by Chris Niles
She wouldn’t say they were dating. But he also wasn’t dating anyone else. And in the past couple of months, it had come to the point where neither of them did much of anything without the other.
But they weren’t dating.
She wasn’t ready for that.
But as Tony grabbed a sleeping bag and his laptop and made a little nest for himself on the bare storage box that would become the base of his fold-out couch when the renovation was done, Kate realized it had happened without her even realizing it.
Even though they didn’t date, they were a couple. And even though she’d resisted any sort of feelings for him, they’d blossomed anyway.
He grabbed the lightweight comforter and two pillows from the air mattress in the back of the shell, and Kate nestled in beside him on the couch as he fired up his laptop and chose the first movie.
Air. No, not air. Breath. Kate felt the tiny hairs on her cheeks shifting under an exhale. She felt an eerie chill and reluctantly pulled one heavy eyelid and then the other open. She jerked backward, her back slamming into the polished aluminum shell of the camper, her arms and legs tangled in the blanket Tony had brought her.
When she finally focused, Eddie knelt beside the couch, his face just inches from Kate’s, staring at her as if willing her to wake up.
“Eddie, what? Why? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Mama told me it was rude to wake people up. So, I just waited for you. Can we go see the animals again today?”
Kate shook the last bits of sleep from her mind and sat up. Her tee-shirt and shorts wound around her, and she took a moment to straighten them and shake the stiffness from her fingers and toes.
“I’m sorry, buddy. I don’t think they’re open today.”
She sucked a deep breath in and realized the trailer was filled with the scents of breakfast. Toast. Bacon. Sunlight streamed in, and a moment later, Tony appeared in the doorway with a plate in his hand.
“You’re awake.”
“No thanks to this little guy.”
“I thought maybe he’d be better suited to the job than me.” He handed the plate of bacon and eggs to her, along with a napkin and a fork. “Coffee coming right up.”
She looked at the plate, then at the jumbled blankets and pillows that surrounded her. Tony’s laptop sat up on a toolbox, its charger plugged into an orange extension cord. She vaguely remembered a long series of rom coms, leaning on Tony’s shoulder, then as the night wore on, sliding further and further down until her head rested on his thigh, watching the movie sideways, unable to keep her eyes open one more—
She dropped the plate on the wood bench and scrambled out of the blankets. Grabbed one piece of bacon, then frantically grabbed her flip-flops and bolted out the door.
“Hey, I’ve got your coffee…”
Kate spun around, already at the edge of his site, and slipped her shoes on. “I, uh. Whiskey. I gotta—”
At the sound of his name, the dog trotted up from behind the hedge, his paws and snout covered with sand.
“I gotta get his breakfast. Home. Uhh…”
“Kate, take a breath.” Tony picked up a full mug of coffee then ambled toward her, holding it out like a treat to catch a feral dog.
Her head jerked back and forth from the camper up the lane toward the marina. “Eddie. He. I—”
Tony placed the mug in her hands, then guided it to her lips for a sip, his eyes locked on hers. “Kate, breathe. It’s okay. You kept me company when I wasn’t supposed to sleep. Which I didn’t. And I’m fine, thanks for asking.” One side of his lips curled up in a sardonic grin.
“Oh, God, Tony, I’m sorry. How’s your head? Let me look at your eyes…” His pupils were smaller than the night before, but still not quite as reactive as they should have been for the bright morning.
“It’s gonna take a couple more days of painkillers before it’s right, but I’m gonna be fine.”
A rumble down the lane pulled Kate’s attention as a big white delivery truck eased around the bend. Kate glanced at her watch. Monday.
“That’ll be my creds from Nathan. The Russians.”
She waved the delivery truck down then signed for her package, ripping it open as she walked back to Tony’s site. Then she pulled out two lanyards clipped to Cavil Media badges wrapped in bright tissue paper from the envelope. A cascade of silver glitter filled the air and drifted to the sand like sparkling snowflakes.
Kate chuckled, breaking her panic spin. Bernard.
Stuck to the back of the badge was a pale yellow stickie note with an address and a time. Three o’clock in Boca Raton.
Kate glanced at her watch again. She’d need to leave around eleven in order to navigate traffic and make the meeting. Tony sidled up to her and peered over her shoulder. “Think we should leave around eleven?”
Kate whirled on him. “You’re not going anywhere, mister head-trauma.”
“Well, you’re certainly not going by yourself.”
“Of course not. I’ll take Whiskey with me.”
“I meant you need human backup. Preferably armed.”
Kate bristled. “First, I can take care of myself, I don’t need a man to protect me from the riff-raff of Boca Raton. I’d be better off bringing an entourage than a protective detail.” Kate’s head cocked to the side. “Come to think of it…”
She pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped out a text.
Feel like a road trip?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“So you’re meeting with the Russians?”
Kate nodded, the pressure in her head finally dissipating.
Fish passed the nozzle of the shop-vac to Tony, who lay flat on his back beneath the Airstream. Over the whine of its motor, Fish hollered. “Kate, you can’t do this. No one has been able to get in with them. We’ve lost good men trying to infiltrate their ranks. CIs go missing. Hell, even their own end up as gator-food.”
Kate shrugged. “I don’t have any other choice. I need to find Shelby. I can’t let Eddie grow up an orphan. They’re the best chance of getting good information.” She glanced across the path, where Eddie and Whiskey were chasing a family of ducks around the lagoon.
“Look, we won’t really know anything until we find the bundle.”
“Which means we need to find the sloth.”
“Are you even sure that’s where it is?”
Kate nodded. “It has to be. If it had been in her apartment, they’d have found it and this would be over. If she had it in her bag, they’d have it and this would be over, or, well, if they’re that ruthless, her body would have turned up by now. So, it’s gotta be here, and no question, it’s in the sloth.”
Tony rolled out from under the camper, nozzle one hand, swatting the air with the other. Fish picked up the signal and hit the off button on the canister.
“Thing’s not sucking at all.” Tony drawled. “Must be full.”
He rolled to his knees and tugged the canister to him by the hose. Hopping to his feet, he crouched around it and released the latches that held the top on.
Eddie came running past the site, Whiskey on his heels. When he saw Tony, he spun and sprinted toward them, crashing over the shop-vac. The canister tumbled over, it’s top still in Tony’s hands as he toppled into the dust pouring into the grass.
Tony sat up, then swore a blue cloud. “Eddie!”
He hopped to his feet, a filthy hunk of debris dangling from his hand. Eddie whirled then ran around the far side of the pond. Tony thrust the thing at Kate’s belly, then dashed after him.
Kate pulled the dirty pile away and turned it over in her hands. As it flopped, four legs pulled away from the thick center. A head flopped out of the matted mess and round brown plastic eyes stared up at her.
“Slothie!” Kate cried.
Fish grabbed the stuffed animal and shook the dirt and debris from its fur. As he searched the seams, Eddie burst from behind the Airstream, ripped it from Fish’s hands, then darted toward
the marina. Tony cut him off in the lane and scooped him up.
“Stop, stop! Put me down!” Eddie screamed at the top of his lungs.
A moment later, the door to a camper across the lake burst open and Colton Dawson ran around and planted himself in front of Tony, his fists planted on his hips. “I won’t let you hurt my friend, Mister Tony. You leave him alone.”
Tony stopped in the middle of the lane, Eddie dangling over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, Slothie dangling from Eddie’s hands. “I’m not gonna hurt him, Colton. You know I won’t. But this is between him and me.” The bigger boy kicked at the dirt, then finally turned and walked back to his home.
Tony shrugged Eddie down and dangled him in the air by his armpits. “If I put you down will you stay here? Or you gon’ run?”
Eddie clutched the filthy animal to his chest. “I’m gonna protect Slothie. I’m all he has.”
“If I promise to let you keep him, will you stay here?” Tony’s arms were starting to tremble under the boy’s weight. “Please? Just don’t run. I won’t take him away. I promise.”
The little boy nodded and Tony set him down, crouching in front of him and holding his shoulders, then glancing back at Kate and flicking his head toward the child.
Kate and Fish both cautiously walked toward Eddie.
“Hey, bud,” Kate said. “Isn’t it great we found Slothie?”
Eddie nodded, his cheeks wet with tears.
“So…” She crouched beside Tony. “I wonder how he got into the vacuum?”
Eddie pulled the toy tighter against his chest. “Sloths like to be dirty. Some of them are so dirty that mold grows on their fur, and they like it.”
“Eddie, did you put Slothie in the vacuum?”
The boy froze.
“I promise you won’t get punished. We just want to know the truth.”
“He likes dirt, and mama left because of him, and I thought if he was gone, mama would come back, and he likes to be dirty and…” He collapsed on the ground and curled his body around the stuffed animal.
Fish ceded his position on Eddie’s flank, and the three adults sat down on the dirt around him, and rubbed his back and shoulders. While he cried, they whispered above him.
“We’re gon’ have to take it.” Tony patted Eddie’s shoulder as a fresh wail burst from the ball of child.
“Look at him. No. We can do it after he falls asleep.”
Fish shook his head. “Kate, we can’t wait. Every minute matters. Regardless of whose it is, if any of the cartels have her, we have to act, and if we have their product, the feds will have to go get her.”
Eddie shrieked, rolled away, climbed to his feet, then stumbled up the lane.
Kate sighed, then whistled. In an instant Whiskey was by her side. She turned to the dog, awaiting her command.
“Get the sloth.” Whiskey stared at her. “Toy, Whiskey. Get the toy.”
Kate’s breath stuck in her throat as she watched the dog sprint down the lane toward the little boy. Tony and Fish raced after them, but Kate just sat in the middle of the gravel lane, her shoulders hunched over, her eyes glued on the dog.
“Be gentle…” she whispered to the wind.
Eddie ran for the shower house. As he passed the hedge, Kate pushed up then followed.
First Eddie, then Whiskey, then Tony and Fish all wound past the cement block entrance to the men’s shower room. Then, from the screened venting below the roof, came shouts and barks and cries.
Kate burst into the room. A streak of mud and dirt stretched across the tile. Tony cradled Eddie in his lap. Whiskey gripped the body of the sloth in his maw. Fish clutched two legs and pulled.
“Fish, no! Whiskey, drop!” But before the words were out, the sloth’s body ripped in two. Fish fell back onto Tony and Eddie. Whiskey tumbled back against the wall. The torn body of the sloth fell to the floor. In the center of the mess, scattered green stones glittered against the white tile.
Fish pushed himself from the pile and stared at the emeralds. “This changes everything.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The petite blonde stepped into the kitchen wrapped in a light pink robe, gently probing her ear with a corner of the fluffy towel coiled on the top of her head.
His breath caught. Elaine’s robe.
As she climbed onto a barstool, he placed a steaming cup of coffee on the granite in front of her. “Light cream, two sugars.”
She wrapped her fragile fingers around the cup, interlacing them tight against its warm glaze. “You remembered. Thank you.” Her gaze drifted around the room, then she took another sip. “When all this is over, I might nominate you for the Most Hospitable Kidnapper award.”
His cheek twitched. Yesterday, they’d reached an understanding. A truce of sorts. But the reality of their situation still hung between them. He was holding her here against her will. But he didn’t have to abandon his manners.
She gently set down the mug. “It does have to be over at some point, Mr. Keane. You know that, don’t you?”
He held his head steady, fighting the nod of agreement. Of course it had to end. He couldn’t hold her here forever. He couldn’t hold onto this place forever. He couldn’t hold Elaine’s spirit here forever. He couldn’t delay the inevitable confrontation with Gloria Rojas forever.
She waited, but his response stuck in his throat. She shook her head and pressed on. “You know, the longer you hole up here, the easier it becomes for the Rojas to steal from you.”
He lifted his shoulders, then released them with a lungful of briny air. “And the longer you’re here, the less likely they are to keep looking for you?”
“That’s bull and you know it. They won’t stop. And it’s not about the emeralds. It’s about loyalty. Pride. They think I took something that was theirs—”
“Mine. Let’s not forget that. They stole those emeralds from me first.”
Shelby’s head cocked to the side. “Fair point. But they clearly don’t see it that way. And they made it clearer than that water out there that skimming came with a penalty.” She spun on the stool and peered across the lawn to the sweeping turquoise flats.
“Where are they?”
She bit her bottom lip. “They’re safe.”
He tried a fresh approach. “How did you get tangled up with them, anyway?”
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll answer if you tell me how you did, first.”
He pulled a stool out and sat. “Fair. My da was a jeweler. Had a little shop in the south. Raised me up to take over the business, and I might have, if things had gone the way we planned them.
“But when I was a lad, I wanted to travel the world. Da thought I’d get it out of my system, then come home. That I’d meet a lass and settle down. I did the latter.
“Elaine was a native Conch. That’s what they call the folks born and raised here in the Keys. Grew up near Marathon. Her da was a fisherman and her ma a schoolteacher. She was eighteen when we met. She loved the land and the sea around here, but like me, she wanted to see the world.
“I’d saved up some, but we knew the money’d run out fast. So, I fell back on my training. And what I knew better than anyone else was gems. Even though they’re a little cliché, I loved the clean, clear emeralds we sourced from Colombia. And the demand in Ireland was growing.
“I convinced Da to let me go to the mountains and meet with the miners directly. See if we could do better on our own than we could buying emeralds from the distributors. When I got there, one of the mine owners I met had run into a little trouble, and he offered me to buy into the mine. I did. And over time, I bought more and more of his share until finally he retired and I took it over.
“Elaine and I traveled a lot, meeting with brokers and helping Da source uncut stones from all over the world. But every time we came back to Colombia, to the mine, we both felt at home. She pushed me to raise the workers’ wages. To offer them proper healthcare benefits and to support them when a family member became sick
or — God forbid — passed on. To build a school in the village and pay teachers to teach the children. Instead of just being their employer, we became part of their community. We went to Mass together. We watched their children grow up. They watched us struggle to have children of our own. We became family.
“And as that happened, my security team saw that skimming rates were going down. Now, every mine owner expects some level of skimming and loss. But my miners had everything they needed. They had plenty of food, secure shelter, their children had futures. And we were all in it together. They neither wanted nor needed to steal from the mine.
“Then Eduardo Rojas appeared.” He pulled the carafe of coffee from the counter. After he filled her cup, he poured himself another and sat at the counter. “Your turn.”
She picked her cup up and paced to the window. “I think they do their research. When they approached me, I was holding it all together, but just barely. Eddie was almost two. His father was long gone, and I was scraping to keep up with everything. I’d made a big mistake and taken a loan from a man I thought was a friend, but who turned out to be… let’s call him ‘outside sales’ for a loan shark in Miami. When it came due, I couldn’t pay. I think this guy grew up watching gangster movies, because all the stereotypes you see in them? Threats. Ultimatums. When they threatened Eddie, I got desperate. That’s when Coco Rojas stepped in.”
She set her empty cup on the counter and unraveled the towel from her damp blonde hair. “He seemed like a savior. He knew I worked for the airline and had been running the nonstops between Miami to Bogota and Cartagena. He told me that he had important items that they couldn’t trust to standard shipping that needed to be hand-delivered by people they could trust. And that they’d pay well.
“When I told him I wasn’t sure I could wait that long, he offered to clear my debt and let me work it off. Three trips is all it would take. It seemed too good to be true. Because it was. I asked him if it was drugs, and he said no. Then I asked if it was illegal and he just shrugged. ‘Depends on how you look at it.’ I wanted so badly to get out from under my debt that what I heard was ‘not technically.’ I was wrong. So very wrong.
