Reckless (Benson's Boys Book 1)

by Janet Elizabeth Henderson

  “Yes, but we didn’t do it.” Elle was trying to look innocent. She nearly pulled it off. “Harry did it. Hypothetically speaking.”

  Megan had to clench her fists to stop from giving the woman a high five. But Callum’s eyes were on her. He stared at her long enough to make her squirm.

  “That isn’t all you did, is it, Megan?”

  She wasn’t going to deny it. The reason she went in there was warn Rudi off Claire. She’d done her job. Nothing more. “No. That isn’t all I did.” From the looks on the faces around the room she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him the rest.

  “Spit it out,” Callum ordered as Dimitri’s eyes burned laser holes through her skull.

  “I simply carried out the rest of the plan. I warned him off Claire.” She crossed her fingers and hoped that was enough information.

  “How?” Dimitri asked.

  Megan took a deep breath. “I wrote the warning across his chest in permanent marker.” She paused, wondering if they’d let her leave it at that. She was guessing from the death glares that they wouldn’t. She took a deep breath and confessed the rest. “Then I used a modified version of a docking band on his penis.”

  The men froze at the word penis.

  “A docking band?” Ryan sounded more than a little hesitant.

  “It’s basically a thick elastic band. It cuts off the blood supply to whatever you tighten it around, making it numb, die and fall off. It’s commonly used on sheep tails.”

  “No!” Ryan called out in horror.

  As though choreographed, each of the men covered their crotches with their hands. Megan looked at Elle to see if she noticed and they burst out laughing. Rachel joined in from where she stood behind them.

  “That is sick.” Ryan shook his head. He looked kind of pale. “You have an obsession with damaging men’s packages. You need counselling, woman.”

  “Really?” Rachel snapped. “Is it as sick as raping and murdering women? As sick as selling young women, barely more than girls, to brothels where they are raped repeatedly? As sick as beating his wife to the point where she would have rather died than endure another punch to her stomach?” Rachel’s voice vibrated with anger. “Tell me Ryan? Is it wrong, when a man uses his penis as a weapon, for someone to remove that weapon from him?”

  “I think I’m going to vomit,” Ryan said.

  Rachel pointed to the corridor off the lounge. “Toilet is first on the left.”

  “How the hell did you manage to get out of there when you’d left Rudi drugged and, and, you know…” Joe looked a little green himself.

  “I staged it to look like he was on the phone and then I walked out.” Megan shrugged like it was no big deal. The last thing she wanted was for the men to know how close she’d been to losing her mind to fear with each step she took out of there.

  “Are we sure we got all the information we need to shut Rudi’s operation down for good?” Callum asked.

  Elle pointed to a laptop on the table in the corner of the room. “Before I started messing around with the code to decrypt the sections that needed it, I made several complete copies and sent them to the office. We have a lot of information already from the stuff that wasn’t encrypted. More than enough to decimate his organisation.”

  “Great, that’s great,” Callum said as he stood. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t change things at this end.” He pointed at Megan. “You are lucky to be alive.” He stared at each of the women in turn. “The rest of you are lucky this didn’t go belly up. We could have lost Megan along with the information needed to retrieve Dimitri’s sister.” He glared at them as he folded his arms. “Luck. That’s what this comes down to. Not field expertise or skill or training. Luck. That’s not how this team works. We don’t rely on luck. And we certainly don’t have space on this team for people who don’t play by the rules. We’re taking over from here on in. You lot can pack your bags. You’re fired.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “What?” Megan shot to her feet, letting her fluffy white towel crumple around her ankles. She put her fists on her hips and glared at Callum. It would probably have looked more intimidating if she wasn’t wearing a leopard print bikini, but whatever. “You’re firing us?”

  “You can’t fire me,” Rachel said. “It’s in my contract.”

  Callum gave her a cold look. “There’s nothing in your contract that says I can’t suspend you indefinitely. I’m happy to keep on paying you to stay out of the office and out of my business.”

  “You’re firing us?” Elle demanded. “For getting the job done? For getting you information? For stopping Rudi in his tracks? For protecting Claire? You’re firing us for that?” Her outrage was tangible.

  Megan pointed at her. “What she said.”

  “Oh, no. Not again,” Julia muttered. “I can’t lose another job. I just can’t. I can’t.”

  Megan looked at the woman who had her head between her knees and was rocking slightly as she fought a panic attack. She pointed at Julia.

  “You broke Julia! That is not on.” She stomped over and patted Julia’s back while she looked at Joe. “You’re going to let him fire Julia?”

  Joe’s lips thinned. “This is his company. His call.”

  “That’s it. I’m calling my cousin.” Megan stalked towards the breakfast bar where she’d left her phone.

  “Call Harry,” Callum said. “It won’t change anything. You lot endangered yourselves and the rest of the team today. You,” he pointed at Megan, “especially, are way out of line. You Tasered your partner and locked him in a trunk. You endangered the whole operation. You could have cost us the chance to find out where Dimitri’s sister is stashed. You’re irresponsible. Reckless. You’re dangerous. And you don’t give a crap about your team. Tell your cousin that while you’re on the line to him. Yeah, you got the job done. But that wasn’t a guaranteed outcome. It was luck. The end doesn’t justify the means when you betray your team to achieve it. This could have gone badly wrong. And you want me to congratulate you? Okay then. Well done. Your rash and selfish actions didn’t get you killed. Well done indeed.”

  The room was silent—only Julia’s panicked breathing could be heard. Callum’s words sliced through Megan’s anger. A huge wave of guilt washed over her and she fought not to drown. She glanced at Dimitri, unconsciously seeking reassurance. His silent, unflinching stare was a condemnation in itself.

  “You treat this like a game.” Joe was clearly disgusted. “It isn’t a game. People’s lives are on the line. Nobody wants someone on the team they can’t trust to have their back. You might have gotten the results this time, but what about next time? Will your maverick behaviour mean someone gets hurt? Or the mission gets compromised? Or a teammate dies? I’m not prepared to put my life in your hands. I don’t trust you.”

  It was as though she’d been slapped. Her face actually stung.

  “He’s right,” Rachel said, making Megan feel nauseous. Rachel stared at Joe. “You’re right.”

  There was nothing else to say.

  Dimitri shifted in his chair, then stood and stalked to the window. He stood at the opposite end of the room from Rachel, his arms folded, glaring out into the night. Although Megan knew he was coping with his own feelings—anger, betrayal and hope at getting one step closer to finding his sister—his actions still felt like rejection. Stupidly, she wanted the man to stand up for her when she didn’t deserve it. She wanted to hear that he forgave her, that he understood. Instead, she looked at the tense line of his back and felt bereft.

  There was no getting away from the fact that Callum was right. She’d been lucky. Her inexperienced team had been lucky. And relying on luck was no way to stay safe in the long run. She’d let her own arrogance blind her to the risks. She hadn’t really considered what would happen if things went badly. She hadn’t let herself believe for one second that she wouldn’t get the information Dimitri needed to find his sister. But that hadn’t been confidence rooted in skill, it had been arroga
nce. The truth was, she could easily have blown it for him. She could have set his search for Katrina back months. Which meant she would have been responsible for everything Katrina suffered in that time. Why hadn’t she seen that before now? The answer hit her hard as Joe’s words beat at her soul. A game. She’d treated the whole thing like a game where having fun was more important than staying safe. How foolish and arrogant she’d been. Shame covered her like an early morning frost, making the joy that had bloomed in her success become brittle and break.

  Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, but there were words that had to be said. “I didn’t think…” No, that wasn’t right. She had thought. Just not enough, not about the right things. Selfish. Arrogant. Flippant. Those words were closer to the truth.

  “The end doesn’t justify the means,” Callum said again. His even words didn’t come from anger this time, they came from pity.

  “No.” Megan swallowed hard. “No, it doesn’t.” She felt young and stupid and painfully aware of being exposed. “I’ll pack up and head to Scotland. But will you think twice about the rest of the women? I was the one who led this revolt. It was my idea, my plan. I roped them in. Let them keep their jobs.” She felt tears bite at her eyes. Reckless. She’d been reckless. With her life. With Katrina’s. With Claire’s. She looked at Dimitri. She’d been reckless with his trust. A last blow that hurt most of all. And it was nothing less than she deserved.

  Callum heaved a sigh. He folded his arms. “I need people on this team who respect each other. Who take things seriously, follow orders and work well together. I don’t think that applies to any of you.”

  “I’ll go.” Rachel surprised them all. “Elle should stay. I am her direct manager. I’m responsible. I’m sure if I’d vetoed her involvement, she would have listened.” Having said her piece, she turned her back on all of them to stare out at the glittering lights of London.

  Megan blinked back tears that would only humiliate her further.

  “I appreciate the sentiment, Rach,” Elle said. “But you’re wrong. I would have gone behind your back and helped Megan.” She looked at Callum. “I’ll go too.”

  Julia clutched her stomach, her face grey. “You are absolutely right. I am as much to blame as Megan. I helped plan this from the beginning. I suggested we call Hope and that we use Rachel’s family connections. May I stay in the flat over the weekend? I need time to sort out somewhere to live.”

  Callum gave a terse nod.

  “Damn it,” Joe said. “Callum…”

  They stared at each other, silent communication passing between them. Callum shook his head slowly.

  Joe let out an exasperated sigh. “We all stuffed up when we first started out in this business. We all got caught up in the adrenalin rush and did stupid things that put team members in danger. They did get results and they look like they understand what they did wrong.”

  They stared at each other, while Ryan sat silently at the breakfast bar and Dimitri stared out at the city. Megan looked down at her phone. She couldn’t call Harry. She wouldn’t call Harry. This was her fault and she needed to take the consequences like an adult. She let out a tremulous breath. Being an adult sucked big time. She didn’t want to go back to Invertary. She didn’t want to go back to hairdressing, or nannying, or baking cakes. She wanted to be a private security specialist. She wanted it badly. And she’d blown it.

  “I got a teammate shot first time I went out on an op,” Ryan said softly.

  Everyone looked at him. Megan saw, for the first time, that underneath his boy wonder exterior was the hardened core of a warrior. She knew then why Lake had picked him for his team. Ryan’s lips were tight as he stared at Callum and Joe.

  Joe nodded. “We’re at fault too. We didn’t let the women in on the planning. We assumed they didn’t have anything to contribute because they don’t have our training. It was dumb. They’re smart and skilled. It’s just not what we’re used to. We should have listened. If we had done, we might have come up with something that worked for everybody.”

  “It doesn’t change things,” Callum said to both men. “None of it does.”

  There was nothing else to say or do. She needed to get out of there. As she scrolled through her contacts looking for the taxi number her phone vibrated with a reminder that she had unread texts and stored voicemail messages. She opened the texts expecting to see Claire’s name and hoping for comfort from her sister. Instead she saw an unknown number. She opened the message without thinking and stopped dead as she read it.

  Slowly, she looked up at the people in the room. Faces were stoic. Nothing was being said. The tension was fog thick.

  “Um, Callum.” Megan flinched under his dark gaze, heavy with disappointment. “Remember that guy I shot in the backside in Scotland? The one trying to kidnap Claire for Rudi? Durand?” Of course he remembered. Stupid question. It was nerves talking. Or maybe shock. Who knew?

  His shoulders tensed. He nodded once. Sharp.

  Dimitri turned back from the window, his attention on her. Megan felt the weight of it, but strangely found it to be more reassuring than oppressive. She cleared her throat as she held up her phone.

  “Yeah, well, Durand texted me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Megan, I know where you are and I’m coming for you.

  The words were burned into Dimitri’s eyelids. He saw them each time he blinked. Elle had grabbed the phone, taken out the battery, removed the SIM card and plugged it into her laptop. Her fingers were flying over the keyboard, trying to reverse trace the message while they talked.

  “Do you think he, like, literally knows where I am?” Megan asked as she came back in from the changing room beside the pool, a pile of clothes in her arms. “I mean, as in the address of this apartment.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry,” Rachel said. “This building has excellent security. Nobody is getting in here.”

  “We got in here,” Joe said.

  “Good point. I’ll arrange hotel rooms for us until we know my home and the office are secure.” Rachel picked up her phone from the coffee table, leaving the room as she dialled.

  “I’m running a programme that will let me know if he hacked the phone or accessed the GPS,” Elle said without looking up from her laptop screen. “We’ll know in a couple of minutes if he has this physical location.”

  “We need tea.” Julia scurried into the kitchen and put on the kettle. She was still wrapped in a towel.

  “I got your clothes,” Megan told her and Dimitri could almost feel the relief that was visible on Julia’s face.

  Julia hurried back across the room, nabbed her clothes and headed out of the room, all under Joe’s watchful eye.

  Dimitri watched Megan as she pulled on the red dress she’d worn to Rudi’s house, over the bikini she’d borrowed from Rachel. Dimitri wanted to tear the dress from her body and rip it into tiny shreds, just because he knew Rudi Abramovich must have lusted after her while she was wearing it. The thought of her in that house alone with that monster made him want to pummel something until his knuckles bled.

  He’d shut down when he heard her story. There was too much to process. He’d never been so close to panic as when she’d gone off on her own. Twin fears had assaulted him, ripping him in two. Anxiety over missing an opportunity to find out where Katrina was being held and terror over what Rudi might do to Megan. The complete and utter helplessness he’d felt had almost brought him to his knees. Only the ability to fall back on his training kept him standing.

  Megan pulled her hair back into a messy bun, securing it with an elastic band she’d found in the desk. Delicate, she was delicate. Sure, she might be fearless and have skills that could help her in a crisis, but physically she was delicate. Soft skin, so easily marred. Long limbs, so easily broken. Damn it, he didn’t know how he would have survived if something had happened to her. The thought made everything within him still—Megan Donaldson was important to him. Important in a way no other wom
an had ever been. She’d wormed her way into the heart of him. Sneaking under his crusty shell with her wit, intelligence and insanity. No. He couldn’t lose Megan. His hands suddenly felt empty because he wasn’t touching her.

  “Tell me how Durand managed to get your number and why he’s texting you.” Callum perched on the edge of the armchair. He’d sent Ryan down to update the building’s security team about the possible threat. Ryan would stay down there until Callum decided he was needed elsewhere.

  “I saw him at the house. He didn’t see me. I’m sure of it. He probably saw me on security footage after I left.” Megan fluttered around the room while she spoke. Nerves keeping her on the move. She was worried about Durand. She should be—the guy was a grade A nutjob.

  “By the sounds of it, they’ve discovered Rudi,” Joe said. “That’s the only way they’d know to check the security footage.”

  Callum nodded his agreement. “How’d he get your number, Megan?”

  She cast a nervous glance at Dimitri that had his chest tightening. What the hell had she done now?

  “My phone was confiscated. I flirted with one of the guards—as part of my cover,” she hastily added. “Before I left he said he put his number in my phone. I assume he took my number too. Durand could have gotten the information from the guy.”

  There was a pause. Dimitri groaned and Joe exploded. “You took your personal phone on an op? Are you nuts?”

  Megan’s cheeks turned red. “It was an accident. I intended to take the cell from the car, but they got mixed up when I was dealing with Dimitri.”

  “You mean when you tied me up and stashed me in the trunk of the car.” There was a good chance, even if they lived to a hundred, that he was never going to let that go.

  “Sorry?” she said with a nervous smile.

  “I want to know how you got him in the boot,” Elle said. “He’s almost twice your size.”

  “When I Tasered him he was standing at the boot, I just threw it opened and toppled him into it.” She shrugged like it was nothing. At least that explained the lump on the top of his head and the crick in his neck.