Addison came out of the restroom, tucking her phone back in her purse. “Hey. You didn’t have to wait.”
“No problem. We need to get to the lounge. Paige’s contact is meeting us there,” he said.
Walking through the concourse, he took every opportunity to touch Addison, placing his hand on her lower back to steer her around their fellow travelers. No, she didn’t need him to, but he couldn’t have cared less. His palm still tingled from when he’d caught her from falling on the plane. The asshole behind him had jostled him, making him bump into Addison and sending her forward. It’d taken everything he had to ignore the small hitch in her breath when he’d pulled her against him. Remembering the throaty sound of her voice sent blood rushing to his dick.
Letting her go ahead of him into the first-class lounge, he bent at the knees and pulled at the crotch of his jeans, trying to give the family jewels a little more room to breathe.
Other than their traveling partners, no one else was in the lounge. Jane and Tinker had claimed the far corner, beers on the table next to them. Devon followed Addison to the low table Paige and Graham sat around.
A woman walked into the lounge before he could ask if Addison wanted anything to drink. A wide smile lit Paige’s face when she stood and met the woman in the middle of the room, hugging her tightly. He could hear the murmur of their voices but couldn’t make out the words.
They broke apart, and Paige waved Jane and Tinker over to their table. “Everyone, this is Connie Johnson. She’s joining us on the trip.”
That was unexpected. Devon raised his eyebrows and glanced at Graham. He didn’t look surprised, so they must have discussed it earlier. He didn’t know what Connie’s background was, but Paige and Graham had mentioned her on more than one occasion, and she seemed to be very connected. Paige had referred to her as the Shady Lady, and that was all any of them called her from that point on.
“Connie, this is Addison, Devon, Jeremy, and Christian. And you know Graham.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She sat in the chair next to Paige and looked meaningfully at the lounge attendant.
Devon understood when he locked the front door and left through a service door in the back.
“We have the room for thirty minutes,” Connie said. She pulled small, zippered money bags from her carry-on and handed them out to everyone except Jane and Tinker.
“In those bags, you’ll find passports, driver’s licenses, and credit cards under a fake name. Your first names are the same, but your last names are different. I’ve found it’s too easy to slip up when trying to remember a cover name if you’ve never used it.
“In Odesa, you’ll give all your real personal identification—IDs, credit cards, bus pass, everything—to Jeremy and Christian. They will hold on to them for the duration.”
“Why not now?” Addison asked.
“We didn’t have time to book tickets in your cover name, so you have to travel on your real passports,” Connie said. “Make sure you hand everything over—anything with your real name on it or anything that can be tied to who you are. My team is scrubbing any social media presence you have, which is thankfully minimal for most of you. They’re also creating new profiles for you.”
“You have people that can do that?” Addison asked.
“I do.”
“Us, too?” Jeremy asked. “You didn’t give us new identities.”
“Since you aren’t going to the auction, it wasn’t a concern,” Connie said.
Jeremy shrugged and sipped his beer. Tinker remained his usual stoic self.
“Do you know how they got my brother and his teammate?” Addison asked.
Connie inhaled and scooted to the edge of her seat. “We still aren’t sure how they captured them, but they somehow ended up in the control of a member of an organization that calls themselves The Cooperative.”
“Paige mentioned them before,” Addison said. “Who are they?”
“They’re a group of high-level crime bosses who have formed loose alliances. They cooperate when it suits them—they stay out of each other’s way when it doesn’t. Your brother and Michael passed through several hands until a woman who goes by the name Tsarevna got ahold of them.”
“Who is she?” Devon asked.
“She’s a very powerful woman in the Russian underworld. Her real name is Tatiana Olynykova. She claims to have descended from Russian royalty, so insists everyone address her as Tsarevna. In reality, she’s Ukrainian. She was trafficked as a teenager and forced into prostitution until she caught the eye of a Bratva leader. He married her and, when he died of mysterious causes, she took over his role and organization. She’s also part of an organization called the Council of Helen.”
“Like Helen of Troy?” Addison asked.
“Yes. A strong, beautiful woman who manipulated men into fighting wars over her. The Council was originally formed to help girls who had been trafficked, to empower them and help them rebuild their lives.”
“I hear a but,” Jane said.
