Chapter 23
“She did what?” Declan asked.
We’d just finished telling the guys about the make-out session we’d witnessed.
“Oh, no, it gets worse,” I told him. “After that, Sefa went upstairs. Her older brother, Kadar, followed. I stopped watching when the two of them started going at it.”
“Last thing I saw was Kadar removing her nightgown,” Brooks added.
“What the fuck?” Thad’s eyes were wide in horror. “There’s no way she’s related to them.”
“For argument’s sake, let’s say she’s not the daughter. Then who is she? And is she there of her own free will? And is there a real daughter?”
“Don’t know. But she was smiling and it didn’t look like she was disgusted or being forced. When Kadar and her started going at it, she was trying to get his clothes off,” I told him.
“So what? She’s some sort of mistress they share? Did the younger one…”
“Tahir,” I provided.
“Did Tahir get any action?” Kyle finished.
“Nope. Just dear ole dad and big brother,” Brooks answered.
“That’s fucked. Don’t even joke about it.” Max shook his head.
“I’ll call this in to Garrett and Tex. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of this.” Declan’s gaze landed on mine and he asked, “Seriously, full on make-out session?”
“Yes. Ass grabbing included. Right in front of the house.”
The whole scene was forever imprinted on my mind.
I really hoped the intel was bad and Sefa was not Matek Nazari’s daughter.
It wasn’t like it would be all that hard for a man like Nazari to get a forged birth certificate made.
If that was the case, the question was, why the hell go through all the trouble?
It wasn’t like it would’ve been frowned upon for him to take a new wife after the first one died.
The age difference wouldn’t even be an issue.
The whole situation was bizarre. And totally gross.
“I don’t feel comfortable engaging on an unknown woman,” Declan said. “If she’s an innocent being forced into some sort of sex… I don’t even know what to call what they’re doing. Bottom line is, we’re not going in until we have good intel on the woman.”
Everyone gave their agreeance but something was bothering me.
"I don't think she's a victim," I told the guys.
"Why?" Kyle asked.
"I've followed her. She goes out alone, meets with friends. There are no guards. If she’s being held against her will, there have been plenty of times she could've escaped."
"There are many ways to force someone into a situation. You don't always need guns and guards to do it," Declan reminded me.
"There are, yes. But she's complicit in his smuggling operation. I've seen it. My gut is telling me she's an opportunist, not a victim."
I regretted my words as soon as I'd said them. Why would anyone in the room take me seriously after our discussion in the car? I'd admitted I didn't trust myself anymore, yet there I was telling the team I only had a gut feeling, no facts to go on.
"You could be right. Let's see what Tex and Garrett dig up and we'll go from there."
That was Declan's way of nicely dismissing my opinion. I appreciated he hadn't called me out in front of everyone.
"And for the record, Tatiana, if you believe she's in on it, I trust your insight. I’m not questioning you. I just think we need to know more about this woman and where she came from.”
“What did you guys find?” Brooks asked Max and Thad.
“Nothing useful,” Thad answered. “Just confirmation he’s been seen in the area.”
“I’m gonna grab a beer. Anyone else?” Kyle asked, already walking toward the kitchen.
“A beer?” I questioned.
“One of the many perks of working for Z Corps. Fully stocked fridge in all our safehouses,” Brooks informed me.
The other four men called out their yeses. As good as a beer sounded, a shower sounded even better.
“I’m gonna get a shower in first,” I told the guys.
Brooks’ gaze shifted to mine and a wicked smile tugged at his lips. Tingles hit me in all the right places and with great difficulty I kept my face blank. Visions of his naughty promise filled my mind, I had to get away from him before I lost the battle and my cheeks heated.
Not waiting for anyone to acknowledge my announcement, I left the room as quickly as I could without looking like I was fleeing a crime scene.
By the masculine chuckles behind me, I’d failed.
Whatever. I was beyond being embarrassed.
Not to mention, the condo we were now staying in only had three bedrooms. Two of the rooms had two twin-sized beds and the third had only one bed.
A full-sized. Guess which room I was assigned to?
A full-sized bed was barely big enough for a man Brooks’ size.
The two of us would be crammed on top of each other.
The thought made the tingling from earlier reappear.
In an effort to not think about tonight’s sleeping arrangements, I opened my backpack and rummaged through the contents, finding something clean to change into.
My cell phone vibrated, startling me. Shit, I’d forgotten I hadn’t checked in with Leon in over twelve hours.
Was I still supposed to be checking in with him?
Z Corps had officially taken over my employment and neither Zane nor Leon had clarified who I was working for.
Just because Zane was now signing my paychecks didn’t mean I no longer worked for The Company.
I found my phone as the call went to voicemail. Three missed calls from Leon. Interesting. He’d never called three times back to back before. Not bothering to check the voicemails he’s left, I returned his call.
“There you are,” he barked.
“Hello, Leon. How are you?”
My question was met with silence. He was probably rolling his eyes at my attempt of politeness.
“Great. Listen, there’s been a shift. I have a job for you.”
“Okay.” I drew the word out and unease hit my stomach.
“Sefa Nazari.”
“What about her?”
“She’s your target.”
“My target? Our orders are Nazari and only his children if they engage.”
“That may be the orders Zane has given his men. However, your objective is Sefa Nazari. You have two hours. I’ll expect an update when the job is done. And one more thing. This is need to know and none of the men you are with need to know.”
The unease I’d felt moments ago turned into apprehension. I was no stranger to top secret directives. The assassination order didn’t even bother me. It wasn’t the first and it wouldn’t be the last. What I didn’t like was having to keep secrets from the team.
“Did you hear me?”
“I heard you.”
“You have two hours.”
“Copy that.”
Leon disconnected and I tossed my phone on the bed.
I couldn’t forget what Zane had told me about Z Corps being a better option than The Company.
And I still wasn’t sure what he meant when he told me he knew more about them than I did, but less than he should.
I worked with Leon for years, he’d never given me any indication I couldn’t trust him, so why was I second-guessing his orders now?
I shouldn’t have been questioning anything.
I had a direct order, one that I needed to obey.
“Everything okay?”
“Jesus.” I startled and turned toward the doorway with my heart damn near in my throat. “Yeah. Everything’s fine.”
“You sure? You look like you’re weighing something big over there.”
“Nope. Just thinking about Sefa and Nazari,” I semi-lied.
I was thinking about Sefa, just not the way I’d allowed Brooks to believe I was. I’d already started to plan how I’d take her out. I only had two hours. That was not a lot of time to shower, sneak away from the team, complete my mission, and come back.
“Yeah, that shit was pretty jacked,” he returned.
I picked up my clean clothes, phone, and started for the door.
“It was. Time to wash the ick off.” I shouldered past him, ignoring the ‘what the fuck’ look he gave me and made my way down the hallway to the one bathroom we’d all have to share. I quickly shut the door and tuned the lock before Brooks followed me in and started asking questions.
No sooner had I turned the taps on, undressed, and stepped under the shower spray, guilt hit me hard.
I’d lied to Brooks. Not the way I had to keep my cover when we’d first met, but straight out.
And in ten minutes I was going to lie to the rest of the team and sneak away.
Leon would text me the location where I could pick up a weapon and I would assassinate a woman we’d all agreed to gather more intel on.
My conscience wouldn’t shut up and neither would Zane’s nagging voice, reminding me these men would take a bullet for me.
Fuck.
My hair was barely wet when I jerked the spigot handle and turned the water off.
I yanked a towel off the hook and angrily dried my body.
I couldn’t do it. Taking out Sefa wasn’t the issue.
Lying, turning my back on the team, was.
And it wouldn’t be one lie. They’d all pile on top of each other.
Sneaking away was just the tip of the iceberg.
Tomorrow when they found out she was dead, more lies would follow.
When they investigated who took her out, even more lies would mount.
Then there was the other problem I had. Zane.
I’d never known him to be a bullshitter.
He had the best instincts in the business and he’d admitted, not in so many words, there was something about The Company he didn’t like.
He wouldn’t have told me working for him was a better option if he hadn’t had misgivings about the people I worked for.
I didn’t know if it was Leon Brown he didn’t trust or The Company as a whole.
Either was a good enough reason to give me pause.
With clean clothes on, I went in search of the guys. I found them all except Brooks, sitting around the dining room table.
“Where’s Brooks?” I asked.
Four sets of eyes swung my way. All of them with matching looks of curiosity.
“Right here,” he said from behind me and walked into the dining area.
With a deep inhale, I prayed I was doing the right thing. Not only was I breaking protocol, I was getting ready to break operational security. I glanced down at the phone in my hand and thought better about speaking freely with the device in the room.
I held up the phone with one hand and gestured with the other to give me a minute. After running back to the bedroom, shoving the phone into my backpack and shutting the door, I felt better about going against Leon’s order not to tell the team.
“What’s wrong?” Declan asked as soon as I reentered the room.
“When I went back to the room, I had three missed calls from my handler. When I returned the call, he informed me I had a new assignment.”
“What? He’s pulling you?” Brooks asked.
“No. He gave me a two hour clock to assassinate Sefa Nazari.”
“What the fuck?” Declan stood. “Zane didn’t say anything about that.”
“He doesn’t know about the mission shift. My orders are need to know. I was specifically told none of you were to be in the know.”
Well, I now knew how to get a room full of operatives stunned into silence. The men all exchanged looks and waited for someone to say something. Declan’s face turned to stone, and Brooks looked like he was getting ready to explode.
Great.