“You let her leave with another man?” Erin shook her head. “What the hell kind of Taggart are you?”
“She needed a bodyguard.” The nature of her brother’s wealth and influence guaranteed that. Her high-risk job doubled the need. “Hutch checked him out. Beyond being a massive douchebag and working for Ferland, he was okay.”
“I’ll have Adam look into him, too. And Mia’s informant. I’m trying to leave Chelsea out of this. You understand what could happen to her if she’s caught feeding us information,” Ian said.
Treason. Chelsea Weston worked for the CIA.
Erin nodded. “She could be arrested.”
“Or any of the other nasty stuff the CIA can do to an employee.” Case hadn’t even thought about that. “So the Agency will be watching us.”
“Everyone will be watching us,” Ian corrected. “The Agency, the NSA, hell, I’ve heard a rumor there’s a fucking Magellan Billet agent searching for Hope McDonald. They’re the worst of the worst. Lawyers with guns. Makes me want to shoot myself. God, I hope it’s the old dude and not the one who looks like Ten. He’s obnoxious.”
“But Theo’s alive.” Erin stood in the middle of her kitchen, tears pouring down her face. “Let them come after us. It doesn’t matter because Theo’s alive.”
Mia had been right. Erin wasn’t tortured with thoughts of what was happening to Theo. Oh, that might come later, but the joy and light in her eyes…that was worth it. This was her life. Theo was her life. She deserved to wish and pray and work for his return.
“I need to see my son.” Erin walked to the door. “Talk some sense into that one. I’ll work on it from my end.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Case asked as he was left alone with Ian.
“It means she’s going to meddle in your relationship and she wants me to do it, too.” He sighed as he opened the fridge and grabbed one of the beers he’d brought in with him. He flipped the top and poured it in with his lemonade. “I’ll do it because I owe her one.”
“You’ll do it because you’re a shockingly gossipy old maid.”
Ian didn’t argue. He merely stared Case’s way. “You fucked up with Mia. You should have done as I asked, taken a break and then dealt with her fairly. You went in half-cocked and now she won’t talk to you. Have you considered the fact that she brought you valuable information, information that got us closer to Theo than I could have imagined? Have you considered the fact that she might get more intel and not bother to send it our way because she’s pissed at you?”
“Mia would never do that.” If Santos contacted her, she would call him. Maybe not him, but she would call Ian or Sean. “She would give us everything she had even if it hurt her to see me.”
Ian pointed at him. “Finally you speak some fucking sense. Mia did what Charlie would have done if she’d truly believed I could die. She did what I would have done if I thought Charlie was in danger.”
“She won’t talk to me.” A sick feeling opened in the pit of his stomach. This wasn’t some childish argument they were in. He’d fucked up. He’d made her feel like she didn’t matter.
“Give her time. And don’t you ever fucking run off on an op without telling me again.”
He’d waited for this dressing down. “I understand.”
“No, I don’t think you understand at all, Case. Why the hell would you do that?”
How to explain to Ian? He should know. “You wouldn’t have let me go. I know that’s a horrible excuse, but I wanted to get out there and prove myself. I wanted to find Theo. I wanted to prove to you I could lead.”
“What?” Ian was staring at him like he’d grown a couple of horns.
He’d avoided his brother for this very reason. He hadn’t wanted to admit that he wasn’t good enough. “Look, I know what you think of me. I get it. Theo was the smart one. Theo was the one you were grooming for leadership. I’m okay with that most of the time. It was stupid. I wanted to prove I could lead, too.”
Ian stepped up to him, his eyes going fierce. “If you weren’t still recovering I would punch you, you dumb asshole. I sent Theo out on what I thought was a fairly simple operation as the lead because he needed seasoning. He needed experience. I knew he was in love with Erin and he wasn’t strong enough for her then. Not really. He needed to toughen up or it wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t be able to accept the fact that she was a stronger leader than he was so I was going to turn him into one. I didn’t have to do that with you. You walked in here as one of the strongest, most stable operatives I’ve ever seen. I didn’t coddle you because you never needed it.”