Master No (5 page)

If he allowed it, Hutch would go on all day. “Tell me you got Faith McDonald at least.”

“There’s your five hundred back. And you should really save more money than that. It’s pathetic.” He turned back to Ten. “Of course I got her. I’ve had her for days.”

“And you didn’t bother to mention this to me until now?” He was well aware he’d gone ice cold.

“She hasn’t done anything interesting yet. And her Internet is spotty. I’ll write a report when she does anything interesting.” If Hutch was put off by the chill in his tone, he didn’t show it.

Sometimes Ten thought he’d been too easy on his team. “I want to know everything. How did you get her?”

Hutch’s eyes came up, looking thoughtfully at Ten. “Shopping for cheap medical supplies. I took her to an actual website I’d already infected and forced her to download an app to order. Once the app was active on her system, I was in and she got cheap latex gloves and surgical tape. I’ve got copies of her e-mails. It looks like her last Dom dumped her for a more submissive thing. I wouldn’t ask Faith to mop your floors. I don’t think she’s that kind of sub.”

“I thought you didn’t know much about her.” He found he didn’t like the idea of Hutch getting such a personal look at Faith McDonald when all he had was a few reports from Erin and a folder detailing Faith’s life.

Hutch shrugged in a way that let Ten know Hutch was more invested than he would like to be. “I find her interesting. I kind of wonder if it’s right to use her like this.”

Hutch was asking him that? Hutch, the former black hat hacker. Hutch, who had hacked literally thousands of people’s lives? Hutch, who would likely be in jail if the Agency hadn’t recruited him. “Do I need to remind you how many people died because of her father? They didn’t simply die. They were tortured in horrific ways. Hank McDonald doesn’t give a shit about the Geneva Conventions. He cares about money and if we don’t shut him down, more of our servicemen and women are going to fall to his greed.”

“We have no reason to believe she knows anything about her father’s dealings,” Hutch argued.

“We do know she’s the only way in,” Tag said, his voice deep with authority. “Do you think I didn’t look at every angle? When Ten brought me this plan and asked to use my people, I analyzed it and found every single hole I could. This is the best plan of action, and Ten will ensure the girl doesn’t get hurt. Well, physically hurt. It isn’t our fault she was born the daughter of a monster.”

“If we don’t act, those deaths are on us.” Case closed the file in front of him. “We’ll all watch out for her. I know Theo really likes her.”

It seemed Faith was good at finding friends. For Ten it was suspicious. No one was that good, that pure. Especially no little rich girl. He was already certain Hope McDonald was dirty. She was a doctor as well, though she hadn’t gone the same route as her sister. Hope worked for a large pharmaceutical company. And there were hints she liked to test in non-FDA approved ways.

So why would Faith be different?

“I want everything you have on her. I want to read her e-mails. You said she recently broke up with her lover?” He needed to know everything about her. Not because he wanted to. No. His fascination with her was all about the op and nothing more.

“The dude was a dickwad who wanted a maid more than a lover,” Malone said. “Faith knew him before he got into the lifestyle. He was a doctor she knew from her residency at a Houston hospital. They were lovers, though it seemed to be more of a thing of convenience than true love. After she started going to Africa on a regular basis, they got together when she was home. She’s the one who got him into the lifestyle, though he seemed to take to it more fully than she did.”

“How so?” From what he could tell, Faith was fairly into the lifestyle. She had a few months off every year and she spent them practicing D/s with her chosen Dom.

“Faith seems to use D/s almost as a relaxation tool.” Once again it annoyed Ten that Hutch seemed to know more about her than he did. Hutch continued. “The way she describes it in her e-mails to friends is that she has to make so many decisions in her work, she prefers to leave it to someone else when she’s home. But her ex took it further. He now has a twenty-four seven slave who lives with him and is dependent on him for her every decision. Faith wouldn’t have been able to live like that.”

Ten was used to Big Tag’s version of D/s, which was really nothing more than a side dish while the relationship was the entrée. While Big Tag’s wife submitted to him sexually, she would likely shoot his ass if he really ordered her around.

His life would be easier if he could have more control over Faith. She wanted him to make the decisions about things like where they would eat and what they would do, but he wanted to ensure she obeyed him when the bullets started flying.

“Forward me everything you have on her including her e-mails, and watch her accounts. Now that she’s out of Liberia, I want her watched constantly. If she’s got any contact with her father, I want to know about it.” Faith was the key. She was the one who would get him on the inside. Ten stood up. “We’ve got a couple of weeks. We’ll watch her and continue to try to get some kind of line on McDonald. He seems to like the ladies. Let’s see if we can find a pro who wouldn’t mind planting a couple of bugs for us.”

Case nodded. “I’ll call some people I know in DC. That could work.”

“Good. I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me.” He took his papers and stepped out.

McKay-Taggart made him nervous. The minute he stepped out of any room there was always someone waiting to wave at him. This time it was Grace, a lovely redhead who was married to Tag’s younger brother, Sean. She was the receptionist and general office manager at McKay-Taggart. She held the keys to the kingdom. No client got through without being vetted by Grace Taggart.

“Hey, Ten. How are you today?”

“Good.” He always kept his answers short and sweet with her. It was funny because he used to flirt with every woman at Langley, but the women of McKay-Taggart were different. If he showed any weakness at all to them, he would find himself at some family dinner or set up on a horrifying blind date because these were women who took an interest in a single man, and Ten wasn’t talking about his penis. These women wanted every damn man alive to be some sort of family member, and he didn’t play that way.

“Any chance you can join us at Top tomorrow night? Sean wants to experiment with lamb lollipops.”

Actually that sounded delicious, but he knew if he went there wouldn’t just be food. There would be bonding and family stuff. “Thanks but I have a lot of work to do, Grace.”

“I’ll work on him.” His sister, Phoebe Murdoch, threaded an arm around his waist.

He couldn’t hold back with her. Phoebe was the one person on earth who sort of belonged to him. Not really, because she was married now, but she was the only one who remembered Jamie the way he was when they were young—when it was just him and Jamie and Phoebe. God, he missed his brother.

His grief felt as sharp today as it had the day he’d found Jamie’s body.

“How’s accounting, sis?” He didn’t need to bring Phoebe into his misery. She’d finally moved on. She was happy with Jesse and they were talking about babies. She teased him about being Uncle Ten.

He couldn’t tell her that he would be long gone by then. If this mission didn’t kill him, then he would disappear. He didn’t belong in anyone’s white picket fence happily ever after.

“It’s good. I enjoy it, though I have been keeping up with your endeavor. You know I think I should be in on this.”

No way. He’d already had a brother-to-husband talk with Jesse about this very thing. “You know you’re no longer a field agent.”

She walked with him toward his office, her easy affection one of the few comforts he could accept. “I know that. The crazy thing is I don’t really miss it. I actually am perfectly happy with accounting and payroll. But that doesn’t mean I’m not watching out for you. I want you to be careful.”

“I always am.” He was careful to get the job done. He wasn’t always so careful with his life. The job was more important.

He started down the hall that led to the tiny thing Big Tag called an office. It was insulting, but then he wasn’t here for long.

“I’m serious,” Phoebe insisted. “McDonald is dangerous. Look, I get that everything is perfectly safe as long as you’re at Sanctum, but once you hit the islands, you’re on his terms. I would feel better if I went in with you instead of Erin.”

“No.” He didn’t feel the need for any more explanation than that. “No” so perfectly summed up how he felt.

They stopped outside his office door. Phoebe gave him a frown that could freeze the balls off a man. “No? I think some form of debate is called for.”

Fine. He could give it to her. “Are you and Jesse going to stop having unprotected sex any time soon?”

She sighed. “If it means making sure you’re safe, then yes, Ten.”

He stopped. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

She turned and faced him. His sister never backed down, and he should have remembered that. “I don’t care what you like the sound of. You need to understand that I know what you’re doing and I won’t have it.”

“What am I doing?”

“You’re planning on doing anything you have to do to avenge Jamie, and I’m worried that if that includes sacrificing yourself, you’ll do it. I can’t let that happen. I owe to it our dad and to Jamie to make sure you’re safe.”

This was the last thing he wanted to talk about, but he couldn’t fight Phoebe. He could ignore everyone in the whole damn world with the singular exception of her. The petite woman in front of him was his lone remaining link to the world. Sometimes—and he wasn’t exactly proud of this fact—but sometimes he resented her for keeping him here. “I’ll be careful, Phoebe. I promise. I’m going to be okay. Once I deal with McDonald, I’ll handle my own situation. I’ll find a way to make it right.”

Meaning he would find a way to make it safe for him to live his life again. He was sure Phoebe thought after he handled this that there would be some way for him to come back and live in a world of backyard barbecues and football watching parties. A world where he was Uncle Ten and he went into some semi-safe job every day and got old and fat and happy.

Phoebe went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “See that you do. I’ll be back to pick at you until you agree to come to dinner.”

She turned on her kitten heels and strode away. She’d made it halfway down the hall when a door came open and a muscular arm shot out, dragging her in. Ten could hear Jesse Murdoch’s low laugh and knew that his sister was about to be taken care of.

The door to the conference room next to him opened. One of the daycare workers smiled as she walked out, a baby on her hip.

Yeah that never happened at the Agency either.

He ran into his office and closed the door behind him. He wasn’t about to get attached to any of those kids no matter how cute they were. He wasn’t getting involved with them any more than he wanted to get cozy with the women.

He wouldn’t be here in a few months. It was best he left as little of himself behind here as possible. He’d learned early on to keep his suitcase packed because he never knew when he was going to be leaving. This time he did, and he wasn’t going to hurt anyone when he went.

He sat down at his desk and the photo of Faith McDonald slipped from his grip and onto the tabletop.

Well, maybe one person. He’d hurt her, but there wasn’t any help for it.

With a long sigh, he turned on his laptop and started writing an introductory letter to his first—and only—submissive.

CHAPTER TWO

Hello. How was your flight?

Faith couldn’t help but get a thrill as she looked at the message. There were three messages waiting for her on her laptop. One from her dad, one from the clinic, but it was the one from Master T that made her heart speed up in her chest. She looked at the delivery time. It was only ten minutes before. He might still be at his computer.

She hesitated. This was crazy. She was starting a relationship with a man she knew next to nothing about except that he’d passed a background check and her friends liked him.

And he was gorgeous. That shouldn’t matter. That didn’t matter. Not really. But damn the man was hot in his pictures.

She could still get out of this. Was it a good idea to get close to a man the submissives at his home club called Master No? Erin had passed on that tidbit of information. Apparently Timothy Graham was a bit of a hardass when he wanted to be.

Still, she found herself typing.

It was nice, Sir. And hello to you.
She winced as she pressed the return button. She didn’t want to get out of this. This might be the first positive step she’d taken in forever. She’d taken back her professional life after what had happened in Ghana, but she’d allowed herself to stay stagnant in her personal life. Roger had been predictable and that was what she’d liked about him. He understood her. She understood him. Boring and yet comfortable. Like a pair of sweatpants.

She wanted her love life to be better than a pair of sweatpants.