Through the rearview mirror, Chelsea could see the way Hutch’s brows rose. “You want to explain, boss?”
“Nope. Get us back to base, Hutch.” He pressed a button and the window between the front and the backseat started going up.
Hutch’s expression was plain in the rearview mirror and it never changed. He was obviously a man used to getting cut out of the explanations.
Chelsea was not. She was used to knowing everything. “Who are they, Mr. Smith? I think Ian would really like to know that the CIA has a new cloning program and they’re using his DNA.”
Ten laughed at the idea. “Wouldn’t that make the world an easier place? Nah, we could never get that funding through, but I like the way you think, Chelsea. As a matter of fact, I downright admire you. And call me Ten. I really do want to be friends.”
“Friends don’t knock out other friends and shove them into the trunks of their cars.” Somewhere out there, Simon and Jesse were still and unmoving in the fake Taggart’s vehicle. She had to hope they were all going to the same place.
Ten shook his head, a sharp movement. “I didn’t say I wanted to be friends with Weston, and I wouldn’t trust that other nutbag as far as I could throw him. I have to admit, I don’t really like the idea of so many valuable assets around a loose cannon like Murdoch. I tried to talk Big Tag out of hiring him, but that man just loves to bring home strays. I’m pretty sure that particular stray is going to bite him in the ass one day. You do realize he killed that man with his bare hands. He also took a nice chunk out of him with his teeth.”
She was well aware of Jesse’s problems. She was also aware that he wouldn’t hurt her. He hadn’t been so far gone that she couldn’t talk him down. “It was self-defense.”
“It’s always self-defense in Murdoch’s head because he’s never really left that prison they had him in, and that makes for a dangerous man.”
“What are you going to do with them? And who the hell are those guys who look like Ian?” She was getting really tired of the way he evaded her questions.
“You finally doing Weston?” He gave her a flirty wink that might have set her heart to palpitating, but after being close to Simon, Ten felt like a slick player to Simon’s soulful lover.
And Ten was doing it again. He was evading her questions, likely hoping to get her flustered so she would forget everything except what he wanted her to remember. “I can’t do Simon when you keep interrupting me, so no. And I’m not forgetting my original question. Who are they, Ten?”
She gave in on the name thing. Maybe he would be friendlier if she gave him a little. One way or another, she knew he was playing some kind of angle. He hadn’t picked her up on a lark, and he hadn’t done it out of the kindness of his heart.
“I really was hoping to have a little more time with them, you know. I should have known it would all go to hell.” He sighed and leaned forward, pressing a button and revealing a nicely stocked bar. “God, I love the rich. Thank the lord for Texas oilmen.”
A couple of things fell into place. She couldn’t help but remember that Simon’s cousins had been arguing about Michael’s potential CIA ties and that he’d had friends out on the ranch that week. It looked like he was tied up tight. “You’re working with Malone Oil?”
Ten poured a couple of fingers of what looked like Scotch. “They’ve had a lot of trouble with some of their pipelines overseas. For a while, it looked to be nothing more than the usual mob shit, but I ran across a man in Uzbekistan who claimed that he was working for some corporation. He’d been arrested for trying to blow up some Malone Oil equipment, and he was trying to cut a deal. Funny. That corporation had never heard of him, but two nights later he was found in his very well-guarded cell with three bullets in his torso. I traced those bullets back to a gun purchased by a former MI6 agent. Disavowed, naturally. So I started thinking…”
She rolled her eyes because Ten seemed big on the drama of his job. “It’s The Collective. Everyone knows they were behind the problems with Malone Oil in Russia, though one of the douchebags is trying to get Simon to believe his uncle is involved.”
“David Malone? Nah. They wish. I think they’re going after him hard because they know he would never work with them and he’s got serious ties in the government that they haven’t been able to break through. How much do you personally know about the group?”
Wouldn’t he love to know? She couldn’t give up every card in her hand. Not when they were so early in the game and besides, he was distracting her again. It was Ten’s best play. Disarm with his good looks. Distract with information that wasn’t what she was looking for. “Ian’s been tracking them for months and you know it. The assassin was that complete douchebag Baz Champion, who was also working for The Collective, but he’s dead now. So cut the bull and tell me who the Ian clones are and why they’re working for you.”
Ten frowned. “You’re really no fun to play with. Fine. I recruit from time to time. I decided a few months back to gather together a special team. I usually use whatever Special Forces team happens to be in the area, but I want something different. I want my team. I want a team that’s loyal to me, a team that knows exactly what I want, and I can’t get that from players coming off the bench.”
“So these men belong to you and not the military?”
“Some of them. Some of them I’m merely in talks with. This was supposed to be a boys’ weekend out at the Circle M. We were going to drink some beer, shoot some pool, convince Mike Malone that this is the life for him.”
“And you just happened to be in Texas when I was threatened?” She didn’t buy that for a second.
“I keep my nose to the ground. I will say that I didn’t expect the bomb. Sorry about that. I got my wires crossed. I thought they were recruiting you and I fully intended to not allow that to happen. It looks like they want a little more from you. You want to talk to me about that?”
He was even more maddening than her brother-in-law. At least Ian shot straight. He didn’t send a woman down a thousand tunnels to distract her from the one she wanted. “The Viking Twins? Talk or I won’t.”
Ten sighed as though he hadn’t really expected it to work for long. “I look to find really qualified candidates in Special Forces teams. I found Cason and Theo Taggart finishing up BUD/S training. I’m close friends with a couple of the instructors out there and they bring me in from time to time to get my take on their recruits. I was watching the last days of training and then Case walks up and I swear to god, I thought he was Big Tag. I was introduced to him and I immediately started my research. My buddy who’s an instructor there tells me Case has a fraternal twin brother named Theo and the two were flying through training. Said he’d never seen anything like it. Physically, mentally, they’re so far above the rest it’s ridiculous.”