“I have thought about that myself,” Kala agreed. “I called it mybog witch era, but I was getting goats.”
Kenzie stared down at the picture. The girl couldn’t be more than twenty-one or twenty-two. She had the same haunted look she saw in Gabby and Sosa’s eyes when they weren’t shoving bravado around to cover up how vulnerable they felt. Sometimes they were like kids, excited about exploring the world around them. Other times they shut down like they knew it would all go to hell and there was no reason to pretend otherwise.
Ben could be like that. Especially the first week. Before Tasha and Dare joined them, Ben was wary about everything but playing with her. Then the Dom came out and there was no hesitation.
But last night the club had been open to the OGs and the younger set had put together a movie night and Ben had laughed and joked with the guys. He’d given Cooper shit and made sure TJ had an extra sandwich. He sat with Tim and Dare and talked about Canadian things like ice hockey and whatever curling was.
He’s fitting in nicely, her sister had told her.
He’d even had dinner with her dad and only told him twice that he would murder him in a dark alley one day but he probably wouldn’t even know who was killing him because the dementia would have taken hold.
Her dad thought that was hilarious and went on about Ben’s hair.
It was good hair. Strong, thick hair. That hair wasn’t going anywhere soon, but it didn’t matter because she loved more than his full, luxurious head of hair. Her dad thought that all men’s hair should be either buzz cut or super long so it went into a queue. Not a ponytail. Which Ben pointed out since her dad’s hair was slightly below his shoulders at this point. He’d asked her dad how he liked his man bun.
They were getting along well.
So why did something feel off?
“I like goats,” Sosa said, still staring at her friend’s mug shot.
“They are used in witchcraft,” Gabby complained.
“Good. I would like to be learning the witchcrafts.” Sosa was unperturbed. “I would like to curse people and send horrors their way. It would be fun hobby.”
“Yeah, it would be,” Kala said with a wistful sigh.
Sosa looked to Kenzie. “They will kill her in jail. They have to know something is wrong by now.”
“They think we’re all dead.” Gabby sat back in her seat. According to Vivi, Gabby hadn’t been sleeping. She wasn’t taking to the new life the way Sosa was, but it could be a lot of factors.
Including the one where she couldn’t trust that she would survive and that life could be good.
Kenzie’s life felt really good right now.
They worked well together. They’d been to a compound in the Scottish countryside and recently had spent three days watching a tiny apartment in Amsterdam. Everything went well and when other guys hit on her, Ben stayed cool and calm except for the one who put a hand on her.
They had ridiculously hot sex that night.
She was starting to see how they could work together. They’d gotten excellent intel out of the occupants of that apartment. All it had taken was watching them for a couple of days.
The woman worked for Disrupt Europe and probably had no idea she was facilitating terrorism, but she had led them to the accountant who almost certainly did. It was all about getting the right data. Huisman was in hiding and they needed to figure out where he was, but it seemed buried in piles and piles of red tape. His foundation was connected to a multinational conglomerate with more arms than they could count.
This was the real, rough work of espionage. Digging into the data, trying to find the clues they needed to pinpoint where Huisman would be.
“I will miss Claire. She was good friend.” Sosa sat back like the younger woman’s fate had already been decided.
“She’s going to get out later today, and we’ll help her disappear,” Kenzie explained. “It might take a day or two, but she’ll be here soon. We’ll even send a bodyguard with her.”
Sosa sniffled. “Sorry. She is scared we are going to be found. They won’t let us live. And our other friend is there.”
Kala stared at her, blue eyes assessing. “I’m surprised they keep sending you in. It’s almost like you’re being used to test our boundaries. How many missions have you completed?”
“Many.” Sosa’s shoulders straightened. “So many, I cannot be counting.”
Kenzie doubted that. Oh, she had no question the young womanwas good with a sniper rifle, but she didn’t know hand to hand at all. She was catching on quickly, but it made Kenzie wonder.
Were they assassins or Trojan horses and they were the dumbass Trojans who let them in?
