From Sanctum With Love (Masters and Mercenaries Book 10) by Lexi Blake Page B

taint never goes away.”
    “Mr. Taggart is correct.” Rush began shuffling through papers, straightening and organizing. “If we brought the suspect in for questioning, the press would be all over him and us. The last thing the FBI needs is bad press, so we’re working this quietly. I like Johns for the killings, but he wasn’t the only one at each site. He has an entourage and they go with him everywhere. Our in-house analyst has offered profiles of each of them. We’ll be watching Johns and the rest of the team very carefully.”
    Charlotte whistled as she looked through the reports. “Wow. This could fill a book of bad behavior. The publicist has a drug problem. His agent’s ex-wife accused him of assault and battery. Nice one. Why would anyone go by Squirrel?”
    “He’s like a puppy, always chasing after something new and shiny,” Kai explained. He hated the fact that his life was spread out on a piece of paper like some fiction for everyone to read. It was Jared’s file, but Kai had lived it, too. “Or at least he was as a kid. He struggled in school. The nickname stuck.”
    “He’s got a nasty background,” Eve murmured. “His father went to jail for beating his mother and he was left behind. It says here he spent some time in your home.”
    “He was one of the strays Jared brought home. He lived at our place for a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still living close to Jared.”
    “The trainer’s been accused of selling steroids,” Big Tag pointed out. “There’s not a single one of these guys with clean hands. And I can tell from this picture that the assistant has crazy eyes. We should look into her. It’s always the chick with the crazy eyes.”
    “Unfortunately, he’s often right.” Charlotte closed the file. “I’ll very quietly look into these guys. I don’t buy that it’s Kai’s brother for several reasons. He’s too hot to be a killer.”
    “Yes, because a man’s ability to do pull-ups while wearing three pounds of makeup means he couldn’t possibly be a murderer,” Big Tag shot back.
    Charlotte’s eyes sparkled in the low light of the conference room as she obviously baited her husband. “He’s the real deal, Ian. He was on that Ninja warrior show as a celebrity guest and he got all the way through the course.”
    Watching Ian and Charlotte mix it up sometimes made Kai long for a partner he could spar with. Like he and Kori sometimes did. That woman didn’t bother to temper herself around him any more than Ian did around his wife.
    “Those aren’t ninjas, baby,” Ian replied. “Those are dudes who spend a lot of time in the gym. When they can do all that shit while someone’s shooting at them, I’ll call them special. When they can do all that shit while someone’s shooting and be invisible and stab someone at the end, then I’ll call them ninjas. Jared Johns is a meathead who trains fourteen hours a day so he can look pretty on a salmon ladder. I have no idea how he got cast as Pierce Craig. I finally sat down and read that book.”
    Everyone with the exception of Special Agent Rush seemed to go still.
    Alex seemed to stifle a laugh. “And what did you think of Serena’s hero?”
    “You know what? I have no idea why the guys are so hard on her. Serena is a damn fine writer. This character has the douchiest name and sometimes he’s a big old pussy, but he’s got a good head on his shoulders. Everyone gets all over him, but the dude is doing what’s best for his team. I read the whole series and I don’t get why it took so long for readers to warm up to this guy. He’s obviously the hero. Some of the books were better than others, but every time this guy steps on the page, the book lights up. I think she’s got something with this character.”
    “Did he seem familiar at all?” Kai couldn’t help but poke a little. “I’m only asking because you have so much in common. Pierce Craig runs a security agency. You run one.”
    Big Tag waved it