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Taking the stairs two at a time, he strode into the games room and opened the hidden panel, but when he poked his head in, he found her fast asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he walked across the hall to the lounge overlooking the grounds, stood at the window, and placed the call.
“Hey, Marco, it’s good to hear from you,” Max said cheerily as he answered.
“Hi, Max, I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“I just got your messages. Sometimes my phone has a mind of its own. It turned itself off and I didn’t know. That was one hell of an explosion, but I knew you’d made it out.”
“You did? How?”
“How do you think? My drone. When I spotted two motorbikes racing away from that wooded area I figured it was you and your sidekick.”
“Ah, of course, and your drone is what I need to speak with you about, but there’s a lot you don’t know.”
Hastily bringing the detective up to speed, Marco asked if he could offer overhead surveillance.
“Yeah, for sure,” Max agreed. “I’m almost back in town. I’ll come straight to your compound.”
“Terrific, I’ll see you shortly.”
Ten minutes later, Max arrived. Quickly pairing his drone, enabling him to send Benny and Marco a live feed, Marco led him to a viewing deck on the roof of the house to launch, then returned to join Benny in the security room. They were soon studying a bird’s-eye view of the streets around the compound.
“Just as I thought,” Marco declared, pointing out a black truck, panel van, and a stretch limousine parked two blocks away. “Oleg is waiting to hear from Stu.”
“And getting impatient, I bet,” Benny remarked. “Those must be Liam’s agents?”
“About time,” Marco muttered, watching a group of sedans arriving in neighboring streets.
Liam’s team parked their cars nearby, then walked to the back of the grounds and entered the compound via the rope ladders left in place for Oleg’s soldiers. Seeing Liam arrive on a motorbike through the front gates, Marco strode to the front door to meet him.
“Hey, Liam, I’ll take you upstairs. We’ll be able to watch the grounds from there,” Marco declared.
“Sounds good. Any word from Oleg?”
“Nope, not yet, but I’m sure he’s itching to hear from Stu.”
“How is Stu?” Liam asked as they trotted up the stairs. “Where are you keeping him?”
“You don’t need to worry about him,” Marco said blithely, leading Liam into the lounge and across to the windows. “He’s not going anywhere. Looks like your agents are arriving.”
Standing at the glass slider, they watched the agents clamber over the wall and meet up with Marco’s security. The trap was ready to be sprung.
“My men just confirmed they’re in position,” Liam declared, touching his earpiece. “You can turn this place dark whenever you’re ready.”
Marco’s pulse ticked up.
“Hold on one second,” Marco said. “I need to check something with Benny.”
But striding into the hall, it was Max he called.
“Talk to me,” Marco said quietly. “What are you seeing?”
“Did you lose my feed?”
“I don’t want to look right now. Please just tell me.”
“Ah, I understand. Everything is as it should be. No one is lurking on the street. No new vehicles have parked nearby. You’re good to go.”
“Thanks. See you on the other side,” Marco muttered, then marched back to Liam and pulled out Stu’s phone.
