Page 48 of Her Wicked Hero

Zed gave a grim laugh. Even though there were plenty of things that should be above his pay grade, it didn’t mean he wasn’t able to piece together what was going on, and he was a grunt compared to Jefferies.

Brockman flushed. “I know,” he said. “Unfortunately, nothing is sacrosanct. When it was just Raymond and some of the others, I thought it was revenge for the screw-up with the Saudi palace, but as soon as Jefferies was mentioned, I realized it has to be the Malaysian cult or the fissionable material.”

“What’s your best guess?”

“I have my men looking into it.”

Zed stared at him, then finally nodded. He didn’t tell him, but he was still going to have Dex and Kane work on it as well.

“So, it’s agreed, Marcia is coming with me.”

“Son, nothing was agreed,” Brockman protested.

Again, Zed stared at him. Brockman gave it one last shot. “You could be deployed.”

“You forget, I’m still recovering. I won’t be mission ready for another five weeks. I’m doing PT at this point. Her little butt is going to be glued to a chair next to me.”

“She’s not going to go for it.”

“How do you plan to keep her here, guilt?”

Brockman’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

“If Marcia thinks she’s needed, you can manipulate her to do anything even if it isn’t in her own best interests. Has living with you for the last two years been the right thing for her?”

In the last four weeks, Zed had talked to Marcia on the phone ten times. He’d gotten a pretty good idea of what made her tick, and her heart often overwhelmed her own self-interests.

“You have no idea the blow that little bastard Rick Parsons was on her self-esteem, she needed a safe spot to land,” Brockman said defensively.

“Really? Seems to me, she went from the frying pan into the fire. I understand her being there for your family after your wife died was the right thing, but two years?” Zed raised his eyebrow.

Brockman’s face turned red. Then he walked over to where Marcia rested and looked at her for long moments. He came back to face Zed.

“She makes it so easy. My God, there’s nobody like her. I was a mess after Margaret died, and then Lesley turning to opioids, then to heroin. You can’t imagine.” Zed flinched at the man’s words. “Christie and Debbie soaked in Marcia’s love when I just wasn’t emotionally available. I didn’t see how selfish I was.”

Zed put his hand on Brockman’s shoulder and squeezed.

“I’m going to make this right.” Zed’s eyes twinkled, and Brockman saw it.

“What are you looking so smug about?”

“I had a bet with myself, and I now get to buy a new snowboard.”

“You knew I was going to rectify things with Marcia? How?”

“I’ve read your books. The man who wrote The Road To Peace couldn’t help but try to do the right thing.” Zed looked over his shoulder at Marcia and smiled softly. “She’s not going to go willingly, and I would hate for your role as her surrogate father to suffer.”

“Zed, this is my mess, I’ll straighten it out. I’m more than capable of taking it on the chin.” Zed didn’t think the man was aware he was rubbing his chin as he said it.

“Yeah, but you trying to convince her won’t be expedient. It will take too much time.” Zed thought through various scenarios, discarding many until a plan began to coalesce. “I’m just going to take her.”

“How do you plan to get an unwilling woman on a plane?”

“Good old-fashioned emotional blackmail.”

She jerked awake. It was one of those helpless jarring movements your body makes that is so disconcerting. Marcia’s eyes slammed open to bright lights, and she felt defenseless and exposed. She turned her head back and forth trying to see where she was and who was with her.

“Easy,” a low familiar rumble came from her left. Her hand was gently squeezed. “You’re with friends, Querida.”