Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51832 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“I left before I was forced to hurt you,” Kurt assures him.
“Old guys need naps,” Savage rebuttals.
Kurt scowls and Luke cuts off the battle of assassins. “How’d you get out, Savage?”
“Adam spilled a drink on Phillips’s wife. I escorted her to the bathroom and disappeared. Not before she tried to take me into that private space alone, but nope. I’m a married man.”
Dexter’s phone rings and he holds it up. “Blake.” He answers the line, listens for a minute, and then places it on speaker. “You have Savage, Kurt, Luke, and Ana in the room.”
“Adam’s in the surveillance van with Smith, waiting to see what Phillips does next,” Blake informs us. “And now I’m going to tell you what I assume Ana and Luke already told you. Based on the cloud data, Phillips reads like the seller, not the buyer. He’s the main captain of this ship.”
“The king,” Kurt replies. “Kill him. We kill at least the part of this operation that cares about any of us.”
“Or we could arrest him,” Blake replies. “Which is the preferred method of attack. But right now, I’m focused on how we control him to keep everyone alive. I believe that means we need that coin, or at least to make him believe we have it, which our team researched. It disappeared from a museum in Paris over a decade ago. Luke this comes back to you. What happened to that package?”
“Trevor had to have taken it,” he says.
“And then he came to The Ranch,” I interject, with a thought hitting me. “Wait. Can I see the coin?”
Luke pulls out his phone. “Googling it now.” He punches a few buttons and then shows me an image. My lips part. “I ah,” I laugh, a disbelieving laugh, “wow. Okay. Well. I know where it is.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ana
My confession is out before I can stop it, a reckless move with Kurt’s motives still at least a little in question. Luke and I share a look that says that and more, but Kurt isn’t about to let that ride.
“I don’t give two shits where it’s at,” he declares. “Tell them later. What I care about, is how we use that to our advantage. We can’t hold the coin captive forever. He’ll keep coming for us all until we come up with a way to make this work for us. This is one part of a bigger picture.”
“I have additional information,” Blake interjects, “but I agree with Kurt. One piece of a bigger puzzle. Based on the cloud download, I can confirm he’s not looking for the coin to keep for himself. He has a buyer, and that buyer is someone who we don’t want to piss off. He’s widely believed to be a future world leader, who might come off as a nice guy, but the dude has a trail of bodies behind him.”
“In other words,” Luke replies, “Phillips is scared.”
“Yeah,” Blake confirms. “And I’m pretty sure from what I read tonight, he didn’t kill his son, who is not his stepson, by the way. He’s blood. I’m betting his buyer killed Newman.”
“Okay, you have my attention, Blake,” I say. “Who in the world is this buyer?” I ask, shaken by just how dangerous this situation has become.
“Louis Dubois,” Blake replies. “And as I said, he’s widely believed to be the future—”
“French Prime Minister,” Kurt supplies, with a laugh. “Yes. Yes, he is. I know him.”
“What does that mean?” I ask. “And is that good or bad? Does he like you or hate you?”
“I am part of the reason he’s where he is today.”
“You killed for him,” Luke assumes tightly.
“Hell no, son, but I trained all of his private security and ‘fixers’ as he calls them. What they do with the skills I give them is not on me. Just like money, skills can be used for good or evil. No one asks when they pay the grocery store if they’re going to use the profits for a good thing. Bottom line, if we’re willing to give Louis the coin, he’ll handle Phillips.”
“Blake?” Luke asks. “How willing are we to give up a coin that belongs in a museum?”
“Based on the level of trouble Louis represents,” he says, “give him the damn coin, but we need to know that equals safety for everyone involved.”
“It will,” Kurt assures us all, and he eyes Savage. “Some of us can do more than use brute force.”
“Hey, man,” Savage replies, “I can blow you up and put you back together, so you might want to keep me on your side.”
“What comes next?” I ask. “Because Louis believes you’re dead.”
“I got this,” he says, pulling a phone from his pocket, and punching in a number.
“What are you doing?” Luke asks. “Who are you getting involved?”
“Yeah, man,” Dexter adds, pointing at him, “we talk before we act.”