Dominance Never Dies (Masters and Mercenaries Book 11)

by Lexi Blake

  Ian pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call Alex and see if he and Eve will take the twins so Chelsea can work on this. I assume with Mr. White’s approval she can answer to me without being a traitor. As for the rest of it, this is your op, Case. I’ll follow your lead.”

  Ian turned and started to dial.

  It was his mission. He intended to make sure he got his girl and his brother back.

  * * * *

  Mia wished she wasn’t in a bathrobe. Clothes. They were super helpful when one was kidnapped.

  How long had it been? Hours at least. Maybe a full day since she’d clung to Case and prayed that this had all been a shitty dream.

  Granted, though, she’d been drugged for a while so her sense of time could be fucked.

  She had no idea what had been done to her while she was out. It made her feel ridiculously small.

  Don’t think about it. Take stock of where you are.

  She kept her eyes closed because she had no idea who was watching her. There was a hum all around her, a vibration beneath her body and a definite sense of motion.

  “I know you’re awake. You might as well sit up. It’s almost time to land and this hunk of junk is going to descend pretty quickly. I’ve got a bag ready for you,” a voice said over the whine of the plane’s engine.

  Mia opened her eyes and had to contain her shock.

  Theo Taggart was sitting in front of her, his blue eyes staring down with absolutely no recognition in them at all. She gasped a little as she realized that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. He had a long, angry scar that ran across his face. It started right under his left eye and wove its way down to his jawline. It had to have happened sometime right after she’d seen him because it was already healed to a nasty pale pink. He held a hand out.

  She took it, allowing him to help her up. Her mind was foggy, her stomach not exactly still.

  The last thing she remembered was holding on to Case and then a man in a mask hit him and jabbed a needle into her arm and everything had gone dark.

  “Where am I?” She shifted the robe so nothing was hanging out. It looked like someone had also covered her with a blanket. It draped across her lap, but while she’d been lying down it would have covered her body.

  It was a stupid question because she was obviously in some kind of a cargo plane. She was sitting on one side and Theo on the other. As her eyesight came back into focus, she could see the metal all around her. It looked like they were in the back of the plane.

  “You’re about to be in Sierra Leone,” he said over the hum of the engines.

  “Are you going to give her a full report and maybe plans to the compound so she can escape?” Tony Santos strode over and slid his lean body into the seat beside Theo’s, his eyes finding Mia. “He got that scar the hard way. It was punishment for what he did to help you last time. You’ll find he’s been properly trained to obey during this op.”

  Fucking Tony Santos. Oh, damn it to hell. Case was going to slap her ass silly for this.

  “So you’re working with McDonald?”

  Santos sat back, crossing one long leg over the other. “I worked for her father for a very long time. When it became obvious she was in trouble, I came to her aid.”

  Theo frowned. “How did I help her? I’ve never met her.”

  Santos’s lip curled up in a vicious grin. “The doc is still working on the right mixture for him. It’s a little different for everyone. He’s proven to be stubborn when it comes to bending to another’s will.”

  “So you cut him up?” She wanted to reach out and grab Theo’s hand. He looked so much like Case. His face had been almost identical, but now there would be no one who would ever mistake them again. Another crime to lay at Hope McDonald’s feet.

  How many more scars did he bear? Did he even know why they were there? Or did he wake every morning and simply accept what he saw in the mirror?

  “I was angry at the time,” Santos allowed. “He had strict instructions. He tried to lie, tried to say his comm unit wasn’t working and the last thing he’d understood was a kill order. The kill order was for your boyfriend. I was very explicit in my instructions concerning you. You were to be brought back with the hacker and taken with us. Yeah, I think he was hoping we would be so busy getting the hell out of there that we wouldn’t notice. Sometimes it helps that the poor fucker can’t remember much past a day or two.”

  “Why would I lie?” Theo asked, his eyes tight. “Why would I go against direct orders?”

  “Stop trying to remember and it won’t hurt so much, buddy.” Santos put a hand on Theo’s shoulder as if they were friends. “You know you’re not very good at thinking. It’s not your talent.”

  “It is,” Mia countered. “You’re quite good at it, Theo. When you were a Navy SEAL you weren’t a grunt. You had to think your way out of tight situations.”

  His face went hard. “I was never in the military. This has always been my home. Excuse me. I’m going to check with the pilot. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. Fucking mercenaries. Why Mother didn’t allow Victor to fly us I have no idea.”

  He stood and strode toward the front of the plane, his hand briefly going to his head.

  “You can’t get him that way.” Santos regarded her with curious eyes. “He’s been trained to think of certain things when the memories start to surface. First there’s the headache and then his brain goes to its safe place. He’s always been here, always had his brothers around him.”

  “His true brothers will find him someday and then you’ll get a real taste of his family.” Mia didn’t mention that the day might come sooner than they thought.

  If this plane was going to land in Sierra Leone, then they had no idea Case had laid a trap. She wasn’t about to give up that piece of information. Her man would need every conceivable advantage he could get because he was going to flip his shit when he woke up.

  If he woke up.

  What if they’d killed him?

  “You just went pale,” Santos observed. “Are you just now realizing how precarious your position is? You’re going to be in a foreign country with no one but me to protect you. My partner can be a bit unstable at times. Maybe it’s best if you stick close to me.”

  Eww. “No, I wasn’t worried about myself and don’t expect me to play the wounded doe. If you come at me expect to get your balls handed to you because I’m not about to trade my body for protection. So let’s call it what it is. Rape. You going to get rapey on me, Santos? Because if you do, you better kill me afterward. I won’t keep quiet and my family might be so happy to have me back alive and whole that they concentrate on me, but if I’m damaged in any way, they won’t stop hunting your ass down. Do I make myself clear?”

  “As crystal.” He shrugged it off as though it was no big deal. “No romance then. Tell me something—are you involved with both Taggart and Kent?”

  “Kent?”

  He waved a hand. “Sorry, I believe you know the man as Ezra Fain. He’s a CIA agent. I recognized him because I worked briefly with him on an operation in Indonesia. Kent preferred to work alone. Mostly because he’s one of those idiots who tends to feel a bit ashamed of his crimes. He shouldn’t. He’s an excellent killer. Clean and precise. He was an assassin for a while before the Agency decided to see if he was smart enough to turn into a real field agent. Smart man, but he couldn’t quite stop that conscience of his.”

  She was going to have a long talk with Ezra when she got back home. “Sounds like a good thing to have.”

  “Not when you’re a spy, pretty girl. When you’re a spy it tends to get in the way of the job. But I remember how much the man enjoyed the kill. It’s why I didn’t take you on the beach that day. I saw him. I think he let me see him. That was when I realized I had to try to get you to the clinic. You were the real target. The hacker was a bonus. We didn’t have one of those. When it became apparent you had no idea who he was, I realized Kent was playing an angle. You were his pawn.
Now I have the queen and I intend to get paid.”

  “So you’re going to ransom me back to my brother?”

  “Of course. And I’ll attempt to keep you intact. I suspect getting in a war with your brother could be tricky. I don’t want to have to slit his throat in the middle of the night. He’s too high profile a target. But he knows the game. He’ll pay and then we’ll be done.”

  “Until the next time you need a little cash.”

  He shrugged slightly, not denying the accusation at all. “Hopefully we won’t. The doctor believes she’s almost at a breakthrough. The new drug has completely wiped Victor’s mind and he no longer requires daily doses. Only Theo seems to be holding out. Once he no longer reverts to form, we’ll be ready to sell. Then we’ll never need money again.”

  “I suspect you’ll need a good lawyer at some point.”

  “There’s no FDA out here, and once we’ve sold the protocols and formula we’ll all disappear completely.”

  “What about Theo and the others? What happens to them when you and the fine doctor ride off into the sunset? And what do you mean by reverting? How does Theo revert to form?”

  Santos glanced down at his watch as though checking to ensure he was on time. “We’ve still got a bit of time to kill and I suspect Dr. McDonald will erase your memories of this incident anyway, so why not talk? Theo was her first experiment and he’s proven to be her most difficult subject. If he goes off the meds for more than a few days, his memories begin to surface. Dr. McDonald believes she’s handled the problem. You see, after the incident in Colombia, she realized she had to break him or kill him. She refined the drug and the protocols involving young Taggart. She’d been too easy with him. She preferred to attempt simple psychological manipulations. I knew that wouldn’t work so I gave him pain, indescribable amounts of pain. The drug made it seem longer, worse than it was, though you should know it was bad enough without the drugs.”

  He was a monster. “You hurt him. What did that prove?”

  “Effective is what it proved to be. Once the subject realized he would die if he didn’t submit, his episodes of rebellion became less and he’s able to go for longer without the drug. Dr. McDonald gave him a massive dose two months ago and he’s had no issues since. His memory is wiped clean. Who he was is completely gone and he will be who we train him to be.”

  She felt sick and it wasn’t because the plane was shuddering. How could a person’s memories be lost? They couldn’t be completely lost. There had to be a way to bring him back. When she’d mentioned the SEALs, he’d had a reaction. That had to mean something. “So he’ll go with you when you head for the hills, so to speak?”

  “If by ‘hill’ you mean my own private island, then yes. We’ll need guards we can trust and they also serve as examples of how our product works. You would be surprised at how effective a killing machine a man can be when his humanity is utterly erased. Another issue we have with Taggart. We still have issues with that pesky conscience. He was the one to cover you up and watched over you to ensure no one touched you while you were drugged. He was quite insistent. And I thought we’d been doing so well. The minute a female who isn’t the doctor enters the scene, Taggart struggles to remember who he is. Robert as well. He has some of the same issues as Taggart. I’ve tried sex therapy with all three of our boys, attempted to get them to view women as a sexual outlet and nothing more. It hasn’t gone well, though at least with Robert sex seems to ease some of his discontent. Our problem with him is entirely different. Robert wants to keep all the prostitutes we bring in like they’re teddy bears or something.”

  She remembered how Robert had wanted to keep her, how he’d tried to hold on to her. “And Theo?”

  “He won’t touch them. Says they’re not right.”

  Because they weren’t Erin. Because deep down, under all the pain and drugs and treatments, he was still there and still in love with the woman who’d borne his son. “Good for Theo. I suppose Victor got an A plus in screwing over hookers.”

  “Victor always strangles them after he’s done. Messy, but it tends to make him happy. I was the one who pointed out that perhaps selecting soldiers wasn’t our best bet. Victor was my experiment. I picked him out of a prison. With no morality to wipe away, all we had to do was train him not to bite the hand that feeds. Truthfully, if I had my way, I’d terminate the other two. I still think they’re dangerous but the doctor is fond of them, and harming Robert is an effective way to keep Taggart in line. Though please call him Tomas. Calling him anything else tends to give him a bad headache.”

  She’d never hated anyone quite the way she hated Tony in that moment. And she was a child who’d lost her parents over the greed of others. Somehow Santos’s sins seemed worse. He and McDonald were keeping good men in hell so they could make a profit.

  “I’ll make sure not to give him anymore pain than he already has,” she returned. “Should I even ask where we’re going to be staying? I don’t suppose it’s a nice hotel.”

  “Hardly, but then you don’t mind it much when you’re fucking that boy toy of yours.” Santos’s eyes narrowed. “I watched you with him. Should I perhaps offer you to Theo and see if you can change his mind about sex? We know he’s your type.”

  Case was her only type. “I’m fairly certain I’m not his.”

  “Still, it would be a fun way to fuck with Case Taggart. Perhaps he would enjoy a postcard with a lovely picture of you in bed with his brother.”

  “I’m sure he would have something to say about it.” Thank god he was alive. He was alive. She could breathe again.

  “So it was Case you were worried about,” Santos said with a nod of his head. “You thought I’d killed him. I won’t anger Ian Taggart more than my partner already has. She was insane to think she could take a Taggart brother and they wouldn’t find out. Believe me, if I had a say in the matter, I would give that kid back and pray the tiger didn’t strike. Perhaps one day I’ll have more of a choice and then I’ll make a deal with the Taggarts to end this needless war we find ourselves in.”

  She could read between the lines. So the minute he no longer needed the doctor, he would kill her and try to save his own skin and keep all the cash. It wouldn’t work. He was severely underestimating Big Tag’s desire for revenge. He wouldn’t be satisfied with merely getting his brother back. He would ensure the people who’d taken Theo could never do it again.

  It was the mistake Santos was making with her as well. Drew would get her back, take a deep breath, and then likely hire an assassin to murder Santos. Drew didn’t forget and he never forgave.

  Never.

  Santos stood, stretching himself out. “As for your accommodations, well, we’re going to be hosted by a clinic. I’m sick as shit of clinics, but the doc enjoys playing around with the patients. I suspect you won’t be there long. I’ve already sent your brother a note requesting payment. Naturally he wants proof of life. We’ll settle in at the clinic and then make him a little video. You’ll be home in a few days and we’ll have the cash we need to finish the project. Victor! Come back and keep an eye on our guest, will you?”

  Great. She was getting left with the serial killer.

  Theo was the one who showed up. “Sorry. Hutch is flying the plane and Robert is watching him. I’m afraid the turbulence has affected Victor. He’s busy puking. I can handle one small female.”

  Santos stared at him. “You know Mother will be disappointed if you screw this up. She’s going to meet us in a few days. That means you’re under my command. If you think Mother can punish you, you don’t want to know what I’ll do this time.”

  “If you’ll send me the report of how I screwed up last time, perhaps I won’t do it again.” Theo stood at attention, his shoulders back, his feet aligned. His handsome face was blank, but his tone firm. He was a soldier seeking orders, wanting guidance.

  “Just obey and all will be well,” Santos said with a shake of his head. “Watch her. It’s not like she can go many places. We
’ll be touching down in an hour or so. Mother will meet us in a week. She’s got some tests to run. Until then you’re my soldiers. Is that understood?”

  Theo nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll sit with her. I don’t particularly like to be around the new guy. His voice makes my head hurt. I want to stay away from him at the new headquarters.”

  Santos touched his shoulder. “I’ll see to it. Behave and you’ll see that you can have many privileges, Tomas. You’ll see. Everything’s about to change. Once we sell her back to her brother, we’ll have what we need and Mother will be happy with you. That’s what you want, right?”

  “Of course,” Theo replied.

  An hour until they reached their destination. An hour until they landed and went to meet the person who would provide them with shelter.

  Was that Case’s plan? She knew they’d been going to Sierra Leone. How far ahead of McDonald and Santos were they?

  She had to trust in Case. She had to be ready for anything.

  Most of all, she had to survive and get back to her man.

  Theo sat down beside her, his body stiff.

  But maybe, while she was surviving, she could help her man’s brother. She stared at Theo for a moment. He was so rigid, so tense. His jaw looked like it was made of granite.

  “You don’t like Hutch?”

  He turned, one brow rising over his eye. “He’s annoying to me.”

  Likely because he reminded Theo that he wasn’t Tomas. It wouldn’t do her any good to come at the situation directly. If she did that, Theo would walk away. “Does he still like candy?”

  She asked the question with a smile, with none of the seriousness of before.

  Theo shook his head. “He requested sugar in the beginning. We’re not allowed sugar. It’s not proper in our diets. We have to be in top physical condition to do the work we do.”

  That was the company line. She needed to go a bit deeper. She gave him a soft smile. “I like chocolate. I can’t help it. It’s an addiction. But I have a friend who loves lemon. Everything lemon, especially sweets.”