Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(90)

“Sure. That’s what all you guys say.” She blinked as the sunlight hit her eyes. The Russian was standing in front of the door, his hand out to help her down. Behind him, she saw a canopy of green and a gorgeous house in the background.

It could only be one of a few of the private homes on this part of the island. On this very exclusive piece of beachfront, there were twenty or so homes kept by wealthy investors or intensely rich people. They stayed away from the resorts, preferring parts of the island where no one would bother them.

Ten had money behind him if he could afford to use a place like this as his base of operations. Money and power.

“Is he in there?” Faith’s heart was actually racing at the thought of seeing him, of getting a chance to tell that motherf*cker what she really thought.

Of seeing him one last time.

“Who? Theo?”

“No, Ten.”

Brody frowned. “He’s not in there. Why do you think we brought you here? We’re trying to find him.”

“I thought that was all a load of bullshit meant to soften me up.” She hadn’t bought the whole “did you watch Ten die” crap. It looked like Ten had betrayed more than her. “He left the island on a private plane a day and a half ago. Call him in Dallas.”

The door to the big house opened and Erin stood there. “No private plane has taken off from your father’s airstrip for days. According to his tracking device, he’s still at your father’s compound.”

“Tracking device?”

Erin nodded, her eyes weary. It looked like the redhead had gotten very little sleep. There were dark circles under her eyes. “Yes. He had it implanted before this mission. I think he felt naked without his. Big Tag doesn’t require it, but he agreed to monitor one for Ten. It’s subcutaneous. I doubt your father will have found it. The trouble is it hasn’t moved since about an hour after he was taken.”

“You’re lying.” It was too much to take in. All the spy shit didn’t make sense to her. Why would someone need a freaking locator device implanted inside his body? Only a paranoid freak would do that. Or a man who’d been taken before. A man who desperately wanted someone to give a crap about where he was in the world.

“Why would I lie?” Erin asked, her voice heavy. “Look, I know you hate me right now and you have every reason to, but I need to find my boss. Whatever we did to you, we did it for the right reasons, and I can prove it. Hate me later. Help me now.”

“Why would I believe a word you say? You’ve lied to me all along. You’ve used me to get to my father. And so did Ten. God, Erin, you set me up. You’re the one who put the idea in my head. Did you like playing the pimp?” She wouldn’t have gotten into bed with Ten without Erin’s prompting. She would be lonely, but she wouldn’t ache the way she did. She would have gone back to Houston and picked out a Dom and spent a few weeks playing. The man wouldn’t have touched her soul, but he also wouldn’t have ripped it out of her body and spit on it.

Had Ten really done that? It depended. It depended on why he’d told her he loved her.

“I liked the fact that both of my friends were smiling,” Erin allowed. “I liked the fact that they obviously cared about each other.”

Faith moved up the steps leading to the house. To her right she could see the path leading to the boathouse and the ocean. It shouldn’t be a surprise that they were prepared. Hell, they’d been preparing for this for a while it looked like. Anger flared through her as Theo stepped out, leaning against the doorway. He was watching, allowing Erin to handle this, but Faith had no doubt he wouldn’t let Faith get too close to his precious girl.

“Cared? In my world people who care about each other don’t use each other. They don’t lie to get their way. They don’t set up their friends.”

Erin’s eyes went cold. “I don’t think you know your world as well as you think you do.”

She should have known this would happen. “I suppose you have a file on me.”

“Not you,” Erin replied. “I mean, there is one on you and all it told me was you’re innocent.”

“Innocent of what?”

Theo stepped onto the porch. “He gave you specific orders, Erin. You were not to give her those reports.”

Erin flushed, but her jaw went stubborn. “I’m not going to. Brody is. Brody is willing to disobey orders and you know damn well what Big Tag would do in this situation. Call him. Let him make the decision. With Ten out of the game, we should call home and request new orders. We should have done it the minute he was taken.”

Theo’s jawline hardened. It was obvious they’d gone over this before. “I am in charge and I don’t need my brother to save me. Ian made me second in command because he trusts my judgment. I think my brother would honor what Ten wanted. Faith is Ten’s. He makes the decisions regarding her.”

Erin’s eyes narrowed. “He can’t make a decision if he’s a f*cking corpse, Theo. We’re running out of time. He could already be dead.”

“He’s not dead,” Faith insisted. He couldn’t be. Even as angry as she was, she couldn’t think about a world that didn’t include his lazy, sexy smile, his strong arms. “My dad got him off the island. He wanted all of you gone.”