Bartolo tried not to believe that quiet matter-of-fact voice. The features were expressionless, but those eyes gleamed like a predator’s and didn’t blink once. His mouth went dry. “What do you want?”
“I would prefer to kill you outright. Everyone else in your little empire is dead. We don’t tolerate human trafficking, but then you knew that. Marzio isn’t happy with you, and he’d like a word with you and your daughter before you die.”
Bartolo’s heart accelerated to the point it could be heard throughout the room. He reached for his leopard, but the leopard seemed to be sleeping. Totally unaware. Instead, he hurled the whiskey glass at Gorya’s head and turned to rush out of the room. He ran right into Gedeon Volkov. There was no escape, no matter how hard he fought. He would be facing Marzio, and he knew from past experience, Marzio had no pity for hisenemies.
18
JoshuaTregre had made it easy for Gorya and the crew he brought with him to examine his men. He had taken over the lair in New Orleans when his corrupt and extremely brutal predecessor had been killed, leaving a vacancy. Unfortunately, the majority of the men in his lair had been just as depraved and corrupt as the man leading them, and Joshua had been forced to weed them out.
Gorya knew him to be steady, dependable and extremely intelligent. He had formed alliances with thebratvain Florida and was an asset to Donovan’s overall plan in his effort to stop the worst of the atrocities the crime families committed, especially human trafficking.
Joshua seemed to have a tight crew, one he trusted. Most of the men had flourished under his leadership. To the outside world they looked as if they worked for Donovan’s security company. They were good to their neighbors and well liked—a big difference from his predecessor.If there was any dispute, Joshua stepped in immediately and settled it amicably. His wife, Sonia, was best friends with the wife of the head sheriff.
Sonia had made a name for herself restoring old homes to their original glory even as she modernized them. She was a wonderful artist, but her first love was home restoration, and she ran a crew of carpenters. It was impossible not to respect the pair of shifters as they quickly and efficiently assembled their men in the large backyard leading to the swamp. Gorya knew Joshua had deliberately chosen that particular spot because if a traitor was found, he would be disposed of immediately.
Gedeon, Gorya, Maya and Meiling drifted through the crowd of men as they talked quietly, waiting for Joshua to address the reason he had ordered them to come together. It was time-consuming to check each man, but thankfully the lair wasn’t large and they were able to process them quickly. They had divided the groups of men into four quadrants, with each of them taking a section. As they cleared a man, they would indicate to Joshua to move him to a different area.
Timur, Joshua and Fyodor stood quietly on the steps above the area where the men who had been cleared waited to hear what they had to say. To Joshua’s relief, there were no traitors found among his crew.
Gorya allowed Joshua to explain to his men that he would be going to the rainforests of Panama, slipping in under the radar as part of an army to defeat the kingpin, who had set up the largest known trafficking ring. He was leaving that night and none of his men were required to go, but any volunteers had to understand they would be going up against shifters familiar with the territory where they would be fighting. It was a stealth mission. Get in and get out. Take out every member and dispose of the bodies. It wouldn’t be easy work and the chances of losing one’s life were moderately high.
Every member of Joshua’s crew volunteered, which didn’t surprise Gorya. These men were loyal to their new leader. Joshua wasn’t Russian. He wasn’t a member of thebratva. He had been trained in Borneo with Donovan but was originally from right there in New Orleans, and Gorya knew he was a man who would choose to bring his best with him. He indicated that they were on a tight timeline and needed to reiterate to his men to keep silent about what would be taking place in Panama. Gorya left with his cousins and their crews to make his way to Drake Donovan’s territory.
Drake Donovan was responsible for a large lair, seven families of shifters. This was not a territory claimed by a crime lord—and God help them if someone tried it. Remy Boudreaux was a member of the lair along with his entire family. Saria Boudreaux was Drake’s wife and mother of his son, Elijah. Remy was a detective and a darned good one. Nearly every male member of the Boudreaux family was in law enforcement.
To expedite things, Drake did exactly what Joshua had done—called a mandatory meeting requiring every single member of the lair to be present. Saria and Drake owned the La Font Inn, a bed-and-breakfast that backed up to the canals and marsh. Because the lair was so large and the notice was short, there was quite a bit of grumbling. He held the meeting behind the inn. Chairs and tables had been set up, and as always, Saria had provided food for her guests.
She was nowhere in sight, and neither was Drake’s son. Gorya asked that Drake seat the family members together so they could examine each quickly and efficiently.
“This is bullshit, Drake,” someone called out. “We all have work to do.”
“I don’t see Remy Boudreaux here,” Armande Mercier added. “That’s favoritism.”
“You might call it that, but he was called away for workand asked to be excused. He received irrefutable evidence on a huge drug ring he’d been quietly investigating for some time. His people are in the process of taking it down now. Your sister, in case you’re worried about repercussions for her, called in asking to be excused. She’s on her retreat. Naturally, I didn’t ask her to return.”
“Well, let’s get this over with. What the hell is going on?” Mercier demanded. “I’m a busy man. I have commitments.”
“I have a charter today,” Gaston Mouton said. He sounded the way he always did. Cooperative and pleasant, but firm. “Jules is taking a second boat out into the gulf.”
“We should be done in an hour or so,” Drake said. “The names of your families are on the tables. I’d like you to go to those designated areas with your crews. We have guests. Some you know, some you don’t. The faster you cooperate, the faster you can leave.”
There were seven families making up the lair. Generations had lived in the swamp. The children would grow up and leave, but they always returned to make the swamp their home. Drake regarded most of them with affection now. He’d come to know them over the years, and it was going to be wrenching, especially for his wife, if there were others involved in the drug and trafficking ring. He could barely make himself look at Tonio Escabar Alba, who sat beside Armande, acting as his bodyguard. Drake had taken the kid under his wing and trained him. Tonio was the biggest traitor of all.
Maya and Gorya moved around the Pinet table, where the parents and their four grown children were seated. They had three sons, Leon, Charles, Philippe, and a daughter, Sabine. As they did so, Gedeon and Meiling circled the Jeanmard table, where the old leader, Amos Jeanmard, sat with his daughter, Danae, and his son, Elie.
“There’s been an unfortunate development that will affect our lair and many of our people in it as well as theirlivelihood,” Drake said. “We live by extremely strict rules for a reason. We aren’t human. We can’t be arrested and thrown in jail. All of us know the consequences when we choose to break the laws of the lair.”
A hush fell over the expansive lawn. For the first time, the men and women sitting at the tables seemed to notice not only that grim-faced shifters had been brought in from Donovan’s security company but also that many of thebratvasecurity crews were openly armed and blocking access to the swamp and marsh.
Even Armande Mercier remained silent. Gorya and Maya moved away from the Pinet family table and circled the one labeledTregre. This was not only Joshua’s immediate family; Evangeline, Fyodor’s beloved wife, was related to them as well. Two younger men, Ambroise and Christophe Tregre, sat together there. They couldn’t be any different if they tried, but the brothers were intensely loyal to each other. Drake liked them both and would detest it if Gorya gave an indication that either of them was in any way part of the trafficking ring.
“This lair will never at any time allow the selling of drugs. We don’t make arms deals. We don’t take any part in the enslaving or selling of men, women or children in any way. That is not our way. I thought that was made perfectly clear to everyone when it was found out that the Tregre brothers were using the Mercier business for their own purposes.”
Drake looked around the lawn at his people. The afternoon breeze had come up, alleviating some of the heat. Gedeon and Meiling had moved from the Jeanmard family table and were now circling the Lanoux family. They’d lost Robert to addiction and weakness.
Drake had no way to prove it, but he was suspicious that Fyodor may have killed Robert. There had been a rumor that Robert had accosted Evangeline at her bakery in San Antonio. If that rumor was true, then it wouldcertainly explain his disappearance. Fyodor would never allow anyone to put their hands on Evangeline and live.
At the Lanoux table was Robert’s long-suffering mother, Jenna; her husband, Bruno; and their two youngest boys, Duc and Loic. The boys were just entering their early teens and already were a handful. Jenna had four boys to raise and her husband worked from sunup to sundown. The oldest son was in the rainforest, hopefully learning to become a decent shifter.
