Chapter 8
I was crossing lines I’d promised myself I wouldn’t.
It was easy to take a vow of chastity when Tatiana wasn’t in front of me.
It was a whole other thing when I was face-to-face with her.
She was correct about one thing, despite me telling her otherwise, giving in would complicate things.
She was also correct when she said we both had a mission to complete.
Ours was supposed to have been completed by now, taking us far from Bahrain and her.
But after the tangle Rocco and the guys had found themselves in, Tex had found a connection between the tablets and Omni.
Lucky for me that meant Zane had given us the go-ahead to track down Tatiana.
Now I was thinking it wasn’t so lucky after all.
I hadn’t been in her company an hour and already I was reneging on my resolution not to touch her.
“Mind if I change real quick?” she asked the second she’d walked into the house.
I was trying. Really fucking trying not to picture her nude but failing miserably.
“Use my room. First door on the right. You can leave your stuff in there. There’s only five bedrooms. You can take mine.” Her brow quirked up and I added, “I’ll take the couch.”
Thad already had a map of Bahrain spread out on the table with several other maps of the exact location of the waterfront property where the Bitoo brothers were holed up. Declan had already marked up the points of entry and exit strategy. It was a good plan.
Tatiana came back into the room and I couldn’t stop myself from appreciating her long, toned legs.
Christ. It was like they were tailor-made to wrap around my waist. This woman turned me into someone I wasn’t proud of, an uncivilized caveman.
Next, I would be beating my chest and dragging her off to my cave begging her to let me worship her.
I needed my head examined—quick, fast, and in a hurry.
She placed her laptop and file folder on the table and studied the maps in front of her.
“Who owns this property?” she asked.
“It’s registered to Falcon Holdings,” Declan told her.
“So you found the connection between Militrix and Falcon?” Tatiana opened the file she’d set on top of her closed laptop.
“How did you find the connection? And no more lying, Doll.”
She sighed and scrubbed her hands over her face before they went to her hair. She used the band on her wrist to fasten a ponytail. With her hair pulled up off her face she looked younger than her thirty-two.
“Purely by accident. I’m tracking an antiquities broker, Lucre.
They’re behind some of the rarest, stolen middle eastern artifacts.
Lucre warehouses are owned by Falcon. I looked further and Falcon owns and manages properties all over Africa and the Middle East. I dug a little deeper into Falcon and found they’re also a holding company.
They own a buttload of stock in Militrix as well as several other ginormous companies.
” She stopped and pinned me with her dark eyes. “Your turn. How’d you find me?”
“Tex.”
“Fuckin’ Keegan. I should’ve known. So, he tracked the Bitoo brothers, too.”
“No. That was all me, Doll. After they figured out the guys had escaped and took the tablets they’d hidden in the cellar, the four younger brothers went on a bender.
Timothee, the eldest, had one helluva time getting his drunk brothers to shut their mouths.
Bitching and complaining about the Americans. I followed them back to their hideout.”
“Just like that?” She looked like she didn’t believe me.
Good old fashion leg work, keep it simple and stupid.
The brothers were mostly drunks. Their father had tried unsuccessfully to help them find jobs.
However, they’d rather take the fast, easy illegal money than put in a hard day’s work.
Unfortunately, they were going to learn the hard way there were repercussions for their actions.
“Yep. Just like that.”
“What’s the plan?”
Declan ran down the mission specifics, outlining what Tatiana’s role was, and surprisingly she hadn’t argued. Max, Thad, and Declan would be point going in first. Kyle would cover the team, and she and I would enter after the team cleared the building.
“I need at least one of them alive,” she told Declan, then added, “and if they have the four tablets, I’d like those, too.”
“That’s the plan,” he reminded her. “But if those tablets are as valuable as Tex says they are, I would expect they’re not going to give up easily.”
“They are,” she confirmed. “Even if only four are left, they’ll bring in a good price.”
“Where’s the money track back to?” Kyle surprisingly asked.
We knew the answer, so either he was testing her candor or he wanted to know what she knew.
“The seller is the Lucre group. I already told you.”
“Right,” Kyle mumbled.
Her eyes narrowed on him. “Apparently, you didn’t like my answer.
So, what are you asking exactly? Do I know what Lucre does with the money?
Yes, I do. They fund different terrorist organizations.
Presumably to keep discord in different tribal areas of Africa.
It’s easier to pillage and smuggle artifacts when there is conflict among tribes. ”
“Are you familiar with Omni?” I inquired.
“Yes, I know the name. There’s been conspiracy theories about the group for years. Why?”
“Not so much theories, Doll. The man behind Lucre, Prince Mohammad Al Issa, is indeed a member of Omni,” I told her.
There was a flash of anger before she schooled her features and smirked. “So you weren’t really here to check the transoceanic cabling contract?”
“We were. But in conjunction with Omni,” Declan informed her. “It seems your tablets are a better lead.”
“What?” Her hand went to her hip and her posture stiffened. “Now you think you’re going to take over my op?”
“Not necessarily. We’re offering you a…partnership. We can all work together,” Dec continued.
“No fucking way. I’ve worked too damn hard for you guys to come in now and take over. I have my orders and I fully intend to deliver. I already told Brooks, I work alone.”
She was a stubborn little thing, there was no reason for her to turn our offer down. “We don’t want the tablets. Or at least not the way you’re thinking. Our only goal is to take down Al Issa.”
“Which fucks me.”
“How so?” Kyle asked.
“I need him in business. I already told you Lucre is one of the largest smuggling operations. They sell. I buy. Then I can track whatever terrorist organization they’re funding, pass my intel off, and the group is shut down or monitored. If Al Issa is taken out, Lucre crumbles. And, I’m fucked.”
“Dismantling Omni is more important,” Declan argued.
“Says who? You?”
Declan and Tatiana were engaged in a standoff, and Kyle looked pissed.
Declan broke the silence. “This was your idea, Brooks. You deal with her.”
With a shake of his head, he left the dining room with Kyle following.
“Deal with her?” she spit out.
“Doll, you really need to chill the hell out. I don’t know who fucked you over, I’d assume Monroe. But we’re not the enemy. The giant chip on your shoulder is?—”
“You keep saying that as if you know me.”
“I keep saying it, because it’s true. You’re making this personal when it’s not. No one is trying to fuck with you. You’re so ready to be offended you jump to conclusions.”
“It may not be personal for you, but it is for me.”
“And there’s your first problem. The minute you allow a mission to become personal, you’re compromised.”
Tatiana was shooting daggers at me. Her pretty brown eyes were on fire and she didn’t look the least bit interested in what I had to say. But if she had stopped a minute and let go of some of her hostile attitude, she would’ve seen I wasn’t wrong.
“We’ve shared with you what we know and what we’re doing in Bahrain. Why don’t you come clean and tell me who you’re working for? Maybe we can come up with something that works for all of us.”
“Who I work for isn’t important.”
“I’m trying to help you, Tatiana. What the fuck?”
“I don’t need your help, Brooks.”
“Um. Doll, you obviously do. You had no idea six of the tablets had been confiscated. And you couldn’t find the Bitoo brothers. Without us you’re fucked. Mission fail.”
Her jaw clenched and through gritted teeth she told me, “I can’t fail.”
“Well, you have. If you want to salvage what you can, explain why keeping Lucre in business is so important.”
“Fuck.”
Her hands scrubbed over her face again and she started to pace.
Declan had an op to complete and we were on target to complete our objective.
If Tatiana didn’t start talking, tonight after the Bitoo brothers were taken care of, we’d be out of there and off to track down the Saudi prince.
Then she’d really be fucked, because whatever intel she could’ve gleaned from his capture would be lost.
As beautiful as I thought she was, as drawn to her as I felt, I wouldn’t compromise my goal for her. Not without good reason.