Page 58 of The Spy
"I invite you to do that if you think you can. But for now, my answer is no. I'm sorry."
He nodded. "Look, we still have to work together as far as our art pieces go. I will change your mind." He leaned forward then. Automatically, I turned my cheek. When his lips brushed against me, I was hit by his cool, crisp cologne. I could see why so many women would practically throw in their knickers everywhere he walked. He was handsome, charming, wealthy, and obviously intelligent. But I felt nothing… thank God.
But I had to fake it, so I ducked my head so he wouldn't see my eyes and see the truth of the matter that I had zero desire for him. I glanced up at him from lowered lashes. "Good night."
"Good night, Tabatha. I will see you soon."
I nodded. "Yeah. I'll need to do another evaluation of your artwork, and we need to pick up the pace."
He chuckled low. "You know that's not what I meant."
"If you say so."
I slid my key into the lock, deliberately giving him my back. "Good night, Jennings."
"Good night."
I closed the door behind me, locking it, then double locking it using my keypad, tossed my keys into the bowl in the foyer, and immediately ditched my shoes. I purposely hummed to myself so that nothing would seem amiss. But I pulled open the drawer of the table where I tossed my keys and pulled out my scanner. I was going to have to sweep the place for bugs first, before I did or said anything.
And as I stepped out of the foyer into the main living area, and used my hands to search for the light, a hand clamped over my mouth. "Be very, very quiet."
Tabatha
I fought against the hold on my mouth. I drove an elbow back, reached straight under my dress to my garter, grabbed the knife, and in seconds, whipped around with my knife at Gabe's throat.
"Jesus Christ,” he hissed. “I suppose I should be grateful you didn't slice my carotid." His voice was low, barely above a whisper.
My eyes went wide. And just as I parted my lips to speak, he pressed a finger to my mouth and held up his other palm, holding a metallic box. My eyes went wide, and he nodded. I knew what that was.
The box he held contained the bugs he’d found already. There were likely more. The box would help dampen and muffle anything being said for now, but it was better to find them all and place them in the bathroom. And then we'd be clear.
Luckily, we had at least prepared for this. With a nod of tacit agreement, we started at opposite ends of the flat.
I wasn't sure why, but I was disappointed. Even though I knew better, there was a part of me that had wanted to believe Jennings, part of me that wanted to take him at face value even though my instincts told me different.
Gabe had done a pretty good job on my side, but he’d missed one under the leafy part of the ficus plant in the corner. These bastards were getting too good. Together we found two more. One, alarmingly, in my bedroom. Luckily, none of them were cameras.
To be sure, we double-checked the picture frames. I switched to a different radio channel. Nothing. With all the bugs in the little tin container, he took them into the loo, turned on the shower, and backed out slowly before taking my hand and leading me into my room, past my closet, and through the hidden door to the other flat.
When we were alone, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Fourteen bloody bugs?” I asked, wrapping my arms around myself. I had known when I'd seen that man strolling into the building, but naively, I had thought he was going to just have a look around. This meant Jennings wasn't nearly as gullible as he seemed. I was going to need to stay on my toes. I needed to be more convincing.
“We’ll need to keep them active in the privacy box. I’ll have Rook run a loop of home noises. Let whoever is listening in think you have a normal life. We’ll need some recordings from you to back fill.”
We used privacy boxes when we found bugs we wanted to feed information to. You wanted your target to think you didn’t know they were listening, so you provided a security loop. In this one, we’d play sounds of me moving about, watching a shit ton of Netflix, and hanging out. "I know what to do. I just—there are so many."
"If it helps, I think they’re exploratory,” he said with a shrug. “The Tates are careful. His father is also a paranoid prick. Your background has already had several pings against it. before you even met with Jennings, they were making sure you were all that we claimed you are. They've gone so far as to background check your references.”
Despite the heat of Gabe’s gaze on me, I still shivered. "I knew I’d seen that son of a bitch before. He was walking in right as I was leaving. South Asian male, dark hair. About six feet tall, leather jacket. Definitely carrying."
He frowned. " No doubt he works for the Tates." He studied me carefully as I wrapped my arms around myself. "Are you all right?"
I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Dinner took a turn, and I'm tired."
I turned to move back into my flat, and he took my elbow. "You're off, Tabs."
My skin tingled where he touched me, sending whispers of need to every nerve ending I had. I shook off his hold. I couldn't let him touch me. The electric burn of desire was the last thing I needed to think about right this moment. "I'm not off. I have a job to do. I'm focused."
He shook his head, crossing his arms and studying me. "You think I can't tell when you're off?" He sighed. "Something is going on. It would be a lot easier if you tell me. Is this too hard? The undercover thing?”
