Chapter 10
I wanted to commit murder.
No. Scratch that. Murder was too easy. Too fast. I wanted to string up every man that dared to touch Tatiana and torture them the way they’d done her.
I’d thought the scars crisscrossing her back had been left from a whip or stick, but when she turned, I’d realized she’d been sliced up and stabbed in the back.
Literally. There was so much scar tissue I couldn’t tell where one wound had ended and another began.
Inhuman pieces of shit. I’d done a lot in the name of country.
Seen a lot more. What I’d never done was brutalized someone.
No one on my team had. That’s not to say I’d never taken a life, I had, plenty of times.
Quick and fast. I had no use for playing with someone.
If you were marked for death, it was because you were either trying to actively kill me or my team, or your crimes were so atrocious it warranted the bullet.
But right now, seeing the marks left on Tatiana’s beautiful flesh I wanted to hunt and maim.
Another piece had clicked into place and I now understood why this was personal for her.
Al Issa meant something to her. I just didn’t understand why keeping him in power was important.
I’d think she’d be happy we’d planned on taking him out.
“What the fuck?” Kyle followed me out of the house into the courtyard.
“Not now,” I warned.
“What the hell happened? Did she bail?”
“I said, not now.”
“I didn’t bail.” Tatiana’s smooth voice drifted over me. She sounded nothing like the strong woman she had hours before when she was going toe to toe with Dec. She sounded unsure and I didn’t like it one bit. “Do you mind if I have a word alone with Brooks?”
“By all means.” I heard the door slam behind my friend and I tried to contain my anger.
“It happened two years ago. My second op with The Company. I was in Saudi Arabia just over the Iraqi border,” she started.
“I had a lead on some items being smuggled out of Iraq, I wanted them before they went to bid. Turned out Lucre wanted them more. I went in to make the buy, so did Al Issa’s men.
I was taken and held for two days. They left with the items, I was left with the scars. ”
I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I had a hundred questions but I couldn’t find my voice. All I could see were the marks on her back. Men had put their filthy hands on her, hurt her. For two days she had to suffer through their brutality.
She sighed and continued, “I thought I was going to die. In and out of consciousness. I actually don’t remember a lot of it.
Maybe I was passed out, or I’d been able to let go of the pain and go somewhere else.
But after they left, I woke up in a home.
A man and his wife were tending to my wounds the best they could.
I called in for an extraction and was on a plane to Germany within an hour. ”
Yet, she still wanted to work alone, even after she was captured and tortured. I didn’t understand. And who the fuck did she work for that had the capabilities to get to her within an hour of her call for help?
“I was lucky and was able to get medical care before infection set in. I was back in the field in five weeks.”
“Five weeks?” She jerked back from my outburst and that pissed me off. “You have no reason to be afraid of me.”
“I’m not.” Her chin lifted in defiance. I’d give Tatiana Jones one thing, she put on a brave face. She wasn’t always truthful, but damn if she didn’t fake it.
“Right.”
“What’s your problem?”
I wasn’t sure what my problem was. I’d seen the horrors of war. I, too, bore the marks of battle. I’d seen what humans were capable of doing to each other. I knew. I lived it. I saw it. But seeing it on her was different. Outrageous. Infuriating.
“What’s The Company?”
“No way. You don’t get to change the subject.”
“Someone hurt you.”
I stepped closer.
“I’m well aware.”
“They cut you.”
Another step.
“Again, I know.”
“They placed their hands on you with the intention of tormenting you.”
Last step and I was face-to-face with her.
“I lived it, Brooks. But nothing happened to me that hasn’t happened to hundreds of soldiers, or aid workers, innocent civilians in the wrong place, or hell, to men I’m sure you’ve worked with. It’s a chance we all take. The price we all know we may have to pay if shit goes sideways.”
“It shouldn’t’ve happened to you.”
“Why not?”
Why not? Why not? I didn’t have a good answer as to why it should’ve never happened to her. She was right, we all know the price, and we all go out into the field and take our chances. Yet, the thought of someone harming Tatiana filled me with irrational rage.
I wanted to pull her into my arms and explain my reaction but I couldn’t put it into words. It was a gut feeling, something deep in my bones. A sense of protectiveness I’d never felt. An uncharacteristic urge to claim her and shield her from anyone who challenged her safety.
“It just shouldn’t’ve,” I lamely told her. “What’s The Company?”
She stared at me for a moment, clearly surprised by my lack of verbal communication skills.
“Do you mind if we go in so I only have to explain this once?”
“Sure.”
“Are you okay?”
“Not even fucking close,” I told her honestly. “Let’s go in.”
She had nothing to say after that, simply looked at me liked I’d grown a few extra heads and went inside.
Yeah, Doll, I know. I’ve lost my ever-loving mind .
The guys were already in the dining room. In addition to the maps that had been laid out, the intel she’d left in the folder was, too. She’d done a good job connecting the dots.
“I’m former CIA,” she blurted out. “I now work for an off-the-books black ops organization called The Company.”
“Never heard of it,” Declan said with his brows pulled together.
“No. You wouldn’t’ve. As I said, it’s off the books. As in, all of the operatives hold down legitimate employment from various different companies. I am truthfully employed by the UN.”
“Who owns it?” That came from Kyle.
“No clue.”
“How do you not know who owns The Company? Who hired you?” I asked.
“I was told about it by one of my colleagues at the CIA. He asked me if I was interested in a career move. When I told him I was, he passed my information on, and a week later I was offered a job. No interview. A man named Leon Brown called me, made the offer, explained everything to me, and gave me my first assignment.”
“So you’re rogue,” Declan declared.
“I’m sure the US government would agree with you.”
“What’s your assignment?”
“Exactly what I told you. Win the auction on the tablets. Once the payment is transferred, we track the money. The Company will see where it’s funneled to.
Mostly it goes to fund small extremist groups.
The up and comers. They are stopped before they can gain traction.
Some of the money goes to warlords, the conflicts are good for the smuggling business.
Those are typically untouched, those keep the flow of goods. ”
“But only four tablets remain,” I reminded her.
“I’ve been thinking about that.” She started pacing. “I think the Bitoos double-crossed the Lucre and were trying to sell the tablets outside of the auction. I’m not asking for mission specifics, but who sent in the SEALs to recover the artifacts?”
My mind was still spinning on the fact she’d been CIA.
And now I was struggling with how much to trust her with, considering she was a good actress.
All the bullshit with an off-the-books group, we’d have no way to verify her story.
I wondered if Tex knew, or Zane. Tex could find anything on anyone.
The Company she supposedly worked for was not in her dossier, neither was her previous employment at the CIA.
Those records didn’t just vanish. Even if she’d been scrubbed from their database, Tex would’ve been able to dig and find them.
Unless the intel was purposely withheld from us, but why would they do that?
“Special assignment. No other information was given,” Declan told her.
“What do you think?” Tatiana turned and asked me.
What did I think? I thought the whole situation was fucked-up.
I much preferred a clear and clean cut mission.
Black and white. I knew my target and executed my orders.
I didn’t like this double-cross, who-done-it bullshit.
The gray murky area where you had to wade through layers of deceit to get to the truth.
“Given what we know, I’d agree with you,” I answered.
Her dark eyes held mine, waiting for me to expand on my curt reply. She’d be waiting a long time. I had nothing to add.
“We found the money trail. So, after tonight we’re done?” I asked Declan.
“Not exactly. Mission scope has expanded.”
“Expanded?”
“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.