Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(35)

Tag’s face screwed up in a truly disgusted expression. “Oh, god, Kala, I think you’re going to have to clean Daddy up this time.”

Ten was done with the drama. “Is anyone going to explain why the two of you thought it was important to screw up my morning? I would like to point out I’m the one who actually needs to f*ck someone for his mission.”

The minute the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back. They felt wrong, which was precisely why he stood strong. It was the truth. No matter how good it had felt to sleep with her the night before, she was a mission. Faith McDonald was a means to an end and nothing more. He wouldn’t let her be anything more. It didn’t matter that she responded to him so beautifully or that he was crazy about how open she was.

It could all be a lie. It could all be a way to draw him in, and he would do well to remember that.

“Oh, I’ve found Erin is so much easier to be around when she’s been sexually satisfied. Trust me, I’m doing us all a favor.” Theo’s face lit up with a supremely satisfied grin. “Mostly me though. That woman is hot as hell and she’s all mine. She might not know it yet, but that honey is going to marry me.”

Tag shook his head. “You’ll have to forgive him. He’s overly pleased with himself.”

“Hey, she’s happier now. She’s less caustic. She smiles more,” Theo said. “She simply needed to know she’s lovable.”

Ten groaned. “Are we on a secret Oprah episode?”

“Fine. Fine,” Tag allowed. “I’ll get to the good stuff. You, my friend, are dealing with the Ukrainian mob.”

“That’s the good stuff?” He and Tag had very different definitions of good. “Explain.”

“We got a hit on your corpse. As we thought, he was already in the system.” Tag slid a folder across the table to him. “He’s an American with Ukranian ties. His parents emigrated when he was a kid. His father was a minor figure with the San Francisco based part of that Odessa mafia. You killed John Kozak. He’s been nabbed for murder for hire. Yes, you got yourself an actual mob assassin. Fun way to start your day.”

“Shit. What the hell do they want with Faith?” Even as he asked the question, his gut twisted.

“Should I enumerate all the ways she could be in bed with them?” Tag said with a hint of nauseating sympathy in his voice.

“Don’t. We need to look at her financials. And I’d like to see her vaccination programs.” It made him sick to his stomach, but he understood the con. Faith’s sister’s company would be convinced to donate vaccines and drugs to her clinic. The mob would be the ones running the transportation company that handled the shipment, and they would switch out the real drugs for placebos. They would take the real drugs and sell them on the black market for fun and profit that they might or might not share with a doctor who tipped them off on the shipment.

Could Faith be working a con? She wouldn’t be the first doctor to do it. She certainly wouldn’t be the first na?ve idiot to think she could make something of herself in Africa only to be ground down and left barren.

It could have happened. She could have taken the bait when she needed money. Or she could have seen a good deal and taken it. She could be looking out for number one.

“You think Faith’s working with them?” Theo patted the baby’s back as he paced.

“No, I think she was working with them and now they’ve decided she’s expendable. We need to figure out why.” No matter what she’d done, he needed to keep her alive until he’d gotten the dirt on her father. He had to figure out how she’d f*cked over the Ukrainians and protect her until such time that he no longer needed her and then they could take her.

Or he could take her and punish her and bend her to his will and make damn sure she never did anything criminal again. He could keep her all for himself once he’d properly spanked the criminal out of her.

“That doesn’t sound like Faith,” Theo said, a frown on his face.

It struck him that Faith had liked Theo. Faith had asked about Case because she liked Theo so damn much. She’d obviously charmed him to the point that he couldn’t see her as a criminal. “So she should have given you a pamphlet detailing her crimes? Is that what you expected? Did I train you at all?”

Theo’s eyes narrowed. “Of course you did. You trained me to make judgment calls. To really look at people and figure out what they’re capable of. She’s not capable of this. She wasn’t working with the mob. What would she do with them? You think she was selling drugs? Because I’ve watched that woman beg and plead for anything she can get for her patients.”

Of course she did. She was likely Mother Theresa in public. She was likely very useful to her father as well. Being able to parade around his saintly doctor daughter would be good PR. “I want Hutch to pull absolutely everything he has on the relationship between Faith and her father.”

“She’s got a love-hate relationship with the man,” Theo replied.

“I don’t want to hear about your perceptions.” It was obvious Theo had taken a big dose of Faith’s Kool-Aid. Of course, Ten himself had woken up this morning basically vowing to protect her. “I want solid proof. I want their e-mails to one another. I want anything I can get my hands on. These people are smart. They won’t show their colors in public.”