Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“MaeBe’s not close to you?” Not that she didn’t know, but Drake got the feeling no one in the family would confirm her deeply held belief.
“Not anymore.” Kyle’s shoulders squared, and he turned toward a door that led out of the kitchen.
“And if we manage to do the job properly this time?” He couldn’t force himself to say the right words.
If they managed to kill his sister. If they stopped her and wiped her from the face of the earth. If he put a bullet in her heart and buried his only sibling in the ground.
I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you, Drake. You and me. We’re in this together. Pinkie promise, little brother.
His stomach turned.
“Then I return to the Agency and I get back to work. I’m not…” Kyle stopped for a moment. “It’s not like Julia’s the only one out there who could come after me. You were right when you told me this isn’t the kind of job you walk away from. Once you’re in, you’re in for life.”
He’d been trying to talk Kyle out of quitting. He hadn’t wanted to lose the only person in the world he could talk to. His father didn’t have clearance anymore, and his mother didn’t even know Julia had been a spy. Kyle had been the only one he could talk to, and he’d walked away like Drake had been as tainted as Julia. And he was forgetting a few things. “Talk to your uncle about how it worked for him. Or Tennessee Smith. Or Damon Knight. Kayla Summers looked real happy with how her life played out after the CIA.”
They’d seen the ex-operative, and the only reason she’d been unhappy was letting the Agency back into her life briefly. They’d caused a whole bunch of problems for the former deep undercover agent that she’d had to deal with. Julia had laid a trap, and they’d foolishly fallen right into it.
“Somehow I don’t think my uncle was as deep in as I was,” Kyle replied.
Drake managed to not roll his eyes. Barely. “I’m going to let Ian handle that misconception. I want to get this op started. You understand why we’re not using Agency resources beyond the bare minimum, right?”
“Because we don’t trust anyone.” Kyle proved he understood.
Drake nodded. He was keeping his circle on this to a minimum. His normal tech didn’t even know the truth of where he was and what he was doing. She thought he was on vacation. Only Brad knew he was here, and only because Brad had been overseeing Constance and the small team that was so classified even he had no idea who had been working on it. Brad had explained that it was an employee who had been around for a long time and was above reproach.
No one was above reproach, but he couldn’t exactly fire Brad and Constance. He had to deal with them, and part of mitigating the risk was working with Kyle instead of Agency backup. He would get through this and then…
He wasn’t even thinking about the future. The future was a never-ending series of days that led to other days and never quite became anything vaguely resembling a life. Which was awful because before he’d met Taylor he’d rather thought his life was perfect. He had good work, was respected, had a family he felt comfortable in. He’d had a friend and enjoyed what he did.
Julia had fucked over most of that, but he blamed Taylor for the sense of dissatisfaction with his potential future. He’d seen what he might have had, and nothing else came close.
At some point in the last few weeks he’d decided to break her out of whatever prison they’d put her in. She’d had enough time to think about her actions and to see what she would get if she betrayed him a second time. He would break her out and then go on the run. He knew how to hide, knew where enough skeletons were buried that the Agency could be handled if they needed to be. He had enough money to take care of them.
This time they would have an ironclad contract in place. Big Tag was right. It was the only way to have a relationship. There would be a contract that detailed every aspect of their relationship, and it would also lay out all the punishments if she stepped even an inch out of line.
He had everything in place and he was going to walk away from everything and everyone he knew for a woman who’d used him.
He was a dumbass, but there was nothing else he could do.
He would deal with Julia and then blow up his whole life for a woman who’d lied to him, who’d betrayed her country.
Who was the only woman who’d ever moved his soul.