Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries Book 11)

by Lexi Blake

  Fain didn’t seem concerned. He strode right alongside Case. “He’s my boss now. I suppose he called your brother since he’s kind of Ian’s boss, too. That makes you low man on the totem pole.”

  “There’s no time to argue.” Michael kept up despite the fact that his leg had to still ache. He’d had a couple of days to recover, but it was obvious to Case that it was still stiff. “And don’t tell me to stay behind. I’m coming with you. Someone’s going to have to explain everything to Ian.”

  But he knew his brother better than that. He even knew damn well how Ian had found him. All McKay-Taggart field operatives got what Ian liked to call the “lost puppy chip.” Case, Michael, and Hutch all had GPS enabled microchips implanted in their hands. Not that it had done Theo any good. McDonald had simply cut it out of him. But it had apparently led his oldest brother right to him.

  “You’re going to thank me later,” Fain said as they rushed down the stairs. “We need this backup. You have zero idea what we’re going into.”

  “Only because you’re the moron who couldn’t follow simple instructions to get the security cams up,” Case said between clenched teeth. He had to keep it together. It was a big building, but there were only a couple of entrances and exits. They could run, but they wouldn’t be able to hide in there forever.

  He hit the lobby at a run and damn near knocked over a bigger, older version of himself. Like he’d thought, Ian didn’t ask for explanations. He looked at Case and his body went still.

  “What do you need?”

  That was his brother. He knew when the shit had hit the fan and he didn’t ask for explanations.

  “Theo’s in the building across the road. He’s got Mia and Hutch. You should probably know we’re going to have to blast our way out and the building is very likely owned by a cartel.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Lawless asked, his face going a nice shade of red. He turned with the group as they made their way out to the street.

  “What’s wrong with Malone?” Liam asked, his voice cool and calm. “You’re walking stiff.”

  “He got shot during the near kidnapping,” Lawless complained, proving that Fain was a tattletale.

  “How many ways out of the building are there?” Ian ignored everything but Case.

  “Three, but I’m going in the front.” He had to get to Mia.

  “I’m going after my sister,” Lawless insisted. He was a tall, well-built man in his mid-thirties. He wore a suit, his golden hair slightly shaggy. “I can’t believe she’s involved in this.”

  “Maybe you don’t know her the way I do then,” Case shot back as he crossed the street and started to make for the door. He pulled his SIG. There would be no playing around. He needed to get to her, to see that she was all right.

  Theo. No. He needed to get her and save Theo.

  “Subtlety,” Ian said, his voice a bark. “Keep that piece under cover until we need it. You do not want the Cartagena police involved. Malone, do you know where the exits are?”

  “I do,” Michael said as they approached the building. “I can get to the back. There’s a loading dock there and a small door to the alley on the way.”

  “Li, go with Malone. Alex?” Ian asked.

  “I’ll take the door,” McKay said. “I wish we’d had time to set up comms.”

  “Yeah, little brother and I are going to have a long talk about proper communication at the end of this,” Ian vowed. “It might end with my foot up his ass.”

  His brother was truly a gifted communicator, but nothing mattered right now. Nothing except getting his people out of that fucking building safe and unharmed.

  Getting Mia. He had to get Mia.

  Theo. He couldn’t let Theo go.

  “Calm yourself down or I’ll bench you,” Ian threatened even as they walked toward the door. “That goes for you, too, Lawless. Asshole who I don’t know but who will be vetted on a level you’ve never understood before?”

  Fain looked at Ian. “I suppose that’s me. Yes, sir?”

  “If you get my brother or my client killed I’m going to make you into a human centipede with the most disgusting, vile people I can possibly find and you’re going to be hooked up to the one who can’t control himself, if you know what I mean. I’m serious. I’ve got the logistics worked out and everything.”

  “I will do my best, sir. Mr. Lawless, I’m going to need you to stay close to me and let the Taggarts do what they do best,” Fain said evenly.

  What the Taggarts did best was kick some ass.

  “I knew I should have come down the minute she started dodging my calls,” Lawless muttered.

  “Excuse me.” The man who worked as the valet approached them. “This is a private party.”

  Lawless didn’t miss a beat. He walked right up to the dude and punched him hard in the face, the sound thudding. The valet went down and Case’s appreciation for Mia’s brother went up.

  “Is there anyone else I can punch?” Lawless asked. “That felt good.”

  Ian reached under his jacket. “I’m afraid the rest of this is a firefight. You remember what I taught you?”

  “I remember you punched me every time I got it wrong,” Lawless replied. “And yes, I remember how to use a gun. I know what to do and I know where to go if I need to run. I’ll get Mia and meet you.”

  That rankled. “I’ll handle Mia.”

  Lawless didn’t bother to look his way, keeping his eyes on Ian. “You deal with your brother and I’ll deal with my sister. After this is over, I assure you we’re going to have a long talk, Case. If anything happens to her, you won’t like what I have to say.”

  They walked through the front door. No guard. Apparently they were all dealing with Mia and Hutch.

  He glanced around the room, seeing it for the first time. It was done up with twinkle lights and greenery, matching the garden theme of the event. There were lovely women in evening gowns and men in tuxedoes and suits milling about, drinking champagne and talking. Had no one noticed the blonde being abducted by big Americans?

  “Stay calm.” Ian had his phone out and had dialed a number. “Alex, you in position?”

  Alex’s voice came over the line. “I’m good and all’s quiet here. Malone and Li are on their way to the loading dock. I’ll hear it if something goes wrong. You got sight on the target?”

  God, the target was his brother.

  “Not yet,” Ian replied. “Keep this line open.”

  Case saw a flash move toward the back of the room. “Nine o’clock.”

  He started moving through the crowd, his heart pounding. He’d seen a brief glimpse of Mia’s long blonde hair and the back of a man in a black suit, pressing her along.

  Theo. Theo had Mia and Case suddenly wasn’t sure what this Theo would do with her. He’d been so certain that no matter what anyone did to his brother, Theo would still stay Theo—patient where Case was quick tempered, jovial where Case could be surly. Never violent outside the bounds of his job. Certainly never violent when it came to a woman. Not Theo. Theo wouldn’t even scare a woman, but Case had heard Mia’s gasp on the line before it had gone dead. She’d been scared of his brother.

  Someone yelled something in Spanish, but Case didn’t care. He had to get to Mia, to Theo. He had to stop whatever the hell was about to happen. He definitely had to stop them from getting away. He’d spent a year in hell mourning his brother. He knew in an instant he couldn’t handle mourning Mia. If they took Mia, he wouldn’t ever stop searching. If he found her body, he might lie down beside it and let himself fade.

  Please don’t take Mia. Please don’t fucking take her.

  He wasn’t sure who he was praying to, but the words pounded through his brain as he raced down the hall.

  The lights were low in this part of the building. He could hear some shouting behind him and he could feel he’d gotten past Ian and Lawless. He was in front, but he couldn’t slow down. He wouldn’t lose them.

  And then he stopped, his
boots squealing on the floor as he came face to face with his brother for the first time in a year. Theo was standing in front of him, Mia held by one of the two men flanking Theo.

  “Case!” Mia yelled.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off his twin. “Theo? Theo, it’s me. It’s Case. I’m your brother.”

  That was the moment that his brother, the man he’d spent his whole life with, who’d shared his world from the moment of their conception—that was the moment he lifted his gun and pulled the trigger.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Mia screamed as the gun went off and Case went down.

  A hand clamped down over her mouth and she found herself dragged through the darkened hallway. “Don’t make a sound or you’ll be next. I don’t want to hurt a woman, but I will if I have to.”

  She wasn’t sure which of the two were talking. She’d been watching Theo and then she’d been hustled to the hallway, her communication device crushed under Theo’s boot. She’d known Case would come after her, but everything happened so fast.

  Case was shot. Theo had shot Case. Oh god, was he dead? Case couldn’t be dead.

  “Did you get the other one?” Theo asked, his voice a cold, dead version of Case’s.

  “He’s already in the back,” the first guard she’d spoken to said. Robert. He was the one with his arm around her waist, pushing her along. “Victor handled him.”

  She turned, trying to see Case. All she’d had was one glimpse of him. He’d stood there, but he hadn’t seen her. He’d been looking at his brother. Her heart twisted at the thought. It no longer mattered why he’d pushed her away. All that mattered was she loved him. All that mattered was Case.

  “Please let me help him,” she whispered as the guard pushed her through a door. “Let me go and get back to him. You can get away. Just let me go to him.”

  “I can’t.” Her captor’s arm tightened. “I won’t.”

  She heard the door close behind her with a quiet thud, heard the snick of a lock turning into place.

  “Who the hell was that?” Robert asked, turning with her still in his arms. “He looked like Tomas. Just like Tomas. How is that possible? Are there more of us?”

  “I don’t know.” Theo stared at the door he’d locked as though he could see through, see to the brother he’d left bleeding.

  “His name is Case,” Mia said, barely able to breathe for how tightly Robert held her. “Case Taggart. He’s Theo’s brother. Theo is Tomas’s real name. Theo Taggart. Please, Theo, you have to listen to me. Everything that woman has told you is a lie.”

  Theo turned to her, his eyes glacial. “Stop calling me that. You’re the one who’s lying and it doesn’t matter that he looked like me. He’s dead now.”

  Her vision suddenly seemed to waver. No. He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t. Her heart threatened to seize and then she heard it.

  “Theo!” The shout threatened to shake the walls.

  Case. He was still alive. He was out there. He was hurt, but he wasn’t dead.

  “Sounds like you missed,” the third man said. He was as big as Theo, his coloring dark and his eyes hollow. “Mother will be upset and you need your meds. You’re looking pale, brother.”

  “I hit him, Victor,” Theo insisted. “Apparently he’s very stubborn. You can let her go, Robert. There’s nowhere for her to run. She can’t get out of this room and I doubt he’ll be able to get in.”

  “We have to take them to Mother,” Robert insisted. “Did you do as she asked? Did you get rid of the microchip in his hand? She told us where it would be.”

  Mia was released and she immediately saw what they were talking about. Who they were talking about. “Hutch?”

  She hurried across the room. It looked like it was used for storage, with big industrial shelves on all sides. Hutch was on the floor, his body utterly limp. Mia slid to her knees, reaching for his hand. Case would come for them. He was out there and he wouldn’t stop looking. She had to make sure she and Hutch were alive when Case came.

  She gasped as she got a good look at him. There was one light on in the back of the room, illuminating the damage done to the smart, funny man she’d come to like over the last week. Hutch’s face was swollen, his skin covered in blood. Only the sight of his chest moving up and down gave her hope. “What the hell did you do to him?”

  Theo stood over her. “He resisted. Don’t act like this is my fault. You came into our house and tried to rob us. What were you looking for? Bank accounts? Do you work for the cartel? Because we’ve paid for our protection already. Don’t think for a second, we won’t defend ourselves.”

  “Can we keep the girl for ourselves?” Robert stood beside Theo, staring down at her. “She wasn’t doing anything wrong. The guy was the one breaking in. You didn’t know anything, did you, sweetheart?”

  She was so aware that she was surrounded by men who weren’t entirely in control of their actions. They each wore a Bluetooth device they seemed to communicate through. Was Hope McDonald on the other end of that line? Was she the one they called Mother? Her hands were shaking as she looked up at the face so familiar to her and yet utterly foreign. “Please help him, Theo.”

  “Stop calling me that,” he snarled as he dropped to one knee beside her. “Why do you call me that?”

  “Because it’s your name. Because you’re being lied to and used. All of you. Robert, listen to your own accent. You’re not from New York.” Tears poured from her eyes, but she forced herself to speak.

  Robert ran a hand over his head, twitching slightly. “I am. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now come on. We have to get back to base. You need to keep your mouth shut or she’ll hurt you. You can stay with me.” He looked at his “brothers.” “We can hide her. We can share her.”

  Victor’s eyes narrowed menacingly. “We have our orders. We’re going to follow them.”

  Robert reached for her, dragging her up and against his muscular body. “No. She didn’t do anything. She can’t hurt us. I’m not going to turn her over.”

  “You’re not.” Victor hefted Hutch’s still body up and over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. “Tomas is. I’m taking this one and we’re leaving tonight. We’ve been made. We have to move and we have to do it now. The cartel is here. They’re fighting the invaders.”

  So Case was at work along with Michael and Fain. How many were they up against? How hurt was he? He was definitely hurt. There was no way he wasn’t. How bad was it? Was he dying out there right now?

  “Go.” Theo stood tall amongst them. “I’ll take care of the girl.”

  Robert held her tight. “But I want the girl. I want a woman. I’m sick of being alone. I need someone.”

  “Please take me with you.” If she could get on the inside, she could work on Theo. Case would find her. She just had to stay alive. They’d made two turns after Theo had shot Case. They’d passed a couple of doors. It would take him time to find them. She needed to stall and she knew who the weak link was. “I don’t want to die. I want to live. Please, Robert.”

  His arms tightened around her. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll talk to her. She promised. She promised I could have someone. A woman.”

  So Robert was horny. Or lonely. She could play on that.

  Before she could make her plea, Theo’s hand shot out, gripping her wrist and pulling her to him.

  “Victor, get him out of here or there’s going to be trouble.” Theo hauled her against his body, his hand gripping her throat. “Mother wants me to take care of this. Get out of here before they find us. I’ll secure the door and then follow my orders.”

  Victor reached for Robert. “Let’s go before we get into real trouble.” He looked to Theo. “I’ll see you inside, brother. Robert, we have to go. You’ll feel better once you’ve had your meds.”

  Theo nodded. “Go. Get out of here. Take him with you and I’ll handle the female.”

  Robert looked her way, clear longing on his face. “She promised.”

 
; Theo winced and put his hand to his ear as though he heard something the rest of them couldn’t. “And she’ll get you the right partner. This one is false. She was trying to hurt us. We’ll turn the man. He has talents we can use.” His voice went low. “You have to be patient, Robert. Everything comes in the right time. You know that.”

  Robert nodded slowly and then moved to his left toward another of those industrial shelves. “All right. I’ll go. Be gentle with her. She’s innocent.”

  Theo got close to her, so close she could see the line of his jaw, the stubble that was coming in. “Go. Tell her I’ll be right behind you. I hear her orders. I will obey, but I have to take care of things. Hurry out the proper exit.”

  Victor touched the shelving unit and it slid out, revealing a secret door even as Mia could hear the gunfire getting closer and closer, hear Case’s voice calling out. So close. He was so close, but she felt Theo’s hand around her throat and had to think twice about screaming out his name.

  “Please, Theo. Please don’t hurt me. I love your brother.” She did. Oh god. She loved Case. She’d been willing to admit she was crazy about him, lusted after his hot bod, wanted him to notice her, but she’d only just realized she was willing to sacrifice for him. Herself. Her life. Her soul. But he cared about her, too. Pushing her away was just because he was a stupid butthole. He loved her, too. He couldn’t make love to her the way he did and not love her. It went beyond sex. He was pushing her away because he cared.

  She prayed he cared because she was suddenly ready to give up everything to see him one more time.

  “Who are you?” Theo whispered in her ear.

  “I’m Mia. I love your brother.”

  “I don’t have a brother. Not the way you mean.” He took a long breath in. “Why do you smell so good? You smell perfect. I don’t want you. I don’t like blonde girls, but you smell so good.”

  He sounded a little crazy, but she was willing to give him that since he’d been violated in a million ways. She needed to make him understand. They were alone now. Victor had dragged Hutch away. She had to stay close so Case could find them both. Surely he had a way to find them. “I’m not the one you want. You want Erin. I think I might smell like her. She’s my friend. She gave me body lotion for Christmas. I think it’s the one she uses. I’m wearing it now. I smell like your girlfriend, Erin.”