Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(120)

It was what they’d worried about on the long flight over. They’d taken the 4L jet, which moved far faster than the cargo plane Santos had hired. Santos’s plane had required a refuel. The high-tech Bond Aeronautics jet Drew flew on had not. They’d beaten Santos in, but they’d been forced to come with a smaller team than Case would have liked. Now the plane was hidden in a separate hanger.

“I couldn’t exactly ask him. I only know that he’s bringing five people with him and we needed to provide him with a place to lock someone down for a few days. Where’s the spook? Shouldn’t he have some intel?” Brody asked. “And who’s the suit? I don’t recognize him.”

Case looked out to see who Brody was talking about. Drew Lawless was stepping off the plane. It had been a fight to keep it down to one Lawless brother, but space had been an issue or they would have brought Alex and Jake along with them. Simon would fly them in later this afternoon along with the women and Kai, but hopefully the deed would be done by then.

He prayed it would be done. The alternative was they failed and Santos managed to get away with Mia. He would run with her and possibly decide she wasn’t worth the trouble. He could dispose of her like so much rubbish and try to find an easier mark.

His body ached at the thought of her cold and unmoving. Mia was so alive. He needed to see her again, needed to hold her so he could assure himself she was alive. “That’s Mia’s brother and the CIA * is still on the plane trying to download some Agency reports. He said Chelsea was sending him some intel and DC had a message for him.”

Kent was putting his career on the line.

“Or he’s doing secretive shit that will blow back in our faces,” Ian muttered.

His brother wasn’t a fan.

Ten slid the zipper on the duffel open and started to unload a seemingly endless supply of weapons. “I don’t think so. He was kind of legendary in the Agency. Very private dude. He was the agent you would send to study other agents and take care of them if they needed to be taken care of. I never met him but I knew his boss. Good man. Kent was a little like his Big Tag. The operative he could count on. I suspect that’s the only reason he didn’t get burned after the stunt he pulled with the general.”

The fact that Ten could call the assassination of a man a “stunt” made Case feel good about having gotten out when he had. “I feel comfortable with Kent. And if he steps out of line, I’ll feel comfortable murdering him.”

“That’s my baby brother.” Sean high-fived him. “If it means anything, I think Kent’s on the up and up. I was watching him on the ride over and he seems solid.”

“And like you said, if he’s not solid, we can turn him into a liquid,” Ian said with a nod as he looked to the door. “Speak of the devil. What do you have for us?”

Kent walked in, Lawless hard on his heels. The billionaire looked worse for the wear, but Case would give it to him. The man wasn’t about to stand down. He was willing to go to the ends of the earth to save his sister.

“Mia’s on the plane,” Lawless said, his eyes on the guns on the table.

Kent placed his laptop on the desk. “She was caught on a private airfield camera being carried onto the cargo plane. Chelsea used that big brain of hers to figure out where they would have taken off from and cut into their security feeds.” He turned the laptop toward them. “And look who’s carrying her onto the plane.”

Case breathed a deep sigh of relief. There was no way to mistake his brother’s familiar face. Theo was cradling Mia’s still form in his arms, holding her close to his chest. Theo had Mia.

“What the f*ck happened to his face?” Sean had flushed a nice shade of red.

Case felt his heart twist a little. Kent had frozen the screen and magnified the image. There was a horrific scar splitting his twin’s left cheek. Someone had fileted his brother’s face, but it wouldn’t matter. Erin wouldn’t care. Nothing mattered except the fact that he was alive and he was watching over Mia. Case would bet that scar was there because Theo had protected Mia before. While Case had been watching over Theo’s son, Theo had taken pain for Case’s wife.

Why the hell was the world going blurry?

“He’s going to take care of her.” Ian put a hand on Case’s shoulder. “She’s going to be okay.”

“They couldn’t break him.” Sean stood at his other side.

His brothers, surrounding him with support. Why had he ever fought this? Why had he thought for a second that he didn’t need these men in his life, to mentor him, to fight beside him, to be his brothers? He’d fought them. He’d wanted to remain the leader. Years he’d spent being the leader of the two of them—him and Theo. He’d wanted that to stay the same, but god, it was so much better now. He wasn’t alone. He didn’t have to be perfect. He just had to be here.

He’d spent years struggling, years when it had only been him and Theo, but now any way he turned he saw someone who gave a shit about him. They were obnoxious and loud and insane and they were his freaking family. Every single one of them.

“His face doesn’t matter.” Case had never been more sure about anything in his life. “All that matters is Mia and Theo and Hutch.”

Sean nodded. “All that matters is getting our people back.”