Page 163

Alex grinned. “I’ve never seen Big Tag move so fast. Apparently the sitter called and told Charlotte that Travis woke up and won’t go back to sleep.”

“Charlie tried to cover it up, but I could hear that kid wailing in the background,” Big Tag acknowledged. “Before you start writing theAm I the Assholepost, I had him all last weekend while Charlie and Chelsea did a sisters thing that I pray wasreally about massages and mani pedis, because their sister time used to be spent taking over small countries.”

“And I was just making sure Ian doesn’t get in trouble,” Alex added. “It has nothing to do with the fact that we’ll now have to stay over here and make sure no one tries to kill JT again. Nothing to do with the fact that I can sleep in instead of waking up to a dirty diaper in the face because Eve brings the baby into bed with us thinking she’ll be able to sleep a little longer. Vivian never sticks her stinky diaper in her momma’s face. No. It is always mine.”

“Hey, when you and Theo figure out how to breastfeed, that can change for you,” Tag snarked. “But Alex is right. We’re going to bed down here and make sure everything goes smoothly. There’s room service, right? I’m sure this place has killer room service, and I don’t have to fight the girls for pancakes. They’re surprisingly sneaky when it comes to food hoarding. They do not mind licking things.”

Alex had gotten rid of his tie the minute they’d walked upstairs. “And hey, we’ll need to make sure you two make it to the airport. Are you sure they don’t need a bodyguard, because I could use a tan.”

“Nah, we need to play this off like they’re not worried,” Big Tag said. “We’re going with the police line that it was a drunk driver. We can’t let anyone know you’re worried someone’s trying to kill you.”

“Maybe we should talk to the police here in Dallas about the whole case.” JT finally spoke, the words sounding grim coming out of his mouth. He leaned against the pool table. “Maybe it’s time we bring the authorities in.”

She shook her head. “That’s not a good idea. What can the police do? We filed the accident report because that’s a thing people do. If anyone goes looking for it, they’ll find a report that we were hit. But that’s why we didn’t tell them what wesuspected. We can’t open that door. We’re leaving tomorrow. The most they can do is exactly what Adam will do, and he’s got better equipment.”

“So much better,” Alex agreed. “Also, calling in the cops would probably be akin to calling in the press. The minute a reporter gets a whiff that a Malone heir might be the target of an assassin, that story goes everywhere and then we scare off our spy.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” JT said. “We scare off the spy and then we’ve got more time to figure out who killed my friend. That should lead us to the spy.”

“The more likely outcome is the spy simply changes the time and place for the drop-off,” she pointed out calmly. “We know who the actual spy is. We don’t know who is working for you. This is our best shot at figuring out who your mole is.”

He was quiet for a moment, but his head came up and a steely glint hit his eyes. “You’re right. This is all about my company. I get to make the calls here. I say I don’t care what happens to that tech.”

Big Tag turned JT’s way, his brows drawn together in obvious consternation. “What are you talking about? You do know how much money you stand to lose if someone else gets this tech before the patent goes through? Hell, even with the patent it can be hard to quash outside of the US and Europe.”

“Not to mention the fact that we don’t know what North Korea will do with that tech,” Alex pointed out. “I know it seems like the only applications are in petroleum and gas, but a material that flexible could easily be used on warheads. From what I’ve read you’ve managed to create a new material that doesn’t corrode the way some of the plastics we use now do. That’s very important, JT.”

JT’s head shook. “Bill was the one who developed the actual material. I gave him my ideas on what we need, especially fordeep-sea drilling. I did a lot of the testing, but he’s the smart one. The new material will ensure fewer leaks and keep the ocean cleaner. It should do the same thing for pipelines to ensure we don’t pollute ground water.”

“Yes, and I assure you someone will find a way to take that revolutionary thing you’ve helped create and pervert it,” Tag said. “I’ve seen it a million times. We just managed to get a bunch of guys back on track after someone fucked up a medical breakthrough that should have been used for good.”

“What’s going on, JT?” Alex studied him for a moment. “You’re not one to panic. When I realized you were going in instead of your father, I actually was happy about it. Your dad doesn’t take anything very seriously, but you understand what’s on the line. So why are you hesitating now?”

There was a long pause, and she realized the time where her boss didn’t have to know she’d slept with the client was at an end. “He’s worried about me.”

Tag snorted. “Worried about you?” He gave JT a shake of his head. “I know she looks all soft and sweet, but Nina’s solid, man. She might wear frilly dresses, but they hide a multitude of weapons she’s incredibly accurate with. I applaud my sisters for putting those skirts to use. Do you know how hard it is to hide a knife on my thigh? I mean I can get it up there, but getting that fucker out is hell. And her getting a halfway decent photo of the dude trying to run you off the road? Pure gold. That’s why I hired her. Cool as a cucumber.”

“Damon actually hired me,” she said, hoping maybe they would leave it at this. If they thought JT was merely upset that any woman had been put in danger, they might still come out of it with their secret intact. For a little while.

“She could have died.” JT’s jaw had tightened stubbornly. “She took her damn seatbelt off. When I was doing a hundred miles an hour.”

“That’s how she got the picture,” Tag replied as though it should have been plain.

Alex seemed a bit more sympathetic to JT’s problems. “I know it seemed reckless, but Nina knew what she was doing. I would have probably taken the same chance if I’d thought to. Not only does it give us a shot at figuring out if this was one of your employees or someone he or she hired, it also scared the asshole off. She might have saved you a lot more damage.”

“Or I could have lost control of the damn truck and she could have died,” JT insisted.

“But I didn’t and everything is fine.” She wished now they didn’t have company because she needed to calm him down. She knew she’d said she would go to the guest room, but he needed her.

“You could have died.” He shook his head. “No. This whole retreat is off. I’ll call and make an excuse, but I’m not putting her in danger like this. It was one thing when I thought all she had to do was watch for the drop to happen, but no. Someone tried to kill me tonight. I’m not putting her in front of me like that.”

“It’s her job. It’s literally her job to take a bullet if she has to. She did it really well last time. Didn’t even die,” Tag joked.

She appreciated the fact that Tag would never treat her any differently than a male operative working the same job. He would be sarcastic and he would give her all the backup she would need. He would also be absolutely certain she could do the job or he wouldn’t have assigned it to her. “I don’t know, boss. Given the two choices, I might have drank the roofied tea instead. Leaves less of a scar.”

“That’s how you got that scar?” JT asked. “I knew that was a bullet wound.”

A long sigh came from Tag, and his stare went right for her. “Seriously? I thought you were my smart one.”