Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“Julia was working on that,” Kyle pointed out. “Oddly, she didn’t ID herself.”
“She wasn’t on my father’s radar. But he did theorize that The Consortium was actively recruiting women in intelligence and government. He’d spent a year working his cover as a mercenary. He managed to get hired by a woman with The Consortium as part of a group. They were paid to create some chaos in order to send a non-Consortium company’s stock plummeting. He managed to listen in on a conversation she had with her handler, and they talked about the other women in the group.”
“My question is why would they only recruit women?” Brad was shuffling through papers.
“It’s what I would do,” Taggart said. “I want to fly under the radar, I bring in women. This isn’t the Army. They aren’t looking for big guys with big guns. They’re looking for negotiators who can make everyone comfortable and also kill the people who step out of line. And it doesn’t matter what you tell them, most men do not see women as physical threats.”
“But a woman can shoot someone,” Brad pointed out.
“But they tend not to.” Taylor understood exactly why The Consortium’s strong arm was exclusively women. There were some men who were brought in as muscle, but the women were the power brokers. “Women are always viewed as less threatening. What The Consortium is trying to do is use soft power. This is not an autocracy. There might be a CEO of the whole thing, but he’s there because the board elected him, and he has to prove himself. Women know how to manipulate rather than dictate. We’re taught from birth that we have to please others. And the agents of The Consortium are far more than assassins. They negotiate between members, bring member companies back in line, handle situations that could get out of hand.”
“I think men can do those things, too. It seems very discriminatory,” Brad said under his breath.
“When we take The Consortium down, I’ll be sure to ask them what they have against men. No one ever thinks of the men.” She wasn’t getting into this but couldn’t quite hold back her sarcasm.
Taggart chuckled. “Okay, I like her. Hey, Sokolova, when you’re done with this, I can always use a good female operative, especially if she doesn’t come with a whiny, jealous man-child attached to her breast. Because most of mine are married, and even though they’re willing to flirt, their significant others get all pissy about it.”
“Her last name is Cline.” Drake sent Taggart a pointed look.
But she’d kind of liked the fact that Taggart had used her dad’s last name. They’d never changed it because of his status as an operative. “I always wanted to hyphenate it so I would have my dad’s last name, too. He always called me Sokolova.” The memories of her father washed over her and again she was surprised at the meshing of sweetness and grief that seemed to sneak up on her at the most inopportune times.
She also liked that Taggart understood how Russian surnames worked, that he could honor that part of her heritage. Her father had been so angry at the Russian government but he’d shown her some of the beauty of the culture, and he’d always hoped his people would rise up and take back their country. She’d heard the Taggarts still kept up their Russian.
“Just a thought,” Taggart offered.
“She has a job,” Drake countered.
“For now.” She was fairly certain she would get out of the Agency if she was alive at the end of this. She might need a place to land, and her Uncle Nicky spoke highly of Taggart. He wasn’t her biological uncle, but he’d been close to her dad. “So does everyone understand what I did?”
Taggart’s lips curled up. “You built a legend. Do you want to know how good all of this is? When I read the reports on Constance Tyne—the ones you can hack—I could have sworn I’d worked with her.”
“That’s because I used a name that’s close to several actual Agency operatives over the years,” she admitted. “I also used a computer-generated younger version of Constance so she has grounded records.”
“But all the rumors are she’s had extensive plastic surgery,” Brad offered. “So she could look like anyone.”
“Except the basic body type is Taylor’s.” Drake sounded disgruntled. “She didn’t change that.”
“Well, it’s much harder to change height and basic body type than it is facial features, though you should know the computer-generated pictures of the younger Constance started out with my own facial measurements.” She didn’t want him to think he could shove her to the side and bring in someone else. She wasn’t sure what game Drake was playing but she wouldn’t allow him to shut her out.
This was her op, and no one was going to take it away from her. Especially someone she didn’t trust. She would take the whole thing to Taggart and hire him before she would give it up to Drake or Brad or any Agency suit.