Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(118)

Green stood again, facing off with Paul. “Our deal was that I wouldn’t turn you over for setting up Dr. Walsh for embezzlement. You get her research and you get to take over the Huisman Foundation. You can be happy with that or not. It’s your choice.”

Mo Chou moved toward the back of the house. There was a hallway under the balcony that Becca thought led to the kitchen and the garage. “My team should be here in half an hour. We’ve got a plane ready. I’m going to make a phone call. Is that creepy kid still around?”

“That’s my son,” Paul said between clenched teeth. “Another reason you should have taken them somewhere else. I have a child. He can’t be involved in this.”

“Maybe you should have thought about him before you started doing criminal things.” Becca was done with that asshole. She managed to get to her feet. “Maybe you should have thought about a lot of things. You won’t get away with this. Cathy knows I wouldn’t do this.”

“Becca, darling, please sit down,” Owen said, pleading in his voice.

Paul stepped into her space. “Cathy doesn’t matter. She can fall in line or I’ll deal with her, too. I’m done being everyone’s whipping boy. I want this project.” He turned to Green again. “I’m every bit as smart as she is, and we can do it all here. I have a whole foundation at my fingertips.”

Her first impulse was to stand in front of Paul and let him know exactly how she felt. But Levi Green was speaking to him in hushed tones, and that meant he wasn’t paying attention to her. She moved to Owen.

The massive man who’d spoken not a word stepped in her way.

“Please let me talk to him. I want to make sure he’s okay. I’m a doctor.” Maybe they would buy it. He didn’t move an inch. She decided on a different tactic. “What do you think I’m going to do? You’re right here. I don’t have any weapons on me. I want to talk to him.”

“Donnie, she’s harmless,” Green said. “And she likely has a few words to say to our friend. Why don’t you stand by the door and make sure Mo Chou doesn’t decide to take more than she’s been offered? I can handle this.”

She dropped to her knees in front of Owen, looking him over as best she could. She felt stronger now. At least her limbs moved. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I need you to listen to me, Becca. You do whatever he wants, do you understand me?”

His eyes were clear, though there was a cut on his forehead. Someone had cleaned him up and dressed the small wound. “What are they going to do to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” He stared at her as though he could force his will on her. “You do whatever he asks of you and you wait for the right time. Someone will find you and they’ll come for you.”

“Which is why we should kill them both and let me take over the project,” Paul argued.

Green ignored him. “They won’t come after either of you. I intend to give them something else to run after. I’ll give them just enough of whatever I find to satisfy them. I have no intention of playing Hook. Yes, I know Tag calls you the Lost Boys. Hook was an idiot. By the time I’m done, we’ll all be friends. They’ll forget about you because you were never truly one of them.”

“I assure you my team won’t forget,” Owen said.

Levi chuckled slightly as he started to approach Owen. “Your team? You know you’re only a part of them because Knight didn’t know what else to do with you, right? Your old partner, Nick Markovic, is the reason you didn’t get kicked to the curb. The way I heard it, he fought to keep you with the team when Big Tag wanted to get rid of you.”

She looked at Owen, her heart breaking because he was so strong and they were trying to bring him low. She’d been angry all day and she’d had a right to be, but somehow looking at him now, she couldn’t work up the will to hate him. Maybe she’d never hated him. Raged at him. Been hurt by him. But under all of it there lay a deep and never-ending longing she’d never felt before.

“Doesn’t matter,” Owen said, forcing his head up to look at his enemy. “Doesn’t matter what happens to me. They won’t leave her behind. They’ll come for her. You can kill me here and they’ll still move heaven and earth to find her.”

Green seemed to consider it for a moment. “Because they all want a cure? It doesn’t seem like poor Tucker did. My source tells me he cries a lot when he thinks about who he used to be. That must have been something. That little ray of sunshine as a psycho. Makes me think of Mengele with a movie-star face. I don’t know that he’s going to fight for the doc here.”

Now Owen shifted his focus. She knew the words he spoke were meant for Green, but his will was all directed at her. “He will. Tucker will come for her not because he wants a cure but because we’re brothers and I love her. He’ll save her because I would do the same for him. Because I would risk my life to save River and Ariel and Erin, even though she might not thank me for it. That’s what I didn’t understand before. We are a family no matter what, and we protect what each brother loves.”

Levi stood in front of him and for a moment, Becca was terrified he would lash out. Then he sighed and stared down at Owen. “It must be nice to have a brother who cares about you, who acknowledges you. I suppose I’ll have to be ready for it when they come for her then.” He turned around, facing Becca again. “Now, Doctor Walsh, or should I call you Rebecca? After all, we’re going to get close, you and I.”