From Sanctum with Love (Masters and Mercenaries #10)(91)

“This one does. It’s something my brother built in. He’s paranoid. Now I’m getting a little paranoid, too. I was dancing with Case ten minutes ago.” Mia flicked her finger across the screen, obviously checking it.

“Maybe it’s wrong. Or the screen came on when the bag got moved.”

“I don’t think so. I think someone got to my phone. Why would Kai want to get into my phone?”

Kori thought Mia was definitely paranoid. “He wouldn’t have a reason to do that and Kai would never do something like that. Sweetie, is there a reason you think someone’s spying on you?”

Mia frowned. “Look, there are some things you don’t know about me. I think I should probably tell someone anyway. You know how I told you about my friend?”

“The one who was killed?”

Mia nodded. “Yes.” Mia’s eyes squeezed shut, and when she opened them again there was a determined look on her face. “I’m a reporter. I used to work at a paper in Austin, but once I put together the pattern surrounding the murders, I decided to dedicate myself to this story, to getting justice for my friend.”

Her night had taken a surreal turn. Had she taken a worse fall than she thought? She didn’t remember hitting her head. “Murders?”

“Yes, I’ve been tracking Jared for the last year. I think it would be best if you came home with me tonight. I can show you everything I have. I can lay it all out for you. I need you to listen to me because I think you could be in danger.”

Kori mentally recounted the shots she’d taken. Nope. Not enough to make this conversation go away. “How am I in danger?”

“In the last couple of years, several women have been murdered, all with connections to Jared Johns. All with the same MO and all shortly before Johns left the area. I tried to quietly get myself on his set in Canada, but I couldn’t get hired on.”

Pieces began to fall into place. “So when they announced Love After Death would be filming here, you decided to move to Dallas? Not because you got a job at a dentist’s office?”

“That’s a cover. I don’t actually work there. When I realized the connections between Jared Johns and Kai Ferguson and McKay-Taggart, I knew I had to come here. I had to imbed myself here. Sanctum was a good bet since the rumor in the publishing world is that’s the club the whole series is based around. I knew Jared would come and stay with his brother. He would come and hang out at Sanctum and McKay-Taggart.”

She wasn’t sure what she was feeling. Shock. A bit of betrayal. “You lied?”

“I had to. No one will listen to me. The FBI blew me off when I took this to them. I need solid proof to get a newspaper to print the story. They’re all terrified of getting sued.”

“Yes, I think if you ruin a man’s career and reputation with no real evidence, you’re likely to get sued.” Anger started to thrum through her system. The club was a place where everyone got to be safe. Sometimes it was the only place in the world where she felt safe. Mia had lied and manipulated her way in. She hadn’t come to Sanctum for the right reasons. She’d come to investigate, to report. Privacy was tantamount in a place like Sanctum, and all the while Mia had been investigating them.

“Please don’t be mad at me, Kori. I didn’t do this to hurt anyone. I can’t stand the thought of him taking another woman’s life. It’s going to happen. He can’t seem to go more than eight months without killing. He’s a predator and I’ve started to think that he’s got powerful friends covering for him. Something’s up at McKay-Taggart. They’re involved in some very shady business dealings. That thing that happened in the Caymans with the senator, I don’t believe the official reports. Someone’s hiding something.”

Kori stood up. Screw her ankle. “The only thing that happened was we lost a friend. Case lost his brother and I refuse to believe they were doing anything wrong. You don’t know them. You have zero idea who these people are. How dare you come here and lie to us. We were your friends. Case really liked you and now I’ve got to tell him you were playing him for information.”

Tears welled in Mia’s eyes. “I wasn’t. I like him, too. It’s why I haven’t done anything with him. I haven’t let him kiss me because I refuse to start a relationship with a lie between us. But Kori, can’t you see? He’s the one playing me. He knows. He knows I’ve been lying and I think he asked me out so he could spy on me. I think Kai knows his brother is a killer and they’re all covering for him.”

Kori shook her head, her mind rejecting every single word that came out of Mia’s mouth. “Why would they do that?”

Mia put her hands up as though trying to calm the situation down. “Because I think McKay-Taggart works for a group of corporations that run the world. I know it sounds crazy and paranoid, but I’ve been putting it together. I’ve managed to talk to some people who got out. These are beyond one percenters. They’re the richest of the rich, and so powerful no one knows their names. What if the production company Jared works for is involved? They would cover up his crimes. What if McKay-Taggart is one of the ways they control things?”

“Do you have any idea how insane you sound right now? You think Ian Taggart runs some sort of Illuminati?”

“I think he’s involved somehow,” Mia explained quietly. “His name comes up too often. I’ve found at least four operations that he was involved in with companies I know for a fact are in The Collective. That’s what they call themselves.”