Discoveries (Mercenaries Book 5)

by Tony Lavely

  He grimaced. What’s he gonna say? He clicked the phone off. “I want to think on that.”

  “Good.”

  The return of her smile brought an answering lift to his lips. “And then talk it over with you, too.”

  Rather than speak, she snuggled closer. After a few minutes, she wriggled her phone from her pocket. “Less than an hour to go,” she mused. “I’ll give Kate a call; make sure she’s got a spare bed.”

  “Or floor space!” he said with a laugh.

  The sister evinced surprise, but agreed that Lin and Clive could use the spare room… Spare until the roommates got back from holiday in a month. “We won’t be that long, I’m sure,” Lin assured her. “Couple three days at most.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Kate told her. “Only have one class this summer. We can talk, and drink some beer.”

  Lin agreed. When arrangements were complete: she and Clive would walk to Kate’s apartment from the Midi/Zuid station. The train arrived at twenty hours, sunset would be another two hours. Plenty of time to walk to her place on Boulevard Géneral Jacques.

  “Gonna email Doctor Stone. I’m supposed to do a project with him; he’ll notice if I’m not there.”

  He wondered for about a second about Stone. Don’t be stupid, he told himself, he’s no competition… except in International Economics!

  Chapter Two

  Save a Princess

  “I do care, Dylan! But…” Amy rolled away and off the bed. “I guess this is a grown-up, adult problem, isn’t it?” She perched on the edge of the mattress beside Dylan’s hip and smoothed her nightgown. “We should be happy it’s nothing worse.”

  He laughed. “Yeah. An adult problem is what it is.”

  “We should be rich enough we don’t have to be adults, you know.”

  “We’ll set that aside until it gets to have non-zero probability, okay? I’m serious… Yeah, yeah, I know you are, too, but… I really want to do the internship.”

  “Go ahead; sign the papers. It’s okay.” She stood, and walking the bathroom, she dragged the nightgown over her head and dropped it on the floor. “I’ll do the same.” The door closed between them.

  “Okay, Ian. Let’s go save a princess.” Beckie Jamse smiled as she challenged her husband. “I want to take Ralf to visit his grandparents in Durban. And you ought to return from, you know, the dead, so… Can we combine the trip at all?”

  “I believe so. I doubt that a princess, at least an actual princess, is at risk. Have you seen the message?”

  She shook her head as Maurice Boynton came through the slider to the lanai carrying fresh coffee and juice.

  “Just a moment then.”

  By the time Ian had returned, Beckie and Boynton had exchanged greetings, and most of Beckie’s cohort: Amy, Lisa and Cori, arrived to begin the day. Cori took a sip of orange juice and slipped past Ian, leaving as he entered.

  “Where is Ms Cori bound?”

  “I wasn’t quick enough; she’s gone to let Angel know we’re up, and to fetch Ralf. It’s a good thing she can’t wet-nurse him; I’d never even see him!”

  Ian gave her the small smile she loved, then handed her the flimsy paper she’d last seen under his cup, what, a week ago? Nah. Couple days.

  Ian, I hope this finds you well. I regret that we have not had the chance to meet in the years since your kind assistance for Cari Betheler. I don’t know if you are aware, but many people are the better off for your work on her behalf. But enough. I need your assistance once more. Or rather, a princess for whom I care does.

  If possible, please visit me once more at your earliest convenience. Boynton will have my details.

  Awaiting your positive reaction, Liam Stone

  The name, Cari Betheler, that’s familiar, I think. “Ian, Cari Betheler?”

  The smile that overtook Ian’s face was huge. “Yes,” he said. “Ms Betheler. You almost made her acquaintance in Rome, I believe. But she was the first young woman—”

  “The Retro Place! She was— Yeah, I remember now.” Her last words were much more subdued.

  “Wanna share?”

  Beckie spun on her chair to fix Amy with a baleful scowl, but before she could say anything, Ian spoke. “Ms Betheler’s abduction was responsible for Rebecca’s foray into exotic dancing… Including an enticing performance before her father and me. I was more taken than he.”

  Beckie hid her smile as she rose and went to help Cori. She allowed Ralf to find her breast before returning to sit on the sofa. “Did Maurice tell you where we might find Dr. Stone?”

  “He did. The doctor remains in the same home, the one in which I visited him prior to your first performances with Melissa.”

  “Gotta say, I don’t remember that at all.”

  “While he set the wheels in motion, my meeting with him was prior to visiting you in Minnesota.”

  Amy set her mug down and sat up straight. “I was going to ask for some work. How about I go with you and talk to Dr. Stone. Maybe do some research?”

  Beckie bumped Ralf up to burp him, then switched breasts. All the while, she pondered. Ian’s quiet, which means he doesn’t see any reason to say no right off. He’s leaving it to my judgement. Better make it good, then!

  “How about yes and no?” Beckie said. “Yes, you can come along, but no, not alone. Depending on what Stone tells us… Well, without knowing anything, I’d think of Beth to work with you. But she’s out of action til September, if I heard Millie right. So…”

  Boynton rustled something just enough that Beckie noticed. “Elena Rios will be at loose ends soon. According to rumors I heard yesterday, she may already be.”

  Beckie smiled. “Ask her to visit, then.”

  As Boynton left the lanai, Ralf finished and Beckie handed him to Cori, then made herself presentable once more.

  “Not that I wouldn’t want Beth,” Amy said, “or Elena either, but why?”

  “A couple of reasons,” Beckie said. “I had planned for you to work on physical skills this summer, and with Pieter on your marksmanship. Unless this turns out to be a non-event, I think we’ll be lucky to get you back to New York before your school starts.”

  “Oh, yeah. That’s September fourth, this year.”

  “Right. And we haven’t had enough time to get you ready to run a job. Especially since we got no clue about this one. In fact, Ian…” She walked over to sit next to him. “… remind us what we do know about Dr. Stone, please.”

  “I shall. But I would prefer to wait until Elena arrives.”

  Beckie had finished her coffee by the time Elena arrived from Bon Secours Cay. Her bandage contrasted nicely with the bright red sleeveless shirt she wore above white shorts.

  “You are looking fine this morning,” Beckie said, to general agreement. “Even the bandage carries the stark white to your shoulder.”

  “Proof that you know nothing of color coordination!” Elena said with a laugh.

  “Same as I know about fashion, for sure! Sit, have whatever libation you’re allowed and tell us, has Millie cleared you to get out of her sight?”

  “Sure has. Boynton hinted you might have a small task? Sure would be welcome, since she doesn’t want me doing any hand-to-hand training until mid-August.”

  “That’s excellent! Here we have…” Beckie slid Doctor Stone’s note across the table. “… a request for help. And here…” She pointed at Amy. “… we have a volunteer.”

  “Ah. And I?”

  “I’m hopeful that you’d be willing to spend a few days in London and environs, making sure Amy keeps out of trouble.”

  “Hmm. What about that, Amy?”

  Amy smiled. “Since I have less of a clue than… than anything, I’d want all the help I can get. Since my assigned mentor…” She chuckled as she tipped her head at Beckie. “… is taking her family to South Africa, I would be forever grateful for your assistance.”

  Elena smiled. “Sounds like a match made… Well, maybe not in heaven, but close enough. At
least, I’m up for a trip to London and listening to this guy…” She glanced at the paper. “… Stone.”

  “Ian can give us a little backstory on him.”

  Elena stared for a second. Is she… “London… Beth was there, wasn’t she? But she’s out of commission, so…”

  “So I went to the best person,” Beckie said, sternly. “Even if Beth was ready, I would have wanted some stability to hold Amy down, and I’m not sure Beth would provide that.”

  Amy giggled, just audibly, and Elena snapped a glance in her direction before cracking a smile herself. “And you think I would? I can allow myself to believe that, I guess. No matter what, let’s hear what Ian can tell us.”

  Beckie turned her gaze on Ian, who appeared bemused at the exchange so far. Before she said anything, however, he placed his cup on the table and said, “Doctor Liam Stone… he must be close to seventy, now. He was headmaster at our school. Kevin’s and mine, I mean. We were… we are both grateful to him for helping us out of a… I suppose contretemps would describe it best. He called our debt—without meaning to, I hasten to add—when Ms Betheler disappeared from The Retro Place, which then involved you, Rebecca.”

  “Yeah,” Beckie said. “I remember. I remember trying to figure out how the hell I’d ever get back in touch with you again, sure you were gone from my life.” She blushed, feeling the blood rush from her belly up over her chest, neck and then face. “I never told you how hard it was for me to keep from screaming when I heard your voice.” She looked down, then back up. “And I liked your… lack of disguise a lot better, too!”

  He cleared his throat. “I apologize for distressing you—”

  “No,” she said as she moved behind his chair and reached for his shoulders, “distressed wasn’t what I was.” She began a slow massage of his back. “I was definitely not distressed that you’d come back. And then when you said you needed me… Well.” She colored again. “Don’t need to talk about that any more. Our audience has already guessed where that story ends.” She returned to the sofa. “So, tell us about your youth, so we can understand Doctor Stone and what he had to tolerate.”

  “No. No matter what we do for him, it cannot erase the debt Kevin and I owe him.” He looked across the faces of his listeners. “Should you find it necessary, Kevin can tell tales of our joint misadventures far better than I. And do not worry; I do not feel obliged to work on Doctor Stone’s problem myself when we have capable team members available.”

  “Whatever happened to Cari, did you hear?”

  “No. Since we made our recommendations on her behalf, we have been… occupied. And grateful that she had no further need of our assistance.”

  “Recommendations?” Elena said.

  “Indeed. I do not recall the firm, but we supplied character reference sorts of recommendation during her vetting process.”

  Beckie felt her surprise and worked hard to press it back where it belonged. Elena, on the other hand, merely nodded as if she expected it.

  I better keep this moving, Beckie thought, but before she could, Amy said, “So, I think you mean Kevin’s ‘tales of misadventures’ won’t do anything to help us prepare for our meeting.”

  “That is correct. With the information we currently have, I suspect… Well, I was going to suggest we take in the Independence Day celebrations in Nassau, but that will not be until the tenth. While the urgency in Dr. Stone’s note is understated, I have already delayed days.”

  Beckie looked around, but nothing jumped out at her. “Okay, then. Maurice, can you ask Jannike about a trip to Heathrow—”

  “Stansted would be a better choice than Heathrow, I believe.”

  She gave Ian a smile and said, “To Stansted, then. I’ll spend the rest of the day clearing the decks here and if you and Ian can decide who should call Carys and Nigel to say we’re on our way?”

  Boynton gave her a quick grin as he turned toward the slider.

  Beckie focused on Amy and Elena. “Now, what do you guys need—”

  “Not a thing except when do we leave?”

  Elena added, “I’ll talk to Pieter, but he won’t object. So, as Amy said…’

  “I’ll let you know as soon as Maurice tells me. Now, I have to round up Cori and Lisa again.”

  Beckie spent a couple of hours discussing with Lisa and Cori just what the girl would think about until Beckie returned to the Nest. It was pretty clear that Cori wanted to join the trip to London, but Beckie wasn’t sure how much of that was just getting away from the Nest, and how much was an infatuation with Ralf, and how much was something else entirely.

  Finally, sitting on the beach, Beckie asked Cori to think for the next two weeks what exactly she wanted to do with her life, at least for the next four or five years. Willie was on notice to help her if she needed to get anywhere. Miami for example, for interviews and the like.

  End of excerpt.

  Watch for Mark My Dance Card.