Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(78)

Erin’s lips curved up slightly. “Well, he didn’t leave you here alone, did he? Ratfink bastard. I’m sorry. I don’t like your sister very much. And yes, she was lying to you. I would bet anything she knew about the lab reports, which makes me wonder why she’s here. Can you redo the tests? On another sample?”

“Nope. Oddly enough, there was a fire at the clinic. All the samples are gone.”

“That’s convenient for her.”

“Yes, isn’t it?” She wouldn’t be able to wait. It was time to tell her boyfriend she’d been wrong about her sister.





Ten teed up on the second hole, the world green and perfect all around him. It was a veritable Eden. And like Eden, it was occupied by a snake. “Tell me what you’ve learned about Hope McDonald.”

Nikolai Markovic stood to one side, dressed in the pleated shorts and golf shirt of the country club’s well-trained caddies. “I can tell you for certain that she hasn’t been here for days. She got in early this morning. After you filed the flight plan. It would have been easy enough to get the information. She’s actually her father’s secondary contact on all business practices. She likely received notification that the jet was being used. She then came in on a Kronberg private jet.”

“Which means McDonald knows, too,” Theo said with a frown. “Do we have eyes on him?”

“My intelligence puts him in Paris.” The second of their caddies was even bigger than Markovic, and he didn’t have the Russian’s talent with accents. Brody Carter was at least six foot seven, with a wingspan bigger than a flipping condor. And he was as Aussie as they came. Theo’s set of clubs looked like a play set in his hands. “Walt’s been monitoring him from London. I’ve got a report on everyone he’s met while he’s been in Europe. The ones on and off the books. He’s a bloody bastard, that one is. I can’t prove it because the hotel he’s meeting at doesn’t have a video feed for us to hack into, but at least three men with suspected terrorist ties have been in that hotel with him.”

McDonald was a slippery sucker. He knew how to hide his tracks. There was a reason he’d gotten away with this shit for decades. “No photos of them together. No audio recording? We still haven’t gotten to anyone on his team?”

Brody shook his head. “They’re all seemingly clean. He keeps a tight rein on his men, and I suspect only the two closest aides have any idea what he does at these meetings.”

“How about a woman? He keeps a mistress. Let’s shove someone in his bed.” It was the way they did it in the good old CIA.

“Already talked about that. No one wants to send our female operatives into that kind of a mess. Try talking Taggart into doing it. I’m betting Theo there won’t let his girl go any more than Nick is going to let Des,” Brody shot back.

“I left Russia because of games like this. No female I know is going to be treated like a piece of meat. Not while I’m walking. This is not the way we do things here. You should get back to the Agency where morals have no meaning.” There was a chill coming off the Russian that was colder than a f*cking Siberian winter.

If Faith was an operative, would he ship her in to coldly gather information, using her body as a tool? Hell, no. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend. It was the way we did things at the Agency. I suppose you think what I’ve done with Faith is wrong, too. It makes me wonder why you’re still here backing me up and if I need to find someone who gives a shit about my back.”

Theo sighed. “Dude, unwad your manties for a second. Nick’s a good guy.”

“Who thinks I’m a bad guy.” It wasn’t far from true.

Nick held up a hand. “It’s different thing. McDonald is dangerous. He would kill any woman. We have proof of this now. You’re protecting Faith. Am I wrong? Are you going to kill her on your way out?”

He felt himself flush. “Of course not. I’m not going to allow anyone to hurt her.”

The Russian’s shoulder shrugged negligently. “See. It’s different. If one of our female operatives felt she needed to protect an innocent by being in his bed, this I would support. Not Des though. She has to settle for being in a not so innocent man’s bed. And what are manties? Sometimes you Americans are as hard to understand as the Aussie.”

“I’m bloody simple, you rat-arsed bastard,” Brody shot back.

Theo ignored the two as they started to bicker. “Chill, Ten. No one thinks you’re the bad guy here. You’re going to take care of Faith.”

“As much as she’ll let me.” He had to get them back on track. “I need to know if there’s any movement from McDonald. Try to get someone in that hotel. Bribe an employee. I don’t care. I want it done.”

“Right. Will do, boss. For now, though, it seems like he’s going to hang around in France until the party,” Brody explained.

“Let me know if that changes.” He lined up the shot, planting his feet and preparing for his swing. Another thing Franklin Grant had taught him. He’d been taught to play golf and tennis, to properly ride a horse, precise and proper etiquette. Everything he needed to fit into polite society. He’d also been taught how to fit into criminal society. Why did they feel like one and the same?