Master No (50 page)

“Hey, Adam said you wanted to see me. Do you have any news?”

Tag sighed. Since they’d come back empty-handed from the island, Tag had tossed aside all other cases to follow leads on Theo’s body. “We finally got a trace on his locator signal.”

“I thought they threw it in the trash the way they did mine.” He still had the scar from it.

“We got hits on both Des and Theo’s signals before we lost them. It was a lucky thing. Hutch was actually playing around on the computer when we took a boat from one island to another.”

“They dumped the bodies in the ocean.”

Tag nodded. “I can send divers down, but the likelihood that we’ll find anything is very low. There are currents in that part of the sea that flow out to the Atlantic.”

“I’m so sorry.” It was an ache in his gut that they couldn’t even bury Theo. They’d held a funeral, but the casket had been empty. The London team had been forced to do the same for Des. “I swear the minute I find Hope, I’ll let you know. She can at least tell us what happened after we retreated.”

“Good. Are you sure you want to do this?” Tag asked. “It might be better for you to concentrate on the wedding and settling in.”

“We’re not really settling. Eventually Faith is going to want to go back to Africa. Right now, I want to ensure her safety by finding her sister. I’m not sure anyone is safe as long as she’s out there doing whatever the hell it is she does.” He was going to find her. He was going to question her. He would dig up every nasty secret Hope McDonald was hiding and bring it into the light.

“Despite the loss of Kronberg’s funding, I think she’s likely still working. Adam estimated she got away with roughly fifty million of her family’s fortunes before the feds froze her father’s accounts. She’s a smart cookie. Completely insane, but smart. I have questions I want to ask her about Theo’s body. I have no doubt she was there when they dumped him. I have to make sure. Find her, Ten.”

“I will.” It was the only gift he could give his brothers now.

“Ah, there she is.” Tag managed a smile as the lobby door opened.

Ten managed a brilliant smile because his whole world was walking in. Faith waved to Grace and then made a beeline for him, her face practically glowing. She was wearing a nice hunk of diamond on her left ring finger, a promise he meant to keep.

Damn, but love felt good. He opened his arms and she walked right into them. He was marrying her in a few weeks. They would keep it simple, but he wanted his friends and family there.

Her face tilted up. “Hello.”

This was the best part of his day. Any time he got to kiss her. He brushed his lips over hers. “Hello, darlin’.”

“I’m going to vomit,” Tag said under his breath, but his lips were still curled up. “All right, Tennessee Smith. Your fiancée wanted me to put together a present for you. Chelsea actually did all the legwork and it was quite impressive. I have to hand it to my sister-in-law. I didn’t think she’d be able to do it with the little information she had, but it turns out she’s better than I thought.”

“What are you talking about?”

Tag glanced toward the conference room. “I’m talking about the fact that all Chelsea had to go on was a date and a place. Your birthdate and the café you were left at. When she couldn’t find anyone in that particular town who could possibly have been your birth mother, she widened her search. She went to a small town twenty miles away where one Carrie Holmes lived. It had been a closely guarded secret that she was pregnant. Only her two closest friends knew, and Carrie claimed to have given up the baby for adoption but no records were found. She had a very strict religious upbringing. I think she was trying to hide the pregnancy from her parents. She was in high school at the time.”

“What did you do?” He looked back at the conference room.

Faith tugged his hand into hers. “Ten, your birthmother is gone. She died of a drug overdose years ago, but Chelsea tracked down her high school boyfriend. She apparently dumped him after she found out she was pregnant. He never knew. Ten, that man in the conference room is your dad. His name is Bill Hartford and he owns a gaming store that specializes in puzzles and strategy games. I thought that was very telling. He has one son by his former wife. You have a brother. They’re both eager to meet you.”

Ten stared as the man stood and turned. Bill Hartford looked startled at first and Ten knew why. It was why he was startled, too. It was like looking into a mirror. He was looking at a slightly older version of himself.

Faith squeezed his hand. “He says he would have moved heaven and earth to find you if he’d known. He’s scared you’ll hate him, but he’s here because he wants you to know that you were wanted. You were loved.”

Tennessee Smith proved he’d been wrong about one thing. He could cry.

He tangled his fingers in hers and walked in to meet his past.

He already had his future. She was right there in his hands.

* * * *

Kai Ferguson sat down, his head still reeling. “What the hell is going on in the conference room? I swear to god I think I saw Ten crying.” His gut took a nosedive. “Please tell me we haven’t lost someone else.”

He wasn’t sure how the team would recover from losing Theo. He’d been giving Erin and Case space, but he was at that point that he would have to talk to Tag because they needed sessions. They needed a place to talk, and he was the resident therapist.

Alex McKay sat behind his neatly appointed desk. “Nothing of the kind. It’s a little family reunion Ten’s fiancée organized. I’m glad to hear it’s going well. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you in.”

“Especially since I’m not technically an employee.” He owned his own place. Yes, it was the building next to Sanctum and he was very slowly paying it off, but it was his. He ran a treatment center specializing in soldiers returning from war and others suffering from PTSD. Big Tag had funded him for the first year, but he was planning on paying that back, too. Now he accepted funding from military charities and private individuals.

“Yes, I know, which is why I really need you to consider doing us a favor,” Alex allowed.

Favors in the McKay-Taggart world often meant getting shot at. He was a sadist, not a masochist. A happy, happy sadist who needed to stop thinking about his assistant and her far too juicy ass. It just needed a spanking so very badly. Kori Williamson was the most tempting sub he’d ever met and the only one he couldn’t have. Because she was afraid of him.

“What do you need?”

Alex slid a thick folder across the table. “The FBI came to us yesterday asking for help. Specifically, they asked for you.”

He opened the file and grimaced. Dead girls. Shit. He really hated the bloody stuff. Fun, consensual torture was one thing. These girls hadn’t asked for what was done to them. He ran through the police files. Five women. All Caucasian. All brunettes with blue eyes. All healthy girls. They had been curvy women. “They think they have a serial.”

Serial killers tended to prefer one type of victim above all. This man obviously had a type.

“Yes,” Alex replied. “The problem is the locations of the killings. They’ve connected five murders over the past three years. Potentially there’s more, but the killer moves around a lot. We also believe he’s killed women in Eastern Europe and Australia. There are victims in both places who fit the profile and timeline.”

Kai shut the folder. “So he’s some sort of businessman or he’s in the travel industry. Alex, this is obviously an important case. Why aren’t you handing it to Eve? She’s the profiler. I can give you my assessment, but she’s the expert in this area.”

“She’s already working on a profile,” Alex stated. “We don’t need you to profile the suspects.”

“Suspects? The feds have suspects? Am I interviewing them? Again, I think Eve’s your expert.”

Alex leaned back. “Did you know that Serena sold the film rights to Soldiers and Doms?”

Kai bit back a laugh. Film rights? He’d read the first of those books. They were pretty hardcore. “That should be interesting.”

“Apparently BDSM is the new big thing. After that
Fifty
movie, every studio in Hollywood wants a shot. They’re filming
Love After Death
right here in Dallas.”

Kai felt his eyes widen. He appreciated a good train wreck as much as anyone else. “Are you serious? Isn’t that the one where the big bad Dom’s dead spy wife returns and he has to deal with her Italian mafia family? Someone really should have told Serena to cover that shit up better than she did.”

Alex laughed, the sound booming through the office. It was good to hear it again. The office had been too quiet lately. “Ian’s never read it and Charlotte vowed vengeance on anyone who told him. I’m so buying a ticket to that film. I can’t wait to see the moment when Ian realizes millions of women are madly in love with a character based on him. It’s going to be beautiful.”

“I’ll be right beside you.” He wouldn’t miss that show for the world. “But I don’t see how this plays into the case.” And then he did. It fell into his head, a neat answer to the problems. “Film crew. The feds think the killer is a member of a film crew. Lots of movie companies film in Eastern Europe and Australia these days.”

“Exactly,” Alex agreed. “All of the murders occurred during major motion picture filming. One of the girls was killed in Canada near a television show’s set.”

He knew more about the film industry than he wanted to. Not that he would ever admit it or why he knew. He tried to keep that part of his life very secret.

Of course, McKay-Taggart was good at unburying secrets. “Why me? Cut the BS, Alex. Let’s get down to what you really want.”

“Jared Johns is playing the lead in
Love After Death
and we have reason to believe either he or someone in his entourage is the killer. The murders have occurred during times when Johns was filming. He always travels with the same group of guys. He has since he got his first major TV role. When he jumped to film, he took those guys with him. He’s looking for a mentor, someone who will train him on how to be a Dom for the film. Ian’s already agreed to let him into Sanctum as part of the FBI investigation. I think putting you as his mentor would be perfect.”

Kai shook his head. He could barely get the words out because horror swamped his every sense. “No. I don’t think that would work at all.”

“He’s asked for you,” Alex replied. “Do you really want to tell your brother you won’t help him out?”

His brother. His international superstar, didn’t have a brain in his gorgeous head brother.

Watch out for your brother, Kai. He needs you in his life.

His mother’s dying wish. He’d promised her and then failed so very badly.

“I suppose I could offer my own services.” Alex reached for the file.

Fuck. His brother was the idiot who would hire a damn serial killer to party with him. “My brother isn’t a serial killer. It’s not him, but I’ll do it.”

He’d run from his family for as long as he could. Like it or not, he had a job to do.

“As long as I don’t have to watch any of his films.” Saving his brother was one thing.

“Not at all,” Alex replied with a grin.

After all, there was only so much a man would do for his family.

Kai, Kori, and the entire McKay-Taggart team will return in From Sanctum with Love. As for Theo…

An island off the coast of Argentina

Theo. His name was Theo. Sometimes, it was all he could remember.

He blinked at the bright lights. So white. Everything in his room was white, from the bed to the walls and ceiling, to the cuffs that held his arms and wrists down. Everything was a stark, brutal absence of color.

“Hey, how are you doing today?” The blonde walked in. He remembered her. Yes, it was impossible to forget the woman who tortured him daily with a cocktail of drugs that made his head feel like it weighed fifty pounds, and then put him through some kind of weird therapy. He was forced to watch films. Nothing that made sense. Pictures and images and accompanying sounds, but somehow he knew he was losing himself to the combination of drugs and those films. Something was happening in his brain. A rewiring was occurring.

“You are looking so much better.” She smiled.

He was pretty sure she thought she was being sexy, but he couldn’t help but see the shark behind those perfectly made up lips.

A vision of a redhead floated across his brain. She turned her head and she wasn’t wearing a stitch of makeup, but she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Her lips curved up. She was wearing a bikini, the sunshine on her face. She brushed back her hair and reached for him.

“Your vitals are all back to normal. You’ve fully recovered. I wouldn’t have thought it would happen so quickly. After all, I did perform open-heart surgery on you in pretty horrible conditions. I’m kind of a rock star.”

He’d woken up on a plane, his body horrifically scarred. He’d been sure he would die, and all he’d been able to think about was that red-haired girl.

He wished he could remember her name.

The doctor frowned at him. “Are you going to give me trouble today? You nearly killed the guard yesterday. I had to reset his leg and bring in another man. I adore you, but if you try that again, you’ll have to be punished.”

His eyes drifted over to the door. There were two guards there, both heavily armed, and despite what she said, he was still weak. He should have been able to take that guard easily, but it had been a fight.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re still my perfect guy, and once the training really kicks in, you’ll know it. Once you give over, everything will be easier.”

She measured out the dose and there was nothing he could do. He’d fought the few times he’d been out of the bindings, and the guards had started carrying dart guns filled with tranquilizers.

You are a Taggart and you will survive this.

There were times when he heard voices in his head. Strong, male voices that urged him to survive. They often reminded him that he was a Taggart. Theo Taggart. He tried to hold on as the drugs began to course through his veins.