“Yes, I can. And so can Ten. We’ve agreed to a few things. Mostly we agreed to beat the shit out of each other again at the first convenient time, but we also agreed that something is wrong here. Phoebe, you’re the first person in a very long time to fool me.”
“I wasn’t trying to fool you, sir. I was trying to do my job,” Phoebe pointed out.
“Nonetheless, you have my respect. Unfortunately, you also have my distrust and bitterness, and don’t discount those. I have to say the over-the-top scaredy cat shit threw me off. And the Harry Potter crap was a nice touch. I don’t think there’s been a spy in the history of time who hid behind Harry Potter bobble heads. Adam, call Guinness.”
“On it,” Adam replied with a grin.
Did anyone give a shit that he kind of had every right to quit? He was about to say something to that effect when he saw Ten’s skin pale and he turned to Phoebe.
“You brought them here?” Ten asked. “You brought the bobble heads into this office?”
Phoebe looked down at the table. “I’ll talk to you about it later.”
Taggart’s eyes went from one to the other, his brain obviously working overtime. “All right then. Who has the number to her Agency phone?”
“Just me. This wasn’t exactly a normal assignment. I’m given a lot of leeway in how I run my department. Black ops within the Agency are taken pretty damn seriously. I answer only to the head of the CIA. I recruit my own men and I tend to run my own missions.”
“Yeah, into my fucking office. You’re paying for that carpet. And for the chair Dean broke on Boomer’s head. That was a good chair.”
“Well, I wasn’t aware you’d turned the whole place into a nursery, Tag. I kind of thought you ran a security agency. Now I can see you’re all far too busy talking baby talk and drinking fucking tea.” Ten shook his head like that was the worse thing a person could do.
“It was punch, boss. And it was really good. You see they made it with sherbet…” Boomer stopped. “Is this one of those times when I shouldn’t talk?”
“Yeah. Most of the time you shouldn’t talk, buddy.” Ten’s eyes closed and he took a long breath. When he opened them again, he turned to Taggart. “I’m sorry, Ian. She’s my sister. When you said she wouldn’t be a problem anymore, I lost it.”
“And are you sorry for putting a spy on me in the first place, asshole?” Tag asked.
“Nah, I had good reasons and I’m not apologizing until you apologize for Chelsea. I’m not stupid. I know why she took the job. Now let’s get down to business. I did not send that message,” Ten said.
Phoebe sat up straight. “Then who did? Is there any way it could have been a drill?”
“I don’t know.” Ten nodded. “I’m going to look into it. So everyone can stand down for now. This was all one huge mistake and I sincerely apologize for bringing you into it. I’m going to figure this out and someone is going to pay.”
“Yes. You will. I’m billing your ass,” Taggart said with a long eye roll. “And we’re not friends anymore.”
“Like I said, I’m sorry about a lot of things.” Ten stood on shaky feet. “My team, let’s get up to the chopper. Ace is waiting for us there. I’ve got one more thing to say to Taggart, but I’d like to say that in private. Go on. We’ll talk more about it back at base. We head back to DC in two weeks and have an assignment the day after that. Get some rest and heal up. We’re going to be on the move for a while.”
Ten’s men proved just how well trained they were by leaving without another question.
That wasn’t the way McKay-Taggart worked.
“A drill? Are you fucking kidding me?” Dean glared at Ten.
“If you think you can cover this up, you’re wrong.” Adam Miles was already on his computer.
Taggart held a hand up. “Out. Everyone. Now.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I get an explanation.” Simon didn’t move from his chair.
“You’ll get explanations later. I promise,” Ian said. “Just give us the room. I will handle the situation.”
Slowly, they all got up. Jesse figured he was the only one who was happy this clusterfuck seemed to be over. He started to move, but Tag held a hand out.
“Not you, Jesse. You and Phoebe stay.” Tag looked up at his partner. “Alex, could you make sure no one disturbs us?”
The door closed and he was left alone with Tag, Ten, and Phoebe.
Naturally he was the one who got to stay. “I told you there’s no need. I’m leaving on the first plane out of here. I don’t give a flying fuck what kind of mistakes were made. If Ten’s worried I’ll sue the Agency or something, he can bite my ass.”
“I didn’t send the kill order,” Ten said.
“I get that it was a mistake.” He was tired and just wanted to get out of here.
Phoebe turned her face up to him. “It wasn’t a mistake. I know what I saw. Who has the phone?”
“Adam,” Tag replied. “He’s going to fill in the rest of the team. He’s working with Chelsea—who was planted in your organization for just this reason.”