“Which is why I question the ham-handedness of how she handled you,” Kala pointed out. “Dad, I understand what you’re saying and I get why Mom wants to believe them, but blowing up your car in a public parking lot is not her usual MO. If we believe her, she’s good with poisons. Two of those assassinations she’s claiming were labeled natural deaths because she did such a good job. So why change it up and cause a massive scene?”
“Because the other thing she does is research on her targets,” her mom said quietly and her hand covered her dad’s. “I think she knew she might have a shot at getting Ian to listen to her. I think she wanted to get caught. She’s worried about one of her sisters, worried she won’t last much longer.”
“You think this is all a play to get us involved?” Lou asked.
It was a smart one since there was no way they could ignore the situation. “I’m trying to see the advantage to Huisman planting Sosa here. I saw her. She wasn’t playing. She’s terrified of him.”
“Or she’s an excellent actress,” Ben countered. “It would be exactly like Manny to embed someone with the group that’s investigating him. And you should understand he would know exactly how to slip her in. He’s never tried to kill Mr. Taggart before. He doesn’t need to. We haven’t really threatened him.”
“I assure you the data we got in Nepal threatens him,” her father replied. “I know Charlie thinks he can’t know we have it, but I suspect he knows and this is all chaos to distract us from what he’s hiding inone of these locations. And before you tell me he’s likely looking for something, something either Sosa or Gabby could get from us, that’s why we moved. I didn’t want them around sensitive material, and The Garden has far better security than I can provide since I don’t live in a club.”
“We’ve got eyes on them at all times,” Damon promised.
“And if I’m uncomfortable having an obvious spy around?” Ben asked.
Her father simply shrugged. “Then you probably picked the wrong business to be in, Benjamin. We are working with you, but you should understand I’m in charge of this operation. CSIS is more than welcome to conduct their own investigation if you don’t appreciate how I’m handling it. You have the same intel. You can do this on your own.”
Tim held up a hand. “I vote for sticking with the team. Like it’s nice here. I totally believe this British dude can handle two young women.”
Damon huffed. “Then you haven’t met some of the women I’ve dealt with.”
Ben’s jaw had tightened. “I have my assignment, Mr. Taggart. I’ll do my job and if you don’t want my advice, I can keep my mouth shut, but you should understand that I won’t allow the fact that you let Manny play on your emotions and your history to hurt me or mine.”
“Agreed.” The tension between her father and Ben was palpable.
Kala looked from one to the other. “Well, this is awkward.” She looked to Cooper. “Dude, thanks for being cool with my dad. This whole marriage thing would be a lot if you two were always on the verge of punching each other.”
“Did you seriously dude me?” But Cooper looked amused.
Kala was missing a couple of clues. “Then it’s good there’s no marriage thing. Mom, I think you should present a couple of the properties we’ve identified. It’s why we’re here. I’m with Damon. We should get our assignments and get some rest. Maybe we’ll be in better moods then.”
Her mother went back to discussing the properties they’d discovered and how they were going to split them up to investigate. There were sixteen sites they were particularly interested in, including one that Sosa claimed she remembered from her training days.
“You okay?” Oliver leaned over and whispered.
Not really. Her mother would tell her she needed to be patient and that she could handle some of his anger. Her mom would point out that she’d survived her father’s wrath and they’d had so many sweet years together.
But her father hadn’t been obsessed with Emmanuel Huisman. Her father would have given up revenge or even justice if it meant keeping her mom safe, and Ben had proven time and time again he would risk anything for a chance to take down his white whale.
Maybe it wasn’t an epic love story. Maybe it was a tragic one.
Maybe it was time to grow up and stop insisting that fairy tales were real.
Love wasn’t something she could force.
Her mother handed out assignments. Cooper and Kala would go with Sami. Lou and TJ would be with Lucy, and Ben and Kenzie would have Oliver as their European escort. They were going to Scotland where Huisman kept a small castle that might be where he stored his records.
“I think Tim should accompany Ben.” She wasn’t a masochist.
“Oh, I’ll come, too,” Tim said in his normal cheery fashion.
“I wouldn’t go without Tim,” Ben said. “Though I think we would be more comfortable with Lucy.”
Not what she’d meant. “I was thinking I would stay here. I would like to continue interviewing Sosa and Gabby and prep a possible mission to get their friends out.”
Ben suddenly decided she was worth looking at. “No.”
She felt her eyes widen. “What is that supposed to mean?”
