Page 86 of Above ’N’ Beyond

“I take it you like her.”

Jax sat beside Jamie, looking up at him accusatorily, as if he knew exactly what, or rather who, was being discussed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s a little worse than that.”

“You finally stepped in it.” Kade chuckled. “You fell in love, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Does she know what you are?”

“That I’m a cop? She knows.”

“Other than her, are you burned?”

“Not yet.” At least, he didn’t think so.

Another grunt, then, “What I’m about to say comes from personal experience. There’s only one solution. Talk to her and fix it.”

In a perfect world, yeah, he would do that. Sadly, his world was anything but perfect. “Don’t think that’s possible.”

“What’s the problem?”

Aside from the fact Bella was the only woman for him, and she hated him? Not a thing. “Me. I don’t deserve her.”

“That’s crap. You’re one of the best guys I know. You can’t pick and choose who you fall in love with or when. Trust me. I learned this the hard way.”

That much he did know. Kade had been through the ringer, maybe worse. His friend tortured himself for years by staying away from the woman he loved.

“Speaking of best guys, Dayne and Kat are throwing Laia and me an engagement party Saturday night at the castle. I already sent you the deets on your regular phone. The rest of the guys and their families are all driving in tomorrow night. Any chance you can make it?”

I wish. It sure would be great to see his friends again. He’d already missed one wedding, when another of his best friends, Markus York, had gotten married. Luckily, he’d been around for Dayne Andrews’s wedding to Katrina Vandenburg, a billionairess who lived—literally—in a castle not ten minutes from Nyack. He hadn’t seen Eric Miller in months, and it had been over a year since he’d seen Matt Connors or Nick Houston.

“Not sure. I’ll try.” His phone vibrated with an incoming text. “Hang on.” Jamie looked at the message. Diallo Achebe at Stewart Airport had texted him with more photos. “Kade,” he said after putting the phone back to his ear. “Gotta go, man. But thanks for listening.” He ended the call and began scrolling through the images. His personal baggage would have to wait.

There were six images in all. Three passport photos and three taken by Port Authority surveillance cameras in Ogdensburg, Plattsburgh, and Massena airports in upstate New York.

Jamie enlarged the surveillance photos first, confirming what he expected. These were images of the other three men who’d been at Paola’s dinner party last night. Signors Bruno, Gallo, and De Luca.

Next, he examined the passport pages, swiping back and forth to compare them to the surveillance photos. The similarities between the passport and surveillance photos were uncanny. Whoever had chosen the men to be impersonated had done their homework, and it was understandable how Immigration and Customs inspectors hadn’t picked up on the fact the men who’d presented these passports weren’t the actual passport holders.

Now to get actual IDs on these people.

Jamie forwarded the photos to Jenkins, then, after glancing around to verify no one was within earshot, called him.

“Got your text,” Jenkins said. “We’ll run these guys through facial recog. And your hunch was right. The real Tommaso Sala is dead. An FBI team found him strangled in his apartment. Looks like he’s been dead for a few days. He was a college professor, single and living alone, and school’s out for summer, so no one reported him missing.”

Jamie shoved a hand through his hair. For Tommaso Sala, school was out permanently. He’d been expecting this news, but hearing it confirmed just how deadly this case was becoming.

“There’s more,” Jenkins continued. “We just got a hit on facial recog for the guy using Sala’s passport. His real name is Giuseppe Bonaventura.”

Jamie narrowed his eyes. That name was vaguely familiar.

“Bonaventura is head of the Celle clan, one of the most powerful clans in the ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia.”

“Jesus,” Jamie muttered.

“Exactly. Fifty other ’Ndrangheta members were arrested a year ago on money laundering, weapons and drug trafficking charges, including Bonaventura, who also had murder charges tacked on. He’s looking at life in prison. They’re all awaiting a maxi-trial that’s expected to take years before it even starts. A judge remanded Bonaventura and the other high-level guys that were arrested to home confinement wearing ankle bracelets.”

Ankle bracelets? “If Bonaventura was wearing an ankle bracelet, he wouldn’t have been able to step outside his house without alerting the Italian authorities, let alone make it through airport screening in Rome. So how did he make it to the U.S.?”