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“No,” they reply in unison.
“What’s next?” Cristiano asks.
“Getting Valentina to Porto without any more casualties. Securing Isabel’s body and sending it back.”
“I contacted the person in charge on the ground in the US. He’s on it.”
“I want Tomas. Tell me why I can’t kill him as soon as this goddamn plane lands back in Porto with Daniela and Valentina.” I know why. But I’m looking for a way around it, and these guys are my best hope.
“Because he’s a fucking incompetent bastard and there’s no way he could have done this alone. If we pick him up now, whoever is the mastermind will go underground before we know their identity, and they’ll strike when we least expect it.” Cristiano has changed his tune about this. When he first heard, he was ready to bring in Tomas.
“Let’s go through this methodically,” Lucas mutters. “Someone wanted to stop the wedding. That explains the explosion in the church. But Isabel was killed after you were already married. Her death couldn’t stop the wedding.”
“Once the plan was put in motion, it might have been impossible to stop,” Cristiano offers.
It’s a possibility, but unlikely. Her life wasn’t that valuable—not to whoever is behind this.
“I don’t believe Isabel was the target. They want Valentina. But they don’t want her dead.”
“Other than for blackmail purposes, no one besides Tomas benefits from having Valentina under their control. And he might not even know about her.”
“He knows something. I guarantee that Jorge, Isabel’s husband, went to my uncle to sell information while he was trying to sell it to us.” Now we know the big secret he was trying to peddle before he was murdered. “He talked, and then they killed him to stay one step ahead of us.”
“Everything points to that.”
“I want inside my uncle’s house. It’s the only way we’re going to know what Tomas is up to.”
“It’s swept regularly. Anything we plant, they’ll find. Even if they can’t trace it back to us, it’s not likely to bear fruit.”
Cristiano’s right.
“We need someone on the ground. Can we activate our plant?”
“We can,” Lucas replies, with some hesitancy. “But we get one shot. If he’s discovered, he’s a dead man, and we risk all-out war. And we’ll never get anyone in there again—not for a long time. We might want to hold tight a bit longer.”
Fuck.He’s right too.
“Daniela seems to be holding up okay,” Cristiano says, trying to steer me away from activating our asset inside my uncle’s house.
Holding up okay?Really? That’s not how I see it. “I’m not sure about that. She’s been through hell.”I put her through hell, on top of everything else.
After she told me what happened, she went into full operational mode, shutting down all emotion. Her friend is dead, and her daughter is in danger. She’s too even-keeled. Too dispassionate. She’s just moving through the paces. It’s not like her, and it’s making me edgy.
“She’s tough.”
“She doesn’t need to be tough. That’s my job.”
“We’ve got this for now,” Cristiano says, “if you want to keep her company. We’ll come get you, if we have anything.”
I really don’t want to be around her when she’s so vulnerable. It makes me soft. And that makes me feel things I don’t want to feel—things I can’t afford to feel. But it’ll be hours before we land. She shouldn’t spend the entire trip alone. I’m going to have to suck it up.
“Come get me if there’s anything new.Anything.”
13
ANTONIO
On my way to the cabin, I stick my head in the galley where Monica is puttering around. “Would you bring us some tea and coffee in the cabin?”
