Master No (Masters and Mercenaries, #9)(95)

Torture. She didn’t want to think about it. It seemed like forever since Ten had walked out of her room and into her father’s care. What had happened to him in that time?

“Chelsea? Are you there?” Hutch hit a couple of keys. “Damn storm is moving faster than we thought it would.”

Faith had seen men who had been tortured. She’d treated the wounds to their bodies, but the ones to the soul never went away. “Theo cares about Tennessee.”

“Theo wants to be the hero. He wants to be his big brother, but what he doesn’t understand is that his brother wouldn’t be this reckless. Not with a team on the line. He’s trying to be Big Tag, but Ian has so much more experience than he does.” Erin stopped and brushed her hand across her face. “He’s going to get someone killed. And even if he doesn’t, Ten is likely going to murder him for pulling this shit.”

“He’s saving Ten.” Faith couldn’t see how that would be a bad thing.

“Ten would never do this at the expense of his team,” Erin explained. “Ten is a big boy. He knows the rules of the game. He knew going into this mission that he might not come out of it.”

Her skin chilled. “Ten didn’t fight my father when he came for him. He didn’t fight or try to run away.”

Erin turned serious eyes Faith’s way. “He knew you could get hurt. He weighed the likelihood of getting away versus you being harmed and chose the path he was okay with. Theo’s being too optimistic.”

On the screen she saw Theo at the door to the building. He had something in his hands and he was placing it on the door.

“You there, Hutch?” A feminine voice came over the line. This wasn’t the private line. This call came straight out of the computer’s speakers. “Stop it, baby. You can’t eat that. What’s up with putting everything in your mouth?”

“What?” Hutch asked. It seemed he’d finally found a good line.

“Sorry, it’s Satan’s night out and Si and I got left with the demonlings. Did you know they don’t sleep? I thought babies slept a lot. Also, they really like to hit keys on the computer. No, Kala. Auntie Chelsea needs that computer.”

“Chelsea, this is really not a good time,” Hutch said.

“No,” Chelsea replied. “It is not. I wouldn’t call this a good time at all. This one is a total poop machine, but apparently Si wants a couple of tiny humans, so I’m supposed to keep the demonlings alive and happy. Luckily they are really cute. Don’t. Why do you want to eat that pen? Go back to eating your own foot.”

Erin leaned in. “Chelsea, we’re in the middle of an op. Could you can the baby talk?”

A long sigh came over the line. “Fine. Everyone’s cranky. All right. I’ll get to the good stuff. So I was showing Kala here around the Dark Web because what else am I going to do with a baby this late at night. That’s when I found the auction. The closed auction. When were you guys going to mention that someone nabbed Ten? Because the Chinese paid thirty million for him, and according to the chatter baby girl and I found, the pickup is tonight.”

The upper right-hand box caught Faith’s eye. There was a light streaming up from the road, a car approaching the front gate.

“Shit and shit and f*cking shit.” Hutch closed his eyes and got back on his headset. “Theo, I need you to get back to the vehicles right f*cking now. MSS is on the way and they will not be alone.”

It was a little like watching a horror film. It was right there on the screen and there was nothing she could do about it. She could shout at the screen, but it wouldn’t fix the problem.

A large SUV was waved through the gates followed by a second SUV.

“I’m not kidding, Theo. There are potentially ten to fifteen MSS agents on their way to you and they will be backed up by McDonald’s guards. Get your ass out of there now.”

Erin shook her head. “He’ll just move faster. He won’t stop.” She opened the door to the van and hopped out. “I’m going to back them up.”

Faith watched as her father stepped out to greet the newcomers. He had a phalanx of heavily armed guards and her sister at his side. The guards had traded their elegant handguns for assault rifles.

Something serious was going down.

Her father had sold a CIA operative to the Chinese?

Tennessee Smith was alive, but her father wasn’t planning on that lasting forever. He was going to sell Ten into torture and death at the hands of his enemies, and Faith couldn’t allow that to happen. She followed Erin out of the van.

A loud blast shook the air around them.

“Damn it,” Erin cursed. “Stubborn man.”

She took off running and Faith followed, praying they would get there in time.





The sound of the world exploding barely brought Ten out of his stupor.

How long had it been? Days? It felt like days. A lot of days. Maybe even weeks. He’d been tied up in this position for what felt like forever. No food. No water. At some point they’d cut the clothes off him so they could torture every inch of his body.

He was nothing more than an animal now, and not one looking to survive. He had one mission. Keep his mouth shut. Don’t give away secrets. The Agency might have given up on him, but that didn’t mean he could betray his country, his friends.