You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(27)

“Let my people up or I will blow this motherf*cker’s head off his shoulders. And I don’t want to do that. I don’t even have plastic down. My wife has a strict edict that when I blow some dude’s head off, I have the courtesy to put some plastic down. You’re going to get my wife pissed at me.”

“They have their safeties on,” Jesse said. “I think that’s Michael Malone you’ve got. Si would be sad if you offed him.”

“I can live with disappointment,” Simon said as he walked in from the break room. Unfortunately, he’d been caught. His hands were up, his eyes icy.

“Why don’t you let my guy go and we’ll talk about letting this one off the hook,” a man with a slow Southern accent said.

“Or I could blow your head off.” Charlotte Taggart placed a semiautomatic at the back of Simon’s captor’s head. “Ian, where is the plastic tarp? I told you, I don’t want blood on the carpet.”

Ian’s whole body went tense. “Oh, there’s going to be blood. I promise you that. You listen and you listen good whoever you are. That is my wife behind you. She’s pregnant. If you try a goddamn thing, I swear to god I will spend the rest of my life hunting you down and when I catch you, I will ensure that you live a long time in as much pain as your body can take.”

“Fuck.” The guy immediately dropped his weapon. “Taggart, no one said anything about pregnant women. I promise. Check my weapon. There’s no ordnance in it. None of us would ever hurt an innocent woman, much less a baby.”

The door to the break room opened again. “What the f*ck is going on? There are babies back there. And I’m pretty sure one of them pooped. Is Ten playing a joke on us? Is this some sort of practical joke?”

Jake Dean rushed into the room. “I got one down when he tried to leave the back room. He walked in and stared for a minute before practically running out.”

“Shit. Did you kill Boomer?” Malone asked.

“He’s napping. What the f*ck is going on?” Dean asked.

“I want to know where Phoebe Graham is.” Ten strode back into the room, but he wasn’t alone. He had Sean Taggart in his grip, a gun placed against his head. Ten had pulled his mask off, obviously realizing the game was up.

“Fuck me, Ian. I’m sorry. I had headphones on. I didn’t even know he was in the kitchen until he had me,” Sean said.

“Because you’re supposed to be safe here,” Ian said to his brother before his eyes shifted to Ten. “I will kill this man if you don’t let my brother go. Do you understand me? You have thirty seconds or I’ll do it.”

“And you have ten seconds to give me Phoebe,” Ten shot back. “I didn’t want to do it this way, but I’m not leaving here without her.”

Something was wrong with this scenario. Ten was willing to burn down a whole lot of houses for a single operative. “She’s alive.”

“Then bring her out here. You give me Phoebe and I’ll let Sean go, and then Tag and I never have to speak again,” Ten practically snarled. “Don’t you call me when you get in trouble, Ian. Do you understand me? I won’t answer it. You’re not the man I thought you were.”

“She’s safe, Ten. No one’s hurt her.” Jesse was watching Ten closely. Tennessee Smith was always in control. Always smooth and easygoing. Even when shit was going down, Ten was the kind of guy whose blood pressure never ticked up. He was a man who cultivated relationships and yet he was trashing an important one.

“Tag, I’m going to ask you not to kill my cousin,” Simon said calmly. “Let’s murder this one instead.” He had his hands on the one who had captured him.

“Or we can kill them all,” Tag promised. “I think that might be the best solution.”

“Is she your lover?” Jesse wasn’t so sure anyone had to die. Ten seemed more like a desperate man than a leader trying to get back a team member.

There was only the slightest movement of his eyes before he replied. “It’s none of your business, Murdoch. Just produce her or I’ll kill everyone you love.”

That one expression made him wonder. His eyes had rolled back just slightly as though the question was too disgusting to answer. He would have expected his eyes to flare or soften at the thought of his lover.

Only one way to find out. “I think I’ll keep her for myself. She likes to talk during sex. I think if I just f*ck her a couple more times, I’ll probably figure out everything I need to know.”

“You raped her?” Ten’s face had gone a mottled red.

Again, that response didn’t feel like it was coming from a man who was pissed someone had taken what was his. More like a man who had something to protect, some responsibility he had to perform. And why would he go straight to rape? Jesse decided to push it a little further. He really wanted to see if the man would break. If he could get Ten to break, they would have the advantage again—and the danger would be off Sean, who had a kid and had left the business and should never have to deal with having a gun at his head again. “I didn’t have to, man. She begged me for it.”

“Are you kidding me?” Tag asked, looking at him like he was the dumbest of all asses.

But Ten dropped everything and charged.

Well, that answered one question. This was very personal for Tennessee Smith, and he was about to get his ass kicked. He prayed he could hold onto his sanity long enough to fight back.