Epilogue
“We’re still no closer to finding out who was behind Narelle’s attempted kidnapping and who wanted to buy her. Nor who killed Camille.” Andy hated having to state the obvious to his teammates and boss, all seated in the office’s conference for their regular Monday meeting.
It had been three weeks since Narelle and Margot had been taken.
Wilt, still recovering from being shot in the shoulder, had done a thorough background check on everyone who worked with Narelle.
They’d all come clean. Camille had been the only red flag, but they’d known that.
Her name wasn’t Camille, it was Regina Short, and that hadn’t been her first name change; she’d had many over the course of her life.
Wilt was currently doing further investigations to find out if any of the places Camille had worked previously, also had employees go missing.
Where she got the information that those people needed kidnapping, or who she passed information onto, wasn’t easily found. There was no digital footprint, and a search of her place hadn’t found a stash of burner phones or incriminating evidence.
They had uncovered her drug dealer, but when they tracked him down, all he confirmed was he sold her drugs and that was it.
The team was frustrated, most particularly Andy, because it was his woman who still had the threat of a possible kidnapping hanging over her head.
“Hang on.” Wilt didn’t look up from his computer as his fingers flew over the keyboard.
No one would guess that Wilt, the computer genius, was also one of the sharpest shooters on their team.
His aim was deadly accurate. He was as comfortable behind the keyboard these days as he was holding a sniper rifle for hours.
Andy knew his friend was itching to get back into the thick of things after getting shot by Camille.
“What’s going on?” Andy asked when minutes had passed and Wilt still hadn’t said anything.
“There’s some chatter about Camille’s death. They’re not saying her name exactly, but from what I can tell, she was eliminated because she was getting sloppy. Also that anyone who may have been on her hit list was to be forgotten, as they’re considered ‘hot’ and ‘untouchable’ now.”
Andy blew out a breath. Was Wilt saying what he wanted to hear? “Narelle is safe? They’re not going to try and go after her? Is that what you mean?”
“Looks like it. They’re saying Camille’s actions brought too much attention to the organization and their methods.
Seems the network is Asian based, which makes sense, we know from past experience, that our proximity to them means Australia is a good place to source merchandise.
Whether they’re associated with Viktor Kosnovi?’s organization is going to take a little digging.
” Wilt looked up and smiled. “Word is, they’re slowing things down until the heat settles.
But yeah, it means Narelle’s safe. You and your girl can breathe easy. ”
“There’s no chance once things settle down, they won’t try and go after her again?” Andy wanted to believe it was all over, but he was still cautious.
“No, doesn’t look like it. But this is a good lead.
I’ll pass this information onto Cass at Alliez, and Bayden at the AFP.
Between Cass and I, we’ll keep this monitored on the dark web.
Not only to keep Narelle safe, but to also track when they’re likely to restart things.
It also won’t hurt if we keep Jude Cadmon and his friends in the loop too.
Their connections could come in handy in picking up if things get busier again in southeast Asia,” said Wilt.
Andy scrubbed a hand down his face. “It’s over.”
“Yes, it is, but as Wilt said, we’ll monitor it. I think it’s safe to say that the threat is gone,” Steve reiterated. He didn’t need to, but Andy was grateful.
Andy couldn’t wait to get home and tell Narelle.
She still suffered nightmares from what happened, and also from the guilt that the reason Margot was hurt was because of her association with Camille.
Margot had recovered and had assured everyone that she was fine and wasn’t any worse for her ordeal.
Andy kept an eye on her, but he noticed that Damon was keeping a closer one.
Each time Narelle suffered a nightmare, he hugged her tight and whispered that he loved her, over and over.
He still couldn’t believe Narelle loved him back.
That she wanted to be with him. She hadn’t moved back to her place and was now living with him.
He planned on making it official soon, once her parents had returned and he could do the proper thing and ask her dad for his permission to marry her.
It may be an old-fashioned tradition that had gone out of date, but he knew Narelle was close to her parents, and he wanted to do it right.
He couldn’t wait to surprise her with the perfect proposal and ring.
A few months ago, he’d been going through the motions, feeling adrift and lost. Now he had purpose and a future with the woman he loved. He couldn’t wait to embrace life further.
Wilt’s arm and shoulder ached as he sat through the weekly team meeting.
It had been three weeks since he’d been shot and had dislocated his shoulder when he’d tackled Camille.
He wanted to roll the joint in attempt to ease the ache, but he also didn’t want the rest of his team to know he was still suffering from the injury.
He’d already missed out on one mission that he could’ve helped Damon on. Reed had gone instead. The next time something came up, he was going to put his hand up for it.
“Next item on our agenda, we’ve been approached for a new job providing personal protection to a model while she’s here shooting an exclusive jewelry campaign.” Steve tapped his tablet, and a woman’s face filled the screen.
Wilt recognized her, in fact he doubted anyone in the room didn’t know who she was—Indigo Elara. He would bet that wasn’t her name. Who named their child that? It was no doubt something dreamed up by her agency to make her seem more mysterious.
This was one job he wasn’t going to be putting his hand up for.
No way was he going to babysit a model, who was likely a diva.
There’d been some scandal involving Indigo a few years ago.
He couldn’t remember what it was, and frankly, he didn’t care.
Let Damon or Reed or even Chris deal with her.
He’d rather do anything but deal with Indigo Elara.
“The job shouldn’t be too difficult,” Steve started, “and Wilt, I’m assigning this job to you. I’m aware your shoulder and arm are still giving you some grief. I also know you’re itching to do more than sit in front of the computer, even though it’s something you love to do.”
Wilt opened his mouth and then shut it again at the don’t argue with me look his boss was giving him. “Sure,” he mumbled.
This was going to be the worst assignment he’d had in a while. He only hoped it wouldn’t drag out and would be over in a couple of weeks.
Wilt planned to be professional and polite, but he wouldn’t engage in getting to know Indigo like he had with some of his other assignments. The less he knew about her the better.