A Dom is Forever (Masters and Mercenaries #3)(52)

Liam could guess what had happened from there. “You ran my face through facial recognition software and you got a hit from G2.”

“From a couple of places, really,” Weston admitted.

Knight didn’t look like he gave a shit. “Agent Weston, would you please repeat back to me the parameters of your mission. I think you’ve forgotten. I know damn well you weren’t cleared to interrogate this man.”

Weston’s frustration hardened his face. “He’s in her bed. What the f*ck was I supposed to do? Was I not supposed to run a trace on him?”

“You didn’t just run a trace, did you?” Knight argued. “If you had run a trace, you would have discovered his very solid cover.”

Liam looked up at the Dom unwilling to leave it a second longer. “You’re MI6. Any reason you didn’t bother to mention that to me?”

Knight’s shoulders squared. “Talk to Ian.”

Well, of course Ian knew. Ian knew everything.

“We’re not enemies, Liam,” Knight said. “It’s precisely why I’m having this fight with junior here in front of you. You’ll have to forgive His Lordship. He wasn’t given the information because he didn’t need to know. He’s been a little too thorough, and he does a lot of work on his own. If he’d followed protocol and contacted his handler like he should have, we would have avoided this little scene.”

Knight’s eyes went to the file folder, flaring briefly before he scooped it up. “What the f*ck have you done, Weston?”

“I did my job,” the Englishman ground back, and Liam finally understood that maybe Weston did get what it meant to be left out of the information loop like a cog in the wheel that could be easily replaced.

“Your job was to get the information on Molina, not to screw one of our allies.”

“I’m not so sure Taggart is an ally. Why is he here? Why is he jumping into the middle of my operation?” Weston asked, his fists clenched.

“This is not your operation. It’s mine and if you don’t like it, you can take a nice long vacation, Your Lordship. I will deal with you in a minute.” Knight turned back to Liam. “You screwing the girl yet?”

He had the wildest urge to pound the f*cker’s face until he caught sight of bone, but he shrugged negligently. “Yeah. I’ll get what we need.”

It looked like he was in bed with more than just Avery. He could walk away. It was an option. He could disappear, but then she would be alone and at the mercy of men who had none. And he would never know the truth. Not about himself or his brother or Ian.

“Good man. Ian’s in a car waiting for you. He was very upset when he found out you were in custody. Seriously, I thought he was going to take someone’s head off.” Knight ran a hand across his face, a weary gesture. “Go on, then. He’ll take you back to the girl’s place. You need to be with her before she wakes up. Women don’t like it when you sneak out of their beds. I’ll take care of this one.” Knight turned as Liam got up to walk out. “Talk to Ian. This is pile of information is meaningless without the truth behind it. You can interpret this information in a million different ways, but Ian is the only one who knows the truth. I would trust that man with my life.”

Liam nodded, giving Knight a smile he hoped was fairly carefree. “Hey, mate, I’ve known Ian for years. He’s protected me. I’m not going to let some papers change that fact.”

But he was numb inside as he made his way out of the house. That file did change things, and he needed to get to the bottom of it. The question was how to go about it. He couldn’t trust anyone on his team. He had no idea if they were in on it.

He hated this feeling. He’d trusted them to watch his back. He’d fought and bled with these people. How could he think this way? How could he think that Jake and Eve were in on a plot to keep him ignorant?

It was only paranoia if they weren’t really out to get him.

Ian was standing beside a black BMW, an annoyed look on his face. “Li, we need to talk. I didn’t tell you about the MI6 shit because Damon asked me not to. He facilitated us coming in on their op. He didn’t think for a second that Weston would get around your cover and actually try to arrest you.”

But Weston hadn’t done that. Weston had just tried to show him a ton of information that would have been good to know five years before. “No problem, boss.”

Ian didn’t know what Weston had shown him. He would know soon enough. Knight would fill him in, but at least tonight Liam didn’t have to listen to explanations. He needed time to think.

Ian stared at him warily as Liam hopped into the passenger’s seat. “Are you all right? He didn’t pull any shit with you, did he?”

Weston had pulled the rug out from under him. He’d unsettled the only world Liam had known for the better half of the last decade. “He didn’t waterboard me, boss. He did offer me stale biscuits. That’s torture.”

Ian sighed. “I’m glad to hear it. I wanted to deal with the little f*cker myself, but Damon talked me out of it. You’re cleared officially now. Damon saw to it.”

“Good.” Liam stared forward. “Let’s get going. I don’t want Avery to wake up without me.”

He slipped back into his Midwestern accent like a security blanket he pulled on to protect himself. He was on a mission, and it had far wider parameters than he thought because now he had to figure out if Ian Taggart had a hand in killing Rory.