Page 102 of Killer Secrets (Tempting SEALs 5)

"I'm hoping soon." Ian crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at him. "We have something he wants, badly."

"And that is?" He seemed uninterested, more concerned with the amount of liquor he could consume now than he was about the imminent end of his worst enemy.

"We have his daughter."

He stared back at Ian in shock, then in glee.

"I thought she was mere wishful thinking." He blinked back at Ian in disbelief. "You have her? She is here? In the villa?" His eyes widened as satisfaction began to gleam in them. "Is she in the basement?"

Ian felt his teeth snap together in fury.

The son of a bitch, even now, nothing could touch him but the scent of death or the dirty little games he played in that fucking basement. Or the death of a friend who played those games with him as Muriel had done.

"She's not in the basement," he snapped, the anger leaking into his voice. "I have her and she's safe, that's all you need to be concerned with."

Diego grimaced. "You have never understood the value of the little games I play, have you, Ian?"

"No I don't and we're not going to discuss them now." Sometimes he felt as though he were dealing with a particularly willful child when it came to Diego.

He missed Diego's subtle smile, but Kira caught the shift of the other man's lips and the playful curl of fondness in Diego's black eyes.

* * *

Twenty-six

HE WAS PUSHING IAN'S BUTTONS. He wasn't serious about taking Tehya to the playroom forcefully, from what she understood, Diego liked his playmates willing. But he was serious gauging Ian's temper or his mood. Like a teenager poking at his father's authority. Kira imagined Diego saw it as a game, a prick against Ian for the autocratic way he had taken over the cartel rather than sharing the business as Diego had dreamed.

Diego had wanted a son to share the finer things in life with, and Ian wasn't sharing. They didn't kill together, because Ian became angry whenever Diego shed blood. They didn't plot together and they didn't plan together, so Diego poked at him, prodded, and found what amusement he could. A small amount of gratitude, a measure of confidence that his son felt some small emotion for him, because Ian didn't slice into him. Because he didn't blow up and he didn't threaten to kill or leave. Diego believed there was hope.

Guilt sliced at Kira once again. How hard would it be to watch him die if she couldn't stop Ian from killing him? To know that, monster though he was, he was a monster who craved his son's attention, and even more, his love.

Kira felt a wave of pity so sharp, so intense, she had to turn her head away from Diego; unfortunately, she found herself staring straight into Ian's eyes instead. Eyes that saw too much, that arrowed in on that pity and narrowed warningly.

Back off.

He didn't have to say the words, she could feel the demand. He didn't want to see it, he didn't want to hear it. And he didn't want to regret it. But she could see the regret in his eyes, regret and determination.

"Games are the spice of life, Ian." Diego's comment dragged Ian's attention from her and back to him. Where he wanted it. His attention was better off there, off her and the guilt raging through her.

"Games are a pain in the ass." Ian shrugged. "I want you to get your men in place, have them converge on and assume protective parameters around the warehouse we have outside Oranjestad. Sorrell will assume we're hiding her there. We'll see if he intends to attack or negotiate."

"But the girl is not there," Diego murmured as he moved to his desk and the open laptop on it.

As he took his chair, a frown flitted over his brow. His fingers began to move on the keypad quickly.

"The warehouse wasn't purchased under a known cartel enterprise," he informed Ian. "We've actually been using it for a few legal purposes rather than illegal." There was a measure of surprise in his tone as he reached for the phone and pulled the receiver toward him.

Ian caught Diego's hand as he began to dial the numbers. Kira watched, as surprised as Diego was when Ian hung the phone up carefully.

He pulled the small electronic device from a holder on the waistband of his jeans. It had Kira sighing; she still hadn't been allowed to play with the jamming device. Ian flipped it on, set it close to the phone then indicated that Diego could make the call.

Diego sniffed as he punched in the number. "Technology isn't always a good thing."

"It's going end up saving your ass though," Ian grunted as he turned away from him, his gaze once again meeting Kira's.

She pushed her hands into the pockets of her lightweight blazer, and forced back the need to hunch her shoulders defensively.

She listened with half an ear as Diego ordered the men into place. He didn't give them a reason why, of course, he wouldn't have to. He had ruled with blood and death for over thirty years, and his reputation as a killer ensured that his men would follow his word to the letter and beyond.

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