by Lexi Blake
“Why would I believe a word you say? You’ve lied to me all along. You’ve used me to get to my father. And so did Ten. God, Erin, you set me up. You’re the one who put the idea in my head. Did you like playing the pimp?” She wouldn’t have gotten into bed with Ten without Erin’s prompting. She would be lonely, but she wouldn’t ache the way she did. She would have gone back to Houston and picked out a Dom and spent a few weeks playing. The man wouldn’t have touched her soul, but he also wouldn’t have ripped it out of her body and spit on it.
Had Ten really done that? It depended. It depended on why he’d told her he loved her.
“I liked the fact that both of my friends were smiling,” Erin allowed. “I liked the fact that they obviously cared about each other.”
Faith moved up the steps leading to the house. To her right she could see the path leading to the boathouse and the ocean. It shouldn’t be a surprise that they were prepared. Hell, they’d been preparing for this for a while it looked like. Anger flared through her as Theo stepped out, leaning against the doorway. He was watching, allowing Erin to handle this, but Faith had no doubt he wouldn’t let Faith get too close to his precious girl.
“Cared? In my world people who care about each other don’t use each other. They don’t lie to get their way. They don’t set up their friends.”
Erin’s eyes went cold. “I don’t think you know your world as well as you think you do.”
She should have known this would happen. “I suppose you have a file on me.”
“Not you,” Erin replied. “I mean, there is one on you and all it told me was you’re innocent.”
“Innocent of what?”
Theo stepped onto the porch. “He gave you specific orders, Erin. You were not to give her those reports.”
Erin flushed, but her jaw went stubborn. “I’m not going to. Brody is. Brody is willing to disobey orders and you know damn well what Big Tag would do in this situation. Call him. Let him make the decision. With Ten out of the game, we should call home and request new orders. We should have done it the minute he was taken.”
Theo’s jawline hardened. It was obvious they’d gone over this before. “I am in charge and I don’t need my brother to save me. Ian made me second in command because he trusts my judgment. I think my brother would honor what Ten wanted. Faith is Ten’s. He makes the decisions regarding her.”
Erin’s eyes narrowed. “He can’t make a decision if he’s a fucking corpse, Theo. We’re running out of time. He could already be dead.”
“He’s not dead,” Faith insisted. He couldn’t be. Even as angry as she was, she couldn’t think about a world that didn’t include his lazy, sexy smile, his strong arms. “My dad got him off the island. He wanted all of you gone.”
“Is that why he tried to kill us?” Theo regarded her seriously. “Maybe Erin’s right. Ten’s going to kick my ass, but Erin’s not going to leave this island until you’re safe. I know you’re pissed, but the minute Ten fell for you, you became one of us, and we don’t leave a man behind.”
“He wouldn’t have really hurt you.” Not her father. How far would he go for revenge? Not nearly as far as he would go for money. There was never enough for her father.
Erin pulled up the hem of her shirt. There was a bandage wrapped around her midsection, blood staining through. “I wasn’t fast enough.”
“Shit. You need to be in a hospital.” This she could handle. Finally something she could handle.
Erin let the hem drop. “Not until we find Ten. And Theo patched me up all right.”
“Not if it’s bleeding through. Go inside.” She looked to the helpful Aussie. “I need hot water, any kind of first aid kit you can find.”
“Needle and thread,” Theo said grimly. “She promised she would let you stitch her up. She wouldn’t let me.”
“Like you can sew,” Erin complained under her breath.
“You’re going to find out what I can do when you’re well enough, my love,” Theo promised. “You disobeyed direct orders in the field and you’ve been the worst patient in the history of time. Let’s hope Faith knows how to cool a backside after it’s been spanked about three hundred times. You move. You do what she tells you to, Erin. I’m done with this shit. You let Faith take care of you or I’ll ship you back to my brother so fast it will make your head spin. You won’t go in the field for years.”
Erin stopped in front of him, her eyes flaring, and then she shut down. She walked into his arms. “All right, Theo. I’ll do what she says.” She kissed him before stepping back. “And I was right to do what I did. I gave you time to get that text off to Ten. For all the good it did us.”
She’d felt his cell phone vibrating. She’d thought it was nothing more than an e-mail or some stupid social media thing. Hers did the same thing all the time. He’d ignored it because he’d been kissing her. She’d told him she thought she might love him. She’d watched his eyes flare with victory and he’d ignored Theo telling him to run.
He hadn’t run. He hadn’t fought. He hadn’t shoved her away and tried to save himself.
He’d told her he loved her and not to ever forget that.
She followed Erin into the house, her brain a wrecked mess. What the hell was she supposed to believe? She washed her hands and then took a good look at Erin’s wound.
Someone had shot her. That didn’t make any sense. She would have heard someone shooting.
Her stomach tightened and she thought about that night. Her father’s men. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering what she’d seen. There had been four of them and they’d all had guns. Guns with long barrels. No. Not barrels.
Silencers. Her father’s men had been carrying guns with silencers. There was no reason to do that unless they’d intended to shoot and make sure no one heard.
What the hell was going on?
Erin’s wound was a through and through. It was on the side of her torso, right above her hip. An inch to the right and she would have needed serious surgery to repair her large intestine. As it was, she needed about three stitches to truly close the wound. Theo had done his best with butterfly closures, but she still bled when she moved.
“You were lucky.” Faith looked through the kit Brody had brought her. They were prepared. The supplies included a suture kit. “This is going to hurt without a local.”
Erin shook her head. “Local hurts, too. I can handle it.”
“God, you’re stubborn, girl.” Theo sat on the bed beside where Erin lay. “Hold on to me.”
Luckily, she was damn good with sutures in the field. She worked quickly and before Erin could really break Theo’s hand, Faith was bandaging the wound.
“She’ll heal.” Now that the job was done, she felt more centered, calmer, and more ready to deal with the situation she found herself in. “Is this tracer device the only reason you think my father has Ten?”
“Lie down, Erin.” Theo barked the order as his sub attempted to sit up.
“Erin, you need to rest. You’ll pull those sutures if you’re not careful.” Faith didn’t want to put her through that again. “Rest for the day. You’ll be up and fighting again tomorrow.”
“But,” Erin began.
Theo was having none of it. “You promised me. You promised to do what the doctor said. I want to find Ten, too, but understand that you are now and always will be my priority in life. Think about that. I’ll scrub the entire mission to see you safe.”
“Which is precisely why we shouldn’t be partners,” Erin shot back.
“You can get back to Li when this is over, though you should know I intend to have a conversation with him about taking care of you in the field. So lie back down or get to the plane and I’ll take you home.”
Erin turned a bright red, but she laid back. “You’re a bastard, Theo. You’re as bad as the rest of them.”
Theo sighed. “Yeah, I know, baby. Come with me, Faith, and I’ll lay out what we’ve learned about your father’s organization. Ten will kick my
ass, but if we’re going to get him back, I think Erin is right. You have to know.”
“Can you give us a minute?” Erin asked.
Theo stared at her for a moment as though not completely sure of what he should do. He finally stepped toward the door. “Brody will be waiting in the hall to lead you to the office.”
When they were alone, she looked at her former friend. “What do you want, Erin?”
Erin huffed and sat up with a muffled groan. So stubborn. “I want to be the woman I was before I had to go to Africa. I want to not give a shit about you or Theo Taggart or anyone else. It was easier. I didn’t have to compromise. I hate this compromise shit.”
“Well, guess what, sister. You don’t have to care about me at all.” With the exception of Tennessee, Erin was the one she was most angry with. She’d been comfortable with Erin. It was a precious thing. Friends were a little like lovers. She was picky about them. She could spend time with people and enjoy it, but she didn’t connect with many people the way she had with Erin.
Now she had neither friend nor lover. She was afraid she didn’t have any family either.
Why, oh why, would those guards have silencers on their weapons? And why would her father and sister lie about the vaccines? Had she been a naïve idiot all these years?
Erin made her way to the window. She stared out at the lush green of the garden. “I don’t make friends easily. I know. It’s a huge surprise. I’m so sweet and open that everyone should love me.” She snorted, an inelegant sound. “I’m crass and closed off and I can be a little mean at times. I get it. I was raised in a family where if I wasn’t tough, I got walked on. Hard. None of that matters. I hate this. I hate being vulnerable.”
“Well, I hate being lied to.” She forced herself to say the words because she was already softening. Her impulse was to sit Erin down and talk to her. The redhead looked so lost, so out of her element.
Faith reminded herself that she was the victim here.
“Yeah, I know. Theo thinks we’re going to explain our mission and you’ll understand and forgive us all. He’s naïve. I know what’s going to happen. We’ll lay out the mission, you’ll realize the truth, and you’ll help us.”
“You really think so?” She wasn’t so sure.
“I know you, Doc. You won’t be able to turn away, but you won’t be able to forgive us either. Especially me and Ten. You’ll look at Theo and the rest of them and be able to say they were doing their jobs. Not me and Ten though. Because you loved us. It’s a stupid word, you know. People say they love you, but what does it mean? It’s overused and overvalued and god, it goes away so easily. There should be some constancy to that stupid word.”
“Love can be killed like everything else.” She wasn’t going to give in to the tears that were forming behind her eyes. She wasn’t going to let Erin get under her skin again. And that went double for Ten Smith.
Please let him be alive.
“Yeah, I guess if anybody can kill it, I can. Ten never wanted you to know what Theo’s going to tell you. He forbade us. He could have used the information you’re about to receive to bring you to his side, but he chose not to. Do you understand what it takes for a man like Tennessee Smith to bury information that would help him achieve his goal?”
“I don’t know Tennessee Smith at all. I knew a man named Ten Graham, but he wasn’t real.”
“I think he was more real with you than he’s ever been with anyone else. I understand Ten. God, I understand Ten better than I do anyone else on this crew. He has no idea who the fuck he is. He’s been undercover for so much of his life, he’s got no idea who the real Ten is. I think he liked who he was with you. It’s the only reason he wouldn’t use that information. The Ten I know is ruthless. He’s hard as a rock, but he got soft for you. I hope he’s still alive.”
“My father wouldn’t kill him.” She couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be true.
A vision of those thugs her father employed using their guns with silencers crossed her brain.
“Your father has killed. He’s killed many times and he’ll continue to do so. He killed Ten’s brother, Jamie. Not directly, but he sold the troop information to the man who did. He was also indirectly responsible for the physical and mental torture of Phoebe’s husband, Jesse. Your father killed or damaged the two men she loved most in the world. The truth is you lost your only family a very long time ago, and to the same man Ten lost his to. His mission should be yours, but he was willing to shoulder the burden alone because he loves you.”
“What do you mean by…” Erin’s words sunk in. Faith shook her head. “No. No. He loved my mother. He couldn’t have. He would never.”
“He lied to you. You weren’t sick that day. Your mother didn’t call the pediatrician to make an appointment. She had an appointment with a divorce attorney. She also had spoken to a lawyer at the Justice Department. They had opened a file on your father. After your mother was murdered, they closed it. Theo can show you everything. He’ll also explain why your father was the man behind your kidnapping in Ghana.”
Faith had to take a step back. She felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach. All the air seemed to rush out of the room and for a moment, her peripheral vision began to fade.
Erin was suddenly at her side, offering her support even though she still had to be in pain from the sutures.
Faith forced herself to stand. She couldn’t count on Erin. She couldn’t count on anyone.
“I want to see what you have.” She walked out to the hall where Brody waited to show her where to go, wondering if she would have anyone she could believe in after the next few minutes.
And she wondered if any of it mattered because she already knew she would do whatever it took to get Tennessee Smith back. She would let him go, but she had to make sure he was alive.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“I should go with them.” Faith stared at the monitor.
“Nope. You should stay right here with me.” Hutch sat back and yawned a little as though a nighttime raid of a dangerous man’s fortified home was really no big deal. The man who couldn’t be older than his mid-twenties was the only one left in the van with her. He’d brought along his computer and some very high-tech equipment she didn’t understand. Apparently he was some sort of hacking genius and had already broken into the security feed around the mansion. “They have to get in and out. You’ll hold them back. There’s a storm coming.”
After the singularly named Hutch had gone over the multitudinous ways her father had betrayed both her and his country, he’d explained that they were on a timeline. A tropical storm was coming in a few hours and they had a very small window to get Ten and get the hell off the island. Even as it was a few would remain behind since the plane was small and could only hold four passengers and the pilot.
Apparently the Russian was also a pilot. So Theo had decreed it would be Nick piloting Tennessee, Faith, Erin, and Des off the island and back to the relative safety of the mainland.
She didn’t like to think about the fact that Theo had talked about bringing back Tennessee’s body if they had to.
He was alive. He had to be alive.
“You’re a go on the south side, boss.” Hutch had on a set of headphones and spoke into the microphone attached. He turned the screen of the computer so she could see four shadowy figures making their way along the south wall of the compound.
All four figures were dressed in black in deference to the darkness around them. The night before the moon had been spectacularly full, but this was a new moon night and in the absence of city lights, everything was dark around them.
There was a brief knock and the door opened. Erin climbed inside. “What’s going on?”
Hutch shrugged. “Nothing yet. Shouldn’t you have the Jeep all fired up and ready to roll?”
“Can’t roll anywhere without my crew. When they start hauling ass back here, I’ll fire up the Jeep. What’s security look like?” Erin grimaced as she took the ben
ch on the other side of Hutch.
They hadn’t spoken more than a few words since Faith had gotten the four-hour report on the lie her life had been. Whoever Liam O’Donnell was, the man was thorough. She now believed that her father had her kidnapped to pave the way for an American corporation to keep its interests in Ghana lucrative. She’d seen the money trail. It was a money trail that led to her. Shortly thereafter, her father had used a portion of the same money to help fund her new clinic. She remembered that check like it was yesterday.
Her father’s actions had led to Ten’s brother’s death. Tennessee Smith had been trying to right a wrong. He’d been trying to find justice for his brother.
She wished he’d told her that in the beginning rather than allowing her to fall in love with a man who didn’t exist.
Her heart was heavy in her chest. Since learning the truth about her father, she’d been a walking bag of bones. Every movement was forced because all she really wanted to do was lie down somewhere and sleep. Maybe never wake up.
Her father had put out a hit on her mother. She’d been trying to expose him.
It was up to Faith now. Once she was sure Ten was all right, she was going to the press. If her father wanted to kill her, let him try his hardest. She intended to prove more difficult to kill than her mother.
If her sister got in her way, Faith would have to take her down, too. She would deal with Hope at some point if only to find out what she knew about the experiments at the clinic.
Of all the things she’d been told, the secrets revealed, the idea that Hope would experiment on non-consenting patients was the easiest to believe. Hope had always been about her research. Science required breaking a few eggs, her sister had told her. And in Hope’s mind, some eggs were more important than others. Faith had been comforted by the fact that FDA regulations and little things like laws would keep her sister in line.
Hope had found a way around them.
“Security is only a tad different than what Faith said it would be.” Hutch’s voice brought Faith back to the moment. “The only difference is several more guards on the front entrance. See?”