Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
Andy was halfway to the office when an oppressive feeling tightened in the middle of his chest. He put it down to leaving Narelle behind, alone in his house. He’d secured the alarm before he’d left, texting her to let her know what he’d done.
She was free to move around the house, but would need to disarm it should she have to go outside, which she wouldn’t have to do.
The second she’d told him she’d given her manager his address, he hadn’t felt easy about it. There was no indication that whoever was behind attacking her came from her office, but anything was likely. He’d been relieved when she said she’d send them the office address instead.
Even though he didn’t believe her work colleagues would be behind what happened to her, he made a mental note to ask Wilt to look into them to see if there were any red flags.
The fact that they hadn’t been able to get any leads was frustrating him.
He should be happy it appeared as though the threat on her life was gone, but he didn’t believe it was.
He had nothing to go on to come to that conclusion, just a lot of experience with dealing with the scum of the world, and knowing that if it quacked like a duck, then it was a duck. No one would’ve gone to the extremes they had in targeting Narelle if they didn’t want her.
He pulled into the parking garage and parked in his allocated spot. He’d made good time and was only a couple minutes late.
Locking the car, he made his way to the elevator, and while he waited, checked his phone to see if any messages had come through. His phone was connected to the car’s Bluetooth, so he should’ve been notified as he drove, but sometimes technology was a bitch and notifications never reached him.
There was nothing, but he fired off a quick message to Narelle to let her know he’d made it safely. He was going to send a smiley emoji but found himself sending her heart one instead.
He didn’t second guess that he’d done the wrong thing, because after what they’d shared with each other in his kitchen, his heart did belong to Narelle.
He suspected it belonged to her the moment he saw her, but he hadn’t known it until she’d been in the accident, and he hadn’t been able to leave her side since.
His phone beeped as the elevator arrived, and he smiled when he saw Narelle’s response. She’d not only sent a heart emoji, but a kissy face one as well.
Andy walked into the boardroom, the grin still plastered on his face.
“Someone is happy. It’s good to see.” Reed slapped him on the back.
“Yeah, man, I am.” There was no point denying it, because why should he?
His life was coming together in an unexpected way.
He loved that when he walked through his backdoor again, Narelle would be waiting for him.
He knew that it would be temporary, and once the threat was gone, she would return to her own place. Andy didn’t want to think about that.
“Narelle settling in?” Reed handed him a cup of coffee, and he took it.
“She is. I think her arm is feeling a lot better, and she’s using it more, and can get around the house on her knee scooter a lot better than she was when she first arrived.”
“That’s good. I think Lauren talked about calling her to see if she wanted to go out and do something, but I said I’d check with you first, considering we still don’t have a handle on who is after her.”
“I think she’d like that.” He thought about how she seemed excited to get her laptop so she could do some work. “I think she’s starting to get a little bored not being able to stay busy. Which reminds me, I need to go ask Margot something. I’ll be right back.”
He slipped out as Steve was coming in. “Everything okay?”
“Yep, I’ll be right back. I need to have a quick word with Margot.”
Steve nodded, and Andy hurried down the hall to the receptionist, who looked up and smiled as he approached.
“Hey, Andy, do you need something?”
“I do. Narelle is going to arrange for her work laptop to be delivered to the office. If I’m still in this meeting, do you think you could drop it off to her?”
“Of course. I can switch the phones to the message service while I’m out.”
“Or to my phone. You’re doing me a favor. It’s the least I can do for you.”
Margot shook her head. “No, it’s all good. Steve is okay with me doing that when I have to run some errands for him.”
“Okay, I need to get back. Message me when you’re leaving, and thanks again for doing this.”
“My pleasure.” The phone rang, and she efficiently answered it. “Power Security, Margot speaking.”
Andy left her to the call as he headed back to the boardroom. The earlier concern when Narelle had told him that he’d given her boss his home address easing a little. Yet there was a lingering feeling that he needed to be on alert. Once Margot left, he’d be monitoring his security feeds.
He took a seat next to Wilt, who raised his eyebrow in query. “I need to speak to you about Narelle’s case.”
His friend sat a little straighter. “Did something happen?”
Ox’s face appeared on the screen of the TV mounted on the wall in the room, effectively ending Andy’s opportunity to continue. “I’ll tell you after,” he murmured.
Wilt nodded and turned his attention to the boss of Alliez Security.
The new partnership between Power and Alliez Security in LA had come about because of one of the guys who worked there, Angel, had contacted Steve a while ago about checking in on Teresa’s—Angel’s now wife—mother, who had been visiting Perth when shit was happening in Teresa’s life.
Andy tuned out the general pleasantries, his focus on why he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was about to happen. It didn’t necessarily have to be anything connected to Narelle, it could have to do with whatever Ox wanted to discuss with them.
“How about we get down to the reason for your call?” Steve’s question pulled Andy’s attention back to the meeting. He still had a job to do, and as much as he was worried about Narelle, he needed to make sure he was aware of what was going on around the office.
“Recently we had a situation with our consultant Isaac Warner.”
“The former DEA agent?” Steve asked.
“Yeah, him. Through a weird set of circumstances, he foiled a kidnapping attempt of his now partner, Marie. There were other incidents that happened but didn’t quite add up to someone being after her.
We deduced that Marie wasn’t the actual target, but Isaac was, so it led us to believe what happened to her might’ve been a robbery attempt gone wrong. ” He paused and took a drink of water.
“As it turned out it, they wanted Marie, but not in a way we thought. It was a new way of taking people off the streets. Problem was they chose to do so right out the front of our building. Isaac was there to stop it all. His actions got him on an enemy’s radar.
Someone who wanted revenge for past things Isaac had done to him.
” A picture of a man appeared alongside Ox’s face.
“The person of interest is Victor Koznovi?, Russian Bratva. He has his fingers in a lot of pies, including human trafficking. At one stage, Viktor was working with Gomez Ramirez, and Isaac gave us intel to stop a human shipment from leaving LA. Two women rescued from that raid were work colleagues of Angel’s wife, Teresa. That was how we got involved.”
Andy whistled low. “This is almost getting incestuous.”
Ox sighed. “Trust me, we’re feeling the same way about it.
It seemed Viktor’s new system of getting women was to use a flaw with the driverless car rideshare service.
They were blocking the cars, preventing them from moving.
They’d then take girls in the cars. It seems they were just starting using this when Isaac saved Marie. ”
The hairs on the back of Andy’s neck prickled. There was no way that they were connected, but the similarities between what happened to Narelle and Marie were too close for him not to say anything. “Do you know if Viktor has any connections in Indonesia, specifically Bali?”
Viktor’s picture disappeared from the TV, and Ox’s serious face filled the screen. “Yes.”
“Fuck.” Andy couldn’t help the curse from exploding out of him.
“You’re not thinking…?” Damon left the rest of his question unsaid. He didn’t need to elaborate. Everyone in the room, bar Ox, very aware of what he was suggesting.
“Someone care to clue me in?” the American queried.
Steve waved for him to address the question. Andy gave Ox a quick rundown of what Narelle went through in Bali, and the subsequent attempts on her life.
“I’ve seen too much shit in the last couple of years not to think that what happened with Narelle in Bali could be connected to Viktor. It’s the perfect setup.” Ox rubbed a hand down his face.
“I know. It’s lucky Narelle listened to her instincts and got away.” Andy was extremely grateful that she had.
“Right, but with what you’ve told me, it would suggest that she was targeted for a reason. And if there was a buyer waiting for her, then they’re going to do everything they can to get her. Although it’s weird they’ve gone underground,” Ox mused.
“Could it be because of what happened with Isaac?” Chris, a former Delta and American as well, asked.
“It’s possible,” Ox stated. “Viktor got Isaac, but we got to him before it was too late. Viktor got out before we could get hands on him. As it is, being Bratva makes it more complicated. We don’t know how many police and government officials might be on his payroll.”
“Or if he’ll come after Isaac again,” Andy said, feeling sick to the stomach that Narelle may now be on the Russian mob’s radar.
“Exactly. But we think that he may not try, considering he wasn’t successful, but we’re all on alert.
Especially as we have wives and children who could be targeted.
” Ox’s attention flicked to something off screen.
They were all aware that he had a young son, Angel had a daughter, and Growler had twin boys.
“What do you need us to do? You know we’ll do anything we can. I can bring Bayden in the loop as well, especially after what you did for him in Bali, Andy.” Steve tapped at the tablet in front of him.
“What was that?” Ox asked, his focus back on the screen.
“I eliminated a two-bit drug lord in Bali a few months ago. From the intel the AFP had on him, he wasn’t involved with trafficking anything other than drugs, but it’s possible he could’ve been.
” What had seemed as if it was a simple operation now could have a bigger impact.
“What if…” He swallowed, hating where his thoughts were heading.
“Someone saw me eliminate Bintu Dunang, then saw me with Narelle, and decided to punish me by taking her away, even though we’d only just met?
They may not have known that at the time.
” He pushed away from the table and started pacing around the room.
God, was that even possible?
What if he was the reason for everything happening to Narelle?
What if this was payback?
He needed to get out of there and back to Narelle.
“Steady, Andy, there’s no reason to think everything’s connected, but it’s something we can look into.
” Steve’s calm demeanor did nothing to ease his agitation.
“I can also contact Jude Cadmon and see if we can use some of the connections he made in Southeast Asia when he was looking for his sister.” Steve gave Ox a quick rundown of how Jude and his friends had used the connections from being Freemasons to track down his sister after she’d been taken.
Power Security had been involved with her rescue.
It was something Andy and the team had been happy to be a part of.
They didn’t take down the traffickers; their main goal had been to get Renee back.
But the network of traffickers was intertwined, so some of the information Jude and the others had gotten then could be helpful now.
The very idea of Narelle going through what Renee had gone through, soured the coffee Andy had drunk. No one should have to endure the despicable things Renee had.
His phone pinged, and he latched onto the sound like lifeline to stop his spiraling thoughts. He checked the screen and he saw he’d missed Margot’s message stating she had the laptop and was headed to his place, and he had a recent alert from his security system.
He accessed his camera feed. The seconds it took to load seemed interminable. When it finally did, his blood turned cold.