Page 31 of The Spy
"Yeah, I hear you too. You're pretending you don't care. But we have you. If Gennifer Goode is a problem, we'll take care of it." Then he was out the door.
Gennifer Goode was a problem. And currently, she wanted to send one of my best agents undercover as someone's fucking wannabe girlfriend.
Tabatha.
My butterfly.
That burning I’d had at the center of my chest since I put my lips on hers started to ache again. I rubbed at it absently. There was no way around it. Tabs said this assignment meant something to her, and I couldn't take that look from her again.
That's why I was going to be her handler. I had to make sure she was safe. And didn’t get herself into trouble.
Gennifer Goode was getting nowhere near Rogues, and I was going to do my own due diligence on Jennings Tate.
Tabatha
Honestly, nothing was sexier than watching a grown man eat crow. God, the satisfaction was just so palpable. Like someone put my favorite Nando's sauce on top of everything.
I couldn't help my smugness as Gabe stood and announced that I would in fact be going undercover with Tate. My cover would be Tabatha Bracknell, art authenticator. Rook and Devlin had already started building my background, and I would wait for Tate to come to me. I assumed Saff would be my handler. We had a shorthand that would come in handy for something like this.
All you have to do is not fuck it up.
The fact that Oversight had a view on this mission worried me. I knew there was some tension between Oversight and Saff and Gabe, but I really fucking hoped that there wasn't anything crazy going on there. Besides, Saff hadn't said anything.
You know she wouldn't. She's a bloody professional.
That was true.
Saff and I were closer than sisters. If there was something I needed to know, she would tell me. This was an opportunity, and I needed to take it. I wasn’t going to let Gabe ruin it for me.
Gabe didn't look at me as he announced I was going undercover with Jennings Tate. "I give you Tabatha Bracknell. I will be her handler. Due to my increased duties, Saff will take on many of my responsibilities."
I snapped my attention back to him. "What?"
"Your background is being built right now. It'll be nice and tight."
"Why not Saff? We have a shorthand."
"Because Saff will be acting as Ops Command while this mission is active. Your mission, as you heard from Oversight, is priority one. That’s what you wanted, right?”
Yes, I wanted the assignment, but not with him breathing down my neck and constantly picking apart my every move. Not with him supervising me while I fake-dated a billionaire. God he was such a fucking wanker.
Later, when Saff asked me how I was feeling, I would have sworn up and down he smirked. As a general rule, Gabe didn't smile. Well, okay, he smiled. But it was so rare it was like glimpsing a Chupacabra.
Those are legends and myths. Don't be a dumbass, Tabatha.
Whatever.
The point was, he didn't usually smile, but I could see it lurking in the corners of his mouth. There was a smug smirk and pride in his eyes.
My gaze skittered over to Saff, and her brows knitted together. She was confused. Possibly even worried.
She should be. Gabe and I were going to murder each other.
It was clear he didn’t trust me. Truth be told, Gabe didn't trust anyone except Saff, and even that was a recent development. But Jesus, how was I going to work with him if he would be underfoot constantly and double-checking everything I did?
He was just so fucking smug I wanted to throttle him. He was deliberately fucking my opportunities. But he couldn’t stop me, and at the end of the day, I finally had lead on an undercover assignment.
My first deep undercover mission.
