Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 482(@200wpm)___ 386(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
The familiar, crushing guilt stormed in, but it was interrupted when my phone vibrated. Giovanni’s door alarm.
My SIG Sauer slipped easily back into its holster, and I darted out into the night.
It took all of five seconds to spot Giovanni, who stumbled along the path lit by his cell phone’s screen. All alone. He was risking an animal attack over asking his private security for an escort. Now, why was that?
The skin on the back of my neck grew hot when he bypassed the lodge and worked his way toward Olivia’s cabin. It made sense why he hadn’t called for me. It’d be easier to attempt seduction without me in the way.
What the hell was I going to do, I wondered as I followed silently behind, fading into the landscape. Just watch this play out? Things with Giovanni could quickly get out of hand with her.
Would I blow my cover to help a woman in need?
You didn’t last time.
Giovanni abruptly swung left and scurried behind one of the vacant cabins. I flattened myself against the side of the building and inched to the corner, keeping my breathing quiet.
“Good evening,” a deep voice said in Italian.
“You’re Amin’s man?” Giovanni answered back, sounding skeptical.
The man’s Italian was weak and heavily accented. “Yes. Is this a problem?”
“No.”
There was shuffling, and I risked a glance around the corner. Johannes, the driver from the other resort. He didn’t look anything like a gentle creature now. There was a menacing gun tucked in the waistband of his pants. I slipped back against the wall before I was detected.
The name Amin meant nothing to me, so I repeated it in my mind, committing it to memory.
“My boss wants to do business,” Johannes said. “You have—”
“A taste.”
There was more rustling, then quiet. One of the men let out a long breath, followed by the sound of metal sliding against itself. The bolt of a gun was cocked. A magazine ejected and slammed back into position.
“Like I told Amin,” Giovanni said, “I have crates of these and can arrange transport. What do you have for me?”
“Boss . . .” Johannes sounded worried. “He doesn’t want this.”
“I understand,” Giovanni spat out. “But I don’t have that kind of partnership with Amin yet. We start here and work up to that.”
There was a long pause. Finally, a zipper rang out, and the Italian made a noise of annoyance.
“What the hell is this? Rocks?”
“Diamonds,” Johannes answered. “Not cut.”
My focus shifted abruptly and air halted in my lungs.
Someone or something was coming down the path.
8
ETHAN
Not enough time to move, but I wasn’t going to get ambushed either. I drew my weapon, the blood racing in my ears. If I had to put a bullet in someone right now, this would fuck everything up.
Lit only by the moonlight, I saw Olivia first, then the security guard who walked beside her. And she noticed me before the guard did. Or perhaps she noticed the gun I had fixed on her.
She went still as stone. I lowered my weapon and pressed a finger to my lips, signaling I needed them to be quiet.
“Wait. Did you hear something?” Giovanni’s voice cut through the night air. Confusion widened on Olivia’s face.
“I go,” Johannes said, hurried.
Heavy footfalls faded away.
This meant Giovanni would be heading my direction. I quickly ran the different scenarios and settled on the one that took her out of the situation.
Footsteps approached. Fuck, I was going to have to hurry. I launched myself toward the pair, my focus on the young man beside her who carried a rifle.
“You’re on patrol,” I said in a barely audible voice to the guard. “You never saw us.”
Her wrist was warm when I wrapped a hand around it and tugged her along, disappearing from our boss’s view, hopefully in time. She said nothing as I once again had her hidden, her back against a wall and her body dangerously close.
Worst-case, Giovanni would find us and think he’d caught his bodyguard and pilot in an intimate moment. Olivia stared up at me in the silvery light, her eyes clear and unblinking. If I had time, I would have liked to look at her longer. Instead, her head turned to the sound of Italian around the corner.
Giovanni asked the guard what he was doing, but the guard didn’t understand.
There was no attempt to kiss me this time. She seemed to study the sounds past the wall as intently as I did, and I was grateful she stayed silent as Giovanni shuffled off, back toward the lodge with the guard. But her evaluating gaze slowly shifted, returning to me.
“So . . .” she whispered. “What was that about?”
This was bad.
There were two different types of operations I participated in. Covert and clandestine. Covert meant no one knew the U.S. was involved. Clandestine meant no one even knew a mission had taken place. The pair of green eyes examining me seemed too smart, and clandestine was about to go out the window.