Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Not really. It was a joke they all used to make.
Sort of a joke. Kala could get grumpy.
She reached for the door, and that was the moment she realized it was already open.
She hadn’t left it open. She’d locked it. She always locked it.
Her heart started racing just a little bit and some of her old recklessness seeped back in.
Someone was in her office. It could be an intruder. A thief. Someone who wanted to hurt her.
Or it could be a spy.
Lou opened the door and stepped in.
“I see you still have them,” a familiar voice said.
Kala Taggart stood at one of the bookshelves that lined Lou’s office. She was as tall as her mom and had the same reddish blonde hair, but the expression on her face was pure Ian Taggart. Like she found the world amusing right now, but that could change and everyone better watch out.
The books she kept in her office were mostly texts and nonfiction, but one set held a place of honor. One set of dog-eared, beaten-up YA novels about girls in spy school.
“I’ll never give them up. They represent some of the best days of my life. Are you in a hugging mood?” One never could tell with Kala, and Lou always gave her friend space.
Kala’s lips kicked up and her whole expression softened. “For you, yes. I’ve missed you, Lou.”
It was the day for saying those words. “You, too.”
She hugged her best friend, the woman who’d taught her so much, who’d been her staunchest defender all through high school.
Kala retreated, and the imp was back. “I came here for a reason.”
“Not just to catch up?” It had been months since Kala had been in the States. Like TJ, her whereabouts were often classified.
“No, Professor.” Kala took a deep breath. “I did it.”
“Did it?”
Kala nodded, letting the silence sit between them.
The hairs on Lou’s arms tickled as she realized what Kala was talking about. “Are you serious? You’re too young to get your own team. Are you telling me the Agency is letting you recruit and run your own team?”
It was everything Kala had worked for since she was a kid.
And everything her parents had feared because when Kala had been recruited, so had her twin.
Not that Lou was supposed to know that.
“That’s what I’m telling you.” Kala grinned and looked younger than normal. “I identified a big problem and took it out. Now they want me and Kenz to look into this doctor guy up in Canada. I was a little pissed because it’s Canada. Nothing bad happens in Canada, or so I thought. Turns out Dr. Emmanuel Huisman is a bad, bad boy. So what do you say?”
“I say I’m going to worry about you as much as I worry about TJ now. Damn. It was scary when I thought you were just an analyst.”
Kala seemed to get serious. “You knew I was never an analyst. Come on, Lou. What do you say?”
Was she asking what Lou thought she was asking? “Kala…”
Kala took her hands in hers. “I would never make you go out in the field, but you’re my tech girl. You’re the analyst. You’re the science guru. Do you understand what’s happening in the world?”
The world was on the edge of something nasty, and she felt it. A change was coming, and it wasn’t for the good.
It could affect everyone she loved.
Her father had once been on a team that helped protect the world.
“I’m asking you to be on my team, Lou Ward. It’s me and Kenz as the operatives. I strong-armed Cooper into taking logistics and transportation, and Tristan is going to run comms. He’s a fucking mess given what’s going on, but he’s going to be okay. Work will do him good. We’ll be the ones in the field while you and Tash are our home-base girls.”
“Your dad let Tash join the Agency?” She’d thought Tasha was working at McKay-Taggart as an office manager.
“Uhm, you should probably know that while I call it my team because I put it together, technically it’s being run by someone else. And he brought Tash in because he thinks Kenz and I will listen to her,” Kala explained.
There was only one way Ian Taggart let his daughters become real field operatives.
If he ran the team.