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He shook his head. “Not at all. There are times it’s actually a bit refreshing, as I stated.” He turned back to John. “If I could have a moment of your time after you’ve had breakfast, I’d like to discuss some business with you.”
“Of course,” John agreed with no haste or apparent excitement. “It might be an hour or two after breakfast, though. As you know, my bodyguard returned last night and I need to discuss a few issues with him before the day begins.”
Raymond nodded. “You have my cell phone number. Call me whenever you’re ready.” He turned and moved back into the hallway as John closed the door behind him.
Locking it, he moved back to the dresser and flipped the white-noise generator back on. The connecting door opened more fully and the tall, well-dressed form of Travis Caine moved into the room.
Who was he? Bailey stared at him intently. There was something about the tilt of his head, the shape of his eyes, and the way he held his shoulders that was disturbingly familiar.
“You heard?” John asked him.
Travis nodded, his face expressionless. “The other security personnel are on call as well. I was in the kitchen this morning and several of them were there. Myron Falks has pulled in two men, supposedly for Waterstone. Greer’s bodyguard is in attendance, as are at least one bodyguard for Menton-Squire, Claymore, and Grace.”
“Any reason why they were called in?” John asked. “I have to admit I was surprised when Greer suggested I might want to call my own in.”
John moved to the coffee service that had been delivered by a housemaid earlier and poured himself a cup.
“There was something said about a hunting trip in a few days’ time,” Travis revealed. “Evidently, these men don’t all trust one another as much as they let on. There’s nothing in the report we were given that mentions this hunt.”
“It’s a yearly thing,” Bailey told them. “Father and his bodyguard used to go every year. But it was usually the last day of the house party. This is the first time I can remember that it’s been scheduled so soon.”
“Then we wait for the surprise.” John shrugged as he turned to Bailey. “Wear your backup weapon rather than the knife.”
Bailey shook her head. “Not here. If Raymond or Myron glimpses a backup on me, he’s going to slip back into a mode of distrust. I’m letting you handle the ‘man’ business,” she sneered. “I’m keeping to the role they want me in for the time being. It’s the only way we’re going to get what we want here.”
John grimaced. She could tell he didn’t like it. She didn’t think much of the unwritten rules herself. This was how it was, though. Several of the women in the group downstairs were very astute businesswomen, but they pushed back their intelligence while attending this party and pretended they were nothing more than clothes-buying, charity-organizing little socialites.
It was almost like the Middle Ages. The antiquated rules were enough to piss off any independent-minded woman. Not that it had ever done her any good here.
“The two of you do what you have to do.” She waved her hand back at them. “My turn will come soon enough.” She narrowed her eyes back at John. “You’re in charge of negotiations, that they’re aware. But they’re aware we’re partners. Correct?”
His lips twitched, though she glimpsed the approval and respect in his gaze. “They’re well aware of that, sweetheart.”
She nodded before another thought crossed her mind. “Have our friends managed to track down our Colombian visitor?” she asked him.
She knew Alberto Rodriquez a little too well. He wouldn’t be in Aspen if he wasn’t there for her. He detested cold weather. But even worse, he was hiding, which meant he had a plan in place.
“Nothing yet.” John’s jaw clenched with what she knew was an edge of frustration. “I have several friends on it, but he’s buried deep.”
“That’s not a good thing,” she told him, voicing her earlier concern.
“Stay close to the house,” John ordered her. “If you need to go out, contact Travis. He’ll go with you.”
She restrained a smile at the arrogant command. Sometimes John forgot that she did indeed know how to take care of herself. It was that male–female thing, she thought. He couldn’t help the need to protect her, the feeling that protecting her was his responsibility.
“Yes, boss.” She saluted him with a flippant smile to ease the tension in the room.
He frowned at her as Travis sipped at his coffee and watched them closely. Too closely.
“We should go to breakfast,” she decided rather than continuing the conversation. “Raymond gets testy when he has to wait.”
She noticed the look that passed between John and Travis and made a mental note to pursue the subject with John later. He had been acting a bit distant whenever Raymond’s name had come up, as though he knew something he wasn’t yet telling her.
Not that she didn’t doubt he would tell her. The past days had been busy, filled with not just the emotional trauma she was still dealing with in regard to the information against Ford that she had destroyed, but also the meetings Raymond and Myron had been having with both John and Jerric.
As they moved downstairs and went into the dining room for the buffet breakfast that had been set up, Bailey was struck by the fact that two main players up for the brokerage contract happened to both be agents of the mysterious unit.
Both men had “died” and taken other identities, not just once but likely several times. They were both searching for Warbucks, working together, and they had both managed to fool both Myron Falks as well as Raymond Greer?
