Merciless (Option Zero 1)
Page 15
“You mean a variety of people who owe you something.”
“Doesn’t hurt.”
“Do you enjoy what you do?”
“What is it you think I do?”
She knew exactly what he did—or as much as anyone knew outside of his organization. Most of his work was classified. She knew that OZ took jobs no one else would take on or were often deemed too dangerous. Kate had once told her that Asher Drake had a lot in common with Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes.
So yes, she knew what he did, but she wanted to hear it in his words.
“Kate told me that you right wrongs.”
His shout of laughter was both startling and massively appealing. This man could charm a snake with his wit and calm the devil with his cunning, but his laughter was a game changer. Not only was the sound deep and rich in timbre, his sensuous mouth tilted invitingly, and his amazing eyes glinted, turning them an even more mesmerizing shade of blue.
Jules’s breath hitched in her throat. She had honestly never been this attracted to anyone. The inconvenience alone was mind-boggling.
“Kate has blinders on when it comes to OZ.”
“So you don’t right wrongs?”
“Sometimes. Other times, we destroy.”
“How so?”
“That’s classified.”
“Do you break laws?”
His mouth twitched with a wry grin. “Occasionally, yeah. You got a problem with that, maybe you don’t need to be working with me.”
“Do you hurt people?”
“Sometimes.”
“Good people?”
“You think the lines are that distinct? Good people, bad people?”
“You don’t?”
“I think there’s good and bad in almost everyone.”
“Almost? So you think there are some who are irredeemable?”
“Without a doubt. Don’t you?”
Oh, most definitely, but they were getting into territory she needed to avoid at all costs. “Yeah, I do.”
“What else do you know about OZ?”
“Kate said you take broken people and give them purpose.”
He shrugged. “We’re all broken in some way. Some are just better at hiding it than others.”
She refused to get pulled into this particular discussion. No one knew better than she did just how broken she was, but like Asher Drake and the people at OZ, she had reinvented herself and found a purpose.
“You’re right.” She made her answer short, hoping he’d leave the subject behind. Handing him another file, she hurried on, “This is Angelo Rodrigo. He was my first suspect.”