Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 71880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Mercier sighed. “You know who I’m not going to listen to? Unruly little private contractors who can’t spell structure.”
“I’m not sure you can either.” River spoke into his coffee mug. “The Feds’ alphabet stops at B for bureaucracy.”
Everyone cracked up at that, including me, including Crew, who finally appeared to relax.
“To be fair, that’s impossible to spell without autocorrect,” he laughed.
“You don’t even use yours,” Cullen chuckled and shook his head.
“’Cause I wanna learn!” Crew exclaimed.
“It’s fine—we wanna make the Fed feel right at home with us,” Elliott went on. “From now on, if you wanna speak, Mercier, you gotta fill out a form.”
“And we’ll get back to you in six to eight weeks,” Danny finished.
“To let you know that you filled it out wrong,” I added.
“Oh-ho!” Danny laughed. “That.”
“There’s still hope for you, though,” Coach told Mercier. “If you wanna join Hillcroft, come talk to me.”
“Fuck that. He’s staying with me on the West Coast.” Crew got territorial.
“Think about it.” Cullen shrugged. “So can Shay.”
Oh boy.
“Excuse me?” Reese sat forward and raised his brows.
“You stay the fuck away from him,” River said.
I withheld my smirk and exchanged a look with Elliott.
Get us back on track.
“All right—Christ, shut up.” He took over. “This isn’t a job interview. Coach, Danny, Em, Cullen, Greer, we can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done. If you didn’t collect any valuables at the Blanco estate, let me know and—”
“Yeah, no, we’re good.” Cullen scratched his nose. “We, uh…we took care of that.”
“We’re set,” Greer confirmed.
“Excellent. In that case, safe journey home—and we hope to see you at the barbecue when this is over,” Elliott said.
“I feel so dismissed,” Danny muttered.
Emerson yawned. “I feel so ready to go home. You got this, mates. Best of luck in Europe, and give Ryan a hug from me.”
Danny sucked his teeth. “We still on this, huh? He didn’t fucking win that bet.”
Emerson grinned sleepily and dragged his husband down the hall with him.
What followed was a couple minutes of goodbyes between the elder Finlays and the younger, with Crew swearing he’d be safe, and Coach promising Elliott to stay in touch for transport home in a few days.
A few days.
The thought of having Blake in my arms in a few days was almost more than I could bear. A few days was entirely too much, all while I’d already suffered for weeks. And if I had suffered, how was she faring? She was a child, for chrissakes.
Her biggest problem in life should be narrowing down her extensive wish list for her ninth birthday in a couple weeks.
Before Coach walked out of the room, he handed Elliott a printout with the details for our flight—and how to get to the airfield—and they exchanged a few words too quiet for me to hear.
Despite how tired we all were, I felt the shift in the air. More energy. A new round of determination to get the job done.
I finished my coffee and poured another mug, and I refilled Elliott’s as well. We needed all the caffeine.
“I reckon we’ll continue where we left off earlier,” Elliott said. “Mercier, you’re the one with intel. Where do you think we’ll find Gajero?”
Mercier set down his coffee mug on a side table. “I don’t have a location, but I did find out he’s meeting up with Carillo. This was confirmed by Marco.”
That was still good news, right? Since we knew exactly where Carillo was at all times.
River tilted his head. “Any idea why Marco had a direct line of communication with Gajero?”
“Insurance,” Mercier replied. “Marco wasn’t exactly fond of Carillo, so he threw out some bait to see who might be next in line if something were to happen to Carillo.”
That made sense.
“Okay, then. That’s good,” Elliott said. “Do you think Gajero will find out about what happened here anytime soon?”
Mercier weighed his response. “I’d say that’s unlikely. Marco had his own freelancer in Europe, to whom I can reach out if I need to, but Marco didn’t make it a habit to speak to low-ranking men like Gajero. Chances are, once he’d established a connection, which we know they did at some point, Marco would have delegated. In other words, once Gajero arrives in Europe, he’ll report back to Marco’s freelancer.”
Elliott uncapped his marker. “What’s his name?”
“Armando Rossi.”
“I heard that name, I think,” Shay mentioned. “Enzo was talking to someone else and used the name.”
Mercier inclined his head. “I’m not surprised. Rossi goes way back with the Blancos. He married into the side of the family that stayed in Italy.”
“We’ll deal with him if we have to,” Elliott said. “When we get to Barcelona, we’ll essentially hit the ground running. But when we’ve reconnected with Darius and the others, we can expect a frustrating stakeout until Carillo and Gajero are together in one place.”
“My guess, based on what Marco hinted around, Gajero will arrive in Barcelona in a day or two,” Mercier informed us. “They’re on an MSC container ship.”