On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(94)

“I want everything you can find on Carmen Garcia and my old team.” He stood up, his gut somewhere in his knees. “Call Ian. Get him out here as soon as you can.”

Ian would drive if he had to. If there was one thing he trusted in the world, it was that Ian Taggart had his back.

He glanced down at the woman who had just saved his life and wondered if she would pull through. The sirens were closer now and he let himself in the door, hopping on the elevator before the ambulance pulled up. Adam was right. He had very little time, and he couldn’t get caught up in a police investigation. Kristen might have given her life to save his, and he wasn’t going to question it right now.

Later he would ask all the relevant questions, but until she was conscious and able to talk, there was nothing she could do to help further. He had to make sure her sacrifice hadn’t been in vain.

When he got to the condo, he changed and cleaned himself up. He called Jake to meet him. Sean was already in place.

They needed to talk to Chazz, and he was pretty sure Chazz wasn’t going to be happy with how they talked to him.

As he waited impatiently, he glanced down at the notes Adam had pulled up on Carmen Garcia.

Just another victim, like his Eve. Just another life Michael Evans had wasted. She’d been a Georgetown student, chasing a career in the law and politics, working on political campaigns and going to parties.

Maybe getting pregnant by someone who had a lot to lose.

His fists clenched. Garcia had been young and attractive and a volunteer on campaigns. Which campaigns had she worked for? Who had the most to lose?

And who had ties to a man who could make it all look like an accident?

A new anger rolled in Alex’s gut because he’d just figured out who had truly betrayed him.





Pain. Her head ached as she started to come back to life. She groaned a little. Where was she? She tried to move her right hand, to bring it up to ease the pain in her skull, but it was tethered to the left.

She opened her eyes. How long had she been out? Light streamed in through a window, but it was a bit murky, the glass opaque. There was a couch under her, but she was pretty sure it had seen better days.

It was so quiet. So unlike the condo where she could always hear the ocean. The condo where she’d last seen her husband.

Everything came back in one horrific flash. He’d tied her up and then left her in the backseat of her own vehicle, and he’d moved into position to gain a kill shot. She’d heard one blast and then another.

“Please don’t try to move. It will only make it worse,” a now familiar voice said.

Jesse Murdoch. The man who had murdered her husband.

“You killed Alex.”

Jesse stood over her, his hands held out. “I’m not so sure about that. I checked the police radio and monitored the hospital admissions. No male gunshot victims. I’m pretty sure I hit Kris.”

And he didn’t look happy about it. His eyes were sunken as though he hadn’t slept for days. There was a grim line to his mouth and his face was marked with stubble. He ran a hand through his hair, and then his whole body twisted as he screamed.

The sound reverberated through the room, making Eve flinch back, but there was nowhere to go.

He finally stopped that tortured sound and his hands shook. “I’m sorry. I just f*cked up again. I can’t stop f*cking up. Why can’t I stop?”

He was a little bit crazy with a side of f*cking nuts. And that was a professional opinion. But Alex was alive. She hoped she hid her smile. If Alex was alive then he would come for her, and she had to be ready. She needed to do anything she could to make his job easier, and that included talking Jesse Murdoch out of whatever plans he was coming up with now.

“Are you upset that you missed Alex or that you hit Kristen?” She scooted around, trying to sit up. He’d adjusted her, and now her hands were zip tied in front of her body. He seemed to have gotten rid of the one on her legs. She could move them freely now.

He moved toward her and for a minute, she was sure he was going to hit her, but he merely shoved a hand under her elbow and helped her to sit. A striking man, Jesse had sandy hair and blue eyes that went dark when he was emotional. She’d noticed it before. When he’d talked to her in the hallway that first day, his eyes had been almost like sapphires, but the day of the luncheon, they’d gone dark when one of the men had made a remark that he wasn’t surprised to see Jesse at the club.

Because the man knew his past and thought he’d turned, she’d reasoned.

Jesse paced, still wearing a big hoodie even though the heat of the day was upon them. “I didn’t mean to hurt Kris.”

She hoped Kris was fine, but god, she was so glad it hadn’t been Alex. “But it’s fine to hurt Alex.”

“He’s a soldier. Soldiers get hit. It’s what happens.”

“This isn’t war.” She said the words, but then wondered if the war had ever ended for Jesse.

“You say that because you’re a civilian.” He took a long breath and seemed to attempt to gain some control. “I wonder if I killed her. I never killed a woman before. Not intentionally.”

Oh, he wore his guilt right there on his sleeve. She needed to bring it out even more. Though it pained her, she needed to manipulate him. Something was off, and she had to find out what it was. “Are you talking about the woman in your unit?”