One dark wish, p.27
One Dark Wish, page 27
Calum threw up his hands. “Not me. And it’s not Carina either. I already asked.”
Pete sighed. “This means we’ll have another mouth to feed. Besides the fact that Alex has an aggressive streak and an intense dislike for Vane.”
Nate had forgotten about the issues between Alex and Vane. “I’ll text Luke to make sure he doesn’t put Vane and Alex in the same bunk.”
Pete and Zack gave each other a look that Nate ignored. He didn’t have time for drama.
“Who is Alex Mitchell?” Garza asked Pete.
“Nate and Zack’s Ranger buddy. Alex is also the Prince’s brother who was convicted of killing Remiel.”
Calum took out his phone and texted. “That means Kells knew the Prince’s identity and never mentioned it.”
“And that Kells has been lying to you,” Sarah said softly. “Again.”
Nate glanced at her bowed head. “I’m sure Kells had his reasons.”
“I have to admit,” Pete said, “having Alex is a hell of a bargaining chip if we need leverage over the Prince.”
Nate exhaled and got to the main point of the meeting. “Sarah and I have decided that the only way to save Jack and her father is to solve her cipher.”
All gazes landed on Sarah, who straightened her shoulders and nodded. Nate had to give her credit. When she believed in something, she didn’t retreat.
“Do you mean that Prideaux pirate cipher you just told me about?” Samantha asked. “The one that protects those hide sites?”
“Yes,” Sarah said. “If I solve the cipher for Remiel, he’ll release my dad from the hospital.”
Pete stood and pressed his fists on the table. “It also means the Prince will kill Jack.”
Sarah stood as well. “Remiel promised Nate that if we solve the cipher, he’ll protect Jack in prison.”
The room went silent, and every pair of eyeballs landed on Nate.
Of course, Pete went first. “When the fuck did this convo take place?”
“Last night,” Nate said. “Behind the club. Remiel confronted me, confirmed that he was responsible for the ambush and POW camp, then told me he’d protect Jack if we solved the cipher.”
“Whoa.” Zack placed his mug on the counter and faced Nate directly. “Remiel admits to all of this, and you trust him with Jack’s life? Are you insane?”
“I’ve run through every scenario,” Nate said slowly to make his point. “This is our only option. We have to solve that cipher in order to save Jack and Sarah’s father.”
“No.” Zack clasped his fingers behind his neck. “Just no.”
“Unfortunately, Nate might be right.” Pete picked up the newspaper on the table, still wrapped in a plastic sleeve, and threw it at Nate. “Read it.”
Nate slipped the paper out of the sleeve and read the front page aloud. “Kremlin accuses U.S. of stealing 12 SA-24 MANPAD missiles.”
“What are MANPADs?” Samantha asked.
“MANPAD stands for ‘man portable air defense.’” Nate dropped the paper onto the table. “They’re shoulder-fired, heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles.”
Pete pointed at Zack. “Your turn to share.”
Zack crossed his arms and told them about Etienne’s connection with the Russians and ended with “Remiel may be buying MANPADs from the Russian mob. But he needs a safe place to hide them.”
“The hide sites.” Sarah laid out the paper so she and Samantha could read it. “That’s why Remiel wants the cipher solved. He needs a place to store his weapons.”
Garza stood and slipped on his jacket, covering his holster. “Finding these hide sites by solving this cipher may be the only way to find these weapons.”
“For the record,” Zack said directly to Nate, “this is insanity.”
“Then you’re going to hate the next part of our plan,” Nate said. “The reason I asked you here.”
Pete dropped his large body onto the couch. “Fuck me.”
Samantha went over to sit next to him. “Just listen to what Nate has to say.”
Calum slipped his phone in his jacket pocket. “As a concerned citizen who doesn’t want missiles floating around his city, I’d like to hear this plan.”
“It’s simple,” Nate said. “We’re stealing a diary. We need your help. And you can’t tell Kells.”
* * *
Zack held his breath while Nate laid out the plan. When Nate finished, Zack exhaled until he felt light-headed. “You want to go into an auction, with a U.S. senator—”
“There’ll be two senators there today,” Calum said.
Okaaaaaay. “At noon. And steal a diary worth fifty thousand dollars.”
“We barely avoided prison.” Pete still sat on the couch, with Samantha curled up next to him. “If we’re caught—”
“You won’t be caught,” Sarah said. “I’m the one doing the stealing.”
Zack contained his rising temper in his fisted hands. This plan was not only crazy, it could land them in jail. Even worse, if Kells found out, they’d be in a mountain of trouble they’d never recover from. What was Nate thinking going with Sarah’s plan? No, what was he thinking with?
Zack couldn’t help but notice how Nate’s focus hovered on Sarah. How he followed her every movement, as if the rest of them weren’t in the room. “Helping with the getaway counts as a crime too.”
“You’re not helping us get away,” Nate said, “just watching the getaway route.”
“I don’t like it,” Garza said. “If you’re caught, I can’t help you.”
“I’m not asking you to,” Nate said. “I’m only asking you to look the other way after I hit Calum. I gotta knock him out to make it look real.”
Calum nodded. “I like the plan.”
“I don’t,” Pete said. “It screams failure.”
Garza studied the ceiling. “Fuck.”
“Are we voting?” Samantha asked. “Because if we are, I vote yes.”
“How can you agree?” Pete yanked her braid. “After everything that’s happened to you?”
She slapped Pete’s hand away. “That’s why I’m voting for it. If this plan helps to forestall any more violence between Remiel and the Prince, I’ll help however I can.”
“Good,” Calum said. “Then you can take Sarah to Dessie’s and help her pick a dress.” He turned to Sarah. “If you’re going to do this, do it in style.”
Sarah clasped her hands and said, “Thank you, Calum.”
“Help me understand,” Garza said to the room. “How is a diary going to help us find a hide site?”
Sarah took over the convo with “The Prideaux pirate cipher uses two-part substitution encryption. It was hugely popular from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries. The first part is the code, like the sequence printed on these heroin bags.” She handed Zack a photo of a crime scene with dead guys and white blocks of heroin printed with I9A4B8M5C6. “The second part is the key that decodes the sequence. I know from reading that diary that the pirates used a specific book as their substitution key. I just don’t know which one. I’m hoping the diary will tell us.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Pete asked.
“There may be other clues that can lead us to a hide site. If we find one, maybe we can solve the cipher backward.”
“This plan is sketchy as hell.” Zack handed the photo to Pete.
Nate held out his hands, palms up. “Do you have a better idea?”
“Fuck yeah.” Pete let the photo drop on the floor. “Do nothing.”
Sarah moved closer to Nate, and he took her hand. “Not an option anymore.”
“I disagree.” Zack’s voice sounded raw, and he took a deep breath before continuing, “This plan hinges on the word of a woman we don’t know and I don’t trust. And I’m not sure, Nate, that you’re in any position to realize what the hell is going on. Not with all the…stress you’ve been under.” There. He’d said it.
From Nate’s wide nostrils and thin lips, the truth wasn’t going over well. “What are you talking about?”
“Zack is just looking out for you, brother.” Pete moved next to Zack, their shoulders almost touching. “Sarah stole a file—”
“Photographs of me and Nate,” Sarah said in a thin, high voice.
Zack focused on the pretty woman in a pink sweater, with a great figure and brown eyes that a man could fall into. A woman who may or may not have trapped one of Zack’s best friends into a scheme that could ruin them all. “Sarah also ran a background check on Nate with the help of a Charleston detective.”
Nate moved first until Sarah put a hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Nate. I’ll handle this.”
She moved until she stood so close she had to look up at him. Zack could even smell her gardenia perfume. Good thing he preferred jasmine.
“Two weeks ago, after I met Nate, some horrible things happened. My assistant at the Savannah Preservation Office was murdered and books were stolen from the collection. As the daughter of a police chief, as well as an intelligent, level-headed citizen, I asked Detective Waring—my dad’s former partner in the Boston PD—to do a background check on Nate. There’s nothing wrong or strange or betrayally in that.”
Betrayally? “I’ll be honest, Sarah. I don’t trust you. I don’t like how Nate has come to rely on you. And I don’t think this plan serves anyone other than your own ambitions.”
Her eyes widened with a fierceness Zack reluctantly admired. “You know nothing about me, and your lack of trust in Nate’s judgment says more about your inability to judge the situation than his.”
Nate came over and gripped Zack’s shoulder. Nate’s green eyes were clearer than they’d been in weeks. “I appreciate your concern, brother, but we don’t have time to argue. Are you in or out?”
Calum gently pushed Zack and Nate apart. “I say we vote.”
Zack shook his head. “No.”
Samantha took Sarah’s hand and said, “Two yesses here.”
“Yes,” Calum and Garza said together.
“I vote yes,” Nate looked at Pete. “Bro?”
Pete kicked a blue-striped pillow that’d fallen off the couch. “I’m in. With reservations.”
“Dude,” Zack said to Pete. “Are you serious?”
Pete picked up the pillow and threw it onto the couch. “You weren’t here two weeks ago. This is beyond law enforcement. Their bureaucracy can’t deal with Remiel’s brand of nightmare.”
Zack moved to the window overlooking the courtyard. He also had reservations, but…by tomorrow, with Nate gone, none of this would matter. “Okay. I’m in. But I’m not happy.”
“Before we start planning,” Calum said, “I have to ask. Why aren’t we going to the feds about these weapons?”
“We can’t,” Pete said. “If the feds figure it out on their own, good for them. But if the Fianna are involved and we bring attention—you know the consequences. Besides, we’re not even sure Etienne’s meeting was about those missiles.”
Calum nodded. “Now what?”
Nate checked his watch. “We have two hours to plan. The auction is at noon, and that will give us another twenty-four hours to make this happen. We have to be done by noon tomorrow.”
Samantha tossed her braid and asked, “Why?”
“Because”—Nate looked at Samantha, then at Sarah—“that’s when I have to leave.”
Chapter 34
Sarah was sitting in the back of Calum’s Bentley when her phone buzzed with a text from her boss.
We need to talk about your employment situation. Call me ASAP.
It was the second text he’d sent her within the hour, and she didn’t have the emotional energy to deal with him now. She turned over her cell and stared out the window as Calum’s butler Ivers drove them to the Mansion on Forysth Park Hotel.
With Nate and his men, they’d discussed what was going to happen at the auction. Then she’d gone to her house, where she’d packed clothes, hiking boots, her dad’s weapon, and her research materials. She’d also added more tea and salve. After their escape, they were heading out to the Isle of Grace to hide in one of Pops’s hunting cabins.
Garza had intel on the hotel’s security setup. Zack had staked out the escape route. They had Juliet’s Lily’s truck for their getaway. Calum had ensured an invitation for Nate would be waiting at the door. Nate had shopped for food and ammo.
They’d worked through countless details she’d never considered. She’d honestly thought she’d walk in, take the diary, jump out the window, and worry about the rest later. Apparently, Green Berets didn’t work that way. Zack had kind of come around. She got why he didn’t trust her, but she didn’t understand why he didn’t trust Nate. This was as much Nate’s plan as hers.
“You look beautiful.” Calum sat next to her while he texted someone about something. “Dior suits you.”
She smoothed the skirt of the white dress Samantha had helped her choose at Dessie’s shop. It had a tight waist, full skirt ending at the knee, and fitted bodice with cap sleeves. The skirt was made with layers of extremely sheer white silk organza. A taffeta-and-tulle petticoat gave the skirt a fullness that belied its whisper-weight fabric.
White silk lined the bodice, but the sleeves remained sheer. The neckline was edged with silk-embroidered strawberries, and small Swarovski crystals graced the center of each one. It was the most feminine dress Sarah had ever seen, and she’d fallen in love with it instantly. It wasn’t until she’d been outfitted with a new strapless bra, leather ballet flats, and lace panties that she even dared to look at the price.
“Calum? Please don’t faint when you see the bill.” Seriously, her purchases had cost more than most wedding gowns.
“I promise I won’t faint.” He grinned while he typed. “Whatever the cost, it’s worth it. You look stunning. I love the Swarovski crystals.”
She laughed and touched her hair, which Samantha had twisted into a complicated knot and decorated with gardenia blossoms. “Remember that when you’re considering never speaking to me again.”
He slipped his phone in his jacket pocket. For the auction, he’d changed into linen pants, a pale-blue dress shirt that matched his eyes, and a blue silk tie decorated with purple and green turtles. “It can’t be close to what Carina spends.”
“Are you sure?”
He placed his hand over hers, smiled, and squeezed. “Everything will work out. I promise. You have to stop fretting.”
“No fretting.” She gave him a half smile. “I promise.”
“Good.” He took something out of his leather briefcase on the floor. “I wanted to give you these before the fun starts.” He handed her a paperback copy of Shakespeare’s Othello. “This belonged to your mother. Remember when I told you that your mother and mine had been friends?”
“Yes.” She opened the book to find a stack of old photographs. They were all of a group of three girls, each around fifteen or sixteen. “What are these?”
Calum pointed to the name scrawled inside the cover. Meg Theroux. “My momma, who’s in Paris, told me about the book and photos. She’d stored them in our cottage on the Isle of Hope for safekeeping.”
He held up a photo of three girls at the beach. They stood by the ocean, their arms linked, smiles wide. “The blond that looks like Carina is my momma. The black-haired girl is Isabel Rutledge.”
“Is Isabel related to the Rutledge family who stole your diary and gave it to the Savannah Preservation Office?”
“Yes. There are members of the Rutledge family in Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans.” Calum ran his thumb over the third person in the photo. “This girl with long brown hair is—”
“My mother.” Sarah covered her mouth with her hand.
“Your momma was from one of oldest families in Savannah.”
“Is that why the Habersham sisters chose me to work on the Prioleau/Habersham collection despite my issues at the Smithsonian?”
“Along with your impressive résumé.” Calum lifted one of the photos up to the light. “I also support rebels. After reading your article in The British Journal, I knew you were my girl. I loved the fact that you hypothesized that not only were the Prideaux hide sites real, but Thomas didn’t betray Rebecca in spite of the historical records saying otherwise.”
She dropped the book and photos onto her lap. A few fell on the floor. “You chose me to manage the collection?”
Calum picked them up. “And to keep the Habersham sisters in line.”
Not sure what to say, she went back to the photo of three girls sitting in the reading room at the SPO. “Do you know anything about my mother?”
“She was a smart girl with lots of friends.” He sifted through the photos he’d picked up. “According to my momma, they were all obsessed with Anne Capel’s recipes and Rebecca Prideaux’s love life.”
“I know my mother never let the story of Rebecca and Thomas go.”
Calum handed her another photo of two girls in sundresses drinking iced tea in a courtyard filled with flowers. They wore sunglasses and bright smiles. “This is your momma and Isabel Rutledge. While all three girls were close, your momma and Isabel were like sisters. They were desperate to prove that Thomas didn’t betray Rebecca. Although they never succeeded.”
“The girls wanted to redeem the love story, but they grew up before making their great discovery.” Grew up and got pregnant, to be precise.
“Sarah? Do you want to redeem Thomas and Rebecca’s love story for their sake? Or your momma’s?”
“Both, I guess.” She ran her thumb over her mother’s image on the photo. “My mother was betrayed by my biological father, I was betrayed by my fiancé, and my father was betrayed by his station when they refused to believe in his innocence. I think, all along, I needed to prove to myself that loyalty—and true love—is real.”
