by Lexi Blake
Jared watched as the trio started toward the stairs. “That has to be Axel from The Doms with the Golden Whips. It was one of my favorites.”
“You’ve seriously read all of Serena’s books?” Somehow he hadn’t seen his brother as a big reader.
“They’re cool. Very sexy. Again, you wouldn’t like them because they’re not intellectual,” Jared shot back. “I started them as research but I ended up thinking they were awesome. I like Serena a lot.”
Tad strode out from the far hallway, a phone to his ear. “I know. I know, but I need Franco here next week. I don’t care if he’s taken a vow of silence. I don’t need him to talk. I need him to work his magic and take some pictures and video. And get a good stylist. These people are very…military. I don’t mean rah, rah military. I’m talking they could use some serious flair.”
Jared groaned and stepped up, grabbing Tad’s phone. “Cancel everything.” He jabbed at the phone’s screen, hanging up the call before handing it back to Tad. “I told you, we’re not asking the company to let documentary crews in.”
“Not unless they get to kill the documentary crew afterward,” Kai agreed. It was the only way Big Tag allowed that to happen.
Tad’s eyes widened. “What?”
“They’re very private,” Jared explained. “Where’s Squirrel? Did he stay at the hotel?”
Tad shook his head, edging away from Kai. “No. He’s been following that Tag person around trying to take notes for you.”
Jared nodded and looked back at Kai as if that made some kind of point. “That’s nice of him.”
“No. No, it’s not. Shit.” A million and one scenarios ran through Kai’s head—all of them bad. “Has anyone seen him lately?”
Jared would likely get upset if his best friend ended up stuffed in a box somewhere. That was the least lethal scenario he could think of.
“No. Not for an hour or so.” Tad was dialing his phone again. “Can we at least bring a reporter in? ‘Actor plays decorated military hero’ would be a great visual. It’ll be good for the company too. Please let me bring in a stylist for the chick with the freckles. I can deal with the other women, but she’s too severe.”
“That’s because Erin will murder you and not think twice about it. I have to go find Ian.” Before he eviscerated Jared’s friend.
Jared jogged to keep up with him as he strode down the hall toward Ian’s office. “You think Squirrel could annoy him to the point of violence?”
“I think violence is Ian’s default state.” And he was in a piss-poor mood as it was. He passed Eve’s office and then Alex’s. He hoped he didn’t piss off Ian too much, but he knocked once and then went in just in time to see Ian lifting Squirrel up by the neck and shoving him against the wall.
“I swear to god if you don’t stop following me I will split you open, pull out your insides, and let my baby girls play in them. My wife will get all pissy because she thinks the girls shouldn’t play in entrails, but I say they’re free. Do you have any idea how fucking much toys cost?” If Tag was at all bothered by Squirrel’s weight, he didn’t show it. The man simply held him up, the poor dude’s sneakers kicking slightly. “A lot. A metric shit ton of cash, so I’m always looking for something cheap to keep them entertained.”
He needed to bring the level of potential death down to a manageable portion. “Hey, Ian, I want you to think about how much the girls would miss their dad if he got shoved in a prison.”
“He followed me around all morning,” Ian bit out.
“Sorry.” Squirrel managed to whisper the words.
“Ian, is it really worth it to murder him? Jail is a real possibility.” Ian would respond to logic.
“He followed me into my fucking bathroom.”
Kai turned to his brother. “I’m sorry. You’re going to have to find a new best friend.”
Big Tag had a private bathroom. He took that shit seriously.
“Do you understand what it means to be the only man in the fucking house? My kids don’t care about privacy. My wife thinks intimacy means I shouldn’t be able to spend an hour alone in the bathroom. I like my personal time, motherfucker. The only time I get it is here. Have you ever had to take a piss with not one but two babies in your arms?”
“It sounds terrible, sir. I would want to piss in peace, too,” Squirrel managed.
“Ian, he’s turning blue.” More logic. He hoped it got through.
Ian’s hand released and Squirrel hit the floor. “Go away.”
Squirrel dragged air into his lungs. “That dude is crazy.”
Jared reached out a hand and helped his friend up. “I’ll take him out. Sorry for the disruption, Mr. Taggart. It won’t happen again.”
Jared held Squirrel up and helped him stumble out. The door closed with a thud and he was left with Ian, who walked to the big floor-to-ceiling windows that marked his corner office. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked out over the Dallas skyline.
“Ian, are you all right?” It was a stupid question. He was obviously not all right, but this was a way Kai could allow Ian to control the conversation. He could say yes. He could say no. This wasn’t a therapy session and Kai wouldn’t press the issue.
A long silence followed. Kai let it lengthen, the quiet not bothering him at all. Sometimes these things took time.
“He was taking fucking notes. I hate that. Why the hell was he taking notes? Does he think he’s going to learn something? I get that the film is about a security company but that asshole was acting like it was all about me. Dumbass.”
They were right back to Ian’s self-awareness issues. “I think he was trying to help out Jared. You know the character he’s playing has a lot in common with you.”
“Fine, but that kid is annoying as fuck. And he talks about your brother like he walks on water. I swear the kid has a crush on him. I know I agreed to do this, but it’s too many fucking people. There’s Death in a Dress who complains about everything and wanted to know if the water in the coffee had been blessed by holistic monks. Then there’s that smiley, happy fuck who seems to have worked out so much he’s OD’d on endorphins. I want to kill the guy who told me I need a stylist. I don’t need a fucking stylist. I don’t even know what they’re supposed to fucking style.”
“I’ll get rid of them.” Ian deserved some peace. “I’ll take care of this. From now on it’s going to be Jared alone and he’ll simply observe.”
Somehow he knew Jared would keep that promise.
Ian ran a hand over his head, a long sigh coming from his chest. “I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this. Do you have any idea how shitty I feel about bringing this down on us?”
It was a good bet Ian wasn’t simply talking about the film crew. He was talking about the investigation. “It’s all right. We’ll keep everyone safe.”
“I have my reasons.”
“I know you do.”
Ian’s head turned, eyes narrowing. “Do you?”
Kai merely smiled. “I know that you would never endanger anyone here or at the club without a good reason.”
“You know.”
He wasn’t going to lie to the guy. “There’s only one thing you could possibly want from the feds.”
“Shit.” Ian moved from the window, pacing like an angry, caged lion. “I don’t want Erin to know.”
He understood that. He’d considered it after finding out about Theo and he agreed with Ian’s decision. “You don’t want to give Erin false hope.”
Ian had turned a nice shade of red. “Shit and fucking shit, you really do know. Goddamn it. I always said you were too smart for your own good.”
It was definitely time to stop playing games. “Just so you’ll stop testing me, I know you have reason to think that Theo’s alive and you have the feds working on it. I suspect Liam’s sudden desire to take a family vacation to South America has something to do with it, too. And I agree with you on keeping it from Erin. She needs to concentrate on the baby and having a
healthy pregnancy.”
“Erin’s too reckless. If she thought for a second there was the slightest possibility that he was out there, she would go off alone. She asks me every single day if I’ve found Hope McDonald. Erin would go after her, too. So I lie to my sister-in-law. I know they weren’t married, but it’s how I have to think of her. I swear to god if it weren’t for Charlie and the girls…”
He would be in a hole somewhere, doing what he was attempting to keep Erin from doing. Ian would invest the rest of his life in killing one woman. “And if Case didn’t have you and Sean, he would be lost, too. Ian, you’re doing what you have to do. There’s no judgment from me. If everyone knew, they would pitch in.”
“They can’t know. I don’t even like you knowing, but I trust you not to give it away.”
Kai knew how to keep a secret. “It’s not an issue. Now why did you need to talk to me?”
His shoulders eased down marginally. “It’s about Mia Danvers. She’s been talking to some interesting people lately. Hutch pulled her phone records. She’s been calling a number in Argentina. I need to know who she’s talking to. I need to listen in on that conversation the next time it happens.”
“Li’s in Argentina, isn’t he?”
Ian nodded as he slumped into the big chair behind his desk. “Yes. It’s the last known location of a medical group called Project Remembrance. It’s a small group funded by a known Collective company. They move around doing research on memory and how global and political conditions affect neurological function. What they’re actually doing is something very different.”
He’d read the reports. Normally he wouldn’t, but he’d insisted in this case because of the stress damage the operation had caused on members of the team. He’d also insisted every single person who’d been there come in for sessions. Some had been surprisingly willing to talk. Case was angry, but he’d sat and talked about his brother and the hole in his life. Erin had been utterly shut down until Kori broke through to her. At the London offices, he was coordinating with a fellow psychologist Damon Knight had hired to help the other members of the team.
Ian had refused all sessions. He’d handed his girls over to Alex and Eve and disappeared into Sanctum with his wife for two days. The club had been locked up and when he’d come back out, he’d been calmer, more focused. Charlotte was Ian’s therapy.
“I suspect they’re testing out the time dilation drug Dr. McDonald used on Ten.” Tennessee Smith was a former CIA operative who now worked for McKay-Taggart. The op had been his and it had gone straight to hell. Hope McDonald was something of an evil genius. She’d designed a drug that tricked the brain into thinking time had passed, time that Hope filled with the experiences she chose to give the subject. In Ten’s case, it had been days of pain and torture all wrapped up in a single dose of her drug.
Kai worried that even if they found Theo he wouldn’t be the same smiling, happy man who had been taken. That drug would twist his soul.
He should do some serious research because if Theo was alive, he would need help reintegrating into the real world. They all would.
“Yes, I’ve had reports that Hope is up to her usual tricks. By the time Li got to Argentina, they had moved on. He found their base of operations.”
“Did he find evidence that Theo had been held there?”
Ian shook his head, his eyes infinitely tired. “No. The whole place had been cleaned from top to bottom.” Ian was quiet for a moment. “Am I being too optimistic? There were bloody sheets found at McDonald’s place in the Caymans. I had them tested.”
“And the blood was Theo’s,” Kai surmised. “Given that Hope McDonald is a gifted surgeon and she had an obsessive interest in your brother, I think we can say there’s a chance that she saved his life and now she’s taking it again. Ian, if she’s giving him that drug, she’s basically reprogramming his brain.”
“I know that. I also know that once we get him off the shit, he should remember who he is. I can’t leave him.” Ian’s hands fisted at his sides as though they needed to hit something, anything.
“I’m not saying you should. I’m simply preparing for every eventuality. You have to understand that finding Theo and bringing him back won’t be the end of the problems. He’ll need medical and therapeutic care, and I need to be ready for that. I know you didn’t want to bring me into this, but unless you’re planning on bringing in another therapist, I need to plan now. Has Eve thought about a possible course of treatment? There are people working in the field she could reach out to.”
“No,” Ian replied. “I want you. I love Eve, but she’s dealt more with the academic end of things. She’s more of a profiler than an active therapist. I need you to help my brother if he comes home. When he comes home.”
He would feel better knowing it was in his own hands. “I’ll start prepping and Ian, you have to know anything you tell me stays between the two of us.”
“Don’t consider my silence on the subject a statement about you. I do trust you, Kai. I guess I’m trying to manage everyone’s expectations. The only people who know are me, Charlie, Chelsea, Li, and Alex and Eve. My brothers, of course. Now you. I need this circle to stay tight. Grace doesn’t even know, and until such time as I need them, neither does the rest of the team. I’ve asked Chelsea to keep it from Simon. I know I’m asking a lot. Avery doesn’t know. All she knows is her lovely vacation to the beach turned into an op, and do you know what she said?”
He could guess. “She would never complain.”
“She said she and Aidan would have fun learning to tango. I fucked up her only vacation and she thanked me.” Ian shook his head.
“Avery has faith in you and faith in Li. And so do I. My mouth is closed. Now what do you need me to do to help with the Mia situation? Can’t the feds get a warrant to bug her phone?”
“The feds are scared of her brother. We have to tread lightly. Drew Lawless has the money and power to take on the government, and the company is beyond reproach as far as the feds can tell. If he’s Collective, then he’s in deep cover.”
“They all are after McDonald went down.” The Collective was a shadow group, a collection of high-powered corporations who worked together to mold the world to their liking—and their profits. “They’re very quiet because they know certain agencies are looking into them. They’ll regroup and be back and more deadly than ever. How can I help with the Mia situation? I haven’t heard from Special Agent Rush.” Except he had. He felt himself flush. “Okay, I dodged him last night. Is that what this is about?”
Ian frowned. “You dodged him? Why would you…where’d you go last night after the club, Kai?”
He should tell Ian to shove it. It wasn’t Ian’s business, but it was the first time the big guy had smiled during the course of this meeting. Kai could handle some ribbing if it made Ian forget his trouble for a few moments. “I stayed at Kori’s last night and obviously yes, we’re very much together now.”
Ian slapped his hand on his desk and then leaned over and touched a button on the landline that controlled the floor’s PA system. “Pay up, bitches. I told you that scene wasn’t over. It was just hitting the road.”
Even through the closed door, Kai could hear the collective groan from the office. He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, fuck you, Big Tag.”
A single shoulder shrugged as he sat back. “I’m happy for you. You should have been doing that girl for over a year now. I’m also happy she’s going to get the attention she needs. Kori’s good people. We need more like her. Which is why what I’m about to ask you to do isn’t fair.”
Shit. There was only one thing he could ask that would involve Kori. He’d thought about doing it earlier today himself. “You want me to use Kori’s friendship with Mia to get her phone.”
“I want you to tag her phone, not steal it. I need her to make a call from that phone. She doesn’t bring it to Sanctum and she doesn’t leave it in her car. That in and of itself is suspicious. Charlie’s tried everything and
she can’t get close. Mia has a thing for Case. It’s why I sent him in. He’s asking her to go out with Jared and his crew the next time they hit a nightclub. When she’s got her purse with her, she tends to have her phone. I hope Case can make her feel comfortable enough to let her guard down.”
“I think her attraction to Case is real,” Kai explained. “I also think she wants someone to talk to. She stayed the night at Kori’s last night and she had her phone, so she’s actively hiding it at the club.”
“I think she might feel safer if she wasn’t at Sanctum. If she was at a nightclub with friends around her. I was thinking she might even forget to be so vigilant if the man she had a crush on asked her to dance.”
Now Case’s request made sense. “You want me to tag her phone when she goes out with Jared on Tuesday. That’s what that was about. They’ll all be at Sanctum for the next few nights.”
Tag nodded. “Hey, if Case does his job and gets the girl in bed, you might not have to do this, but I want you to be ready. I also worry that it’s going to look odd if you go out with your brother alone when you’ve so publicly claimed a sub.”
He had to bring Kori with him and he couldn’t tell her what he was going to do or why he was doing it. Shit. He hated the spy stuff. His life was about being open and honest and still…he owed Ian. He owed everyone on this team and he definitely owed it to Theo and Erin and to that baby who might never meet its father. If Mia was working for The Collective, they needed to know. If she was innocent, they could focus on other leads.
It would also give him a chance to observe his brother’s friends in their natural habitat.
“I’ll do it. Someone’s going to have to show me how. I’ve never tagged anyone’s phone before.”
“Thank you, Kai,” Ian said somberly. “Case and Rush will be at your office sometime Tuesday to talk about the op. Like I said before, it may not be necessary at all. Be careful though. I wouldn’t let Kori find out. Women can get downright mean when they think they’ve been betrayed.”
He wasn’t betraying her. It wasn’t like that at all. Still, discretion being the better part of valor, he would try to keep it on the down low.