Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Roman tenderly smoothed the back of his hand over Harper’s cheek and set one last kiss to her lips before they left the bedroom and joined the boys in the living room to hear the news.
A surprising blush, followed by an almost thankful look, cut across Wyatt’s face. Maybe he was happy for them. Even in such a horrific time, he appeared grateful she and Roman were finally acting on the feelings Wyatt believed they’d kept under wraps for so long.
Finn jerked a thumb to the hall. “Those assholes say you need to head to the McMansion or something now. Well, the three of us. And they said don’t bother to pack much, that clothes will be provided.”
Like she needed someone working for Luciano to pick her clothes for her.
Wyatt held up a hand, his brows drawing together. “Let’s go over the plan we discussed one more time before you three walk out that door, and I go back to the States. I’m still uneasy with all of this.”
Harper was uncomfortable with it, too, and it’d been her idea. But they were out of options, and they needed to get ahead of the curve for once, especially with Will behind everything. Still a theory, but her gut told her he was their guy.
Who else could’ve predicted the team’s moves and protocols? Plus, with the “request” to be in Monaco on the date his wife died, it made the most sense.
He was a dangerous adversary, especially since he’d helped invent the teams’ playbook early on with Luke and Jessica.
“I think we all agree that our hitman is Talon Fox, and he’s making Will’s moves for him,” Finn began. “But Talon’s no fool. Neither is Will.”
“They’ll know Luciano is my uncle. It’s not a secret.”
She spied Roman’s hand out of her peripheral view flexing open and closed at his side as he spoke.
“Yeah, otherwise, why bring us to Spain?” Finn finished for Roman since it appeared he was struggling to work the words loose. Anger grabbing hold of his voice.
“And you really think your uncle can sell the idea to Talon that he wants you dead?” Wyatt repeated the same question he’d asked earlier.
“Luciano can sell anything,” Roman said under his breath. “Especially when he explains to Talon why he wants me dead.”
A son for a son. They were spinning the real version of the story.
“Right, your dad killed the heir to his empire, and he’s looking for revenge.
And if Talon relays the message to Will, he’ll understand that desire for revenge better than anyone,” Finn continued, going back over what they discussed before they’d phoned Director Spenser.
“And who better to hire to kill you than the man who shot one of your best friends.”
“But what if Will doesn’t want you dead before whatever he has planned for us in Monaco? No one may show in Cape Town despite all of your uncle’s money and influence,” Wyatt repeated his earlier concerns.
“Based on the gift card, Will wants me in Monaco,” Harper whispered. “And if Talon’s been following me, he’ll know—”
“Where you go, we’ll go, especially me,” Roman finished for her. “But maybe he’ll be willing to alter his plans for his shot at me this weekend instead of waiting for Monaco.”
“Shit,” Harper said under her breath when a thought struck her.
“What?” Roman asked.
Harper startled when he set a hand on the small of her back, surprised by the sudden PDA in front of their teammates. But well, their cards were on the table, weren’t they?
“If I wasn’t the only one followed, is it possible someone caught you doing anything illegal for your uncle last month?
” she asked Roman, her thoughts whirling so fast she might be sick.
“Just because your uncle is good at keeping his criminal activity under wraps and out of the public eye doesn’t mean someone didn’t stumble upon the truth while watching you. ”
Roman left her side and went to the tall chair at the bar top, and she’d take that as a yes.
He turned to the side, a white-knuckled grip on the back of the chair as he finally faced her and nodded with a tight mouth.
Another body buried?
“Yeah, they may be able to put two and two together that something was off about the trip to Spain I took last month that I, uh, didn’t tell you all about.”
“If they know about your uncle’s criminal ties from following you, what if Will anticipated you’d go to him for help?
Maybe that was the real reason we were brought to Spain, to put that option right in our faces when the time came.
Surely, you guys similarly baited people when Will still worked with you.
” She crossed her arms to try and hide her pebbled skin as goose bumps multiplied.
“What if this is Will trying to ensnare us yet again, this time in South Africa?”
“And we walk into another trap,” Wyatt said softly as if confirming his last-minute jitters were warranted. “Maybe it’s not Harper or Roman he wants in Monaco. He’ll know we’ll relay the time and date from the gift card to Luke and Jessica, and they’ll go.”
“I’d assume Will hates Luke and Jessica the most since they started the teams together,” Roman said. “But Will has to know we’d also look into the prison, right? What’s his play there now that he’s showing us part of his hand?”
And that was the crux of the problem, that they only knew part of Will’s plan, and most likely, the only parts he wanted them to see.
It was possible Will even wanted the teams to stumble upon Fox Security in the first place outside Mauricio’s sister’s hotel—ensure Bravo and Echo would connect the dots that Will was involved, and only when he wanted them to learn that information.
Mauricio’s sister wasn’t bait. It was the men outside who were simply part of Will’s fucking game of Clue.
“What if when Luke and Jessica go to see Will in prison, that’s how he breaks out?” she proposed. “And that’s why he has us on this twisted scavenger hunt right now? He needed this particular timeline of events to happen, all leading to the moment he breaks free.”
“He’ll have Talon’s men follow Luke and Jessica right to the prison, and then they discover the top-secret site, a place they would never have found otherwise,” Finn said with a nod.
“Will may have a guard inside helping him send a few emails, but I doubt the guard would risk a prison break, so this would be Will’s best chance to escape,” Roman added.
Wyatt shook his head, clearly uncomfortable with their discussion. “I don’t see how we can avoid sending our people to the prison to have a one-on-one with Will, as well as double-check to ensure Will’s really there, regardless of what the warden said.”
And the horrifying problem, Will would know that, too.
“We need plans for our plans,” Wyatt added glibly.
Roman swiped both hands through his hair, his eyes positioned on the floor as if lost in thought. “I think my uncle might know more than he’s letting on, as well.”
“How so?” she asked him.
“What if he didn’t get the USB from Mauricio’s dead body?
What if Talon or one of Talon’s men gave it to him?
And Luciano was asked to handle that particular loose end—kill Mauricio?
” Roman proposed. “That’s what my uncle’s men do.
They take out the trash for bad guys, while my uncle allows criminals to operate undetected in his city, all the while growing richer. ”
“But your uncle wants you to take over. Why would he help Talon if he reached out to him?” She stepped in front of him and set her hands on his chest, finding his heart beating wildly beneath her palms. “And why would Talon take such a risk to go to your uncle?”
“There’s only one reason Talon would do it,” Roman said in a low voice. “He had video footage of me, which would connect to Luciano. Blackmail.” He paused. “And knowing my uncle, he’d turn the blackmail problem into his advantage.”
“What do you mean?” Harper frowned.
Roman looked to the floor. “What better way to turn a good man dark than take everyone he cares about from him?”
“And without you blaming him for it,” Finn said, and Harper lifted her hands to his face, not caring that Finn and Wyatt were in the room.
“Well,” she murmured, pushing up on her toes to get closer to eye level, “then it’s up to us not to let that happen. Maybe your uncle inadvertently helped us put a legal target on his head.”
Harper looked to Wyatt for his thoughts. “I agree,” Wyatt said gruffly. “Looks like our rules of engagement just might expand to your uncle after all.”