From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(118)

He f*cking hated police stations. He was getting damn tired of interrogation rooms, too. Unlike the last time, he’d been separated from his brother. After the cops had talked to Sarah and Kori, he and Jared had been given the dignity of walking to the patrol cars sans handcuffs. The women had been taken to the hospital, and he hadn’t seen Kori since. He hadn’t had the chance to hold her, to tell her how terrified he’d been when he realized she was alone with a serial killer. He hadn’t been able to ask for her forgiveness.

The door opened and Special Agent Rush walked in along with Big Tag.

“Your girl needs a spanking,” Big Tag said flatly. “If you don’t give her a doozy of one, I’m going to come up with some punishment that fits the crime. I told her specifically not to leave Erin’s house without an escort, and if she tries to tell me subby Sarah is a proper escort, I’ll spank her myself.”

The words came out flat and angry, a sure sign that what Ian was really feeling was fear and guilt.

“I’ll take care of her. Do you know if she’s been released from the hospital yet?” His even words belied the knot in his gut. The two most important relationships in his life were in complete turmoil, and he wasn’t sure what he could do about them. Jared had stared blankly ahead on the way to the station. He’d answered Kai’s questions in a hollow voice. No charm. No emotion. It was utterly unlike his brother.

How would he handle it? The only person who’d ever stuck by him had been a rabid dog, infecting his life with tragedy. He’d been able to hear what Jared said to Squirrel, and for a moment he thought his brother meant it, meant he would rather end it all here instead of moving forward after such a betrayal.

Kai was part of that cycle. Kai had betrayed him as surely as Squirrel had, though in a more honest way.

And Kori felt betrayed.

What a f*cking mess.

Ian sent Rush a frown that could have frozen fire. “Don’t you have something to say?”

Rush’s eyes rolled slightly, but he held a hand out. “I’m truly sorry for suspecting your brother and ask your forgiveness. Your brother is an amazing actor and a very good thrower of alien darts.”

Big Tag grinned a little. “He has to wear a Dart T-shirt to work for a week, too.”

“You made a bet on whether my brother was a killer?”

Ian waved that off. “I knew Jared wasn’t a killer. I made a bet to put an * in his place. Rush is a smart guy, a useful guy, but he can be very single focused. He didn’t like Jared because his wife left him for a younger man and so he took the evidence and decided it fit the man he liked least.”

A light stain flushed Rush’s cheeks. “I might have allowed personal feelings to complicate this case. But Tag’s the real * here. And I am sorry to have gotten it wrong, but I was right about the killer. He was close to Jared. We couldn’t have caught him without your help. I won’t apologize for that. Jared’s talking to the police. He thinks there are some cold cases he can help solve back in Seattle.”

That might give his brother some closure. Or it might reopen wounds he hadn’t known he had. Kai was worried about him. Jared had counted on that kid for decades and was going to blame himself for not seeing what was going on. Maybe Kai could work this out with him over the course of the filming. It would be good for him to help his brother deal with this.

Of course, helping his brothers had kind of been his thing lately. He stared up at Rush. “So you’re going to honor your deal with McKay-Taggart?”

Rush nodded. “I always was going to honor it. I’ve already sent over everything we have.”

“Which is next to nothing,” Big Tag replied shortly.

“I got you an excellent lead on the base in Argentina,” Rush shot back.

“The base that was completely empty by the time my man got there.” Tag sat down across from Kai, running a hand over his hair. It was obvious he hadn’t slept much. “I want you to give me everything you have on those three medical companies I sent you. I don’t care how you have to do it. If you have to call in favors from Interpol, I want that information.”

“I don’t have connections at Interpol,” Rush admitted.

Big Tag was having none of that. “Then start blowing some Euros because you owe me. I put my club at risk and all those subs under my protection in harm’s way. I didn’t do it for some shitty, out-of-date intel.”

Rush glanced to the doorway. “I’ll get in touch with my CIA contact and see what I can do. I won’t forget this, Mr. Ferguson. You’ve saved a lot of women.”

Now he had to see if he could save just one more from her own demons. “See that you help us bring back our man if you can.”

The door closed quietly behind Rush.

“I talked to Harrison and he’s already preparing a statement to the press. Your brother is being fully exonerated and all charges will be dropped within the hour. We’ll make sure every newspaper and television station gets a copy,” Tag explained.

“Hopefully that saves his job.” There was more Kai could do on that front. “I’ve already explained how he saved me. Jared killed his oldest friend to save my life. I barely managed to save Sarah. I’m out of practice.”

He wasn’t sure it had been such a close thing, but if it helped Jared, he would call himself a weakling and give his brother all the glory.