“You stay safe, Phoebe. You know that woman you became while you were here, she was always inside you,” Eve whispered. “You don’t have to lose her. Well, maybe some of the klutziness, but you don’t have to lose the core of her.”
The core of Phoebe Graham had been a woman who helped the people around her, who gave and gave and rarely requested anything back. When she went back into her brother’s world, it would be different. She would sink back into the personality she’d developed over years of service to the Agency. She would guard herself, her emotions.
It struck her that the year she’d spent at McKay-Taggart had been precious. It had been the first time in her life that she’d really made friends. Jamie and Ten didn’t count. From the moment she’d met them, they’d felt like family, and a very exclusive one. Their father had taught them to trust no one outside the family, to let no one else in. They only had each other, but for a brief time, Phoebe had Eve and Serena and Grace and the others.
It had been nice to have a little community to help take care of.
Grace stepped up and there were tears in her eyes. “Go on, sweetie. I’m worried they’ll kill each other.”
She shook her head. “Te…the man who’s coming to get me wouldn’t really kill anyone. This is his version of shock and awe. He won’t use deadly force.”
“Yeah, well, no one told Ian, and whoever is out there is about to get Ian’s version,” Serena said. “And he will definitely be looking to kill someone.”
Shit. Ten was going to get everyone killed. Without another word she turned and raced down the hall. She had to hurdle over a body encased in a familiar black uniform. The big man had been dumped in front of the break room. She didn’t see blood, but that didn’t mean one of her brother’s men wasn’t dead. The minute the McKay-Taggart men figured out they were in trouble, they would use any and all means to deal with the situation.
“Are you kidding me?”
Frustration dripped from Ian Taggart’s tone as she approached the lobby.
And then she heard a hard thud and a sound that could only be fists hitting a body.
“Stop it!” She simply yelled the words as she entered the room. It didn’t matter who was fighting. It had to stop. They were supposed to be allies and she’d ruined that, too.
It was worse than she’d imagined. Everywhere she looked someone was pointing a gun at someone else or had Phoebe’s friends on their backs. And the worst was the ball of rage that seemed to be made up of her brother and Jesse.
So much for keeping his cover. His mask was off and she could see the rage on his face. “Tennessee! Stop it!”
He punched out, twisting and turning with Jesse as they both seemed intent on killing the other.
“Charlie, get the fuck out of here,” Big Tag commanded. “Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’re in? Dean, could you secure the package better than Jesse did?”
Phoebe squared off against Jake Dean because she wasn’t about to get locked in another office. “He could try, but I swear I’ll take out his balls this time. Remember what I did to your hand, Dean? Back off. Come on, Taggart. You know who I work for. Now can we try to keep those two from killing each other?”
“You’re not going to run?” Taggart still had a hold on Malone.
“There’s no reason to anymore,” she explained with a huff. “I was trying to protect that dumbass in there.”
“Which one?”
She was just about done with Taggart. “My brother, you idiot. I’m serious. The best thing to come out of my cover being blown all to hell is the fact that I can have a serious talk with you about how you treat Jesse. He’s not stupid. He’s smart. He’s way fucking smarter than you since he knew all along I was working for Ten.”
“Your brother?” Tag’s hand came down as he released Malone. “Ten is your brother?”
Yeah, she probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. “Not by blood, but he’s my brother all the same. And he’s being a moron.” She looked back over to where Ten and Jesse were. Jesse had caught sight of her and he turned her way. That gave Ten just the distraction he needed. He charged at Jesse. “Stop it! All of you.”
Ten got Jesse on his back. “You think you can play around, you little shit? You think you can fuck around with her? You’re going to learn how we do things in my house.” He punched Jesse right in the face.
Jesse’s eyes went slightly glassy.
Tag shoved Malone out of the way and holstered his weapon. “Ten, get the fuck off him. He doesn’t like being on his back. It’s a trigger.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t like a lot of things.” Ten reared back. “I’m taking this fucker with me. I’m renditioning him. I have some questions I can’t ask on American soil. Malone, tell Ace to fire up the chopper. How about we head to the Middle East, Murdoch? I know you love it there.”
“You leave him alone.” She walked right up to her brother and started to push him off, but Taggart caught her around her waist and hauled her back.