From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(89)

“Do you think so? I like her, but I’m leaving in a couple of weeks. Hell, once filming starts I won’t have time anyway.”

“So tell her what you’re willing to give, what you can give,” Kai said. “Explain the situation and let her make her own decision. If the two of you want to play for the duration of your time here, I’ll help you work out a contract with her.”

“I’ve never tried it that way. It might work if we both know the boundaries.”

This was his chance. “So take Kori out for a dance and ease up to Sarah. You know I have two left feet. It’s going to be the only time Kori gets out there on the dance floor. Can you do me that favor?”

Jared stood up. “Yeah. I can do that. And thank you for the advice.”

Once this thing was done, he was going to sit down and tell his brother everything he knew about the stupid FBI investigation. It wasn’t Jared, but Kai was starting to wonder about the other members of his entourage. Watching them this evening, it was obvious they all had their issues. It was time to take his baby brother in hand and clean house. Jared needed people around who were there for the right reasons.

Hell, it was time to sit and listen to what his brother had to say. It was time to be a family again.

One day he and Kori might have some of those stinky, adorable baby things everyone else was so into. Shouldn’t they know their uncle?

“Be easy on my girl,” Kai said with a smile.

Jared held a hand out to Kori. “Hey, do a guy a favor and dance with me? I think I’ve changed my mind about Sarah and I need some advice.”

“Advice can totally be given while sitting down,” Kori said with wide eyes.

Jared reached for her hand and hauled her up. “Not when there’s dancing going on, darlin’. We’ll be back.”

Kori looked back as Jared hauled her toward the dance floor. That was a murderous look in his love’s eyes. He was going to pay later.

For now, he had a job to do.

The minute Kori was out of sight, he grabbed Mia’s bag. He picked up Kori’s too and headed for the lounge. If anyone asked, he was unwilling to leave the bags out in the open while he headed for the men’s room.

As fast as he could, he slipped into the lounge. It was quiet and empty. He strode behind the bar and opened Mia’s bag. He’d been right. There was very little in it. A credit card, her ID, a tube of what looked like lip-gloss, and her phone.

He pulled the small device Case had given him out of his pocket and quickly connected it to the phone. The screen flicked on, the security login coming on.

And a picture. It was Mia’s screen saver. Mia and three men, obviously her brothers. She stood in the middle, nearly overwhelmed by the three big men. They were smiling for the camera, though one man’s smile didn’t meet his eyes. Kai would bet anything that the one in the back, the only one who wasn’t touching the others, was Drew Lawless. He had the haunted look of a man who’d seen too much. Done too much.

Was he a member of The Collective? Did that man on Mia’s phone know where Theo Taggart was being held? If he did, he didn’t understand pain yet. He would after Ian Taggart got hold of him.

Or Mia could be completely innocent and then this would clear her and Case might find some solace.

He was doing the right thing.

The door came open and Kai slipped the entire phone and device into Kori’s big, open bag. He would have to fit it back into Mia’s. It was far easier to hide it in that tank of a bag his girl carried. He grabbed a bottle of something and pulled the cork as his brother’s agent walked into the room.

“Oh, it’s you.” He frowned and looked back down at his phone. He likely didn’t need to hide crap from these people. They wouldn’t notice anything at all that didn’t have something to do with them. “Have you seen Lena? I can’t find her.”

Kai poured himself a glass of…ugh, vodka. He actually hated vodka. Why couldn’t he have reached for bourbon? “Nope. She walked away with your brother a while back.”

“She said she had something to tell me,” he muttered. “I guess it can wait. I’m going to head back to the hotel. I’ve got some things I need to handle. Tell Jared to call me if he needs me. Or if he needs me to find him a girl. It looks like the one he wants is playing hard to get.”

Kai nodded, praying for the f*cker to leave the whole time. Maybe he should have gone into the bathroom to do this. It was behind him and through the hall, but he needed to get back out to the couch. He had to be sitting there when Kori came back.

The minute the door closed again, he glanced down. The software was still loading. A green light would flash when it was done. He could see the screen flashing as the code took over. If everything worked properly, she would never know it was there, but he could see it taking over all her systems, sending copies back to the thumb drive.

Another few minutes. That was all he needed. He needed his luck to hold out a few more minutes.

How long could the damn thing take?

The green light flashed and he pulled the drive out of Mia’s phone, pocketing it.

The door opened, loud music blasting inside the quiet of the lounge.

“There you are.” Jared was carrying Kori in his arms. “Your girl had some trouble with her heels. Can you fix up an ice pack?”

Shit. He couldn’t slip Mia’s phone back in her purse. He let it drop into Kori’s open bag again and prayed they hadn’t seen it in his hands. “What happened?”