“The old man sounded sure,” Kyle replied. “And I’ve got some plans for next week, so I’m not all that upset.”
Even better. If he could avoid Kyle and MaeBe drama, he would be so much happier for it. “Cool. I’ll take Jamal.”
Jamal likely was on assignment since the man never stopped working, but Kyle could take it over. And Jamal wouldn’t freak out anytime MaeBe stepped away from her computer. He would call it a win.
“I’d still like to go,” MaeBe called out.
He heard Kyle say something, but he didn’t have time for it. Ian had walked out with his lemon cookies and his expensive Scotch and his wife’s boobs. If the big boss shut the door to his office, it could be hours before it opened again. No one in the world had more office sex than those two, and they were serious about it.
He got to Ian’s office just as the door was starting to close. He slammed a hand on it. “The woman Maddie saw is the same one who was working with Jessica Layne.”
Hutch’s wife, Noelle, had worked for the tech guru Jessica Layne, head of Genedyne. The mystery woman had been paid big bucks to tank Noelle’s potentially world-changing technological advances in favor of keeping up profits for her multinational corporate clients who could have been eclipsed by the advance.
It had been very reminiscent of the way an old foe had operated—one Ian had thought he’d taken down years before.
Big Tag’s face went blank as if he was trying to come up with any kind of reason to keep closing that door. He finally gritted his teeth and growled.
And opened the door.
“Fuck.” He allowed Deke in.
Charlotte was already on the couch. Big Tag’s office was basically a suite. It contained his big desk, a sitting area with a couch and a love seat, and it had its own full bathroom. Deke happened to know that big couch opened to a foldout bed Ian did not mind using in the middle of the day.
Tag lived the dream, in Deke’s opinion.
“Are you talking about the woman we couldn’t ID?” Charlotte sat up straighter. “The one who had tech that fooled Adam’s facial recognition?”
“We better be because otherwise we’re ruining a perfectly good morning.” Tag closed the door behind him. “I was serious about the time off, Deke. You can go out and gather more intel. We have no verification we’re dealing with the same woman.”
“I don’t think we need more. You’ve heard the rumors. There’s a new group filling in the void The Collective left behind.” He understood why Tag had turned down the assignment. He’d been worried that would be exactly the case from the minute Maddie had told him who he worked for. “I know what Byrne almost did to this firm, but if he’s in league with that group, we have to find out. The technology Maddie is working on could be a giant leap forward. That group will kill it if it benefits them.”
“You know I don’t back down from a fight, but I’m also not putting everyone’s jobs at risk over a hunch.” Tag joined his wife.
“It was a hard time in our lives, and honestly, I don’t want to revisit it.” Charlotte put a hand on her husband’s leg as though giving him her comfort.
Deke remembered the time well. Four years before, Byrne had not only tried to stiff the company out of the remaining bill, he’d tried to alienate them from potential clients. He’d used his influence to cost McKay-Taggart. The company had taken a hit, and Charlotte had lost her mind when she’d found out Ian had been talking to Boomer about sniping the man from a distance. They’d eventually settled out of court and things had calmed down, but he understood why Tag wanted to stay away from the man.
“I can do it completely off the books.” Deke took a seat across from the Taggarts. “If anyone asks, I worked alone.”
“But you’re not going to work alone or you wouldn’t be sitting here,” Tag pointed out. “You want a team.”
“I’m the only one who’ll have any contact with Byrne. Boomer’s there as my backup. I need MaeBe, but she’s strictly behind a computer,” he promised. When he thought about it, he didn’t really need a bodyguard. He or Boomer could handle that part. Keeping the team small and agile was to his benefit. “I can get the team down to three.”
“You know they’re a package deal. You get MaeBe, you have to take Crazy.” Tag knew exactly who his nephew was and didn’t mind putting that out there.
“I’ll make sure Kyle stays out of trouble.” He couldn’t let Maddie go back alone, and if he was going, he wanted a team in place. Especially if he was right and they were dealing with the same group who’d worked with Jessica Layne’s company. Because of the contracts in place, Noelle’s breakthrough in helium tech was still out of her hands. She’d found new work, but the trouble had set her back years. He didn’t want that for Maddie. If he could prove something illegal was going on, he might be able to get her out of the contracts and free up her research.