Chapter 7 Elena #2
Both girls are in precarious situations.
I stare at my computer and the information I’ve been given and work out the best way I can be in two places at once.
This is the best evidence for the jewels I’ve seen all week.
Once things settled down after coming back from the dead, Sophie and her team let me in on the information they had pulled from Dimitri’s computer, hoping I would be able to shed new light on the entire Morocco situation.
Unfortunately, while Morocco was happening, I was in Russia with Ivan, Dimitri’s uncle.
If I had known what the bastard was planning, I would have stopped him.
Throwing back the remnants of my coffee, I dress and head out to find Sophie.
I’m not about to bother my brother with this news when he just got married last night.
Also, Max and Grace are off on their honeymoon later today for a week on their new luxury boat.
From what I’m told, Sergei sold off Maxim’s old boat to a friend, and then Tomas bought a new boat in a company named Wildcat Investments, which is Max and Grace’s.
Sergei is helping to slowly sell off all of Maxim’s real estate and assets seeing as now he’s technically dead.
Maxim’s will stated that Sergei inherited everything, much to our father’s dismay, but thankfully, Maxim was good at hiding his true wealth from our father.
Sergei gave him the Lamborghini and Aston Martin as a gesture of goodwill and to stop him from becoming a problem.
Maxim is slowly going to repurchase new assets under their new company name to set them both up for their future.
I don’t want to ruin what they both have been looking forward to today.
I head over to charities HQ and hope that someone is there that I can talk to about this situation.
When I walk into the main comms area, I see Brooks and Sophie talking together quietly.
Thank goodness these two are workaholics.
The sound of the door closing makes them jump and turn around to see who has arrived.
Sophie’s eyes narrow on me when she sees me. “What are you doing in here?”
“Good morning to you, too,” I bite back. I thought we were getting somewhere, we had fun last night drinking and laughing, but it seems she’s as irritated with me as she always is.
“What are you doing in here, alone?” she questions, looking me up and down.
“My fucking job which is finding the jewels. Which, by the way, I have,” I answer snarkily, folding my arms across my chest.
“You have?” Brooks asks. I have his attention now.
“Yes. But we are going to have to work together on this one because time is of the essence for these two jewels. It’s the best shot of finding them we have. I found out that Jade is in Dubai with Sheik Daoui,” I explain.
“We already know that. That’s not new information,” Sophie bites back.
Ignoring her mood because she’s probably hungover, I continue, “Do you know there’s a chance that she is being sold with four other women on the black market?” That bit of information has her sitting up. “The sale is next week in Dubai.”
“Fuck, we need to get there,” Brooks adds, getting up out of his chair and striding to another computer.
“The Middle East isn’t my area of expertise. I have some contacts in Dubai but not many. I was hoping the two of you would run point on finding Jade as you both have many more contacts than I do, and, Sophie, I know you speak the language,” I explain.
Her eyes widen at that tidbit. I’ve done my homework on you, too, Sophie.
“You’re not going to come with us?” Sophie asks, her voice rising.
“I’ll be in Mexico. They’ve found Pearl. She’s being held as the plaything for some twenty-one-year-old psychopath whose daddy runs the Yucatan Cartel,” I tell her.
“Shit,” Brooks curses.
“You’re going to go by yourself?” Sophie asks.
“Yes. I usually do.”
“You can’t take the cartel on by yourself,” she adds.
“Have before.”
Sophie frowns. “Things are different now.”
“Different? What do you mean?” I ask. As far as I am concerned, nothing has changed other than I’m a ghost.
“You’re Ellie Clark. Max has you back in his life. You’re part of a family. You’re not a lone wolf anymore. There are people here that care for you,” she explains.
“Aw that’s sweet that you care, Sophie, but I have a job to do. The agency doesn’t care that I have people worried about me. This is what I’m trained for,” I tell her.
“What Sophie is saying is, you’re dead. Maybe the old way you used to do things might not work anymore. The contacts you once had are not the same,” Brooks explains.
“You think it’s going to be hard for me to start over from nothing? Please, men are such simple creatures. Me in a bikini will be enough of an incentive for them to come chat. I’ll be fine,” I tell him.
Brooks frowns and Sophie glares at me. Not my fault if Brooks might be picturing me in a bikini.
“Have you dealt with the cartel before?” Sophie asks.
“Over the years I have, but I’ll be honest, I haven’t done much work in Mexico,” I tell them. I’m not foolish enough to think I can go in there, guns blazing like I can in Europe.
“You need help, see,” Sophie exclaims triumphantly as my words have proven her right.
“You don’t have a lot of faith in me, do you?” I ask her.
Sophie pauses and looks up at me with those bright blue eyes and stares me down. “I have faith in you. I don’t think there is a situation you couldn’t get yourself out of. You’re part of a team now, being a Clark sister. And that means you’re not alone anymore,” she tells me sternly.
Oh.
That wasn’t at all what I was expecting her to say. It’s almost nice.
“I’m not taking Mackenzie,” I add quickly.
Sophie rears back and shakes her head. “She’d be a liability,” she states with a small smile on her face, probably imagining Mackenzie being in the field. Interesting concept but one that would get her killed.
“One of my old military buddies lives down in Mexico, Tulum funnily enough. He bought a beach bar there when he left the service,” Brooks adds.
“And you think he is going to be able to protect me?” I ask with my hands on my hips.
“Fuck no. You’ll probably end up saving his ass in a fight. But he knows everyone. There isn’t anything that goes on down on the Yucatán Peninsula that he doesn’t know about,” Brooks explains to me.
He does sound like he could be the one to help me. That kind of local knowledge is invaluable and if he knows the Dominguez family even better, he is going to be my in with that crew.
“And you trust him?”
“With my life on a number of occasions,” Brooks says seriously.
“Okay, sort it out. I want to be out of here today,” I tell them.
They both still. “What about Max and Grace?” Sophie asks.
“Leave them in the dark. Let them enjoy their honeymoon, this doesn’t concern them. After everything they have been through, I want them to have their happily ever after,” I tell her.
“Agreed,” Sophie says with a nod.
I leave them to organize the transport while I work out the best way to get in with the cartel.