A Deadly Business

by Desiree Holt

  “Good. That gives us more than one thing we can drive him nuts with.”

  “If you want to throw Maes off,” Marissa said, “you’re going about it the right way. He hates it when things aren’t under his control. Or when something happens to throw off his plans.”

  “We need him to be off kilter,” Justin agreed. “That’s when people make mistakes.” When she still looked uncertain, he said, “Look. You and I both know that after he’s taken care of business he’s liable to just kill everyone in the restaurant.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I wish I knew how many people he’s drained already so we had an idea of how much longer this will go on. Avery said eleven total, since Joubert is out.”

  At that moment his cell phone, which he’d shoved in the pocket of the pants, vibrated. He pulled it out and looked at the screen.

  “Avery.” He punched Talk. “The team on its way?”

  “It is, but ETA isn’t for another thirty minutes yet. Can you hold off until then?”

  He snorted. “Do I have a choice? And we have no idea how far down his list Maes is or what he plans after that.”

  There was a long pause.

  “Avery?”

  “I’m sorry. Henri Joubert, the twelfth member of the group, had opted out of this trip because he was ill. Maes used that to execute his plan. He sent two goons to Joubert’s house to hold his wife and daughter prisoner as long as Henri did what Maes asked. They had him call Rosewood and say he’d be arriving after all. They forced him to use his plane to Nassau and his helicopter from there, only Maes substituted his own pilots. About an hour ago some fishermen pulled Joubert’s body out of the Caribbean. One of them caught his hook on what he thought was a big fish.”

  “Jesus!” Justin pursed his lips in a low whistle. “And the wife and daughter?”

  Another pause.

  “Brian Gould had someone go check on them. Both dead. Gunshots to the head.”

  “Oh, my God!” Marissa clapped her hands over her mouth.

  “Gould is sending more reinforcements. He reached out to Interpol since Maes is on their watch list. And I just contacted Mike Perez and told him to have the pilot push that helo to its limits.”

  “It will be dark in another half hour,” Luis pointed out. “Can they land in the dark?”

  “Mike is going to have them do a HAHO jump. They’re equipped for it.”

  “High altitude, high opening?” Luis raised his eyebrows.

  Justin nodded, and held up his hand, mouthing, One second. “Have Mike call me just before they jump in case I have to update him on anything.”

  “Okay. And Justin?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Maes obviously doesn’t know Marissa is there, or he’d have hauled her into the dining room already. But if he’s on the warpath and she’s spotted, I’m afraid of what he’ll do to her. She may wish he’d killed her before it’s over.”

  Justin glanced at Marissa, who had turned as pale as a ghost.

  “I’ll keep her safe,” he assured Avery.

  “Okay. Ten four.”

  Justin shoved the phone back in his pocket and looked at the other two people in the room.

  “I have a gun,” Marissa reminded him.

  “You said that before, sweetheart. But unless I manage to take out all his henchmen before he spots you, it won’t do you much good. Promise me you’ll stay right in this building with Luis.”

  “And what if he sends two more guys with Semtex and they do what the first two threatened? Blow out the door?”

  Justin took the other assault rifle and handed it to Luis. “Take one of the ammo belts on the table.

  Luis took the weapon, checked it over with expert hands, checked the load and nodded. “Good to go.”

  “Okay, then.” He handed the man the H&K .45 mm he’d retrieved from the same body. “Keep this handy, too. Although if they blow that door down and you hit them with the assault rifle, there shouldn’t be anything left of them to mop up.”

  Luis studied the guns. “I wonder how happy Heckler and Koch would be to know how some of their weapons are being used.”

  “Not too, I’m sure. But once they’re sold, the choice is gone.” Justin checked his guns one more time. “Okay, guys. I’m outta here. I’m depending on you, Luis. I have to get down to the dock and get the keys from the runabouts, too. And do something about their chopper. That first. We can’t give them any way off this island.”

  “What can I do?” Luis asked.

  “For now? Take care of Marissa.” He looked over at the girl standing next to her. “And Dani, too. I’ll handle the rest.”

  Chapter 13

  Maes glared at Oskar Berglund, sitting at the laptop next to Desmet. The man was sweating up a storm and his hands shook as he tapped the keys on the computer.

  “A little faster, Oskar. I don’t plan to spend all night here.”

  “I just want to know what your plans are after you’ve stolen all our money.”

  Maes shrugged. “I don’t consider it stealing when it was my money to begin with.”

  Berglund rose from his chair, shaking but defiant. “Only part of it should have gone to you, if any. We still have to provide for our families. Run our businesses.”

  Maes glared at him. “You dare to even mention that to me? Your businesses?”

  “This just proves one thing to me. You haven’t changed much since you were a thug on the streets of Zagreb.”

  Maes took out his pistol, reversed his grip, and hit the side of the man’s head. He screamed, fell down into his chair, and clapped his hand to his head. At once, blood ran over his fingers.

  “Swine,” a woman yelled at him from the table where Berglund had been sitting.

  Maes shifted his gaze and stared at her, his hands itching to wrap themselves around her throat. He strode over to the table where she sat and stood by her chair, towering over her.

  “I don’t think you want to antagonize me, madam. The results will not be pleasant.” He nodded to one of the henchman standing near him. “Goren will take very good care of you.” He raised his voice a little. “And better care if you behave yourself.”

  At that moment the lights flickered and went out again.

  “Motherfucking son of a bitch.”

  Maes picked up a water glass and threw it against a wall. The glass shattered, and water dripped down onto the floor. In the dim light he could see everyone watching him, waiting for his next explosion of temper. Temper! Him! Stefan Maes, the epitome of self-control. He needed to take a step back.

  “Valentin.”

  Desmet looked over at him. “Yes?”

  “Radio those two men and see what’s going on now. Tell them the electric problem is obviously not fixed.”

  He waited as Desmet called on the radio. When no one answered, his blood pressure began to rise again. What the fuck was happening to him? For decades his trademark had been his icy composure.

  “No one is answering,” Desmet told him.

  “I can tell that for myself,” he snapped. Then he took a deep breath and let it out, pulling in the edges of his composure. He pointed at two of the men to his left.

  “You and you. Get down there and see what the fuck is going on. If the other two idiots can’t take care of things, shoot them. But don’t come back until the electricity is working.”

  They nodded and raced out of the restaurant.

  He looked over at where Berglund was sitting next to Val. “Is he finished?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Have him escorted back to his seat. Who is next on the list?”

  As shaky as Berglund was, he barely made it back to his table. One of the men he was sitting with came forward to help him. Maes wanted to shout that none of these men deserved any help after what they’d done to him, but he kept his m
outh shut. He wanted this business finished so he could put an end to it all and get the hell out of here.

  As he had been doing all evening he scanned the room, taking the measure of everyone there. There was a restless unease permeating the air. The women were fidgeting, and the men were scowling. If he had to shoot more people, he would. They meant nothing to him. He just hoped he wasn’t forced to do anything more until every one of the men had transferred the money. A roomful of dead bodies wasn’t necessarily an advantage. If people thought they had no hope of relief, they did crazy things, and he wasn’t in the mood for crazy.

  If he could just get his hands on Lauren Masters, he’d find out who was helping her. He still had connections. There were still enough people who wanted to curry favor with him out looking for her. She’d been found once. He could find her again.

  Meanwhile, he still had important business to transact here.

  * * * *

  Deny, delay, contain.

  Justin repeated those three words over and over silently as he made his way from the physical-plant building. One of the first things you learned when going on a mission where you were likely to encounter enemy combatants.

  Deny. Deny the enemy the opportunity to continue their operation as normal.

  Check. Interrupting the electricity had thrown them off. Next would come the air conditioning.

  Delay.

  Delay their actions so they cannot achieve their goal.

  He was still working on that, but if he could manipulate the situation with the island’s power enough to unbalance them, change things up, he could buy time until the Vigilance team arrived.

  Contain.

  Prevent them from having a means of escape.

  He’d already put the first two in motion. Now he needed to take care of the third.

  That meant disabling the helicopter as well as the runabouts at the dock.

  He was sure they’d head for the chopper first. It was the quickest and most expedient way to get the hell out of there. It would take more time to get to the boats, at the far end of this side of the island, and it would be more time consuming. So, chopper first. Then, after he checked the situation up at the restaurant again, and figured out how to delay things even more, he’d see about the boats.

  It took him longer than he’d like to get to the hangar, what with having to stay off the path to avoid the cameras. He had not seen a man in the dining room who could be the helicopter pilot. All the tables were filled with people who were obviously guests at the resort. In addition, there were Maes, his second in command, and his black-shirt troops. That meant the pilot would be at the hangar, waiting for the signal to warm the chopper for a fast liftoff.

  Justin wanted to avoid killing the man if he could. He might work for Maes, but he most likely did nothing but his job as pilot. Still, he had to contain him and do something to the helo. Because he kept himself in top shape, he was barely winded when he reached the hangar, even in the last heat of the day. He could see the chopper, with Joubert on the side in script, sitting on the tarmac. No pilot, so he had to be inside.

  Okay, he just needed to bluff enough to get close to the pilot and immobilize him. His black outfit ought to be a good disguise and not set off any alarms. He doubted the pilot had memorized the faces of the thugs, even if he’d flown them before.

  He opened the door at one end of the hangar and stepped into blessedly cool air. A man in black slacks and a crisp white shirt was sitting in a chair, his feet up on another one, drinking from a bottle of water. He looked up when Justin came in.

  “Is he finished already? He said it would be at least two hours.”

  “Some things take longer than expected.” He walked slowly over to where the pilot sat. “He sent me to take care of something.”

  “Yeah? Like what?”

  “Like this.” His fist shot out and connected with the man’s jaw. His head snapped back, and he was out cold in an instant. All that kickboxing had perfected his already lethal punch.

  Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the length of duct tape Luis had cut off and rolled for him. Ripping it into the correct lengths, he rolled the pilot to tape his hands behind his back, then wrapped another length around his ankles. He patted the man’s pockets, found the outline of a key ring, and pulled out the key to the helicopter.

  The man looked over at him, rage in his eyes.

  “Sorry about this.” Justin gave the duct tape over his mouth one more pat. “As soon as I can get this under control I’ll send someone to let you free.”

  Next were the Rosewood helos. There were two of them in the hangar. He spent precious minutes searching for the keys and found none. He was sure they’d keep them at the office until needed but he’d had to check just the same.

  He checked his watch. Ten minutes gone. He had no idea what kind of time schedule he was fighting or what was going on in the restaurant now and he needed to find out. Okay, check the restaurant then head for the dock. He was jogging fast along the path when his cell phone hummed in his pocket. He stopped, pulled it out, and checked the screen. Marissa. God, he hoped nothing had happened in these few minutes.

  “You okay?” were the first words out of his mouth.

  “Yes, but Luis has been watching the cameras. After that last little flicker of the lights, Maes sent two more goons to check it out. They’re on their way now.”

  “We hoped that would happen, remember? It’s easier to pick them off two at a time.”

  “Are you close to here?”

  “Yes, but maybe not close enough. Tell Luis to put on his Army self and get out there in the bushes like I did. I’ll take a little detour before heading for the boats. If they get there before I do, he’ll have to take them both down.”

  “Done.” Then she added, “Be careful.”

  He permitted himself a tiny smile. “Always.”

  He took off running toward the physical plant building, thankful that all the forestation was thick enough to conceal him. He was still a minute or two away when he heard four shots, in clusters of two.

  Luis.

  He arrived at the spot just as Luis was dragging one of the bodies into the shrubbery. But then he spotted someone dragging the other body and his heart nearly stopped.

  “Marissa?” He grabbed her arm. “Are you crazy?”

  “No, and I’m not helpless, either. I wasn’t going to chance having the second guy shoot Luis. It only took seconds and as you can see, worked like a charm.” She dropped the shoulders of the guy she’d been dragging, put her hands on her hips, and glared at Justin. “I am not going to put myself in danger. I am not going to do anything stupid. But I’m a crack shot, I can kick box, and I am not going to let someone get killed because I didn’t help. So, shut up and deal with it.”

  Her eyes were shooting daggers at him. God, she was just incredible. Once they got out of this mess he was never letting another man near her ever again.

  He didn’t know whether to throttle her or kiss her.

  She did step aside without an argument while he stripped the second man. Then the three of them carried everything into the plant building. They stacked the weapons and the other items on the table along with the remains of what they’d previously gathered.

  “I promise you Maes is going insane about now,” Marissa told him. “Just like I said before. I know the man. If everything doesn’t go like clockwork according to his specifications, he’ll kill someone as easily as shaking hands.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me. So, we have to achieve a fine balance here. Okay, Luis, next is the AC. Wait about five minutes then shut it down.” He looked at his watch. “I’m surprised Maes hasn’t tried again to find out what happened to these other men. He’s missing four of his goons. He’s not stupid enough to just let them keep disappearing.”

  He barely had the words out when one o
f the radios crackled to life.

  “Zagor. This is Desmet. What’s happening? Did you find the others? What the fuck is going on down there?”

  Justin nodded to Luis, who picked up the radio.

  “Some problem…equipment. We are…” As he spoke, he continuously pressed the On/Off switch to simulate transmission problems.

  “What? Repeat. You’re breaking up.”

  “Trouble with…working…fixed soon…”

  “Are you saying it will be fixed soon?” Desmet’s voice had a hard edge to it. “Do you even know anything about it? What’s wrong with your radio? And where are those two assholes we sent before? Raca will boil their nuts.”

  “…helping…”

  There was a long silence from the other end.

  “God damn it, Zagor. Do it and get your fucking asses back up here. And bring those two fuckers with you. You’re not supposed to be having a convention down there.”

  Luis turned the radio off, dropped it on the console, and looked at Justin. “How long do you think before he sends someone else to check?”

  “Depends on how long he guesses it will take to fix the power. I need to get up there and take another look at the scene. Figure out where he is in the process. Then I’ll take care of the boats.”

  He started toward the door.

  “Wait.” Luis held up a hand. He sat down at the console, typed some commands into a keyboard, and a new diagram popped up on one of the screens. “Take a look at this.”

  Justin moved to stand behind the man. “What am I seeing?”

  “A diagram of the electrical workings of Rosewood’s main building. Look here.” He used an electronic pointer. “On the main floor we left access, so we could work on wiring if we had to without taking the whole system down. See right here? There’s a narrow space next to the kitchen and Sunset with a concealed door, just big enough for a man to fit into. If you can get through the kitchen without being seen, the door is right here.”

  Justin pulled out his phone and took a picture of the diagram.

  “Will I fit in there with all this weaponry?”