Lost and Found (Masters & Mercenaries: The Forgotten #2)(57)

Unless he assassinated the man. He’d noticed the note she’d left on her bar with a restaurant reservation and time, and the reminder to ask for a table on the patio. If he found a nice perch across the street, he could take Lawyer Larry out with one shot. He would make sure to angle it right so the splatter didn’t hit Becca. Maybe he would even wait until she went to the loo and do it then. That way she would be traumatized, but not too traumatized. She would likely need someone to hold her, and he could be that man.

“I would not like what you are thinking right now,” Robert mused, sitting back in his chair. “Did it not go well? Might I suggest a trip to River and Jax’s kitchen island. It seems to inspire them.”

“Will you stop going on about that damn island,” a familiar voice said as a red-haired woman rounded the corner and entered the kitchen. “You don’t understand how it is when you’re first married. You gotta get all the sex in you can before the kids come. I told River that at her bridal shower. Not that it was much of a shower since they have to live out of suitcases and shit, but we all gave her advice. Theo and me didn’t even get that time because his fool ass got killed, and TJ was already here by the time he was smart enough to come back to life. Is there coffee?”

Erin Taggart. She was wearing boxer shorts and a too big T-shirt with the Top logo on it, her red hair up in a messy bun.

His stomach took an immediate nose dive.

“I made a fresh pot of coffee a couple of minutes ago.” Robert glanced up at him, concern on his face. “They got in late last night. I let them stay in your room. They’re finding a hotel this afternoon.”

“Are you sure about the coffee?” Erin’s husband walked in behind her. Theo Taggart was technically the youngest of the four Taggart brothers, but only by a few minutes. His twin, Case, had been born first, a state that led to Theo being called the tiniest of the Tags. Looking at the six-foot-three-inch tree of a man, it was hard to think of him as tiny.

Erin’s right brow climbed over her eyes. “Are you serious? You know I’ve done this before and you haven’t. One cup a day isn’t going to kill me. You might know that if you’d been around the first time.”

His hands came up. “Peace, woman. You’re a beast without a little caffeine. Hey, Owen. How’s it going?”

Theo held a hand out and Owen forced himself to shake it. It was odd to stand in front of the man he’d betrayed. He knew deep down that he didn’t deserve to shake the man’s hand, but it was expected of him.

Erin was pouring a cup of coffee. “From what I hear it’s going pretty good since Ezra told me you took the target home last night. She lives on this floor, right? Should Tucker be coming and going like he lives here? Are you supposed to know each other?”

“She can’t see us from here and Tucker takes the stairs,” Robert explained. “Oh, he whines and complains about it, but he does it. Wait until he starts talking about his quads.”

Was Theo working on something else or was he really here to check up on him? Did they already think he was mucking things up? “She’s got a tag on her purse and her phone,” Owen explained. “I’ve also placed a device on her front door that lets us know when she’s entering or exiting.”

Robert held up a tablet as the thing chimed. “Like now. What’s up with the cops?”

Erin turned to him. “She called the cops? What did you do?”

Yes, there was the judgment he always expected. It wasn’t like she didn’t have the right to it. “I didn’t do anything. At least not anything she didn’t want me to do.”

“Ah, that’s why you want me to check into the neighbor,” Robert said, his eyes on the tablet. “I saw him hanging around. He didn’t look happy to see you going into her apartment after you went to the café. That security camera is perfectly placed. Sasha did an excellent job with that. I think he actually does better work drunk off his ass. Dude, those cops are getting an earful. Your girl is not happy.”

He moved around so he could see the image on the tablet. Becca was still in her robe and she was pointing to her left, toward Carter’s apartment, her face angry as hell. At least she was blaming the proper person.

Robert had fed the security footage through all their systems so they would be able to know when it was and wasn’t safe to move around the building. Becca didn’t know it, but her every move was being monitored.

It made him feel a little sick to think about how he’d tagged her phone while she’d been sleeping. He’d rolled out of the bed he’d taken her in again and again, only to sneak to her purse and make sure they could keep track of her, stealing every vestige of her privacy because he’d also planted some bugs so they could listen in.

“You’re doing it as much for her as for the rest of us,” Theo said solemnly, as though he could read minds.

Or he was so damn transparent anyone could tell what he was thinking. “I’m not sure she would agree.”

“She will when we keep her from falling into Levi Green’s clutches. I think he sent us here to do his dirty work. He’s trying to find leverage to make her work for him, but we’re in Canada and he has to be careful. If she’d been in Boston, he wouldn’t have bothered with us at all,” Erin said with a wrinkle of her freckled nose. “I hate that asshole. I’ve been thinking about numerous ways Kay and I could mess him up. I think he requires female justice.”