Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries Book 11) (25 page)

She’d promised Case.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

She couldn’t break her word to him. Couldn’t. She’d promised Case she wouldn’t run off on her own. Mia strode to the door, grabbing the ice bucket and the key. It was time to talk her way out of the situation.

The minute she opened the door, Fain’s head came up. Michael turned as well.

She gave them what she hoped was a brilliant smile. “Any idea where the ice machine is?”

Ezra stood, his jacket moving slightly so she caught a flash of metal. “I’ll get it for you.”

Just what she’d thought he’d say. Ezra, she could handle. It was Michael Malone who would likely prove to be the hardass. Case was his best friend and partner. Lucky for her he still wasn’t moving so great at this point so she’d likely only have to deal with the man she’d hired.

“I’ll come with you. Get a lay of the land, so to speak,” she said, striding up to him.

He took the bucket out of her hands and started moving toward the back of the building, the same way Santos had gone.

“I’ll hang out here.” Michael leaned back in his chair.

She looked straight ahead as she caught up with Ezra. “I need you to be my bodyguard now, but I need you to do it discreetly and from a distance.”

“May I ask why?” His tone was even, as though they were merely talking about the weather.

“Because Tony Santos is here.”

Ezra stopped. “Damn it. Did he see me?”

They’d gotten behind the second buildings and she didn’t see Tony anywhere. “I’m sure he did. He’s probably gone, but I have to look. Please watch my back, but do it from a distance. And tell Case I wasn’t alone. Okay?”

He set the ice bucket down. “Go. Do what you need to do. I’ll be there even if you can’t see me. I’ll follow you however I can. If he gets you in a car, stall him for a few minutes so I can follow you in a cab. There are a couple running around here most of the time from what I’ve seen.”

She nodded and took off, jogging the direction she thought he’d go. The beach was to her left. If she took a right, she would get back to the street. Likely he’d had a car parked on that street and he was driving away and he wouldn’t call again.

 Not that he’d called in the first place. He’d e-mailed her the photo with all kinds of cryptic commands. Mia stalked past a massive bougainvillea bush. The back of the motel was covered in the glorious pink blossoms, but Mia didn’t have time to admire the flowers. No time to smell the flowers or enjoy doing touristy things with her man. No four-star hotel with a spa for her. No, she had to track down the crazy guy who couldn’t talk on the phone because everyone was out to get him.

And yes, she knew everyone really was out to get him, but it still sucked.

She was going to have to tell Case she’d screwed up. Again.

“Hello, pretty girl. How about a walk on the beach?”

She turned and there was the man she’d met six months before. After the debacle at Sanctum, she’d taken the assignment to write a story on human trafficking. Tony had been working, trying to find the daughter of a friend of his. He was a slender man, not much taller than herself, but she’d seen Tony fight. His lack of muscle belied his lean strength. He was also pretty mean. The man could bite with the best pissed-off Doberman. “I thought I lost you.”

He started walking slowly toward the beach. “I thought I told you to come alone.”

She felt herself flush as she followed him. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’ve finally got some sense.” Tony walked slowly, avoiding the super sandy part of the beach. Though he was dressed casually, no one would likely mistake him for a guest at the various beach parties going on around them. Makeshift canopies dotted the beach and cars pounded out various rhythms, all leading to one big party.

Tony looked out of place, his darkness skittering the edge of the light as if slightly afraid of what the sun might do to him.

“Were those two men with Taggart?” Tony asked.

She decided honesty was best with Tony. He was calm for now, but she saw the way his left hand fisted and relaxed, fisted and relaxed. He was always on the edge. It was sad, but he sometimes reminded her of her brother Bran. “Yes. How do you know Case?”

Tony chuckled. “I don’t. I know his oldest brother by reputation only. So you’re sleeping with Taggart the third? I have to number them to keep them straight in my head. The DNA runs true in that group. Whoever is following us is good. I can’t see him. I can feel him though. He needs to stay away. I would hate to have to kill someone on this lovely beach.”

She looked around but she couldn’t see Ezra either. He did blend in. “He won’t approach us. He’s just making sure I have someone watching over me. It wasn’t my choice.”

“Ah, then the Taggart cub is the one with the good sense to protect what belongs to him. Tell me something. Did you like my gift, pretty girl?”

His gift. The picture of Theo. “I did. It’s very important we find the man in that picture.”

“The youngest Taggart. The one who died. I’m sure now he knows there are some things worse than death.”

The words sent a chill through her. “Do you know anything more?”

“I know they’re still here. Still in the city.” Tony stopped, turning and staring out at the beach. “They’ll make a move soon. They stayed too long in Argentina and it almost cost them.”

“Cost them? The authorities almost found them?”

He chuckled, but it was a hollow sound. “Oh, no. The authorities can be handled easily. Trust me. In a few days, the Gringos bandits will be found and put in jail, and soon after they’ll disappear and no one will speak of them again. The wheels are already in motion.”

“I can’t let Theo go to jail.”

“It won’t be Theo or any of the actual robbers. They’re far too valuable, but the organization that their mother works for likes to keep things neat and clean. If the actual Gringos were captured, there would be many questions. Questions about why former soldiers, decorated men, loyal men, would give up their lives to rob banks in South America. There would be questions about why none of the men remember their families. There would definitely be questions about the drugs in their systems. It’s what she didn’t plan for.”

She. “Hope McDonald?”

“Of course. She’s a brilliant doctor. Truly if her mind wasn’t warped, she might have done great things.”

“She’s a sociopath.” Mia always got a little sick when she thought of the woman.

“Yes,” Tony agreed. “She was born with a genius level IQ, but no conscience whatsoever. No empathy for anyone. I often wonder if she thinks she’s normal. Do you ever read fiction?”

“Of course.”

“I like it,” Tony said with a nod. “I read as often as I can. It takes me out of myself. I tend to enjoy thrillers and mysteries. I always wonder though. I wonder about the villains. We see one side of stories far too often. One point of view. We’re trained that way, to see what is in front of us. To see what the author of our lives wants us to see.”

This was pure Tony. He went off on philosophical rants, but if she tried to pull him back, he would get angry. She’d learned it was best to let him follow through. He would get to the point eventually. She was on Tony time now. That meant she could be standing here on this beach talking to him until the sun went down or a bug could fly past his nose, he would decide it was actually a drone, and he would go back into hiding in an instant. “That’s probably true. We see things through the filters of own experiences. It’s hard not to.”

What did any of this have to do with Theo?

“I suppose so. That’s Hope McDonald’s problem. She doesn’t see that she’s the villain of the piece. She thinks she’s the hero. It’s why they almost caught her.”

“Who?”

“The factions who would like to take what she has. There are many. I suspect she thought her patrons would protect her. In some ways, she’s a bit like a naïve child. She thought things wouldn’t change, that she could control them.”

“Are you talking about Kronberg?”

“I’m talking about the men who control Kronberg, and the men who control them, and so on. I’m talking about anyone with a desire to gain power with the single press of a needle against a soldiers’ skin. Think about it, pretty girl. Think about what she can do. Our armies tend to be limited by the consciences of our soldiers. What if you could wipe that nuisance clean? What if you could build entire armies of men with loyalty to no one but the one who controls the drug?”

“I don’t understand everything about the drug. I read some articles, but they were all theoretical.”

“Because we should be many years away. The things you read about, the future tech, it’s all here. It’s all hidden. Those articles are a way to pave the road to the future, but make no mistake, the powerful of this world already enjoy luxuries and weapons you can’t imagine.”

“Why would Kronberg turn on her?” She didn’t understand what had changed.

“Because she isn’t as good as her father with investors,” Tony explained. “With anyone, really. She relied on her father to smooth things over. It worked for a few months. Once she proved the drug with young Taggart, she was given two more subjects.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I have friends who keep watch. When you wrote to me asking for a favor, I called in a few of my own. Now, I have to admit, I’m fascinated with McDonald. So brilliant. So deranged. She truly believes in her work, that she’s expanding the boundaries of science. So much so that I believe she started thinking she was bigger than Kronberg. That’s why they decided to raid her site. The funny thing is, they got there roughly seventy-two hours after a man named Liam O’Donnell found the place.”

“McKay-Taggart was there?” Case hadn’t mentioned it.

“For all the good it did them. Her boys, as she likes to call them, are excellent at hiding evidence.”

The robberies finally made sense. “So she’s having them rob banks because she needs the money. Her corporate funds have dried up.”

“Exactly. They’ve dried up and she’s on the run. She needs money and a lot of it. She got some from the robberies, but she spends it like a woman who’s never worried about it once in her life. Money is nothing but a tool to a woman like that.”

“What’s her end game? What is she planning on getting out of this?” It was the one thing she didn’t understand. “Is she going to sell the drug?”

“Ah, I don’t think money matters to her. Like I said, it’s useful and she’s used to having all she needs, but it’s not her purpose. Science is her purpose. She’s Dr. Frankenstein but she’s building her monsters by reprogramming their brains. There’s no thought except to perfect her technique. She’ll keep running as long as someone is chasing her.”

Case Taggart would never stop chasing her. “Do you know where she is?”

“I believe she has something to do with a clinic in the city. I’ve written down the address for you. I also believe she’s preparing to move.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small square of paper.

She glanced down. There was a neatly written address on it. “What makes you think that?”

“It’s what I would do. I’ve also heard some rumors about a blond man fitting Theo’s description inquiring about a plane. He’s going through very shady contacts, though according to my sources he’s willing to pay top dollar as long as the plane can make long-haul flights. He needs a pilot.”

“I’m a pilot. I’ve got a plane, too. Is there any way you could put me in touch with him, with whoever he’s talked to?” All they had to do was get close. Case would do whatever it took to get his brother. Get Theo. Get out. Let them deal with Hope McDonald later.

He laughed at that thought, the most amusement she’d ever heard from Tony. “Yes, he wouldn’t be suspicious at all of a pretty blonde girl with a hundred-million-dollar jet at her disposal. No. And don’t think to use the rest of your team. Americans of any kind would be suspicious. I’ll let you know if anything else comes up. Do you have a tech expert with you?”

“Yes. He’s a former hacker.”

“Excellent. Have him look on the Deep Web. That’s where McDonald will have to find her pilot. I don’t think she’s got an expert with her, but she’ll still figure it out. That’s also where they’ll be forced to buy certain chemicals that she needed Kronberg to provide. You understand that if the subject goes off the drug, the power she has over him ceases to be.”

“So once the drug’s out of his system, he’ll be Theo again?”

“I didn’t say that. I doubt he’ll ever be the same. Imagine having two lives in your memory. Two complete sets. The drug being out of his system won’t erase the memories she gave him. They’ll simply allow the real ones to surface. Theo Taggart will have two lives and he often won’t know which one was real. Like I said, there are worse things than death. I would be surprised if he didn’t kill himself. You should prepare his brothers for that. He was dead the minute he took that bullet. He’s simply been walking around not realizing it. The man you’re searching for, he’s a ghost and nothing more.”

She refused to believe it. Tony was wrong. Theo had a life and a family and they would bring him back. They would find a way. “We’ll handle it.”

His lips curled up slightly. “I suspect you will try. I’ll be in touch. Tell your Taggart that he’s not the only player in this game.”

“I’ll tell him Kronberg and The Collective are looking for her, too.” He would find that interesting and it might change his mind about calling his brother in. Now that she’d met with Tony, they could do whatever they liked.

“It’s not Kronberg he should be worried about. It’s the Agency,” Tony said solemnly.

“Ian works with the Agency.”

He laughed again, this time the sound booming. “The Agency only uses. Tell him to watch out for Mr. White. He’s not Tennessee Smith. He won’t choose friendship or his conscience over his country. He’ll choose whatever takes him further up the ladder. He won’t be the only one. This is a game thick with spies. I wouldn’t trust anyone, pretty girl. Not even the people you think you should. I’ve found men always choose their brothers in the end. Even over a woman they enjoy in bed.”

“It’s not like that. We’re serious about each other.” She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like she had to defend…herself? Case? What they had?