Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(122)

Ariel rushed to the car, a minivan. It was still running in the long drive that led back around the house and out to the street where Levi Green was likely trying to get the upper hand back by bringing in the police. “Take Owen to the back of the van with Robert and do what you can for them. I’ll get us out of here.”

She could hear the wail of sirens on their way. Her heart ached for Paul’s son, but they had to go.

Becca opened the door and stepped inside. Owen followed as Ariel took off.

Sure enough, Robert was laid out on the bench seat. His eyes opened briefly. “Sorry, man. They wouldn’t pull out the bullet without anesthesia. How did we get you back?”

“Ari is lethal, mate. You need to watch yourself with her.” He sat back with a groan of pain. “And she’s a terrible driver.”

“Hush.” Becca wasn’t in her seat. She knelt down. “I’m going to have to pull the bullet out of you when we get somewhere safe. Try not to move it.”

“Ariel saved you?” Robert still sounded out of it.

Ariel was a superhero. “Yep, and she took out the bad guys while she was doing it. She’s a keeper, mate.”

Robert’s smile was slightly goofy. “I bet she’s hot when she’s assassinating people. Holy shit. Baby, tell me you murdered Levi Green. We could celebrate by having our first date. You want to go out with me, right?”

“It has to wait,” Ari said. “Green’s alive, and we have to get out of here. We’re going back to London to lick our wounds.”

Robert sighed. “That’s not what I want to lick.”

Before he could laugh, Becca was kneeling next to him. “Owen, are you all right? You went pale.”

The world was going pale. Ariel took a corner and his shoulder hit the door. Pain exploded through his system and he felt himself falling down a deep hole.

He tried to hold on to her, sure that he would lose her this time.





Chapter Twenty-One





“Are you sure this is safe?” Owen asked, staring up at the building where he’d briefly found something akin to peace. Oh, it hadn’t always been peaceful. Sometimes it had been crazy and emotional and chaotic and absolutely the best time of his brief life.

“I want to face him.” Becca sat in the back of the van that would eventually take them to the small airport where he would board a plane to London.

He would board. There was no reason for her to go now. In the three days since he’d passed out from the bullet wound in his shoulder, McKay-Taggart had worked miracles. Phoebe Murdoch had managed to find the proof that was needed to exonerate Rebecca Walsh, and the Huisman Foundation was standing behind her. The story was Paul Huisman had been involved in a plot to help a Chinese agent steal medical research. Jean Claude Huisman had come out in the press vowing to better protect the foundation and denouncing his son, not bothering to mention that he’d been the one having the affair with an MSS agent. Owen rather thought the Agency was working some magic since in all the reports on the news, no one had mentioned the dead CIA employee or the MSS agent’s corpse in the garage. According to the media, Paul Huisman had likely been murdered by one of his criminal cohorts.

“Are we worried this guy is dangerous?” Ezra sat in the driver’s seat, Theo Taggart beside him.

Becca snorted. “Only if you’re something that got mailed to me. The asshole picked up my mail from time to time. It’s one of the reasons he had a key. Apparently he liked to look through it. Jerk.”

Ezra sighed and put the car in park. “I’m sorry we didn’t send someone out earlier, but until yesterday I worried it was too risky. According to my source at the Agency, they’re backing off for now. It’s why we can take the team back to London for a while.”

Where they would have to figure out who the mole was. It was all too clear now that they had a traitor in their midst. Levi Green had been fucking with his head, yes, but he’d also been telling the truth. He had someone on the inside, and they would have to deal with it. One way or another.

And he would have to deal with the fact that she was going to stay here. There was no reason for her to leave her home now. She was high profile after all the press, and that would give her some cover. A bodyguard would keep her safe. It was all about who she wanted to watch over her.

It wouldn’t be him.

“We’re sure he has it?” Theo asked, turning slightly in his seat. His wife had gone home the day before, but not until she’d stopped by the small clinic that had been willing to give Owen and Robert a place to recuperate. Becca had stabilized him in the field, but they’d been separated when they’d driven hours out of Toronto and found a tiny backwater clinic that was willing to take a large donation in exchange for losing all record of their two patients suffering from gunshot wounds.

“Oh, I’m sure,” Becca replied. “He’s waiting to use it against me. I’m surprised he hasn’t gone to the press with it.”

“I think he’s waiting until he can talk to you,” Ezra said. “He’s probably planning on using it as leverage. He’s been leaving voice mails.”

“Someone has my phone?” Becca asked.

“We tossed it out, but that doesn’t mean Jax can’t get into your account and see who’s calling. Carter has been trying to talk to you for days,” Ezra explained.