Huisman didn’t want him. Huisman wanted Zach.
Because Zach knew things Tristan didn’t. Because he was involved in a way Tristan hadn’t caught.
“Why Tasha?” Zach asked, his voice tense. “Like Tristan said, he would come for her, but he would come for anyone on the team.”
“He doesn’t want me.” He turned to Zach. Zach had become important to him, and now he felt the breadth of his betrayal. “Who are you working for?”
Zach’s eyes widened. “The United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency. Tris, don’t let him do this.”
“I make a close study of my enemies,” Huisman explained. “The tech you work with…Tara something…she gets lonely and goes to bars where she happily talks to women she finds attractive. She hides her proclivities well, but it wasn’t hard to get her to talk. Not about classified items. She proved quite tight-lipped about those, but she was willing to gossip about her coworkers. Of course she said you all worked at a bank, but it didn’t matter. She gave me what I wanted, which was how to get to Captain Zachary Reed.”
Tristan thanked the universe Tara didn’t know anything about Devi Taggart.
Zach’s face flushed. “I don’t… You can’t know. You can’t fucking know.”
“I assure you I can, Captain Reid.” He snapped his fingers, and two of the guards stepped forward, taking Zach’s arms.
Zach started to pull away.
Tristan felt a gun to the back of his head, heard Carys cry out.
Zach went still.
“Now we find out exactly who you are, Captain,” Huisman said quietly, studying Zach. “I know everything now, things you don’t even know. Certainly things Taggart doesn’t. He had a snake in his midst, and he didn’t even realize it. My instinct is to tell him, but that’s ego talking. It’s more fun to think about Taggart worried about you, not knowing all the ways you betrayed his team.”
“I didn’t.” Zach stood still, his shoulders ramrod straight. “I never betrayed the team, Tristan. I didn’t tell you everything, but I had my reasons. Dr. Huisman, I’ll go with you if you’ll let everyone go.”
Huisman’s eyes narrowed and his voice went low, so low Tristan could barely hear him. “Tu m'emmèneras vers elle où tu mourras. Le reste n’a pas d’importance.”