Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(17)

“They are both pretty girls,” a low voice said behind him. A low, heavily accented voice. Ah, Knight had brought the Russian with him.

And the freaking Russian was staring at Ten’s girl. He slammed his laptop closed. His target. Not his girl. Still. He didn’t like the way the big bastard had stared at her.

“Are we breaking up?” Ten asked, well aware he sounded annoyed as hell. This wasn’t a f*cking backyard barbecue family reunion.

“Sorry, he’s pissy since he lost his Agency spy decoder ring,” Tag said, gesturing for Knight and the new guy to take seats. “Please join us. We’ll catch up on the real life stuff after the people who don’t actually have one are safely out of here.”

Fuck Tag. Why the hell was he friends with that * anyway? Oh yeah, the loyalty stuff. Still sometimes he wished he’d won that fight between them and he still had several free punches left. He would appreciate Tag so much more if he could break the f*cker’s nose on a regular basis. “First introduce the Russian and then tell me what The Collective has to do with Faith’s clinic.”

When everyone was settled he flipped his laptop back open. She’d sent another pic, this one of her staring at the camera and blowing him a kiss.

Good night, Sir.

Good night, Faith.

He closed the laptop again, not trusting himself to not stare at her pictures.

Knight sat down beside the new guy. “This is my latest employee, Nikolai Markovic. He’s former SVR.”

“It all still KGB. Don’t let new letters fool you.” The Russian sat back with a long-suffering sigh. Ten put his age around thirty, young to already be out of the game.

The KGB had officially disbanded back in 1991 after a failed coup had been led by the former director. The government had split the KGB up and formed the Foreign Intelligence Service. SVR or Sluzhba vneshney razvedki, was the organization that handled Russian intelligence operating outside the federation.

But Markovic was right. It was all still KGB. Putin had taken Russia right back to playing the old games.

Damn, Ten really missed the Agency.

“I was recruited young. My father, he was a paper pusher in the SVR. Smart man, but without many physical skills. He offered up me and my sister to be operatives. My sister died during a mission to Ukraine and then the bastards tried to send me in to finish her job.”

Ten could bet what that had been. “To stir up chaos in Crimea?”

Markovic nodded. “Yes, I am supposed to pose as Ukrainian soldier, to lead the revolution. My sister dies over gas pipelines. Putin is no leader. He is businessman. So now I am as well.”

Not if he was working for McKay-Taggart. There was a bit of bluster in the Russian, but he’d chosen a company known for taking on the occasional case simply for the rightness of the cause. They were also known for sometimes turning in the companies that employed them if they discovered they were grossly violating the law. Tag did it quietly, but the man believed in justice.

At the end of the day though, he didn’t really care why or how the Russian was here. It was a problem that he was here and not where he was supposed to be. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

Markovic’s lips curled up and suddenly his Russian accent completely disappeared. “You mean at the Jasper Bay Beach Club? I took some time off. I’m due back in three days. I’m in Florida checking on my elderly mother.”

Damn. The man was good. His American accent was perfect and when he lost the broody ennui that he seemed to wear like a coat, he could absolutely pass for a guy from Florida, another dude trying to make his way in the world. “All right. Did you come in for anything in particular?”

His shoulders fell and he was right back to his former bleakness. “Besides wanting to wash sand out of ass? I don’t understand the need to be at beach. Sand everywhere. I f*ck one of McDonald’s maids. She thinks doing it on the beach is sexy. I have sand coming out ass for weeks.”

Tag laughed. “I take back what I said about his salary. He’s worth every penny. Please tell me more about sand in your ass.”

“Or you could tell us what you learned from screwing McDonald’s maid.” He really didn’t want to listen to more.

“McDonald talk a lot about his daughters. He says they work well together. She says he is proud that they are working on projects together. Also, I found out a bit about the layout of the house. McDonald’s office is actually outside of the main house and there is much security around it. We’ll have to have a hacker with us.”

Oh, that was like putting a big old X marks the spot on his treasure map. “Then that’s where he keeps the good stuff. Yes, I’m going to need to get into that building. Hutch, how do you like the beach?”

Hutch held up a hand. “Actually, I burn, boss.”

“Excellent. Now do we have any connections between Kronberg and Faith’s clinic? Because a donation of vaccinations only means Faith probably guilted her big sister into donating something she needed. And someone tell me why we believe The Collective is involved. I thought we’d cut the head off when the Brit offed the nerd.”

Knight started passing out reports. “I’ve been working on Kronberg. This is the pharmaceutical company that I’ve verified once did business with Eli Nelson. Who is also dead.”

“My pretty baby blew his ass up. It was her wedding present to me. She knows me well,” Tag explained with a smile.