Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(16)

“She walked by like a woman on a mission,” Michael explained. “If she even recognized me, she didn’t acknowledge it.”

He wondered if Hutch had a bag of frozen peas lying around somewhere. There wouldn’t be any at his place. Definitely not, since he usually ate out or at one of his brother’s houses, but now it seemed like an oversight. When a man was involved with a crazy chick like Mia, said man needed to keep something cool to rest his balls against at all times.

Because she was f*cking mean.

And she’d found Theo.

God, she’d found Theo and he’d treated her like a piece of ass. She made him absolutely nuts. He never treated women like that, but then he’d never had one twist his guts up only to find out she had a fiancé.

They might have broken up at this point, but she’d been engaged when they met, engaged when he’d kissed her the first time. She’d been engaged to a Harvard-educated lawyer who worked for her brother. Case had seen their engagement picture. It had run in the Austin society pages. He was all shiny and polished, in what was likely a thousand-dollar suit and expensive loafers, and Case had been wearing the same pair of shitkickers since he’d gone into the Navy. He’d probably paid forty bucks for them and he’d wear them until he couldn’t patch them up anymore.

Still, he shouldn’t have behaved the way he did. He wasn’t that guy and he wasn’t about to let her turn him into that guy.

“She is on a mission.” He managed to keep himself standing by leaning against the arcade machine Hutch had in his living room. The entire apartment was a geek’s paradise. “She just left after kicking me in the balls, though I have to admit I likely deserved it. I need to stop her.”

Because there was no way her sweet ass wasn’t on a plane to Colombia tonight. She could say anything she liked. He knew her. He knew what she was capable of. If she’d walked out, it was so she could go on the incredibly dangerous mission herself.

Luckily, he had his ways of stopping her.

“Do you want me to see if I can catch her?” Hutch asked. “Though if she’s in a ball-busting mood, I kind of want to stay out of it. She’s got that look, you know.”

Yeah, he knew it well. Crazy eyes. Crazy, gorgeous, a man could get lost in them eyes. “No, she’s gone. I think I need you to do something else for me. I need you to find out what plane she’s about to be on and delay the f*cker. She’s headed to Cartagena. While you’re at it, I’m going to need you to find a man in Colombia named Tony.”

Hutch stared at him. “Seriously? Nothing more than Tony? Because I’m betting there’s more than a few.”

He needed to think strategically. It wasn’t his strong suit. He preferred to kick ass. It was what he was good at. “Mia said he’s ex-Agency.”

Of course, sometimes Mia stretched the truth. What if she wasn’t in this case? What if there really was a mentally disturbed ex-operative out there who happened upon his brother’s whereabouts, and the only person he would chat with about it was Mia Lawless Danvers?

It was a long shot, but then so was finding his brother.

“Okay.” Hutch reached into a glass container he kept on the bar and pulled out a Red Vine. It was his candy of choice when hacking, but then Case was pretty sure the kid was made of sugar. “That narrows things down. I’ll be right back. Do you know what airport she’s using? Airline? I’d prefer not to shut them all down. Tends to get the feds on my ass.”

What airline would Mia fly? He could guess that one. The last time Ian had flown out to meet with her brother, Drew Lawless had sent the private jet. “She won’t fly commercial. Look for a 4L Software executive jet. She’ll be using that.”

“Dallas Executive,” Michael said. “It’s the airport my father would use.”

His father was the head of Malone Oil and a billionaire, so Michael would likely know.

“A real 4L jet. I bet it’s tricked out, man. I bet he’s got the best f*cking Wi-Fi in the sky. Is he beautiful? Does he glow and shit?” Hutch sighed a little.

Case bit back the need to vomit. Drew Lawless was the youngest billionaire in America and he’d earned it the new-fashioned way. He’d created a tech empire and now all the geeks worshipped at his feet. “He’s a dude. He definitely doesn’t glow.”

He was actually quite intelligent and he’d definitely not wanted his sister to be anywhere near Case.

Hutch was having none of it. “He’s a software god. I bet he glows. I’ll stop his sister from going to South America. Should I send the cops in after her for the brutal assault on your junk, man?”

“Just delay her.” He wasn’t sure what to do. He only knew he needed more time to make the decision.

Hutch strode out of the living room back toward his office.

Case opened Hutch’s freezer. How much ice cream could one man eat? It was all in pint tubs. Couldn’t the dude have a couple of popsicles or something? Case couldn’t shove a pint of Chunky Monkey down his jeans.

“It’ll get better in about ten minutes,” Michael assured him with an amused expression on his face. “The flaring pain, that is. The ache will be with you for a while.”

“Had your balls busted much?”

“I grew up on a ranch. You haven’t felt pain until a horse you’re shoeing manages to kick you there.” Michael handed him a beer.