You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)

Whatever Ten had done had softened him up. “Right now, what I need to know is where the Caliph is.”


“You’re talking about Hani al Fareed. He’s a crazy motherfucker. He’s insane and he broke our deal. If what Smith says is true, you have to know we didn’t know that fucker was going to take Murdoch. Murdoch was supposed to be dead. When we figured out he wasn’t, he was supposed to go home. The senator pulled some strings and the Agency was supposed to call you fuckers home. It’s your fault. You didn’t follow orders.”

She ignored all the problems with his argument because only one thing mattered. “Where would al Fareed go?”

“He’s got a place on the beach, but it’s heavily fortified. I’ve been there. It’s got armed guards all around. I can’t go to jail.” His eyes were glassy when he looked up.

“What’s he on?”

Ten’s face was a complete blank. “A little something the boys in R&D cooked up. First I gave him a shit ton of pain and then I gave him something to take it away because we’re friends, right? Aren’t we friends, Dale?”

The man in the chair nodded. “Good friends. Don’t want to go to jail. If I tell the lady everything, I won’t die here.”

Ten turned back. “The drugs have the added effect of wiping his short-term memory. He’s going to wake up outside the hotel with zero memory of how he got there. Hutch took care of the cameras so our asses are covered.”

Her stomach turned and she understood why Ten wouldn’t let her be involved past the actual questioning. This was psychological torture, the very thing that had been done to Jesse. The thing he might be going through now. It was necessary, but it was ugly and she wondered if her brother dreamed about it. A dream where he was the monster.

“What do you know about al Fareed’s travel plans?” Phoebe asked.

“He flies. He’s like a bird. Private jet.”

Simon stood and walked to the door. “I’ll have Hutch look into it.”

Albertson’s head drooped as though he couldn’t hold it up a moment longer. “You were supposed to go away. Go home. Go home.”

She stepped away and spoke to her brother in a low voice. “We don’t have the firepower to take on a compound.”

“We just have to make it seem like we do. In this case, illusion is more important than reality. We need to do what they did. Distract. We need some chaos. I’m more worried about the authorities being called in. We’re not on firm ground here,” Ten said. “We have to move fast and get him out of there and then we have to split up. We can’t go through the airport. They’ll look for us there. We need quick transport out of this country.”

They would be on the run and because the CIA wouldn’t acknowledge their presence in the country, they would be on their own. They would split up, and she was a little worried she might not see her brother again.

“Jesse would want you to be safe. Maybe you should go to Loa Mali with Kamdar’s people and wait for us there.”

The king had already agreed to give them sanctuary. Of course, he’d actually clapped his hands and pronounced the whole thing a party, but it was really sanctuary. But Ten wasn’t getting rid of her until they absolutely had to break up the team. “Jesse can’t always get what he wants. I’m not leaving this country without him. So we better get ready.”

“Hey, Hutch has something and I was talking to Kamdar about the exit plan. We’ve got everything ready, but he thinks we need to move soon. I agree. The Agency knows where we are. They’ll send someone soon,” Erin said from the doorway. Her eyes lit up. “Oh, he’s so fucked up. Did you break his nose? Can I break some of his fingers?”

Albertson moaned and started crying.

“How did you get past Eve?” Ten asked with a shake of his head.

“Didn’t have to,” Erin replied. “Got past Kai. He likes a little psycho in his chicks, if you know what I mean. And I’m serious. Hutch caught the chopper on a couple of cameras. He’s almost certain it was headed for the beach.”

Then that was where they were going.



Jesse let his head fall forward as they took him out of the shackles and began to drag him across the floor. Blood soaked his back. He wasn’t sure how long they’d gone on. Twenty lashes? Fifty? He’d lost count, lost all sense of time. He was fairly certain they’d left him hanging by the shackles for a while.

He thought they would drop him onto the cot, but they kept going. He forced his head up, his heart threatening to pound through his rib cage. Where were they taking him?

He was certain they hadn’t left Dubai. He could still hear the ocean and he’d heard someone talking about the conference. They were still close, and if they were close then Phoebe and Si would be looking for him. They would have a chance, but if he got moved to another country… It had taken them months to find him before, and the Caliph would be smarter this time.

No. Al Fareed. His name was Hani al Fareed and Jesse wasn’t going to give him that power anymore. Like fucking Voldemort.