7. April 10, 2023 #2
Nemo replied, “Last we knew, somewhere in Italy, but lately, there isn’t even an echo of them anywhere.
My guess is they’ve been ‘handled’ by the Salieri for their fuckup in South Africa.
In the meantime, we’ve bumped this sighting up in priority because, if you look closely, Ka-Bar’s polo shirt has a logo on it for a company that we’ve been hearing a lot of rumblings about lately.
Nimbus Corporation. Gem went there to gather intel on their CEO.
She followed these two dirtbags and caught Ka-Bar in the frame. ”
“She going to meet us there?” Steel asked.
“Yeah. She’s still following our two fake tourists, but they appear to be headed out of the country. Once she’s verified that, she’ll swing back your way and hand over everything to you and rendezvous with us.”
“You left her out there on her own?” Midas’ incensed words were the first he’d spoken directly to his brother. “What the actual fuck?”
“Calm your tits, grasshopper,” Nemo cautioned him. “Gem can take care of herself. My talents were required elsewhere. Besides, Medusa’s with her. Give me some fucking credit. I’m not completely stupid.”
“Any other intelligence for us?” Waters redirected. Demon was kind of sad about that. Breaking up what amounted to a sibling verbal fistfight might have lightened his mood after this afternoon’s mess with Cherry.
“I sent a preliminary report along with the photos. We’re hoping that you can go down, hang out, and check out the Nimbus CEO in the process since you’ve got a better inroad with him than we do.”
“Thanks. Take care, Nemo. ”
“Will do.” He shot a look at Midas, but his twin studiously ignored him in favor of playing with Ali and doing whatever he was doing on his computer. “ Baie geluk .” Nemo disconnected.
As soon as the screen went to the desktop, TB turned his chair in Midas’ direction. “Why are you being such a tool?” TB asked. “He’s your fucking brother. You can be mad, but don’t shut him out. You’re the only one of us who still has family. Appreciate that.”
“It’s none of your business, TB,” the other man mumbled. “Stay out of it. He chose pussy over blood. That’s not how it works.”
Steel took TB’s side. “Don’t you dare refer to Gem as ‘pussy.’ You know that’s not even close to true.
He worships that woman. Has for years and now finally can be with her.
And yeah, that’s definitely how it works when you find the one meant for you.
They always come first. TB’s right. We all gave up any ties we had to do this job.
You think that was easy for us? You have the gift of having it built into your job, and you’re pissing it away. ”
All of their heads turned toward Steel, varying degrees of surprise on their faces, but Demon noted Waters as the exception.
Their team leader had more knowledge of all of them than they had of each other.
None of the team had suspected that Steel still had living family members.
From the sound of it, the separation was difficult.
God brought everyone’s attention back to what was important. “You can all play Family Feud later.”
Demon held up a hand. “Hang on. What did Nemo mean by we have a better inroad with this CEO than they do?”
There was a knock at the door. With the click of a button, Midas showed the camera on the outer conference room door. Cherry stood there, stiff as a board. Obviously, she was also unhappy at the moment.
“I asked Cherry to join us. Meet your inroad,” God explained. “Midas? Get those preparations in motion that we discussed. And gentlemen… for now, say nothing about the CEO being the target of our investigation. Nothing,” he emphasized .
Before the men could ask why, Waters clicked a button on the starfish, disengaging the security system for the room and allowing Cherry inside.
Once the door closed, he reengaged the system.
Ali yipped with excitement at the new person entering the room, and he hopped out of Midas’ lap to greet Cherry.
God didn’t waste any time. “Cherry, we identified a rogue Portuguese military intelligence officer and a former American military member, both possibly connected to Salieri, together in a Soufrière café. They met with Ka-Bar. We need a contact in St. Lucia. Your father’s friend, Zion Norton. Do you think he’s trustworthy?”
Demon watched her hesitate, a series of emotions running across her face.
“Uncle Zion? My father trusted him.”
“But you don’t,” TB said, reading her tone.
“It’s not that I don’t… trust him, exactly.”
“Sure as feck sounds like you don’t,” Demon growled.
Her eyes flickered his way, and even though things weren’t good between them, he saw she wasn’t able to lie to him to cover up how she was feeling.
“He was very close to my father. They spent time together, professionally and personally. We often vacationed at Les Vergers de la Mer , and he often spent time at our home with us when he was in the States. It’s just…
” She searched for the proper words. “He’s not really my uncle.
I just called him that because he was like family to me since we saw him so much.
Sometimes—” She stopped, took a breath, and looked at him again.
Then she looked away as she finished. “When I got into my teens, though, he always seemed a little too focused on me when we’d be together, if you know what I mean.
Like, even when it wasn’t about me, he’d be, I don’t know…
overly attentive. Pulling out chairs. Opening doors.
Expensive gifts or side trips. Things like that. It’s just… it sometimes felt… awkward.”
Gritting his teeth, Demon had to hold back a growl. Cherry’s instincts about people were exceptional. If she’d picked up on his interest, it had definitely been there .
“Did you ever tell your father about those feelings?” God asked.
“I didn’t have to. I was planning to study international business and economics and had planned to study abroad after the first year or two.
But on my eighteenth birthday, while visiting Uncle Zion, he pushed on both me and my father that I should go directly to study in Italy.
He had connections at Università Bocconi , which has a very high ranking for both areas, and he had a home there, so he argued I’d have a support system if I needed it.
He had even secretly arranged enrollment. ”
“I take it your father didn’t like that?” God asked.
“At the time, he seemed to be open to it. Later on, when we went for a walk, he sounded me out about it. Asked if it was something I might be interested in. I told him I wanted to go to Georgetown, as planned. He seemed relieved.” She frowned.
“I thought it was because he would miss me, but now I wonder if he didn’t sense that Zion had more than just an altruistic offer on the table.
For the rest of the year, I never saw or spoke to Uncle Zion, even if it was a video call, without my father being in the room. Well, until the day Dad disappeared.”
He felt his teeth unclench slightly. At least her father had been on to the man.
God asked, “When your father disappeared, how did your uncle react?”
Cherry grimaced. “He pushed again, saying I shouldn’t be alone, but I wasn’t having it.
My excuse was always that I refused to take the chance Dad would turn up, and I didn’t want to miss him when that happened.
Not sure he believed me. Eventually, he gave up asking when I started classes, but it didn’t stop him from offering me reasons to ‘get away’ from stress and all that when I was on breaks from school.
Again, I had the excuses ready. I was taking overloads on my classwork; I didn’t want to miss Dad on the off chance that he showed up.
Then I had my internship, and I was working eighty-plus hours a week. ”
Waters spoke up. “What about after graduation? ”
“I graduated early, and then I left everything behind. The family attorney sealed up the house upon my request, and Esme Bosworth went off ‘to find herself,’ never to return. It’s still there.
The attorney goes there once a month to check on it, and a cleaning service does basics to keep it livable, but I haven’t been back to it since. ”
“What about Norton? You still in touch?”
“Barely. Once a year, I check in. Mostly because if Dad needed help, he’d likely go to Zion for it.
He has more connections than probably any world leader, especially considering his work with militaries all over the globe.
If Dad needed to be rescued and he could get word to Zion, that would be the best bet for success. ”
“How so?”
“He’s one of the biggest manufacturing moguls in the world.
He has deals with most of Western Europe, and while his company specializes in military contracts for transport planes, they also have divisions that specialize in helicopters, radar systems, and fuselages.
That’s how he and Dad met. The communications systems in all of Zion’s company’s planes were my dad’s.
In addition, he owns the only truly sustainable banana plantation in St. Lucia.
Everything taken is given back. That endeavor is also widely known and highly profitable.
Between Les Vergers de la Mer and Nimbus Corporation, he’s one of the top three entrepreneurs in the world.
Possibly number one. Midas could tell you more. ”
A loud crunching noise came from over the speaker as God separated his iconic favorite candy from its stick. “I’m sending you to St. Lucia. I’d like you to use your family connection to see if you can’t get some more info.”
“All right.”
“Feck no!”
Cherry and Demon’s answers came at the same time.
Demon bristled at the idea of Cherry being an active part of a project.
Not that she was incapable. If anything, more than capable.
She’d done it in the past, but only for short stints, like dinners where she vetted marks or handled some of the more feminine pursuits where the men would tend to stand out.
Either way, she’d always had security with her as backup.
There was no way in hell she was doing a trip to St. Lucia on her own, especially with someone who made her feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable.
“Don’t get your stethoscope in a twist, D,” God ordered. “She won’t be going alone.”
“What excuse am I using?” Cherry asked. “I’ve been putting him off for years. Now I’m suddenly going to seek him out?”
The unwrapping of yet another of God’s god-awful caramel apple suckers came over the line.
“St. Lucia is a huge tourist destination, especially romantic for couples. You’ve recently gotten married, and you’re going on your honeymoon there.
Might as well bring him to meet the only family you have left. ”
Waters had been quietly waging war with Ali over his file folder, complete with puppy slobber and teeth marks, but now he smirked, his bad mood suddenly disappearing.
Picking up the whining puppy from the floor, their boss was completely unsuccessful at hiding his glee, realizing what God intended. “Oh, this is gonna be good.”
Demon gritted his teeth. “Who are you sending with her?”
“Waters will stay here to run the office since Cherry will be on assignment. TB and Steel will be hiding out as security for her. Midas will offer local tech support. You will pose as her other half.” There was a hint of pleasure in his voice at his choices.
A gasp came from Cherry. “I really don’t think?—”
“You may own this company, Cherry, but you gave me the power to oversee the projects. That means my word is final.”
“What if he isn’t available? He could be traveling.”
“He’s not,” Midas informed her. “Once we had confirmation from Mythos, God had me set the wheels in motion. I sent ‘Uncle Zion’ an email on your behalf, and he answered almost immediately. He’s more than happy to offer his hospitality at his villa.
” He sounded so proud of himself. “Apparently, he’s hosting a large get-together the day after your arrival, so two more guests are not a problem.
I hacked into his guest list, and there are a lot of big names on the list. Everything from top one hundred entrepreneurs to politicians to military. Even royalty.”
Her eyes were wild with panic, and she grasped at the flimsiest of excuses. “An occasion like that, combined with posing as a honeymoon couple, I don’t have any clothing appropriate for a trip like this. All I own are business suits or lying-around clothes.”
Demon barely prevented himself from laughing. Wardrobe? Really? That was what she was going to go with?
“Call Flame,” TB offered. “She can help you rush order some things and pack.”
“Cherry,” God barked. “You are going, and D will pose as your husband. All the men will protect you with their lives, but he is the best choice for up close and personal. End. Of. Story.”
The quiet in the room was deafening.
“I’ll leave Waters to arrange the details,” God interrupted. “Keep in communication at all times.” With a click, he was gone.
By now, all the men—except himself—were smiling, with no attempts to hide their glee at this recent development.
“Congratulations”—Midas exaggerated his brainstorming face as he came up with identities for the happy couple—“Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy. I’ll get working on your passports.”
Waters added, “Better get packing. We meet in five hours to give you your itinerary and plan our attack. I want you out of here tonight.”
“Jumpin’ Jesus,” Cherry whispered.
There was resignation in her eyes, and when she glanced at Demon, he couldn’t help but feel his own expression was matching hers. How things ended this afternoon meant this would be torturous for both of them.