Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries #11)(41)

“I was talking about your boss.” Guy Ferland had some issues with Big Tag.

“He has zero need to know. He’s actually a dick and when I find another job, I’ll leave. Like I said, I’m really just looking for a team.” Fain looked back at Mia. “What role do you play in this?”

Mia shrugged and walked back into the cabin. She left the door open as she sat back down in the pilot’s seat. “I’m just the girl who got a good lead.”

He’d been wondering about this, too. “So you got a lead on my brother. Who was supposed to be dead. And this Tony person just up and knew you were the person to come to. Even though we don’t have connection on paper, he came to you. About my brother, who is supposed to be dead.”

Michael frowned. “That does seem fishy.”

Not for the same reasons. Michael was going the paranoid route. He knew his partner. Michael was wondering now if this wasn’t some kind of ploy to get them all at some place at some prescribed time where Mia would pull a surprise dick move on them.

He knew this had nothing to do with betrayal and everything to do with the fact that Mia didn’t give up on the things she wanted.

And she wanted him.

“I guess I was lucky,” she said primly.

“I think Mia was looking for any way to get into Case’s panties,” Hutch said enthusiastically. The boy was an optimist.

Mia turned in her chair, her cheeks a perfectly cute shade of pink. “I was intrigued by the story and I looked into it. I knew about The Collective because they approached my brother and Riley and I quickly figured out Hope McDonald was not only The Collective’s personal Dr. Frankenstein, but also the person most likely at fault for Theo’s death. I wanted to find her.”

“For justice.” Yeah, that was a lie, but if she was embarrassed, he would let her get away with it.

“For you,” she said quietly.

Because Mia didn’t prevaricate or hide even when she was embarrassed. He gave her what he hoped was a warm smile of encouragement. “Tell me how all this went down. How do you know this Tony guy?”

Her shoulders straightened again and she was right back to vivacious. “I met him when I was working this story on human trafficking in South America. He was looking for the daughter of some friend of his and I agreed to be bait for the men who had taken her. It was all very Liam Neeson and stuff.”

She was going to give him a heart attack. He could see it. She would be sitting there in a dive bar, probably wearing a dress that showed off her breasts. She would look like a big old blonde, suck-me, f*ck-me cupcake, and when the bad guys showed up she’d probably have interview questions for them.

Hello, Mr. Sex Trafficker. Could you explain how you choose the girls you turn into sex slaves?

“Is he okay?” Mia was staring at him but talking to Michael.

“He’s envisioning you in a hellhole brothel and thinking about how he can punish you for putting yourself out there as bait.” Michael knew him well.

“He can’t spank me for that. He didn’t even know me at the time,” she said with a grin. “So I’d done that tiny didn’t-even-get-me-thrown-in-a-brothel favor for Tony. He gave me a number to call him and when I needed a favor, I dialed him up.”

“What exactly did you ask him for?” Case had to move past the idea of her being used as bait. Maybe he would take that discussion up with the mysterious Tony.

“He’s a pretty well-connected guy from what I understand. After I had someone hack into the CIA database to download the files on what happened on Grand Cayman, I got to thinking…”

“You did what?” It just got worse. The longer she talked the more trouble she got into.

“It wasn’t a big deal. From what I can tell, the CIA has no idea and I only took one little bitty file.”

Hutch was holding up his hands. “It was not me. Absolutely not me.”

Mia shook her head. “It wasn’t him. I paid a very nice hacker a lot of money. I don’t usually like to break the law, but Case wasn’t very forthcoming and honestly, I needed leverage to get back into his life. He was being an * at the time. I thought if I could find the one thing he wanted, he might give me a second chance. After talking to his brother and eavesdropping on a bunch of meetings between Ian and Drew, I decided to find Hope McDonald myself.”

“You did…” There would be time enough to explain the new rules of engagement to her. If they were together, and he was beginning to believe he might do the world a favor by taking responsibility for her, she was going to learn that eavesdropping and turning herself into bait for criminals and hacking into systems that would get most people put in jail were all activities that were now off limits. “You went looking for Hope and not Theo.”

“I didn’t know he was alive,” she explained, her hands in her lap and her voice solemn. “The minute I did, I got to you as fast as I could. If I’d overheard about Theo, I would have been on your doorstep. I’m afraid despite the fact that you’re an *, I would have given my loyalty to you.”

Fuck. He’d been so stupid. “I promise I’ll make up for being an *. I’ve got a lot of practice.”

“Lots,” Hutch agreed. “So much practice.”

“So how did you find out Theo Taggart was alive?” Fain’s tone was flat, letting Case know how little he enjoyed the more personal parts of their conversation.