Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(109)

She nodded as she felt a shudder go through Tucker. “I am.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt her,” Tucker said, his voice tortured. “But you should know that I did. I hurt her, Owen.”

“You didn’t,” a feminine voice said. When Becca glanced up she saw they weren’t alone. Ariel stood in the doorway next to Ezra, with Robert behind her. “You didn’t hurt her, but someone who wore your skin did. I think we should talk about this. I’ll make us some tea. Why don’t the rest of you go back to bed?”

Go back to bed with Owen. That seemed like a bad idea. Even being in the same room with the man was dangerous, and after her talk with Tucker, she was on the edge again.

Ezra stepped away, pulling a phone from his pocket.

“Thank you, Dr. Walsh,” Tucker whispered. “I’m still sorry. I’ll try to stay away from you. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

But he was the only one who knew anything about medicine, and she wasn’t certain he would have forgotten what he’d learned from Dr. McDonald. That kind of knowledge could remain even when personal memories did not. She might be able to coax some of that information out of him and might lead them one step closer to a cure.

Sometimes bad things happened, and it was up to her to make the most of them, to try to see the positive that could come from it.

“I’m okay. You’re Tucker. You’re not Steven. And we’re okay, you and I.” She let Owen help her up. “Good night, Tucker. I’ll see you in the morning. We can fight it out over the last raspberry yogurt.”

“It’s all yours.” Tucker managed to make it back to his seat.

Owen didn’t let go of her hand. “Good night. We’ll see you all in the morning.”

She followed him out, a piece of herself settling. But the larger piece was still in turmoil and it was all about Owen. Maybe it was time to have it out with him, too.

Ezra stepped back in. “We need to move out now. There’s a team on the way. I don’t know how the fucker found us, but he did. Big Tag says we’ve got maybe five minutes. Owen, take Dr. Walsh in my SUV. Ari and Robert, go with them.”

Owen’s hand found hers and he started into the living room.

“I’ll go wake my sleeping prince,” Erin said. “We’ll stay behind and deal with the fallout. I can’t wait to answer all those questions.”

“Tucker, take Nina and hop in the van with River and Jax. I’ll take Dante and Sasha,” Ezra said, reaching for his backpack. “You know the protocols. Let’s move.”

Owen frowned at his boss. “You know what this means?”

Ezra nodded tightly. “I do. We have to deal with it later. Scatter now and implement a twenty-four-hour blackout on communications. See you on the other side, brothers.”

It looked like her night was taking a turn for the worse.





Chapter Nineteen





Owen looked out the window from his place in the back seat, his eyes on the blue and red lights in the distance. Though they’d gotten miles away, he could still see how close it had been.

“Will Tom…Theo and his wife be okay? Shouldn’t they have run, too?” Becca was looking at those ghostly lights, too.

“I assure you Erin will take care of the situation. Leaving two safe people behind will actually slow the police down. They don’t know the whole story, and Erin will use that to her advantage. And to ours,” Ariel said, sitting back. “There’s no reason for the police to pick them up, and if they did, they have connections who would move swiftly to get them out. The Lost Boys don’t have those. Big Tag can hide them, but he can’t make global warrants disappear. If they’d caught Jax or Dante or Sasha, or even Robert, there would be trouble. Some of them have Interpol red notices out on them.”

“Red notice?” Becca asked.

Owen took that one. “It’s an international warrant for their arrests. Ezra explained how McDonald funded her research after she left Kronberg. She was involved in several criminal operations, including robbing banks. She didn’t do it herself.”

Even in the moonlight he could see the way she paled. “She used her strike team. She could get the money she needed and see them in action.”

“I don’t actually have an Interpol notice on me,” Robert corrected, “but I am wanted for questioning about a couple of things, including my association with the others. Big Tag made sure Theo’s records are perfectly clean. He’s good.”

“Though I assume this isn’t about the lads,” Ariel said.

“It’s about me.” Becca was holding herself apart. While they’d been rushing to the car, she’d let him hold her hand. The minute he’d closed the door, he’d felt a wall come up between them.

There was no forgiveness for him.

Robert pulled out onto the highway. They needed to drive at least a hundred miles, find a motel, and settle in for the night. Though he was certain he wouldn’t feel settled. He wouldn’t be comfortable until she was safely ensconced in The Garden and protected by people he trusted.

“How did he find us?” Becca asked. “They got rid of my cell phone. I thought everyone did.”

“We were working off burners, anyway,” Robert said. “No one except the team, Damon Knight, and Big Tag know the numbers.”