Page 76 of Brooks

“You’re a drama queen. No one was going to get into any trouble.” She shook her head at Declan and made her way across the room. “I saw a vending machine but I couldn’t carry this around the whole night, so we had to go back and get it. It was kinda out of the way. That’s why we’re late.”

“You fuckin’ kidding me?” I smiled and took the can of Orange Fanta from her hand. “You went back to get me a can of soda?”

“Not any soda. Your favorite. Can you believe there’s a vending machine all the way out here in the middle of nowhere that has Orange Fanta?”

She was amazing. Guilt washed over me. I’d been thinking about how much I hated her on patrol and she was doing something kind and fucking awesome for me. Man, I was a dick.

I tagged her around her waist and hauled her close. “Thank you, Doll.”

“You’re welcome.”

Her smile damn near knocked me on my ass. So beautiful and bright.

“Let’s get you to bed, I’m sure you’re tired.”

Max barked a laugh. “Tired. Right.”

“Hold up, Zane’s calling.” Declan stopped me before I could drag her back to the bedroom and show her some naked appreciation.

After a few clipped one-word answers, he handed Tatiana the phone.

“Hey, Z,” she greeted. “What?” Her back went ramrod straight and she said, “Let me put you on speaker so I don’t have to repeat everything you say… Yes, I’m sure. Whatever it is you need to tell me, my team has the right to know. I don’t have any secrets from them.” She rolled her eyes and smirked. “Yeah, you’d like to know the answer to that. But I said, my team, not my boss.”

Her boss? Her team? Had she made the decision to stay with Z Corps? Had Zane made her a job offer? She had told me she was not going back to The Company no matter what, but she’d never told me she’d talked to Zane.

“Leon Brown is MIA,” she told the room as she put the phone on speaker. “Go ahead, Z.”

“Leon Brown hasn’t been heard from for seven days,” Zane said.

“Seven? So the day after he set up Tatiana?”

“Yes. And that was exactly what that was. Brown ordered the firing pin be removed.”

“Why?” Tatiana asked.

Her question gutted me, there was so much pain in her voice. She started to pull away from me, but I held her closer and refused to let her go.

“Tex and Garrett are still working on the why. I’m gonna owe Tex a kidney by the time this mission is over. Do you know how much he charges? A whack, that’s how much.”

Tatiana went rigid and I wanted to kick Zane’s ass. She had no idea he was joking. No doubt Tex’s services were expensive but I also knew Tex had never charged Zane full price. As a matter of fact, he often times didn’t charge Zane at all.

“What do you think?” Declan asked Zane.

“I think Tatiana was marked the minute you guys walked into the UN annex. I think he had eyes and ears on her at all times. I think he was worried she was getting too close to something and he needed to take her out.”

“You think he’s dirty? Part of the Omni?” Max was now standing next to Declan.

“I think he’s dirty, yes. Part of the Omni, doubtful. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have his hand in Falcon Holdings.”

“But I was investigating Lucre on Leon’s orders,” she reminded Zane.

“Lucre. Not Falcon Holdings. I don’t think you were supposed to stumble on that bit of fuckery. Listen, I hate to continuously slam the CIA. Okay, I don’t really, but I think the CIA wants Falcon up and running. From a tactical standpoint it makes sense. The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t. They knew about Falcon, they can watch the money flow. Leon knew our objective was to sweep up Falcon in our takedown of Lucre. As we dismantle Omni, we’re gonna hit as many of their subsidiaries as possible.”

“Who do you think took out Leon?” Declan inquired before I could.

This was more of the same bullshit games the CIA played. It always played out like a bad movie. At least they were predictable if nothing else. Though they rarely got it right, always needing someone else to clean up their mess. I understood their main objective was information gathering, however they were quick to tuck tail and run when shit hit the fan. I was happy Zane refused to take contracts from them, he’d been burned and didn’t believe in second chances. Not to say we still didn’t get caught up in their games, case in point our current situation.

“No one. I think he’s gone to ground. Someone’s not happy Tatiana’s still breathing. Not to mention, the rest of you. He underestimated her, and my team. He’s fucked and my guess is on the run.”