by Lexi Blake
“I don’t have a girlfriend. Mother hasn’t matched us yet.”
Mia could hear the slightest hesitation in his voice and she pounced on it. Every second he stayed here with her was another chance for Case to find them. “You do have a girlfriend. She loves you so much. Erin. Her name is Erin. Theo, she just gave birth to your son. You have a baby boy. He’s a week old. His name is Theo, Jr. Please remember. Please. They need you. Case needs you. You have to remember your family. You died on an island in the Grand Caymans.”
He stilled behind her. “Why do I remember Tennessee? It plays through my head at the oddest times. I think I was in Tennessee before Mother saved me.”
It was all bubbling under his surface. It was still there. She just had to find the right way to punch through all those drugs that bitch had fed him. “No. You were trying to save a man named Tennessee. Tennessee Smith. He was your commanding officer. You belonged to a black ops team in the CIA before you went to work for your brother’s company. McKay-Taggart. You have three brothers, Ian and Sean and Case. And you have so many people who love you. She didn’t save you. She took you away from your family.”
He breathed in, a long deep inhale, as though taking in her scent. She hadn’t even thought about it when she’d smoothed the body lotion on after her shower. It had been an impulse to send Erin a Christmas gift. Almost an apology. She’d sent Erin a box of chocolate covered cherries after finding out they were her favorite treats. She hadn’t expected anything back since she and Case hadn’t been speaking at the time. And then she’d gotten a box of body lotion Erin claimed was the best and a note that stated Taggart men suck and that Mia should hang in there and not take any of Case’s shit. Erin had explained in her own unique fashion that Case would come around.
Now she stood very still and prayed that little gift Erin had sent could reach across the space between Erin and Theo, could bring him back.
“I think about a red-haired girl,” Theo whispered. “I think about her, but I can’t see her anymore.”
“Erin.” Maybe if Mia said her name enough, it would break through to Theo.
There was a spatter of gunfire right outside the door, and Theo moved behind her, his hands releasing. Mia shoved away, turning. She was about to run when she saw Theo pale, his free hand reaching for his head as though he was in pain.
“Are you okay?” She knew she should run, but this was Theo. She’d never met him, but he was so important to Case. It was worth the risk. “Please come with me. He’s right outside. I can take you to Erin and TJ. Your son needs his father.”
He pulled the earpiece out of his ear and threw it to the ground, grinding it under his boot.
He was coming. She was going to give Case back his brother.
He leveled the gun right at her head. “I don’t want Mother to hear this. I prefer to follow orders. It keeps my head on my body. I don’t know who you are. Maybe you’re a test. I don’t know, but you’re lying. I don’t have a brother and I don’t know who the fuck Erin is. I like redheads, that’s all.”
“I bet you can’t even bring yourself to touch another woman.” She couldn’t lose him now. Play to reason. To logic. Surely the drugs couldn’t change his reasoning skills.
“I wouldn’t…” He stopped, but the gun didn’t lower. “Stop talking or I really will kill you. Come here.”
She started to take a step back, but he was on her in an instant. He dragged her to him, stepping behind one of the shelves.
“She can’t see us here. I can’t bring myself to do what she wants me to.”
Mia didn’t understand everything Case was saying. “You couldn’t kill your brother. You knew it was him. That was why you didn’t shoot to kill.”
“I made a mistake.” He shoved her to the ground.
Mia hit the concrete floor, her knees banging against it, sending pain flaring through her. Still, she turned, imploring him. “It wasn’t a mistake. Somewhere deep down, you knew. You recognized him.”
“I’m leaving now. I need you to understand something. I’m following my brothers. If I see your partner again, I will kill him. I won’t have a choice and I won’t hesitate. She told me you would show up one day. She told me you would lie and try to get me to turn.”
“Then why aren’t you killing me?”
His face tensed and for a second she waited for him to pull the trigger. “I’m weak. I won’t be if I see that man again. I’ll be waiting behind that door. I’ll wait and when it opens, I’ll shoot him in the head. So whether he lives or dies is your choice. Do you understand me?”
His words made her shiver because she believed him. “Yes.”
“Don’t move. Not an inch.” He stepped back so his body was out in the small space between the shelves. He fired the weapon, the sound deafening.
Mia screamed, but the bullets didn’t hit her, lodging instead in the wall behind her.
Her whole body shook as she watched Theo disappear behind the secret door.
He’d almost hit her with those shots. She’d felt a bullet scream past her head. Had that been an accident, too? Or had he been trying to terrify her?
The door burst open and she heard Case yelling.
“Mia!”
“I’m here,” she managed.
She looked back at the place where Theo had vanished. There was no hint of the door he’d disappeared behind.
Sweet. Kind. Funny. Loyal. Words she’d heard used to describe Theo Taggart. Brave. Honorable. Warm.
There’d been such coldness is his eyes when he’d told her he would kill anyone who followed him—but particularly Case.
“Princess, are you hurt?” Case got to one knee. “There’s blood all over here. What the hell happened?”
“No time for explanations.” Ian Taggart stepped into the room, his massive body blocking out the light from the hall. “We have to move and fast. The police are on their way. I don’t know that we get out of this now.”
“Go,” Case said. “Take Mia and run. I’ve got to find Theo. Which way did he go? You can tell me how you got away from him later. Just point me in the right direction.”
In the direction of Theo’s next bullet? Case had to be running on pure adrenaline, but he’d been shot and that was going to affect him. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let him open that door and start the fight that would end in one of them dying.
She shook her head. They would have to find another way. “He said they were leaving. I don’t know which way he went. He tossed me in here and left. They took Hutch with him.”
Ian cursed. Outside she could hear the sound of sirens wailing. Ian held his phone up. “Alex, we’ve got incoming. Tell Li and Malone to get out of here and try to find Lawless. I had Fain haul him out. He’s our best shot at not spending the next five years being a professional butt monkey in a Colombian prison. We’re too deep in. We can’t get out. The rest of you get the fuck out and find us a lawyer. We’ve got Mia but we lost Hutch.”
Her brother was here? Nothing made sense. The cops were coming?
All she could think about was Theo behind that door, his gun raised and ready to kill them all. Theo, with his blank, soulless stare. Theo, who had recognized his mate’s scent, who had reveled in it. Theo, who couldn’t quite break the drug’s hold.
Case gripped her hand. “It’s going to be all right. I’m going to take care of you. Don’t be afraid. Just do whatever the cops ask you to.”
The world turned chaotic, with bright lights flashing and screams in Spanish. Case dropped his gun and put his hands in the air.
Ian Taggart did the same, dropping to his knees and lacing his hands behind his head, obeying the orders of the men with the guns. Mia started to do the same, but suddenly there was an officer wrapping a blanket around her and calling out for an ambulance.
Case groaned, probably because there was a bullet lodged in his upper right chest.
“You in pain, brother?” Big Tag asked with his trademark sarcasm as he was placed in han
dcuffs. “You better be happy they’ll take you to a hospital because I swear if I end up with a boyfriend named Juan, I’m going to kill you myself.”
Case didn’t say a word, merely fell over in a dead faint.
“Yeah, that’s typical,” Big Tag complained. “Leave me holding the bag. Hello, boys. I’m going to need to make my phone call earlier rather than later. Don’t guess anyone’s up for a bribe, huh? Got a twenty right in that old back pocket.”
Big Tag was still talking as they hauled him away.
Mia waited for the ambulance and wondered if Theo was watching them the whole time.
CHAPTER TWELVE
His whole chest felt like a Mack truck had hit it, but Case walked into the suite behind Ian and Alex dedicated to not letting anyone know he was in pain. The last thing he needed was to be a drag on the team. After the night they’d all had, there was no way he was putting more burden on his brothers.
Alex had shown up an hour earlier with Ian in tow, a change of clothes for Case, and some harsh words on how fucked up the previous night had been. Case had a sense that it could have been much worse. Still might be since his big brother had ended up spending the night in jail and he was definitely pissed about it.
“Charlie, baby, it was awful. I’m talking bugs on the floor and water torture and a big dude looking for his prison wife,” Ian was saying into his cell. “I fought him off because I belong to you. Also because I’m not into smelly dudes who want to do things to my butt, but mostly it was about you, baby. I miss you so much and I’m going to take out all my aggression on my brother as soon as I possibly can. Yeah, he got shot and he’s kind of being a pussy about it.”
Maybe there was another reason he wasn’t going to let the pain show.
Case shot Ian the finger, but then he no longer gave a damn because Mia walked into the room. Her face lit up and she walked over to him as Ian continued to complain about his stay in prison as if he’d been there for years instead of a couple of hours.
“Are you all right?” Mia asked, her hands coming out as if to touch him, but then she pulled back.
He wasn’t having that. He pulled her close, taking care with his left side, where Theo had lodged his bullet. “I’m fine now, thanks to your brother and what I’m sure was an enormous amount of money.”
He hadn’t expected to be released from the hospital. He’d expected to be transported to a secure location after the docs had dug the bullet out. When he’d woken up, they’d explained that the damage was mostly superficial and he was free to go, given him a prescription for pain and antibiotics and sent him on his way.
“He’s been calling in a lot of favors to get you two out,” Mia said, tucking her head against his uninjured shoulder.
“I spent the entire night waiting at the police station for a lawyer who never showed up,” Alex said, yawning. “I thought it was going to get ugly, but they brought Ian out this morning and said no one was pressing charges.”
“I’m surprised it worked.” Andrew Lawless was standing in the middle of the massive suite. He was still wearing the suit he’d worn the night before, but he was down to the slacks and dress shirt. His hair was messy, his eyes tired. “I’ve been calling in every favor owed me, but I hadn’t gotten a firm answer from anyone yet. I spent most of the night talking to the ambassador. He thought it would take at least a few days to get you two out.”
Fain was sitting on one of the sofas, the one Mia had gotten up from. He looked fresh as a fucking daisy. “I’m sure your name alone managed to do the trick, boss.”
Such a suck-up. Case looked down at Mia. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Her eyes slid away from his. “I’m just upset that I couldn’t help more.”
He kissed her forehead. “You did everything you could. I take it they got rid of the tracking device in Hutch’s hand?”
Mia nodded, tears flooding her eyes. “I saw him before they took him away. They’d dug it out. He looked like he was in bad shape.”
It made his stomach twist. Not only had he lost Theo again, he’d lost Hutch. He’d done that. It was his fucking fault because he’d been in charge.
“I need a complete rundown on what’s happening.” Ian had hung up and crossed his arms over his chest, staring Case down. “And on this clusterfuck of an op I wasn’t informed of until the dude with his head stuck up Lawless’s ass told me.”
If that bothered Fain, he didn’t show it. “Someone had to be sensible and the minute Lawless hired me, my loyalty had to be to him. I might have discussed the fact that this op could go sideways because the men running it were far too close to the target.”
Ian hadn’t spoken a word to him in the car. He’d been on the phone with Charlotte the whole time, calming her down since apparently she’d been informed that her husband had been tossed in a South American jail cell. The next family dinner was going to be so much fun.
He’d lost Hutch and Theo and he’d almost lost Mia. Maybe he didn’t deserve a family at all. “It was my fault.”
“Of course it was your fucking fault,” Ian shot back.
Mia stood beside him. “It was mine. I wouldn’t let him tell you.”
“Really? You held a gun on him at all times?” Ian stared at Case though his words were for Mia. “You threaten to beat my baby brother up?”
“Hey, let’s leave my sister out of this.” Lawless stepped up to Ian. “I told you I wouldn’t put up with you bullying her.”
“No,” Mia replied, ignoring her brother. “I didn’t use a gun. I used sex and logic. Though mostly it was sex. I wouldn’t put out if he called you.”
Case sighed. He could have told Lawless no one bullied Mia and got away with it. No one but him. The fact that they’d fought before the op weighed heavily on him. “Her informant was touchy about having a bunch of operatives running around. He’s ex-Agency. We talked to Ten about him briefly. Hutch did.”
God, what was Hutch going through? He stepped away from Mia, the guilt beginning to plague him. While he’d been in the car all he’d wanted to do was see her again, but now it came crashing in on him.
He’d put her in danger. She’d handled it all with grace, but she could have been taken, too.
“Why did they leave you behind?”
Mia frowned. “One of the men wanted to take me with them, but whoever’s controlling them wouldn’t allow it.”
“Hope McDonald. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s controlling them all.” Ian started pacing, something Case had noticed he did when he was upset but trying to hold it together. “Mia, I’m going to need a full report.”
She held a hand up. “Liam already took it.”
“I left Li here with the rest of the crew and he and Michael should already have a preliminary report for you. They’re in the office, going over a few things. We’ve already discovered that the building has a path that leads to some hidden underground tunnels and shafts,” Alex explained.
“Very likely the cartel used them to move product around the city,” Mia continued. He couldn’t miss how tired she looked. She was still so fucking beautiful, but she needed sleep. Would she have nightmares about what had happened? Did she blame him? “As I noted in my report to Liam, Theo himself confirmed that they were working with the cartel. Ezra figured out which one. He’s got a report on that as well.”
“Excellent.” Ian ran his hand over his head. “Alex, I’m going to need you to get in touch with your contacts at the DEA and I’ll call Ten and see if he’s got anything on these guys. Maybe if we lean on a cartel member, they’ll tell us something. I’ll talk to Chelsea and see what the CIA knows.”
“Can we get into those tunnels?” Case asked. His brother might still be there.
“Already gone,” Fain replied. “O’Donnell and I went in early this morning. They’ve cleared out.”
Mia looked up at him, her face flushed. “I’m going to talk to Tony again. He was trying to figure out how and where they would be going.”
Ian’s shoulders were up around his ears, his jaw tight with tension. “Who shot you, Case?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He could still see Theo standing there. His brother hadn’t even recognized him. He’d simply lifted the gun and taken out the enemy. He’d been an empty vessel filled with Hope McDonald’s perverse will.
“Fuck,” Ian cursed. “It was Theo. He shot you.”
“He didn’t know what he was doing.” Theo wasn’t a lost cause. “Once we get him home and off those drugs and into therapy, he’ll be the same Theo he used to be.”
Ian shook his head. “Don’t be naïve. What that woman has done to him will change him forever. I’m not giving up on him, but we all need to understand how dangerous he is now.”
“He could have killed Mia,” Lawless said, his voice grave. “If you hadn’t gotten there in time, he likely would have.”
“No. He wouldn’t.” Mia kept her eyes steady on Case as though trying to make him believe her words. “He was ordered to kill me, Case. He stayed behind to do the job, but he couldn’t. I’ve thought a lot about what happened. He shoved me behind a shelving unit—the place you found me. Then he stepped out. I think there was a camera there and he wanted it to catch him. He fired twice, but into the wall. He wanted her to think I was dead.”
“Did he say anything?” He hadn’t gotten to talk to Theo. Mia had spent at least ten minutes with him.
“He recognized my smell,” she explained. “I’m wearing the same body lotion Erin uses. He plainly recognized it, but he wouldn’t believe me when I told him about her. It was almost like trying to think about her hurt him.”
“Conditioning,” her brother said with a frown. “She’s using techniques to trick the mind into associating certain thoughts with distaste. Some therapists use it on addicts. I suspect she’s using a harsh routine.”