On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(45)

“Really? Because as of three months ago, she didn’t have a brother.”

He should have known. “Fuck.”

“Calm down. There’s a reason you leave the intelligence work to me. You’re a useful vessel, Murdoch, but you’re a soldier.”

He wasn’t anymore. He’d lost that as surely as his honor had been stripped away, along with his humanity. “Who the f*ck is he, then? And why did he show up now? If Kris is pulling some shit, what does she know that I don’t?”

It sat in his gut—this feeling that she was on top of him. She wasn’t what she said she was. He knew that even before he’d been told to watch out for her. But his contact didn’t want her touched. Not yet. Somehow, it had been there in the back of his head that maybe she played for the same team as him, and he’d been brutally surprised to discover it wasn’t true.

He didn’t want to kill her, but he would if he had to.

“Just lay low for now.” His contact had a deep voice. He’d never met the contact, only been given a phone number along with living expenses and the keys to a rathole loft he’d quickly turned into his little hidey-hole, but he’d seen pictures of the man. “I want everything in place when it’s time for me to come in.”

That was his job. Make things right. “What do you need from me?”

“Well, I seriously doubt that Anthony Priest is anything but an alias. I need pictures. I want pictures of him and the woman who’s with him. Do it quietly. I don’t want them to suspect a thing. You’ve gotten close to Chazz?”

“I’m in the inner circle. He’s a loyal employee from everything I can tell.”

“See that he stays that way. I want reports on anything out of the ordinary. And if it comes to it, I might need you to take out the new guy.”

Jesse took a long breath. This was kind of what he’d been dreading and hoping for since the moment he’d decided to move to the dark side. What his father had done was all pure and white hat, but this was something different. It was all he had left. “Yeah, I can snuff him if I need to.”

“And the girl?”

He’d never killed a woman before. He swallowed once and then again. He wasn’t sure he could, but he knew what he had to say. “Yeah. I’ll do her, too, if I have to.”

His contact chuckled over the line. He seemed to have a dark sense of humor, but then that wasn’t so surprising. “It’s good to know I can count on you.”

The line went dead, and Jesse shoved the phone back in his boot. He moved quickly, exiting the locker room before anyone came in. He shoved the trash can back into place and found the hallway empty. He made his way back out on the floor just in time to see Kristen leave with her so-called brother and the pretty brunette he might have to kill.

His stomach turned a little at the thought. Not that he would have to kill her, but that he might like it. He might like it a lot. He was an addict. Oh, he wasn’t addicted to anything so cheap as liquor or meth. He’d become a little addicted to violence, to spilling blood, and he’d been off his own personal sauce for a while now. He was worried that this time, he might not be able to come back.

But he would do it because it was his job, and it was the only f*cking thing he had left. Maybe he was still a soldier deep down, and a soldier didn’t falter when the job at hand was a little nasty.

He watched as the big guy shoved out the front door, holding it open for his woman. She was so small compared to him. She had scars that proved her life wasn’t that great. Maybe he would be freeing her in the end.

It didn’t matter. He had to keep his head in the game. Amanda King didn’t matter. Kristen Priest would go, too. Hard decisions would be made, and he would carry them out. He steeled himself.

Anything for the mission.





Chapter Seven


Alex pulled the SUV into the underground parking garage, his every movement a precise response to nearly going out of control. He’d been on autopilot since the moment he’d realized Eve was here and in danger and had actively attempted to wreck his plans.

It was a betrayal. It burned in his gut. She was sitting behind him, but he kept glancing back at the rearview mirror, looking at her, trying to make eye contact. His brain was working overtime trying to figure out exactly what she was doing. His heart and head had been racing ever since she’d walked through the door.

Watching her smile up at that far too young for her himbo had done nothing to calm him down. Too young for her? Was Jesse Murdoch really too young for her? Or was Alex getting too old? He’d thought seriously about choking the f*cker when he’d walked in on Jesse looming over Eve. The younger man had her practically pressed against the wall as he talked to her. Did Jesse think he’d invented that move? Dumb f*ck.

“What floor are we on?” Sean asked from the passenger-side seat, his voice pulling Alex back into the here and now.

“My place is on three, but the whole building is protected. There’s a security guard at the gate to the island. Once you’re here, you have to have a key fob to get into the building from the front or side doors. Even if someone can get into the building, the elevators are protected. You have to put a passcode in to get to the right floor,” Kristen said, leaning forward. She was sitting in the back with Eve. “I see Adam is already here.”