Ryan never saidanything.
“Are you, Mr. Casey? Thebest?”
“My father always said thatwhen you feel you are, there’s always someone out there better andthat’s what keeps you focused. I agree,” he answeredevenly.
After a moment she nodded.“That is good advice.”
She seemed so solemn. Hervoice never changed one octave, not once since he’d picked her up.She was either still in shock from her captivity, or just plaindefeated. “I always thought so.” There were days he really missedhis father. He was strict, but very attentive and the memories hehad were always good ones.
“It also gives meinsight.”
“How so?”
“That you never let yourguard down just in case there is someone better. I also get thefeeling that you don’t lose often.”
“I’ve lost my share ofschool yard fights.”
Her eyes remained on his,“You’re lying.”
She was right. How did sheknow? Although he didn’t act surprised, she somehow knew he was. Itwas the first time the corner of her mouth tilted a little toindicate that she was pleased with her observation.
“You are not used to beingcalled on that.”
“No,” he saidhonestly.
“Well when you’ve been thedaughter of a chronic liar, it’s easy to see sometimes. Besides,your size tells me something different. Somehow I have a feelingthat you weren’t the object of school yard bullies.”
“I was a latebloomer.”
Resisting another smile athis jest, she shook her head, “You’re too self-confident to get meto believe that. A man who has been picked on carries that withthem no matter how old they are. Besides, my father would have madesure you didn’t have any hidden issues.” Her face pinched up inanger and she turned away again.
“He seems concernedenough.” Well, he didn’t think so but it felt like the right thingto say.
“If he was, my sister wouldstill be alive.” She said without looking at him. The last twowords were choked out. She could hear Anna’s screams and resistedcovering her ears. It would do no good anyway. It was inside herhead.
Ryan couldn’t help but feelfor her even though he tried not to—he needed to stay focused onhis goal. She had been through an unspeakable horror. Despite whatpeople thought of him, or knew of him, he understood her pain morethan anyone.
“The men that kidnapped mesaid he was a drug dealer, a—a—” she swallowed again trying toregain control of her emotions, “—pimp. When I didn’t believe them,they showed me pictures.”
So she wasn’t alwaysblindfolded. She was vulnerable and let it slip. He suspected thatshe knew things about her captors from the beginning, but he wasn’tgoing to interrogate her. Besides, it wasn’t them he wasafter—yet.
She met his gaze again andher eyes were more moist. She wasn’t crying but the slight pinkingof the lids made him realize that she was straining not to. “Ican’t comment on that.”
“Of course not. You are aprofessional, and you work for my father. You take orders from him,not me. You are here to do a job.” She said icily. “I’ve hadsecurity before. I know what it entails.” He was no different thanthe rest of the men her father had working for him; like traineddogs.
Not like me, youhaven’t. “My concern is your protection,not your father’s business. In fact, he never told me anything, butyour abduction was widely publicized, because he is an influentialbusiness man.”
“A businessman who usesthat and his position as a council member to cover his illegaloperations. I’m sure you have some idea of what he does. You don’tstrike me as a stupid man.” She bit her lip and turned away. “Everytime I hear of someone overdosing on the news…I wonder…I wonder, ifit was my father’s drugs that did that to another human being. Howcan someone live with themselves over that?”
“It doesn’t matter what hedoes.” Ryan reiterated. Of courseit mattered, but he sure as hell wasn’t going tolet on to anyone that it did.
“Wow, he must be paying youa lot of money,” she said sarcastically. When he didn’t answer shenodded, giving up on the subject. “Fine then, if you won’t let mein on what you know about him, let’s talk about you.”
He shook his head whilelooking down at her.
“I won’t feel secure unlessI know a bit about you.” She paused meeting his eyes, “I won’ttrust you. Or, are you just another brainless puppet that my fatherhired to follow orders?” She knew he wasn’t, but she was angry andwas willing to compromise for a fight. He never took the bait. Hewas too darn smart.
He stared at her for amoment watching emotions play over her face. He expected her totrust him, to listen to him if things got hairy. He was preparedfor revealing some of himself, but not enough to put his trueintentions on the stage and not so soon. “All right then. I’llanswer a few questions.”
“How old areyou?”
“Thirty-two.”
“I thought you seemed alittle young for—“
“I’ve been in militaryschool since I was eleven.” He knew she was going to tip on hisexperience. He also knew that her father already had all theinformation he expected him to have, so repeating this wasn’tanything new. “I enlisted at eighteen, special ops by twenty one.The rest—is classified.”
“You’re a mercenary?” Shesaid it in a way that was far from complimentary.
Actually it was deeper thanthat and he found that term distasteful. However, that’s the imagehe was portraying. He just nodded, “Somewhat.”
Her eyes took on asuspicious look. She knew he was more than just a mercenary andmaybe she shouldn’t have called him that. Maybe she was trying topush his buttons. However, it didn’t faze him. Then again, for somereason, she knew it wasn’t often something did with him. “My fatherseems to have an affiliation for them, but you’re actually trainedby professionals. Most of the men my father hires are rebels fromthe Chechnya province. They would kill anyone for a buck. He neverkept that a secret from us even though we thought it was because ofthe protection he needed with his legitimate businesses, and theywere Russian, and his own countrymen so they were loyal.” Her eyeswent over him trying unsuccessfully to read his expression. Sheshould have known better, he was trained to keep it unreadable.Yet, she was wondering how he felt about the mercenaries her fatherhired. She had grown
