Page 26 of Brooks

“We’re waiting on intel validation. Once Tex runs through the new data and confirms it, we’re going after Al Issa. Dead or alive. Either way, Zane wants Lucre dismantled.” Declan stopped and addressed Tatiana. “I know that’s not what you wanted to hear. Someone new will pop up and take over the trade. You’ll have a new lead to follow within a week. Omni is too important. Too powerful. Lucre is a cog in the wheel that has to be removed.”

Tatiana didn’t look pleased. As a matter of fact, she was pissed. Her entire body was vibrating with anger. I wasn’t sure how much of it had to do with all of her hard work going in the toilet or if she’d been planning to take out Al Issa and Lucre on her own as payback. Maybe a little of both. I couldn’t fault her for wanting revenge. Hell, I wanted to strangle the man with my bare hands for what he’d ordered done to her.

“I need to call this in,” she mumbled. “What time are we leaving tonight?”

“Late. The brothers like to drink. We’ll wait until after they hit the bar,” Declan answered.

“Okay.”

Without a glance in my direction she left the room. Four sets of concerned eyes swung my way.

“You good, brother?” Dec was the first to speak.

“Nope.”

“What the fuck happened in that room?” Kyle tried to ask again.

I debated how much to tell my team. It wasn’t my place to divulge her secrets, but they also needed to understand Tatiana’s motivation. Bringing a personal vendetta into an op was dangerous. Not that I was one to talk. In the span of an hour this mission became extremely personal to me as well.

“She was captured and tortured.” All four widened their eyes. “Bad. As in, fucked.”

“Al Issa?” Thad’s voice was thick with anger.

“His men.”

The muscle in Max’s cheek jumped and his face turned to stone. Not that I’d expected any other reaction from the men on my team. There’d been no doubt they’d be just as pissed as I was. However, their outrage stemmed from very different reasons than mine.

Everything about Tatiana was baffling. I didn’t trust a word that came out of her mouth, yet I had no issue going into an uncertain gun fight with her. Saying she was prickly and bitchy was an understatement, yet her attitude was not a turn-off. She was one big IED waiting to explode, yet I wanted to navigate the minefield. She had more emotional and physical scars than any woman I’d come across, yet she was still stunningly beautiful. I wanted to wrap her up and tame her demons. I wanted to touch and kiss every line that marred her flesh. Trace them and learn the story they told. I wanted her so badly my hands twitched and stomach tightened.

I was fucked.

I had to stay away from her. But I knew I wouldn’t.

Chapter 11

I’d called Leon Brown and briefed him on the current state of play. He agreed and hadn’t been surprised the Bitoos tried to double-dip on the tablets. My mission was a bust. If we could recover the four tablets this evening that would be great, but he wasn’t holding onto hope. He firmly believed they’d already been sold. I didn’t have to tell him the other six had made their way into the hands of the US government. He already knew. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Much to my irritation he wanted me to stay with Gold Team. He was making a call to Zane Lewis to clear my attachment to the guys.

Leon felt, if they were going after Lucre, it was best I stay with them. I knew why. The last time I’d gotten too close I almost died. I also knew Leon felt responsible for my injuries. Apparently, he’d visited me at the hospital and he’d stayed a long time. I didn’t know that as fact considering I’d been doped up on pain meds and was out of it. Even if my eyes had opened and I saw him sitting there, I didn’t remember.

There was a whole lot about the hospital stay and recovery I didn’t want to remember, but there were certain pieces I couldn’t forget no matter how hard I’d tried. One of those things was the reason why I’d been taken. I’d been cocky. I’d been out to prove myself. I’d spent years getting verbally beat down by my douchebag ex and I wanted to show everyone including myself I was better than what James had thought I was. So, it was my fault, my own insecurities, that led me to be arrogant and I walked right into an ambush. The hit to my pride was almost as bad as the pain. A valuable lesson. One I will never forget.

I glanced up from my laptop when there was a hard knock on the bedroom door.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Brooks’ large frame came into view. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to bang the door down, I wanted to make sure you heard me this time.”

Whatever had crawled up his ass seemed to have disengaged, if his smile was any indication. Full lips tipped up, white, straight teeth on display. The only word that came to mind to describe it was dazzling.

“No problem. I was just working. What’s up?”

“Wanted to see if you were hungry. Luckily for you Max has KP duty. He grills a mean steak. The only thing Kyle knows how to make is grilled cheese. Declan only makes spaghetti and we’ve long ago taken Thad off rotation because, well, he can’t fuckin’ cook to save his life.”

“What about you? What’s your specialty?”

The dazzling smile turned into something dangerous. Playful. Flirtatious. Panty dropping. I would be in big trouble if he smiled at me like that more often. It was hard staying away from him. Especially after he saw my back and was angry on my behalf. No one in my life knew what I’d gone through. Not my parents, my siblings, or the few friends I had. They couldn’t, they all thought I traveled the world working various safe jobs trying to save the world. Sure they knew the places I went weren’t all that safe, but they all thought I worked desk jobs. So, no one knew. No one had been there through my recovery. Seeing Brooks so furious made my insides flutter. It was stupid. But it was real. It made it all the more difficult to deny I was attracted to him.

“Daydreaming, again?” He chuckled.