Wicked and True (Wicked & Devoted 4)

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to see her. I said I didn’t want to live on top of her.”

That’s exactly where Trees wanted to be. “I’m calling bullshit.”

“Back off. I’m trying to be a gentleman, but there’s no fucking privacy here. Even the shower is so small it’s impossible to jack off.”

Despite all the shit today, Zy had to laugh. “That right? So you’re having a…hard time?”

“Shut the fuck up. Do I need to remind you that you had a goddamn hard time with Tessa before the bosses finally took pity on you?”

And just like that, he sobered. “No. Not that it matters right now. She’s barely speaking to me.”

“What the fuck did you do, not lay her right?”

That wasn’t the problem. “The job called me out last night before I could even touch her. She seemed okay, though. Tired but not mad. This morning, she came into the office looking like she’d been sobbing. But nothing I’ve said or asked is persuading her to open up. She claims she has a migraine…”

“Those suck.”

“Yeah, but I don’t believe her.”

“Why would she lie?”

“I don’t know.” It was a question Zy hadn’t been asking himself because he’d been too frustrated about the way the night had gone down. But maybe he should have.

“Hallie’s not sick?”

“Tessa would have said so. Whatever upset her, when I stopped by her place, she refused to let me stay. But my gut tells me she didn’t really want me to go. So nothing makes sense.”

Trees sighed. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but…is there any chance she’s guilty?”

“Of what?”

“C’mon, man. The bosses are convinced that either I’m their mole…or she is.”

“They’re wrong.”

“Maybe. But you know I’m clean because you searched my shit.”

“One room.”

“Then go fucking search the whole place before I get home. You won’t find anything, and you know it.”

“Yeah. What’s your point?”

“You haven’t searched Tessa at all. Hell, you’ve flatly refused to even consider her a suspect.”

Trees was right, but everything inside Zy rebelled. “It just doesn’t make sense. Tessa is no sort of spy. She doesn’t have the abilities or the connections or—”

“That you know of. But be logical. It’s not Hunter, Logan, or Joaquin.”

“I know. I don’t want to go through this—”

“Shut up. It’s not you. It’s not me. And it’s not One-Mile.”

Since the sniper had been in rough shape when they’d rescued him last September, no. If he’d been in cahoots with the cartel, they wouldn’t have nearly killed him. “I know.”

“And it’s not Cutter or Josiah. They’re gone.”

“They are, but it’s not impossible that they were involved when they were here.”

“C’mon. The Boy Scout? The antiseptically clean former CIA agent? Do you really believe either of them would stoop to this level of shit?”

No, and as much as Zy hated to admit it, they’d been on other missions when danger had hit the fan. But he hated to acknowledge that out loud.

It didn’t matter; Trees inferred it for him. “That leaves Tessa, buddy.”

“It can’t be,” he said without even thinking.

“Why not?”

Zy groped for a reply, thrilled as fuck when he stumbled on to one. “Because this shit started when she was on maternity leave. She wasn’t even around.”

Trees hesitated. “True, and I’m not convinced she is the guilty one. I’m just not sure who else it could be. Let me ask you this: what happens if you don’t figure out who EM’s mole is?”

“She’s fired.” So are both of us. Zy didn’t say that, mostly because the bosses were still down an operator. Replacing two more at once would be a bitch and that could buy them a little more time, but Tessa… In their eyes, she was both expendable and easily replaceable.

“Look, when I get back, I’ll sit down and perform a thorough, top-to-bottom scan of all the internal systems. I’ll even come in on a weekend and scan every single person’s computer so I’m not in anyone’s way. But until then, you need to prove you can rule her out completely.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?” But Zy knew. He’d run a double-cross disinformation mission before.

“Stop playing games with yourself, man. I know you love her—”

“I fucking bought her an engagement ring today.”

“Wouldn’t you rather know now if you should give it to her?”

Zy closed his eyes. “When do you think you’ll make it here?”

“Oh, I’m going to head into town so I can get out of this rolling torture chamber by tomorrow night.”

“I’ll see you then. And I’ll try to have some answers.”

The following morning dawned bleak. The sun rose in the sky, but without Hallie, Tessa didn’t care. She just wanted to curl into a ball and cry. She certainly didn’t want to put on clothes, pretend to smile, and spend all day in the office, where Zy would undoubtedly grill her some more.