Madalina tilted her head closer to the device anyway, not wanting to miss a word.
“I have news,” Thaddeus said in a grim voice.
“Give it to us,” Cole said.
“Reggie, Carlo, and Frank didn’t make it. Alston got away with a flesh wound. Those bastards cut my guys down in cold blood, right on the street.”
Madalina covered her mouth with her hands, shocked to the core. Three men hadn’t made it out alive from the shootout. She darted a look at Cole. His expression had gone as grim as Thaddeus’s voice.
“Unbelievable,” Cole finally said.
“You made the right choice leaving like you did. There was nothing anyone could have done. Alston said it was a drive-by, but he didn’t get a look at the occupants,” Thaddeus added.
“Too busy diving for cover,” Cole said, then muttered an expletive before asking, “Is Alston at the hospital?”
“Yes. He’ll be there awhile getting stitched up. You’re both on your own.”
“We were going to go out on our own anyway,” Cole said, raking a hand back through his hair. “We just didn’t expect it to go down like that.”
“Didn’t trust the guys to go with you the rest of the way?” Thaddeus asked.
“No. I doubt any of them were double spies, but we can’t be too careful after all this,” Cole said. “We’re almost to the house. I’ll let you know what we find.”
“Hey . . . be careful. These people aren’t messing around.”
“I know. Any word on Brandon?” Cole asked at the last second.
“Nothing yet. Text me and let me know when you’re safe in the house,” Thaddeus said.
“Will do.” Cole ended the call, muttered another curse, and shoved the phone away. He caught Madalina’s gaze. “Like Thaddeus said, there was nothing we could have done to help Carlo, Reggie, and Frank. It was over before it began. We’re just lucky we weren’t standing out there when it happened.”
It was almost as if Cole understood that her guilt had returned tenfold. Already she’d started to agonize over the deaths, over the reasons the men had been there to begin with. “I know, I know, but I—”
“You don’t have to explain. It’s tough on all of us. I know what you’re feeling,” Cole said, taking her hand. He led her along the sidewalk, where the shadows from the trees were growing longer and darker.
Madalina tried to focus on finding the house rather than the loss of the men. Men whose loyalty she’d questioned moments before they’d died. Stop thinking about it. Like Cole said, there was nothing you could have done. Except die, too. Or wind up a captive so the shooters could torture the information out of you. Think of Brandon, of finding the dragons.
Beyond the rooftops to their right sat a low, green foothill. A constellation of lights from custom-built homes nestled into the landscape popped on as the sun descended farther into the horizon, pinpointing the location of affluent estates. Cole led her up one winding street to another, passing gated drives, rustling trees, and immense manicured lawns. Each estate seemed to encompass at least five acres of property.
The higher they ascended on the slope, the farther apart the homes, until only a few dotted the terrain. At the end of a cul-de-sac, Cole came to a stop at the last set of gates. He glanced down at her, then twisted around to see the view.
Madalina followed suit. At this elevation they had a pristine view of Ipanema Beach. White waves rolled onto a half-moon shoreline, sliding over cream-colored sand before receding. Sunset painted the glasslike surface of the ocean into shades of peach and orange, with streaks of deeper red in the distance. Hundreds of buildings followed the curve of the shore, as did a light-lined street, adding a glut of civilization to an otherwise untamed bay.
It was one of the more beautiful scenes Madalina had ever seen.
“Do you know the code to open the gate?” Cole asked, interrupting the unintended pause.
Madalina tore her gaze off the beach and glanced at the iron gate. Elaborate scrollwork decorated the top. Beyond, she could see a curving driveway that led to a dark house, whose details were hidden by low hedges, bushes, and short palm trees. While the foliage obscured parts of the house, she knew by how high the home sat on the hill that the greenery wouldn’t block the beach view from balconies or windows or patios.
“Yes. He added a postscript in the e-mail. ‘Use your birthday at the gate,’” she said, recalling her grandfather’s e-mail from memory. At the time she’d been confused by the cryptic message. Walcot had passed away before she could ask what it meant.
In case Cole had forgotten, she recited the date.
Cole was already tapping numbers onto a keypad, proving he’d paid attention during the few times birthday conversations came up.
The gates split in the middle and rolled back to expose the driveway.
“All right. This is it,” Cole said. After a brief glance toward the street, he took her hand and led her up the drive. “I’m sure I don’t have to say this, but we need to be alert when we enter. It doesn’t look like anyone’s here, but appearances can be deceiving.”
Halfway up the sloping driveway, Cole put Madalina behind him and used the generous amount of foliage for cover. The ascent to the home was rather steep, but not so steep that he couldn’t take it at a crouched jog. Madalina must have caught her breath while they were taking in the view, because she wasn’t panting as much as she had been earlier.
Having seen the end of the garage from the street, he was somewhat surprised when they crested the drive and had a better view of the home itself. Surrounded by lush greenery, the Mediterranean-style structure rose two stories, with a front-facing balcony that had an unimpeded view of the shoreline. Columns held up the balcony, creating a wide and welcoming front porch that led to an enormous wooden door. Windows reflected the sunset, giving no hints to the interior of the majestic home. Cole guessed the square footage to be in the neighborhood of seven thousand, which meant more rooms and more hiding places for anyone who might be waiting.
Hearing a breathy “Oh my God” from Madalina, he led her across the broad span of concrete in front of the three-car garage to a gate in a stone wall that appeared to encircle part of the backyard.
There was no lock.
Cole flicked up the latch and, after a glance over Madalina’s head to make sure no one had crept up behind them, ushered her through the gate. Turquoise water rippled across a natural rock pool set into the large backyard, flanked by a covered Jacuzzi and a wooden pergola that housed an outdoor barbecue. Luxury pool furniture provided enough seating for at least fifty people, and more pieces of wicker were strung along a considerable patio visible through tall, broad archways.
He took it all in—not as a man impressed by the opulence—but as someone who viewed every hedge, palm, and structure as a place for a potential enemy to hide behind. It was why he stayed to the deeper shadows where possible and remained close to the wall of the house as they headed to the double set of French doors.
“I hope we don’t have to break in,” he said to Madalina. Just as he spoke, he saw a keypad beside the doors and glanced around the yard before meeting Madalina’s eyes. She was right behind him, eyes luminous in the gloom.
“Probably my birthday again,” she whispered.
Cole nodded, glad she’d understood his silent question. He hadn’t been sure there wasn’t another postscript in Walcot’s e-mail. Tapping in the numbers, he heard a quiet click, indicating the code had unlocked the doors.
“Perfect. Stay close.” Cole entered first, but waited for her to come in before closing the door and engaging the lock. Anyone else who might be following would be forced to break in, giving him and Madalina a heads-up to trouble.
If someone was already in the house, that was another matter entirely.
It took him fifteen minutes to clear every room. From the six bedrooms to the L-shaped pa
ntry to the upstairs and downstairs offices. He hadn’t expected to find a basement, either, one that boasted as much luxury as the richly appointed rooms upstairs. There was a pool table, Ping-Pong table, dartboard, leather couches, and a giant flat-screen television. With each new revelation, he could feel Madalina’s surprise. To her credit she didn’t make noise or ask questions during the search.
Back in the expansive kitchen, with its stone walls, separate built-in pizza oven, and granite countertops, Cole called the all clear. He set the duffel bag, which he’d been carrying the whole time, on the floor. “All right. That was the initial pass-through. Now we’re going to have to search for the dragon or another note. I didn’t see anything obvious right off, did you?”
Madalina brushed a loose lock of hair away from her face. She seemed taken aback at their surroundings, made more noticeable now after he’d turned the lights on.
She said, “Not really. It’s all a blur, especially because we initially searched in the dark. Except for the single light you snapped on in the basement.”
“Yeah, it’s mostly a blur for me, too. We’ll take it room by room, okay?”
She met his eyes across the kitchen island. “That’ll take forever. I’d suggest splitting up, but—”
“Don’t worry about how long it’ll take, and no, we’re not splitting up.” Cole wouldn’t even consider it. Not after the day they’d had. “Do you think there were any other hidden messages in Walcot’s e-mail? Something that might cut down our search time?”
“I don’t think so. If there is, it’s not coming to mind. The other was obvious once he pointed it out, but otherwise, I wouldn’t have put it together,” she said.
“Well, maybe something will—” The chime of his cell phone interrupted the conversation. He answered when he saw Thaddeus’s name on the screen. “What’s up?”
“We’ve got a big problem,” Thaddeus said.
Cole could tell by the grave tone in his brother’s voice that the news wasn’t good. His stomach tightened at the thought of harm coming to Brandon. “Did those bastards touch Brandon? I swear I’ll rip them apart piece by—”
“No, no. This has nothing to do with Brandon,” Thaddeus replied. “I know who’s behind the attacks in Brazil.”
Cole frowned. “Who?”
“Hold on to your hat.” Thaddeus paused, then said, “It’s Westrich.”
Cole felt like he’d been hit in the gut with a hammer. “What? Norman Westrich wouldn’t stoop to murder. He wants the dragons, yes, but not enough to kill.”
“It’s him. He’s the one who sent the teams to intercept you. I know it’s hard to wrap your mind around,” Thaddeus said, “but that’s the truth of it. Maybe he found out that you sold the Treasure Dragon to the Chinese and he’s taking revenge. I don’t know.”
Norman Westrich had hired Cole years ago to locate the dragons. The assignment had been conditional, if he could find the damn things. Then the offer was $2 million per dragon, to be paid upon safe delivery. Although he and Madalina had found the Treasure Dragon, Cole had turned it over to the Chinese agents in return for the harassment of Madalina to stop. The condition was that the agents would leave Madalina alone, cease their stalking, and not surveil her any longer. A condition the agents had worked around by putting surveillance on Brandon instead.
Expelling a vicious curse, he pivoted away from the island. He didn’t miss Madalina’s startled expression, but would have to fill her in after the call. Pacing through the elaborate kitchen, seeing nothing of the grandeur, he considered his options.
Thaddeus interrupted with a suggestion. “Do you want me to send Damon and Samuel over there? This looks like it could get pretty messy.”
“It’s already messy,” Cole said, pausing near a window to look out over the backyard. So far, nothing looked amiss among the shadows.
“Yes, and likely to get messier.”
“What about Brandon? I thought you’d have the boys on him already,” Cole said. Damon and Sam were more than capable of getting Brandon out of a tight spot with the Chinese agents.
“I would—if I could find Brandon. The agents covered their tracks pretty well. I’m still tracking them down. Right now I think Damon and Samuel would be a bigger help to you. I can have Dad pull a few men to go liberate Brandon if I have to,” Thaddeus replied. “If I can figure out their location.”
Cole knew their father had plenty of contacts to make it happen. The men who worked for Wallace West’s company were more than capable of extracting Brandon from a tight spot, although Cole admitted to himself that he’d feel better if it was one of his own blood. He couldn’t deny that the extra hands here would be useful. At least he knew he could trust Damon and Samuel. And with a plan starting to take shape in his mind, their presence might be needed.
“Send them. Get them here as fast as possible. In fact, send the company jet. Once we find what we’re looking for, I don’t want to waste time flying back to the US,” Cole said. He wasn’t being entirely truthful about his plans. He wanted the jet here for another reason, one that Thaddeus wouldn’t approve of.
“Done. Watch your backs. They’ll be there by morning.” Thaddeus ended the call.
Cole turned his GPS off and stuffed his phone into his pocket after texting Thaddeus the address to Walcot’s house.
There was only one path to take from here, and it was a path he would have to take alone.
With any luck it wouldn’t get him killed.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Madalina wasn’t sure what to think of the look on Cole’s face. He seemed pensive, thoughtful. Mostly unreadable. Listening to the one-sided conversation between Cole and Thaddeus hadn’t given her much insight other than it appeared Thaddeus was sending backup and that Westrich had something to do with the deaths of the team.
“Cole?”
For a few moments, he didn’t move. He stared over the dark landscape of the yard, a muscle twitching in his jaw. Then he turned from the window, raked a hand agitatedly through his hair, and circled the small eat-in table in her direction. “I’m having Thaddeus send some backup. They’ll be here by morning.”
“I got that part. But I thought it would be risky to bring strangers here?” She wasn’t sure she wanted anyone else to know the address, just like before. Cole had taken that decision out of her hands without asking.
“They’re not strangers. They’re my brothers. Damon and Samuel. It might be for nothing, but if we can’t find the object we’re looking for, then having them at our back won’t be a bad thing. We’re going to have to sleep at some point, which means taking turns playing lookout. With them here, that’ll take some of the pressure off of us,” Cole said, coming to a stop before her.
His brothers. She hadn’t expected that. The only brother—the only other family member—she’d met so far was Brandon. Some of her inner turmoil at having strangers in Walcot’s house eased. If they couldn’t trust Cole’s flesh and blood, then who could they trust? “Okay. What do we do until then? Start going through each room more thoroughly?”
“I can start if you want to lie down for a while, get some rest. You can cover for me in a few hours, and then I’ll take the longest night watch.”
“I’m tired, but I’m wired at the same time. If that makes sense.” Madalina currently existed in that twilight space between sheer exhaustion and a paranoid high. Sleep would probably do her good, yet she shuddered internally at the thought of slipping into an unconscious state. Anything might happen: Cole might need help, someone might break in, the world might end. After today she didn’t think the latter was an impossibility.
Cole took a step closer. “I know. We can look together until you relax a little bit, then try for some sleep.”
Madalina took a step closer, too, until she stood directly in front of him. Not quite touching. “Do you think everything will work out?” she asked in
a quiet voice. She didn’t want to admit how worried she was about Brandon.
“I wish I could say absolutely yes and not be lying. But honestly, Madalina, I don’t know. We can only hunt for the thing we need to find, hope that we find it, and return to the US to exchange it for Brandon.”
“I keep hoping Thaddeus will call and say that the agents released Brandon or something, which I know they won’t. Not until they have what they want.” She chewed the inside of her lip for a moment, gaze going distant past his shoulder. Then she brought her attention back to Cole. “What if we only find a note here? What if Walcot sold the other objects?”
Cole’s mouth tightened, then relaxed. “Let’s hope that’s not the case. If it is, then we’ll have to tell the agents and hope they realize that you can’t squeeze blood out of a rock. If we don’t have it, then we don’t.”
Madalina wasn’t sure she liked the odds. What else could they do but search and hope? “What was all that about Westrich?”
Cole’s mouth tightened. “Thaddeus says he’s the one responsible for the attacks. That he sent a team here to intercept us.”
“You sound doubtful,” she said.
“I’ve always held the opinion that Westrich wasn’t a killer, and I don’t mind saying that it all sits wrong with me. But Thaddeus seems sure, and I know he wouldn’t be so adamant unless he had some kind of proof.” Cole exhaled in frustration. “I guess it’s possible that Westrich found out we gave the last dragon back to the agents, and this is his revenge.”
“You don’t seem convinced.”
“I’m having a hell of a time believing that I misjudged a man so badly. I mean, if you knew Westrich, had spent any time in his presence, I think you’d see what I mean. Westrich just isn’t that kind of person. Then I remind myself that sometimes people can be effective, if not great, actors, and that my perception might be skewed,” Cole admitted.
“Let’s just hope we find the dragon and return it to the agents before Westrich’s men find us again,” Madalina said. “We’ll get started searching now, and I’ll rest in a little while. All right?”
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