Chapter 20 #2
Appreciating that he gave her credit for that, she managed a soft nod.
“Thank you. I am glad too.” Because otherwise, he would already be out of her life.
“When Enzo left the hall and got in his car, I scrambled to follow. I had to dart back inside and ask Yasser, our driver, to let me have the keys. I lied”—she gave a sheepish shrug—“and told him I left something in the vehicle. But I hurried out and spotted them back on Main, turning left onto a street to the dockyards. Trailing them, I parked near a three-story building across from big round silos. I do not know what the building was. From there, I went on foot.”
“That’s what we’ll do too.” Dillon shifted the SUV into gear and nodded. “So, right at the end of the street?”
“Yes, then the first left—not the turnaround, though.”
“No turnaround. Got it,” Dillon murmured as he pulled out after a dinged-up silver sedan puttered past, looking like it was literally on its last wheel.
Strange buzzing vibrated through him as he pulled into the left lane and visually targeted the turn. There, he slowed into the cross area and waited again for traffic to clear. But to be here—to be at the same dock where Dad had been…
Tapping his thumb on the steering wheel, he felt the zing of excitement ripping through his veins.
Maybe a hint of nerves too. They’d gotten away from the shooters in Mykonos, but that problem wasn’t going away.
Someone wanted Cove. And he wasn’t really sure why.
Did they want to leverage her against Massimo? Or maybe she knew something…
“Right there,” she said, pointing to a white-and-blue building. “I parked there.”
Where she indicated was on the left. To have parked, she would’ve had to cross the street. He guessed the lot of the plat that had the silos would be too open, visible. Smart girl.
Detouring to the spot, he pulled between two vehicles, the SUV notably higher-end than either, and killed the engine.
Even with antitheft advancements, the SUV had a very real chance of being rehomed before they got back.
He hoped not, but he was realistic. Grabbing the fob, he looked at Cove, who was peering out the side window, toward the docks. “You good?”
She glanced at him, seemingly weighted by the world, then nodded.
They climbed out and he swiftly gained her side, moving down the road.
Humidity exacerbated the high temperatures here in Yemen, pushing into the “excessive heat” category.
In the hazy distance, he spotted rugged mountains that were not the lush green of the Catoctin mountains in Northern Virginia.
These were formidable but def not inviting.
Through the buildings he could see cargo ships gliding through the sea, navigating around trawlers.
“From here,” Cove said as she reached the half wall lining the road, “I could see his car and two others glide in the direction of the main GIS warehouse, which is that gray building along the dock.”
“Got it.”
She pointed more westerly. “We have three other warehouses across the dock on that side—the explosion happened over there, but the offices are in that building. That is why I got concerned that night, because nobody should be in there after dark. And when I got closer, I did not recognize the men.”
“Did you tell your dad about his right-hand guy seeing unknown individuals in his warehouse?”
“No,” she said around a thick breath. “I had not been working long with Papà, and the week before, I made a foolish error in judgment. I thought I had found a mistake and suspected Enzo, but then it was proven false. Papà was not happy.”
“No doubt that ticked off Enzo too. Let me guess—he’s the one who proved your mistake was wrong.”
She nodded and groaned. “He was very angry, but he…let it go.”
Dillon sniffed. “Smart move on his part—let you eat crow so he could look better to your dad and maybe play his hand later.”
“I kept this to myself since I could not make sense of what happened. There did not seem anything terribly wrong. It was just here”—she tapped just below her ribs—“that doubts have bred. It hurt my heart to see how upset he and Flavio were…and to have my papà’s anger aimed at me taught me to be very careful before accusing again. ”
“And I bet over the following weeks, months, and years, Enzo made sure you stayed uncertain of yourself and your capabilities.”
Cove had to shift her entire upper body to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“Gaslighting,” he said with a shrug. “Making you doubt yourself, question if you’re recalling things correctly. Saying you misremembered. Maybe even using your mom’s death to suggest you’re tired and not thinking clearly.”
Only when he’d gone a few more steps did Dillon realize Cove had stopped. He shifted back to her. “You okay?”
Her eyes were a molten gold beneath welling tears.
One slipped free. “That is exactly what he has done. When I returned to the office after that fiasco with the error, nothing was as it had been. The printed-out sheet did not match, and he said I was misremembering. When I questioned him about what I saw here that night, he said I was simply tired from grieving Mamma, that I could not understand. He insisted the man he met with was a Georgian I already know. That it had been dark, I was too far away…”
“He convinced you not to believe what your own eyes saw.” Dillon nodded. “Classic gaslighting and a legit form of evil, in my opinion.”
She lifted a hand to her mouth, the niqab flattening beneath her touch, giving him the faintest impression of her face. “Balorda! I cannot believe…”
“No idea what that means, but…” Dillon drew her away from the road and pedestrian path that served as a sidewalk, so they were no longer in the open.
“Losers like that aren’t worth the air they breathe.
You’re an intelligent, capable, knowledgeable young woman.
And your devotion to your dad is off the charts, paired with a deadly chunk of courage. ”
“You will make me cry again.”
“That’s the last thing I want to do, but knowing how this guy got in your head…
” Dillon hated they were on the street, that she was in ridiculous garb that made it next to impossible to see her expressions.
“Just let me get my hands around his neck and you won’t have to worry about him breathing another lie to or about you. ”
Her fingers caught his in a subtle-but-lightning-rod gesture that struck straight to his heart. “Thank you. I needed someone to tell me I was not crazy.”
Some great weight settled on his chest that made it hard to breathe as he stood, fingers linked, staring at her gold eyes, notably bright against the void of material consuming her.
Fighting the urge to pull her into his arms, protect her from this piece of work who had her doubting herself and her intelligence…
A horn blasted, startling them both.
Heart jarred into a normal rhythm, he regretted having to release her hand, but it was considered haram here to hold hands in public. “Come on. Let’s find a way to prove that guy wrong.” And even though he couldn’t see her mouth, he could tell there was a smile by the twinkle in her eyes.
She led them down one street, traversed a small alley, and darted across another road to stand in the alley between two buildings.
“See there?” She indicated diagonally, beyond the street to a crossroad that ran parallel to the dock itself and the GIS warehouse.
“That first building is the smaller GIS warehouse and offices. Behind it, another warehouse. And beyond that, the dock with dinghies and fishing boats, where your dad—”
“Yeah, yeah.” His heart skipped a beat, imagining Dad being here.
“I see it.” He shook a finger toward across the road.
“That two-story gray building was in the photo with our dads. I used it to lead me here. Spent a couple of days looking around but couldn’t put anything together.
” This location, at night? Visibility would be reduced.
Not impossible, but enough that it probably gave that mostro Enzo the ammo to make Cove doubt herself.
His gaze hopped from light to light across the dockyard.
Enough light to make identifying an individual credible.
“Looks like there aren’t many people at the office,” she said.
Dillon noted the two compact vehicles haphazardly parked. Driving rules here seemed more like general guidelines than hard-and-fast laws. “Hey… You mentioned a car accident when you were here…”
She indicated to her right. “It happened at that corner. That car was going way too fast for this congested area.”
Dillon nodded, taking in the location, the warehouse, the docks. Another nod. “Okay, you ready?” When she didn’t answer, he glanced at her.
Leaning back against the building, she had her eyes closed.
Concern speared him. “G? You good?”
“I don’t know if I can do this…”
Surprised at her sudden doubt, he edged in. “What happened to that courage I just saw?”
Her eyes snapped open and locked onto him. “I do not like lying to people.”
“Then…don’t lie.”
She blinked, irises dancing with questions that vied for attention and explanation.
“Remember,” Dillon said, “the likeability rule: Be likeable—and I know you ace that. Everyone who has met you likes you.”
“You haven’t met Enzo yet.”
“And that is the only reason he’s still alive.”
She laughed softly. “You are so very heroic.”
His thoughts threatened to jump into the sea at her praise. “Not really, but I like that you think so.” Head in the game, HotShot. “In the office,” he said, nodding to the warehouse, “just tell them you have work to do.”
“What if they know Papà was taken?”
“Use it.” He inched nearer and tucked his chin in meaning. “You belong in there, and they shouldn’t question that. Everything they say should be measured with that in mind. Use them knowing about your father’s kidnapping to your advantage. People distracted by grief will overlook a lot.”
“That seems wrong.”