Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
“And if they do it in the right place, that kind of terror attack can upend the economy,” Henry concluded. “If some false information gets out, a few conspiracy theories in the right ears, and suddenly the world is a powder keg waiting to go off.”
It sounded diabolical. “But he can’t do it without Shannon Reed.”
“We believe he hasn’t had a lot of luck in reverse engineering her work,” her uncle continued. “I think it’s frustrating him enormously, which is why he’s desperate to find her now. He’s on a timeline. There’s intelligence pointing to him building some kind of facility in the middle of Nepal. In the side of a mountain.”
“My mother is prepared to protest him. Don’t discount that,” Lucy offered.
“Your mother is never getting close to him. She’s going back home after we talk to Shannon and hand her protection over to her son and Big Tag.” Henry stood up. “Speaking of, I’m going to call her before I go to bed. I’ll see you all in the morning, and I expect a full briefing on how you intend to cover the train station and the area around it. I’m looking at you, Tristan. Also, unless Kala wants to blow her cover or violate her marriage vows, Kenzie should be on the ground tomorrow when we meet the Canadians.”
Kenzie clapped her hands. “Yes. I’m so excited. I haven’t seen him since our dinner date. Sis, you need to tell me everything he said. Oh, have you been pretending to be me?”
Kala’s brow rose.
“Are you serious?” her uncle said. “You’re trying to pull this shit on me? Do I believe for one second Kala didn’t tell you and you didn’t cover for her?”
Kenzie’s lips kicked up. “Fine. I made the deal with Ben. I couldn’t figure out a way to go on the honeymoon, and she was surprisingly against me taking her place.”
“Well, I didn’t know,” Tristan pointed out.
“No, you didn’t because you are a chatty motherfucker,” Kala proclaimed. “And Tash didn’t know because we didn’t want to put her in a bad position.”
“What I’m hearing is we’re the good ones, Tash,” Tristan said with a smug grin.
“You’re the one most likely to tell on everyone, and Tash would feel bad.” Devi knew Tris well. She probably should feel weird being involved in what should be a classified debrief, but it felt more like a family reunion of sorts, and that included ribbing her obnoxious cousins.
And feeling insecure around her gorgeous cousins.
“You aren’t spanking her enough, Zach.” Tristan gave her Dom a frown.
“And I’m done.” Her uncle stood. “There are only so many bedrooms. I’m rooming with Henry. I’m sure we can stay up most of the night drinking whiskey and talking about how our children will die.”
“Fun times,” Henry agreed and sighed. “I thought we would put Tasha, Kenzie, Lucy, and Devi in the bunk room.”
“It’s basically a tiny room with two bunk beds. Mom likes to make sure she has places for everyone to sleep,” Lucy acknowledged. “I suppose that means Zach and Tristan are in the small room and the other two go to the married couples. Well, the married couple and the practically married couple.”
“If you try to separate TJ and Lou, he’ll wander the halls begging for hot dogs in the middle of the night,” her uncle said.
She wasn’t sleeping with Zach?
Guess there was more than one bed. She’d never considered how the only one bed trope would affect her life, but here she was.
Was it over? Or would they steal moments? Would he pull her into an empty bedroom tomorrow and take out all of his stress on her body?
He was going to see his mom for the first time in years. He had to be nervous about that. He had to be stressed by the events of the day. He probably needed some comfort. She had to find a way to keep them together. He would almost certainly try to please everyone by not causing a scene, but he needed her.
“No,” Zach said, his tone implacable.
Her uncle turned, that one brow arching in a way that usually made her back out of the room. “No?”
“Until this is over, she’s mine, and I sleep where she sleeps.” He looked over at his brother.
Cooper got his arms around Kala, rubbing his cheek against her hair. “It’s a family tradition. I sleep where she sleeps.”
Kala’s expression went tight. “What is happening to me?”
Cooper kissed her cheek. “It’s called sentiment, baby. It’s what you feel when you remember a sweet moment like that time when your husband wouldn’t let you be alone. It’s okay. You’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t like it.” But Kala leaned into his touch.
“Unless Tristan wants to watch, he can take one of the bunks,” Zach announced as though that was a totally normal thing to say. Which it wasn’t.