“She’s right, Tom,” said Angel. “You’re here. She’s here. You’re both safe. Now, if you’d like to lend some skills in stopping this maniac, then I would be grateful for that. I understand you’ve got some interesting items in that box of yours.”
Tom smiled at the man, nodding. He grabbed the lock box from the duffel bag, setting it on the counter.
“Minutes to every meeting the board had, from start to finish,” he said pulling out a small drive. “Someone should be able to match voices with identities, should there be any confusion and since I was out of the room a few times, you’ll hear some of the terrifying things I recorded. Accidentally, of course.”
“Of course,” smirked Angel. He handed the drive to Wes, who handed it to Quinn.
“I’m going to get this to the others,” said Quinn. “You coming, babe?”
“I am as long as these two promise to sit on my grandfather if he tries to leave.”
“He won’t leave, honey. You have my word,” said Angel. “I’m going to take Tom out to the island where the others are. It’s time he sees all his old friends. And maybe, he’ll find a cabin he likes.”
“You guys give me a fucking headache the way you talk in circles,” said Tom, laughing as he walked away with Angel and Wes.
Quinn and April took the drive to the tech team who slipped into the computer, pressed a few buttons to download the contents and then printed every last page. Twice.
When they found Ham and the others with Reginald in the conference room, they were making some last-minute changes to the script he was to read.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold this together,” he said shaking his head.
“Look at it this way. Your life depends on it,” said Ham scowling at the younger man. When his cell phone rang, he froze seeing Gustav’s number pop up.
“Well, what do you know. He’s making it easy for you,” said Gator. “Pick it up and put it on speaker.”
“Mr. Bernhard. I’m so glad you called.”
“Are you? Because I’m not glad I had to call. Are you aware that my yacht was just blown to pieces? What the hell is that all about?”
“Sir, that’s part of why I’m glad you called. I just received information, literally seconds ago, from Darwin Moore, the pilot on the Miami route. We downloaded his information to the system and it looks like military flights are headed to Pensacola for you, sir. You need to change your meeting location with the board.”
“How in the hell do I do that on such short notice? Where are we going to be able to block an entire floor?”
“I took the liberty, sir. I hope it’s alright. I have a friend that’s the manager at the Monteleone in New Orleans. I’ve blocked the entire top two floors so that none of you will be disturbed. You can land your helicopter on the helipad atop the hotel.”
“New Orleans? That brings about all sorts of possibilities and ideas. Great food, great entertainment, and of course anything can be bought there. Anything. Alright, Reg. Nice work. We’ll all be there by tomorrow night.”
“Yes, sir. I’m going to head that way now to ensure everything is ready for you.”
“See that you do or you won’t like what happens to your sister.”
The line went dead and Reginald slid the phone across the table. He stared at the men, then down at his own lap. He wanted to scream at them. What had they done? What did they make him do? But he knew it wasn’t them. This was all him and if they didn’t stop Gustav, his sister was the one that would suffer.
“She’s safe, Reginald,” said Jak. “We already promised that to you. She’s safe with some of the most capable men in the world. They’ve taken your parents and sister to a secret location. They’ll be fine until this is done.”
“You swear?” he asked staring at the other man. Jak nodded.
“On my grandmother’s grave.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“I couldn’t track him. His phone trackers and location are off,” said the man seated in front of him.
“He must be getting help,” said Gustav.
“No, I doubt it, sir. It’s a pretty simple thing to do and he’s certainly able to turn that on or off. He might have turned it off after learning about the boats being blown.”
“Maybe,” he said nodding. “All I know is I’m glad we can get the hell out of Florida. I hate this place.”
