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“I’ve been running scenarios in my head,” I commented to Coop, though he’d been through enough last-second plan changes with me to know I’d already begun repositioning us. “Vivi’s got the helicopter on call. Wolfe and Colt have teams readying to come via boat as well.”
Nik’s eyes widened as he asked, “We just got off the tender. How did you arrange all that?”
I flashed my wrist. The sleek personal computer prototype from Beryl called the Facet went way beyond smartwatch technology. And apparently passed the waterproof and pressure tests to consider it for diving.
“I never saw you use it!”
“Sleight-of-hand wizardry, right, Presh?” Coop mocked before growing serious. Beryl Enterprises had never had this big of an internal breech in security before.
Except when he went rogue on Alvarez.
Could I really trust he wasn’t somehow a part of this too?
I had to.
Nik settled into his chair. “Look, whatever goes down, I want Thea and Titan off this yacht as soon as possible. I assume you want Leo off too?”
Cooped nodded.
“Totally agree,” I said. “And actually, I was thinking they would be part of our excuse for the helicopter, which should be leaving Marakata right now.”
“Shit, you plan for this or something?” Nik asked.
“I planned to bring up an asset worth half a billion dollars. I prepared for everything.”
Everything except my own team betraying me.
My eyes flicked to Coop’s, but I couldn’t read them. Turning back to Nik, I said, “Feigning some excuse that they need to return to Marakata, the helo can come pick up Leo, Thea, and Titan. At the same time, we’ll bring the emerald up and attach it to the helo for extraction. Then we’ll secure the ship.”
“We?” Coop asked, eyeing me like I was insane. “No, that’s not going to work.”
“You’re right, we should really have someone with ops experience in the helo in case they’ve already planned for that contingency. Nik, you should go with Thea and the others.”
“Whoa whoa whoa. You should go with the helo, Zee.”
“But I don’t have ops experience.”
“Exactly. Which is why you shouldn’t be on the ops part.”
Did Coop want me offsite so I couldn’t stop him or because he didn’t want me hurt? I still had so many questions for him about Alvarez, but my gut was telling me I could trust him. Of course, my gut had told me the same about Cait and Kai and…Magnussen.
I barely knew Lars Magnussen. He’d only been with Beryl a few months, not even a year. And he’d replaced Captain Tom. By killing him? Who would be next? No, I wasn’t going to leave anything of value where I couldn’t protect it. Not ever again.
“I’m not evacuating in the helicopter, Coop. This is my job.”
Coop huffed. “One you weren’t even going to show up on until I ‘strong-armed’ you. We still don’t know who they are or even how many of them there are. It’d be stupid for you to be in the line of fire. Who would take Zaki’s calls and respond to his emails?”
I narrowed my eyes at the subtle dig. “I’m more than an administrative assistant.”
“Exactly. You run this organization and are the most integral cog in the machine. He’s just the figurehead.”
“Careful…” I warned.
Coop quirked his lip. “Why? Is he listening? Because there are a few things he should hear.”
I sighed. I’d known telling Coop about the way Zaki had treated me as a child would make things problematic, but now was not the time. “Let’s just focus on the job, please. I’m going back down. I have unfinished business. End of discussion.”
Coop’s only response was a resigned grimace and subtle shake of his head.
“Nik should be in the helo,” I continued. “To ensure it’s secure, not just because of the emerald but because Thea, Leo, and Titan will be on board. Colt and Wolfe have teams en route now to secure and clear the ship. They’ll be here in a few hours. We have another team waiting on Marakata to protect the Ozma Emerald.”
“Sounds like a solid plan,” he agreed, though Coop shot daggers at him for it. Then Nik hustled to stand, grabbing a couple panini bites and a macaron. “Okay… Well, I guess I’d better let Thea and Leo know to get ready.”
“What is this unfinished business anyway?” Coop groused as he turned back to me. Then he tacked on for good measure, “Truth.”
“I’ll tell you, after,” I said with a tight smile. “Unless?”
I arched a brow to suggest we could have a quid pro quo regarding South America.
He growled as he got up to leave. “After it is.”
