Chapter 27
LOCKE
The session was intense. Now that we knew where the smuggling ship was, we decided Esteban’s people would board the Helvig Star when it docked in Nyborg tomorrow, while I used a couple of my ships, along with several from other companies, to block the Kiel Canal as a distraction.
While the authorities were busy flocking to Germany to clear the clusterfuck I was about to cause in the canal, Esteban’s people would remove the smuggled weapons from the Helvig Star before anyone in the world was aware of how close they’d come to disaster.
My hands shook with nerves. The biggest challenge of being a member of the Paxis Council, according to my grandfather, was doing your part without attracting suspicion.
Which meant I had to get several ships to turn crossways in the canal in such a way as to cause an international logistics situation without making even my own employees suspicious.
Thankfully, my grandfather had trained me for this.
When I got out of the session and grabbed my phone, I checked it for the list Minnie had provided of the current ship positions. Then I compared this to the coordinates of the location Jett had found when we were working together the other day.
I moved through the house to my grandfather’s old study.
The room had already been cleared of his personal items, but not much else had changed.
I cleared the decorative items from the top of one of the built-in cabinets, pried up the panel they’d been resting on, and entered the code to the safe below.
Inside lay several burner phones, stacks of cash in multiple currencies, alternate identification documents for the remaining members of my family, two handguns, and various other items that might be needed under extreme circumstances.
I grabbed one of the phones and moved to the small powder room off the study that was even more soundproof than the study itself.
I dialed one of my contacts whose specialty was getting into software systems he wasn’t supposed to be in.
Vox answered. “What do you need?”
I gave him the names of two Maris ships, two Douvernay ships, and a Nowak ship, all in the same section of the canal closest to the spot Jett had found.
“I need you to create a logjam. Turn the ships, confuse them, I don’t care. I just need them to block the canal from six in the morning local time until about three in the afternoon. Then they can continue on their merry way. No casualties or property damage. Is that possible?”
“Yep,” he said. “Not a problem.”
The call ended without discussion of remuneration. He already had free access to Maris satellites, which was all the payment he could ever want or need in his line of work.
I blew out a breath and moved back to the study, returning the phone to the case and locking up. Then I moved over to the window and looked out at the Mediterranean.
The weight of Maris Holdings was heavy enough, but the weight of trying to stave off a war between Russia and the rest of the world was suffocating.
I closed my eyes and remembered Alvarado’s request for a game extension after this week’s issues had been resolved. He proposed helping in the aftermath of the cyclone in the Coral Sea since we were already gathered and able to arrange aid easily.
It had been an important reminder that we didn’t just prevent evil. We also tried to do good.
The Paxis Council was a good thing. Worth any stress associated with it.
Still, I wondered… how did the other members of the Paxis Council handle the stress?
We need things that help us remember we are men and not gods, al-Qadiri had said.
Well, I knew of at least one person in the world who was under no illusion about my being a god. I blew out a breath and smiled—the first I’d felt in hours, if not longer—thinking about Jett’s promise that he’d be waiting for me tonight.
It might be a weakness, but it was really fucking nice to think about someone looking out for me while I was trying to look out for the world.
I opened my eyes and stared out at the water again… just in time to spot Santi Alvarado leaning toward Jett with a hand on his face.
“What the fuck?” I muttered to the empty room.
After looking closer through watery shadows and blue-tinted light, I could make out that Jett’s eyes were wide and his body language was all over the place. Not guarded. Not reserved. Not staying the fuck away from Santi like I’d instructed.
Anger flared. My back teeth felt like they were going to break apart. I stormed out of the office and nearly knocked Selene Mercier over.
“Pardon,” I said. “I was just on my way—”
Her face was tight, and she looked upset. “Can we talk?”
I hesitated, torn between delaying to save Jett from Santi’s clutches and calming the fuck down.
The choice was far harder than it should have been. Harder than it would have been even a few days ago. But ultimately, I forced myself to choose the latter.
“Of course, Selene. Come in.”
She moved past me into the study, and I closed the door behind us.
“What’s going on?”
She stood behind a chair, her long, dark hair glinting in the light from a nearby lamp.
As the only other American on the council, she’d been social friends with my grandfather from time to time.
This meant I knew her a little better than the others and naturally trusted her more.
Whether I should or not remained to be seen.
She inhaled through her nose, then spoke. “I’m sure we shouldn’t be speaking of this outside the game room, but I honestly don’t know the proper procedure for this, Locke. And I’m not sure who on the council I can trust.”
I frowned. There was a reason why the council didn’t conduct our business through conversations. Selene knew this as well as I did. But the idea of her breaking protocol could only mean—
“One of the players has made an illegal move outside of the game,” she said in a hushed voice.
“What kind of move?”
Her eyes met mine. “Using information in a game to expand personal wealth.”
I stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending. Not wanting to comprehend.
Betraying the rules of the game was unfathomable. Because of the nature of what we did and the secrecy around our legacy, we couldn’t simply boot someone out of the group. If someone left the Paxis Council, they left in a box.
This rule was so well-known, it hadn’t needed to be enforced since before my grandfather’s tenure on the council.
It was also the reason the entire council had to approve any new members, regardless of bloodline or legacy. Santi Alvarado wouldn’t be allowed to learn the truth of the game unless he proved worthy.
Which seemed impossible now that I was going to drown him in my own pool.
“Which of us?” I demanded.
She shook her head and shrugged. “I haven’t gotten that far.”
I let out a frustrated breath. “How do you know this, then?”
Selene moved to take a seat in one of the two armchairs in front of the large desk, so I joined her in the other. “Remember the last tournament? Your grandfather and I made a collaborative move.”
I thought back to the decision to invest in microchips to advance counterfeit-resistant medical supply tracking. As a group, we’d decided Mercier’s own company couldn’t be involved without raising suspicion, so she’d advised which of her competitors should get the contract.
“I remember,” I said.
“A significant number of shares in my competitor’s company were acquired mere hours after that move was played, for a sum large enough to have gotten the attention of Wall Street.”
My gut cramped. “Who made the purchase?”
Her lips tightened. “A shell company. Malik Makida Ltd. Registered in the Caymans. My people brought this to me a few weeks ago, and they’ve been trying to trace the owners, but you know how impossible that can be, even with our resources.”
“It might be a coincidence,” I pointed out. “People buy stocks for all sorts of reasons all the time.”
She nodded but said, “I don’t know that I believe in coincidences like this.”
I wasn’t sure I did either.
“So what do you propose?” I asked. “We can hardly throw out a blanket accusation with so little information. It would incite mistrust and would only prompt the betrayer to cover their tracks even further.”
“Of course.” She leaned back and crossed one leg over the other. “I think we must set a trap. In the game. Dangle a lure—another lucrative opportunity—and see if anyone bites. That, at least, will confirm that my suspicions are correct and one of us is complicit.”
“And if no one bites?”
Selene lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. “Then perhaps I’ll start to believe in coincidences.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and stood up again to pace. “Okay… so we wait for the game expansion? Later this week?”
She shook her head. “We need time to act if and when someone takes the bait.”
I groaned and considered the situation before landing on the answer.
We’d planned to quietly find the contraband on the MV Helvig Star and return it to Drakovi?.
But if, instead, we moved through official channels and allowed the Helvig line to take credit for stopping the plot…
and then planted several rumors about Helvig’s strong dedication to stopping terrorism in its tracks…
it would boost the company’s reputation in the industry, leading to global growth and profitability.
An unmissable opportunity for an investor.
“I have an idea,” I said.
“What is it?”
“You’ll see first thing in the morning when I make my move.”
Her face widened into a grin. “Your grandfather would be proud of you, Locke. Not surprised, just proud.”
I managed a ghost of a smile. “Thank you.”
But while I might trust Selene more than the others, I knew better than to take everything she said at face value. That was why I wasn’t sharing my plan.
As we parted ways, I dragged myself back to my suite. Every step felt like ten, and my eyes stung like I’d pulled an all-nighter.