Sweet Hart

by Rae Marks

  Sam straightened from the man and his intoxicating smell. Brayden looked Sam in the eye for a long time before finally nodding slowly. Sam hadn’t known he was holding his breath until it came out in a quiet, relieved whoosh.

  He wasn’t sure why he cared so much. The only thing he could come up with was that this kid was Mase’s little brother. Even though Mase’s family had turned their backs on him, he wouldn’t want any harm to come to his sibling. Sam would make sure nothing happened to Brayden…for Mase.

  “I don’t know what you thought you were walking into, but you just became my arm candy. Hope that doesn’t bother you,” Sam said. “Don’t say your brother’s name in the hotel room.”

  Sam leaned in and pressed a small kiss to Brayden’s mouth. His lips were soft as velvet. When he gasped, Sam was so tempted to take just a little taste. He came to his senses at the last minute and pulled back. Brayden’s eyes were wide with shock as Sam turned and walked past.

  Ax kept shooting Sam glances as they walked to the valet. Sam shook his head. Ax might have taken it as ‘don’t talk now’ or ‘no, I don’t forgive you.’ Sam didn’t care. It was a little bit of both.

  As they reached the door of the hotel, Sam looked back. Brayden was still standing there, facing away from them, his hand over his mouth. If he was straight, the kid was probably mortified—maybe even disgusted. If he was gay or bi… Sam didn’t even want to finish that thought.

  As soon as they were closed in their own car, Ax opened his mouth, but Sam shook his head again.

  “I checked the car. It’s secure,” Ax said. “They only bugged the suite. I don’t think they had any way of knowing what car rental agency we’d use.”

  Sam kept his gaze out of the window.

  “Look, Sam. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean for Sergiy to hear.”

  “You should have kept your mouth shut. Now we’ve got an innocent civilian involved.”

  “Not exactly a civilian. Either way, I’m sorry. I fucked up, okay? If there’s anyone who wouldn’t want to pull an innocent into an op, it’s me.”

  Sam was still pissed, but he knew that was true. Ax had his own cross to bear when it came to innocent family members stumbling into a shitstorm.

  “It doesn’t matter how we got here. The kid ultimately got himself into this, but we’re going to make sure he gets out. He’s Mase’s baby brother. He gets out of this without a scratch on him if we can pull it off.”

  “Copy that.” Ax nodded as he followed Sergiy and his men into a more industrial area of Kiev. “You want me to drop you off and circle back to the hotel?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I want. I need you to stay with me. We can’t blow this. It’s been almost two years of work to get here. The kid will just have to learn to be patient. We’ll get him on the first secure flight out of here.”

  “He’ll just hop off in Munich or Paris or wherever and turn right back around.”

  “Not after I find out how he traced us. I’ll put a stop to it.”

  Ax only responded with a shake of his head.

  “I’ll get the message to Mase somehow. The kid will just have to believe that I did it and head home. He just wants to make sure Mase gets the message.”

  “And if the message has Mase tearing out of here to be with his family?”

  Sam puffed out a breath. What would he do if his family wanted to see him after all this time? If his family had been trying to contact him for years like Brayden had said he’d been trying to do with Mase?

  It didn’t really matter what Sam would do. It mattered what Mase would do, and Sam was worried he would want to tear out of here just like Ax said. But Mase wouldn’t do that. No matter what he’d been accused of in the army, Mase didn’t disobey orders. If his little brother was dying, Sam and Jazz would have to find an excuse for him to disappear for a while.

  “I’m taking the battery and SIM card out of my phone,” Sam said as he did just that. “I’m thinking that might be how the kid tracking me.”

  Ax was using a burner just for the current mission. There was no way he was being tracked by anyone outside the team, so he just nodded as he continued to drive.

  “What did you say to Sergiy that had him clamping his big trap shut?” Sam asked as he pocketed the phone battery.

  Ax chuckled and shook his head.

  “He was muttering something about pidaras, so I told him the people who protest the loudest are usually the ones who feel the same inside. Shut him up pretty quick. Dude totally has latent tendencies.”

  Sam wasn’t sure about that, but Sergiy sure was a homophobe. It was pretty common in Ukraine, from what Sam had seen. Yet another reason a guy like Brayden, who was almost pretty with his pink, heart-shaped lips, needed to head home as soon as possible.

  Chapter Five

  Brayden

  After memorizing the license plate of Sam’s car, Bray walked back through the lobby. His lips still tingled. He’d stood there in a daze for a moment after Sam had walked away, but belatedly remembered he needed a method to track him.

  Bray pulled his phone out of his pocket. He already had Max’s number pulled up before he even got to the room. His first order of business was the gun.

  It took Bray a minute to find the office. He quickly crawled under the desk and found a Glock 22 taped under the drawer. Sitting at the desk, he tested the weight of the weapon in his hand.

  He pulled out the magazine to check the rounds. He opened the chamber to verify that it was empty then slid the magazine back home and set it on the desk before dialing Max.

  “Are you lost?”

  “No. Stop teasing me. I found Sam, but he’s sure not happy I did.”

  “Big surprise.”

  Bray rolled his eyes. He sat back in the chair and sighed.

  “Apparently I’m just… I think ‘arm candy’ was the term Sam used.”

  Max mumbled something Bray couldn’t make out, probably a snide comment. His friend had become much more cynical since he’d begun working with the government.

  “Can you find out where he went?” Bray asked.

  “Do you know who he’s meeting with?”

  “No. I don’t get to know any details. Arm candy, remember? I don’t really care who he went to meet with unless…” Bray didn’t finish, because Sam had told him not to say Mase’s name.

  “I know. Unless it’s Mase.”

  “Exactly. If that’s what’s going on, I have to know.”

  Max was quiet for a long time.

  “Please,” Bray said.

  “Bray”—Max paused to sigh—“why are you risking your own ass for someone who turned his back on you?”

  “I love him,” Bray said with a shrug.

  “You are too sweet and forgiving for your own good, for anyone’s.” After another long pause, Max finally relented. “Let me see what I can do.”

  “Thanks, Sin. I’ll text you his license plate. Not sure if his car has anything you can track, but it’s probably a rental car.”

  “Send me what you’ve got.”

  Max hung up before Bray could respond. When this was over, Bray needed to spend some more time with his friend. He had a feeling Max was getting too isolated. He was losing a little bit of himself.

  Bray knew how that felt. It was hard when someone only saw the bad side of humanity. Bray had been trying to decide if he wanted to re-up for another few years of active duty or move to the reserves. The problem was that he didn’t know what else he wanted to do.

  His bachelor’s was in microbiology, as he’d done a pre-med track. He’d thought about becoming a nurse practitioner or a doctor, but after seeing blood in action, he really didn’t want anything to do with it. He might be a coward, but he didn’t want to be responsible for keeping someone alive. He’d done that using a gun. He didn’t want to bear the same weight with a scalpel.

  If he ever had to walk into a waiting room and tell someone that their loved one had died, Bray would die inside a little as well.
Just like he had when he’d had to tell the parents of one of his friends that their child had died. It was nice to want to be a hero, but being one came at a very high price.

  Bray considered calling Nick, but he didn’t want to have to tell his brother he hadn’t made any progress. He chuckled as he realized a theme. Bray didn’t like delivering bad news. Then again, most people seemed to avoid it.

  As he waited for Max to get back to him, Bray looked around the suite. He wasn’t snooping as much as he was getting the lay of the land. The room was at least a few thousand square feet. It had a fucking kitchen with a formal dining room and the bathroom had black wallpaper.

  It was worlds away from the shit-hole Sam had been in when Bray had found him in Miami. Bray had been worried Mase was destitute, but this had to be some sort of op. It was either that or Mase really had done what he was accused of and now he’d gone into business with the people who’d paid him to betray his whole team.

  Bray shook his head. Mase wouldn’t do that. Someone who walked away from their family rather than pretending to be what they weren’t was someone who had integrity. His brother had said he was innocent and Bray believed him.

  The tragedy was that they hadn’t known he was being court-martialed until after it was over. It might have benefitted Mase to have his family sitting behind him in that courtroom, even if he would no longer let his family stand up for him in his daily life.

  Bray had joined the army with the hope that it would bring Mase back into his life. That hadn’t happened when they were both in the military and it sure as hell hadn’t happened once Mase had been kicked out.

  In truth, their time in the army had only overlapped by about a year. Before that, Bray had been going to school on an ROTC scholarship. After that—while Bray had been trying to contact Mase through military channels—Mase had been investigated, charged and sentenced.

  Bray was staring out of the window when his phone rang. Expecting it to be Max, he answered. He was surprised it was his mother’s voice that replied to his mindless “Hello.” Then again, they tended to talk most mornings and he’d missed her call earlier. She was probably heading to bed.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hey, Bray, how’s your mission going?”

  “Not well.”

  Bray snorted at just how not well it was going.

  “Did you find him?”

  “Not yet, but I’m close.”

  “I don’t like this. I don’t like any of this.”

  Bray didn’t have to respond. She knew he agreed.

  “You better not be putting yourself in danger,” she warned.

  “I’m a grown man.”

  He wouldn’t outright lie to his mom. He’d probably tell her all about his luggage and would-be mugging once he got home safe. Telling her now and worrying her would serve no purpose.

  “The only reason I agreed to this was because I’d hoped you might finally be able to bring Mase back, so that he might finally hear us out and maybe even forgive us.”

  “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy if I can’t even get him to talk to me.”

  “No one expects miracles.”

  Bray snorted again. His father sure as hell expected miracles.

  “All right,” she conceded. “Your father wants a miracle. It doesn’t mean he deserves it or that he’ll get it. He hopes, but won’t be disappointed in you. He’ll only be disappointed in himself.”

  “Thanks for the pep talk, Mom.”

  “When did my sweet boy become so sarcastic?”

  “Sorry. I’m just… I want everything wrapped up in a pretty red bow. I want the happy ending.”

  “We all do. And if it is possible, I hope it happens sooner rather than later—for your father’s sake.”

  “You’re a saint,” Bray said.

  “No. I just believe in forgiveness.”

  “Love you, Mom. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home.”

  “Love you, Bray.”

  What would he do? What would he do if Mase still had no interest in being in his life? At least he and Nick had made amends. He had one brother, even if it still felt like something was missing.

  Chapter Six

  Sam

  “How do you want this to go down?” Ax asked.

  They pulled up to a fence topped with razor wire. This was only the second time Sam had been inside the compound, though he’d met with Kozak many times.

  The driver of the car in front of them rolled down his window and entered a code into a keypad. As the gate slid open, Ax looked back at Sam in the rearview mirror.

  “Nothing changes. We move forward as planned, with one small caveat. If either one of us gets Mase alone, we have to find a way to get the message to him about Nick. Brayden called him Nickel, so that’s the best route. Brayden said, ‘Nickel needs to see Mase and that it might be life or death.’”

  Ax gave a nod as he moved the car forward through the gate. They drove past a series of squat, square brick buildings.

  “You think his kid brother needs a kidney or something?” Ax asked.

  Sam shook his head at Ax’s dark humor. The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on him. As his cover, Mase was currently assisting with human trafficking, specifically the organ kind.

  Ax pulled to a stop next to Sergiy’s car. Sam took a deep, cleansing breath. He was dressed in a custom business suit, but he was still going into battle. When Ax opened Sam’s door, his dark eyebrows were down in an intimidating scowl above his light-gray eyes, but he gave a quick wink as Sam stood from the car.

  Sam would have rolled his eyes if it wouldn’t have broken character. This was where Ax thrived. After shutting the car door, Ax was at his side, his arms loose, eyes assessing.

  Ax wasn’t quite as tall as Sam’s six foot two inches, and Sam had a lot more upper-body strength. But Ax was a fighter—a good one—and Sam was glad the man had his back.

  “This way,” Sergiy said and walked into one of the buildings.

  As they moved forward, Ax gave Sam a little shoulder bump. Sam’s lips twitched. If Ax could have spoken freely, he would have said something like, ‘What a douche.’

  In Ukrainian, Sergiy told one of his men to take Sam to the conference room. Sam lifted his eyebrows as if waiting for direction. There had been no need so far to let them know he spoke Russian and Ukrainian.

  With a flick of his wrist, Sergiy pointed to one of his men. “Follow him,” he said before disappearing down a different hallway.

  “Hands on the wall. No weapons in meeting,” the man said when they entered an empty conference room.

  Sam motioned toward Ax. “He’ll stand so you’ll see if he’s reaching for his gun.”

  The man patted Sam down before telling him to sit. Ax went to the corner of the room that would give him the best vantage point, the one directly behind the seat Sam chose, and leaned back against the wall as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  After a few minutes, the door opened. Ruslan Andreiko walked in with two men. Some tension left Sam’s body when he saw that one of the men was Mase. He didn’t let his eyes linger on Mase any longer than they had on the other guy behind Andreiko.

  In the hallway, Sam heard raised voices. Sergiy was yelling in Ukrainian, “That’s it? This is bullshit…” That was all Sam heard as Andreiko closed the door. A moment later, Oleksiy Kozak opened the door and slipped in.

  “I hear your guard won’t give up his weapon,” Andreiko said as he relaxed back in his chair.

  “I made the concession that he’ll stand. You’ll see if he’s reaching for anything.”

  Andreiko’s gaze flicked over Sam’s shoulder. Ax was probably giving a smile or a wink or even both, but Sam just sat there, waiting. Andreiko asked Kozak if this was how he normally ran his meetings. Kozak shrugged.

  In a low voice, Mase kept his eyes on Sam as he spoke to his bosses in Ukrainian. He told them Sam wouldn’t be where he was today if he didn’t understand at least part
of what was being said. Both men turned to Sam, who didn’t react at all.

  Kozak and Andreiko looked at each other. They were powerful in Ukraine, which was probably where their overconfidence came from. On the world scene, they weren’t even a blip. The people they reported to, though—that was who Sam was after. The trail that would lead back to the U.S.

  The men were smart enough to shut up. Sam could have been pissed at Mase for giving up his advantage, but he wasn’t. Mase was proving to his bosses that he had great instincts, that he had their backs, that he was cautious.

  “Seems you have some interest in my side of this partnership, Mr. Wheeler,” Andreiko said.

  “The man I work for has friends with connections. He’s looking to expand into other markets. If you can supply us and help us move our supply, this could help your business grow as well.”

  “We are already building contacts in America,” Andreiko said.

  “North America—and only the East Coast, at that. New York, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida combined aren’t as bountiful as California. We also have a stronghold in Texas. I have contacts in both, as well as all the way up the West Coast and some of the Midwest. Business is booming in Ohio. I can guarantee I have better contacts in South America, Europe and Asia, not to mention Africa and Australia.”

  The two men looked at each other. Sam knew they didn’t have any presence in Asia and they were looking to expand in the market that had little-to-no human rights laws.

  “We have contacts in Europe, but we might be interested in expanding to Asia,” Kozak said.

  “You have contacts in Ukraine and France. I’m talking about all of Europe.”

  Andreiko snorted.

  “I’m not biting hand that feeds me,” Andreiko said. “Europe is expanding already with Clement. If you think crossing him is easy, you and Mr. Bernard will end up learning a hard lesson.”

  “I think we can agree to leave Europe out of it. We’re in discussions with a couple Germans who can help us distribute through Europe.”