Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
"I'm sorry," Max said, once they were back in the bungalow. "I should have said something."
"Damn straight, you should have." Rodrigo sat facing him at the small dining table. "Because now Damien knows you're here, he's going to be watching every move you make. You saw how he reacted. He thinks you've come to write a story on him."
"Which is true," Katrina said from her position beside Rodrigo.
"Damien didn't believe a word you said. I wouldn't be surprised if he's checking into your booking as we speak.
Then he'll probably check our backgrounds too.
Our covers won't stand up to intense scrutiny.
We didn't put much effort into building them because we didn't think anyone would know us, or get suspicious of us, in the few days we'd be here.
" She took out her phone and started tapping at the screen.
"I'll get Evan onto it. Hopefully he can put enough background in place, so we look legitimate when people start digging. "
Rodrigo ran a hand down his face as he looked at Violet. "You told him you were a cop. Way to set off alarm bells. And now you're supposed to be a florist? We set you up as a barista."
Violet's expression was blank as she sat beside Max. "I had a brain fart and forgot what I was doing. I told you I was crap at this undercover stuff." There was a challenge in her words. She was daring him to come at her. "Evan can change barista to florist, it shouldn't be too hard."
Rodrigo groaned. "No offense, Violet, but you don't look like a florist. Where the hell did that come from?"
"My mother and sister own a florist shop in Scotland," she said through gritted teeth.
Rodrigo blinked several times before he visibly relaxed. "Actually, that’s good. We can work with that. The only problem is that you told him you were working in the family business, which will make him wonder how you met Max, considering the family business is in Scotland."
She straightened her shoulders. "Do you want me to apologize?"
Max got the impression from her tone that an apology would happen right around the same time as hell froze over.
"No, I want to know how we salvage this." Rodrigo sat back in his chair.
"I'm filling Evan in on what we've told Damien," Katrina said as she typed.
"Maybe we can say that Violet and Max met while on holiday.
That happens all the time. Then it was a long-distance romance.
Max's been to Houston, so we can say they met there, and he's been traveling back and forth to see her.
" She looked up at Rodrigo. "There's a florist a couple of blocks from our office.
He could set it up to look like she's been employed there. That will work, right?"
"Maybe," Rodrigo said. "But it all needs to be put in place fast. If I was Damien, I'd be on my computer right now, checking into all of us."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Katrina said. "He's getting Elle to help."
"Elle?" Max asked.
"Evan, but in the London office."
"Gotcha." Max nodded. "For what it's worth, I really didn't think Damien would find out I was here, or even remember my name.
We've never actually spoken before now. We saw each other in passing years ago, when he had my publisher squash a story I was writing on him.
" His stomach clenched at the memory of Damien taunting him over having the story killed.
"That's it. That's all the contact we've had. "
Violet faced him. "It sounds like he's close to your publisher, if they were golfing together last week. What are the chances he'll get in touch with your newspaper and get this story shut down too?"
Damn.
It.
To.
Hell.
"Max?" Rodrigo prompted when he took too long to reply.
Max ran another hand through his hair. This was not good. In fact, it was nowhere near good. It wasn't even in the same universe as good. The team were already mad at him and if he answered this question they'd lose their minds entirely.
Violet's eyes narrowed, seeing right through him. "You lied. This story isn't for your newspaper. You're doing this on your own, aren't you?"
His stomach clenched and he nodded once, tersely.
"Not possible." Rodrigo shook his head. "His editor asked Lake for a favor."
"Yeah." Max swallowed hard; the words stuck in his throat. "He did," he said at last before hanging his head for a second.
"Max?" Violet prodded him hard in the side, making him yelp.
He rubbed at the sore spot.
"I'm getting there," he told her before taking a breath.
"Okay, so the thing is, my editor isn't really my editor anymore, he's just an old friend.
I asked him to contact Lake because I was desperate.
I needed help and couldn't afford to pay for it.
I've sunk everything I own into this trip.
" He waved a hand around the room. "You're looking at my savings.
I even sold my car to finance this chance to take Damien down.
" He looked skyward, seeing only the white ceiling fan.
"I parted ways with my paper a year ago after they told me I was too obsessed with this story.
I don't have a publisher waiting to run this back home.
I don't have any more money to throw at investigating Damien.
This is it. My last stand. If I don't get him now, I'll have to give up, because I've pretty much bankrupted myself to bring that bastard down. "
"We're stuffed," Violet said as she paced the length of the living and dining area.
To say she wasn't too happy with Max was to put it mildly.
Fricking amateurs. Rochelle had screwed up on this one.
Not only hadn't the client been properly vetted, but she'd let him go into the field, where he’d promptly blown the op because the target knew him.
Benson Security should have gone to Wedding Island without Max and brought back the information he needed.
They were experienced in covert operations, while Max played with words for a living.
"We aren't stuffed," Max said, like he knew anything at all about running an op.
"Damien thinks we're here for a wedding, so we go ahead as planned.
Nothing's changed. His partner is still due to visit the island, which means we still have a chance to find out his identity.
Violet told him she booked the trip and I had nothing to do with it. Why wouldn't he believe her?"
How could someone so pretty be so dumb?
“Max, you left a trail of emails when you arranged a wedding with the resort. It isn’t going to take him long to find out you were the one who planned this trip.
” Violet stopped pacing right beside him, to ensure she had his complete attention.
"On top of that, he knows you once tried to tell the world he’s a criminal, so why the hell would you get married on his island?
He is definitely going to be suspicious about why you’re really here. "
"If I were him," Rodrigo said. "I'd postpone the meeting with my partner until you were married and gone."
The words made Max jerk back as though he'd been struck. He seemed to deflate and slump in his chair.
"Damn it, I blew it, didn't I?" he said.
"Aye," Violet replied before anyone could console him. He needed the truth, not to be mollycoddled. "You let obsession blind you. It's a rookie mistake. In situations like this it's best to be cold, methodical, and thorough. You don't want your prey to see you coming."
Rodrigo huffed out a breath. "Apart from the fact she makes us sound crazy, she's not wrong. Damien knows you're coming for him now, which means you've lost any advantage you might have had."
"So, what do we do?" Max spread his hands wide. "Please tell me this can be salvaged because I wasn't exaggerating when I said that everything I own is wrapped up in this story. If I don't get it, I'm screwed. Worse, he gets to carry on doing what he's doing, and I can’t stomach that."
"Neither can I," Katrina said softly before turning to Rodrigo. "You've got the most experience with this sort of thing, what do we do?"
"We carry on as planned," Rodrigo said. "And hope our covers stand up to his scrutiny. Have to say though, if I were him, I'd be boosting my security just in case you proved to be a threat."
Violet had to agree. "We need to get eyes and ears in his house so we know what he's doing," she said.
"Definitely." Rodrigo nodded. "That's got to be our first priority.
Maybe Abasi can plant some listening devices, assuming he gets himself hired on as staff.
In the meantime, we get Evan to prod at the resort's online security, see if he can infiltrate the system.
At least Damien doesn't know about Abasi or Evan, so we have that going for us. "
"Evan has to shore up our cover identities first," Katrina reminded him.
"Yeah." Rodrigo shook his head. "I need to fill Rochelle in about all of this, see what she thinks."
Max slumped further into his chair. "She's gonna tell Lake about the newspaper story being fake, isn't she?"
Rodrigo cocked his head and stared at Max.
"I figured." Max nodded. "Lake Benson isn't going to be happy."
"Not with you, no," Rodrigo said.
"None of us are happy with you," Violet said as she stalked past the table.
Not only had he blown the op, but there was no newspaper eagerly waiting for the story, which meant the full press coverage Rochelle hoped would save the team wasn't coming.
Max's behavior had not only jeopardized his own plan, but it’d also made it that much harder for Benson Security to get their work visas renewed.
"I'm sorry," Max said again, looking at each of them in turn. "I got blinded by obsession and made some bad decisions. I don't know what I was thinking. Hell, I wasn't thinking at all."
That didn't make Violet any less furious. "Do you have anything else you need to tell us? Anymore secrets you're hiding from the team who are literally risking their lives to help you? If you do, speak up now."
"No. There's nothing else."
"If I find out…" Violet said.
He held up his hands in surrender. "I promise, there's nothing else. I screwed up. Let me fix this. Tell me what I need to do to make it right."
"I don't know if there's anything you can do to fix this," Violet said. "You broke trust with the team."
"Give the guy a break," Rodrigo said with a sigh. "He isn't an operative, he's a journalist. He was just doing his job and got carried away. It's happened to all of us. Even you, Violet."
Although that was true, Violet was having a hard time letting go of her anger. People disappointed her regularly and she'd seen the worst that humanity had to offer, but somehow, she'd expected more from Max. And for the life of her, she didn't know why.
"You're right," she said at last. "Mistakes happen. Bad decisions are made. We all get a little desperate when it comes to justice."
Max relaxed some, but he still looked like he was beating himself up.
Good.
Rodrigo pushed back his chair and got to his feet.
"We can't do anymore tonight, and it's been a helluva long day.
Get some sleep and we'll regroup again in the morning.
Until we find out if our covers are stable enough to fool Damien, the best thing you two can do is act like you don't give a damn about him and are just here to get married.
The more in love you seem, the more convincing our story will be.
You might want to work on that." He jerked his chin at Katrina in the universal male signal to get going.
She gave Violet and Max a sympathetic smile but didn't say anything.
Violet followed them to the door to lock it behind them. Before she closed it, Rodrigo leaned in to speak privately. "Keep an eye on him tonight. I don't want him doing something stupid because he's desperate."
"You don't think he'll try to storm the castle and get to Damien himself?"
"Dunno," he said. "But emotions are running high and, as he pointed out, he doesn't have anything to lose. I'm not sure he's thinking straight."
"Great," Violet grumbled. "I get to babysit the rash and desperate reporter. This is the last time I go undercover."
Rodrigo's lips quirked at the corners. "Don't be too hard on him, remember he's the love of your life."
"Go away," Violet said before shutting the door in his face.