Charmed: A Masters and Mercenar - Lexi Blake Page 0,68
on how to handle it. He tried to call off the mission.”
“Ah, so shit got real and he got scared. I’m going to assume it was fear for you because he’s a man and he doesn’t understand that we can shoot guns, too.”
“I don’t think it’s the shooting part that he minds, but he does seem to take exception to my getting shot,” Nina explained. “Apparently he finds my job distressing.”
Sandra’s eyes rolled. “And he broke it off with you over that?”
He hadn’t exactly broken things off. He’d tried to talk to her. It had been a lucky thing for her that they hadn’t been alone on the private jet or she wasn’t sure what would have happened since every time the man looked at her she threatened to melt. “No. He tried to stop the mission or leave me out of it. I broke it off with him.”
“But you’re here so you obviously won that fight. Why break it off with him? Unless he’s a sore loser. I kind of thought you were into him.”
“I was. I still am.” Nina glanced back over her shoulder and he was nodding at something Jordy was saying. Deanna stood at his side, yawning as though she was bored as hell. “But he lied to me. He knew who I was and pretended not to because he knew I wouldn’t sleep with him if I’d known we were going to work together.”
“But you probably would have,” Sandra pointed out.
“No, I wouldn’t.” She’d thought about this all night long. She’d sat up in her lonely bed and wondered if she would have been able to resist him if he’d decided to seduce her. Would she have turned down those lips on hers? Told him she didn’t want those big hands on her body? Perhaps not, but the choice had been taken away from her and the choice was the whole point.
Sandra shifted and looked around her. “You sure about that because he’s pretty hot.”
She didn’t need to go there. Deflection was her friend, and the truth was she needed to do her job. “Do we have any information on our pickup man?”
Sandra looked like she wanted to argue but she merely sighed and moved on. “We know he’s on the island.” She glanced to her right, nodding. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
Greg Hutchins eased behind the bar. He was carrying a tool kit. He was not much older than Drake, but somehow he seemed more mature. There was a calmness about the man they called Hutch that she found soothing. “I need to move the camera over the bar. It’s not getting the coverage I want. I thought I could bring our friend up to speed while I work. No one should question it since it’s my actual job.”
Sandra went to work on another batch of piña coladas. “Anything new?”
He went up on his toes and started playing around with the small camera that covered this section of the bar. “Yeah, he’s definitely here on the island. Our spy came in on a fake passport. He flew from Seoul, but we think he was in North Korea last week. I got off the phone with Tag a few minutes ago and he’s found some interesting tidbits in the world of banking. Looks like the assistant recently took out a five-thousand-dollar loan, and yet that money isn’t in her account. She’s either got a secret one we haven’t found yet or she made a big purchase in cash.”
“Or she hired someone for a job they don’t want on the books.” Like running them down the night before.
“That’s what I was thinking,” Hutch said. “But I also know the other two have some very complex monetary situations. They’re both old money, and old business money at that. I’m going to have our forensic accountant take a look at it, but I think we’re going to ID our suspect in person before we track them down financially. I’m taking the late shift the next couple of days and if I see anything, I’ll give you a call. Sandra and I are in constant contact, and we can’t seem to ditch the kid.”
“Apparently Sandra’s giving him lessons,” she replied wryly.
Hutch frowned Sandra’s way. “That was her choice. I tried to tell her I could plant some bugs he’ll never find, but she chose to go this way. You know he’s young enough to be your son.”
Sandra rolled her eyes. “My daughter is way older than Drake. You