“But in order to pay the fee, since last I checked he wasn’t rich, he’d have to sell whatever’s in the vault first, right?” Audrey asked while undoing her hair, shaking it free.
She slipped the band on her wrist before combing her fingers through her hair, distracting me at a time when I really shouldn’t lose focus again.
“But wait,” Audrey continued, “that doesn’t make sense. He can’t access the vault without the rings or me.Orwithout paying the fee first.”
What doesn’t make sense?I ripped my gaze away from her and back to where it belonged.
“He doesn’t need the vault open to sell what’s inside it. He just has to prove he has what he’s promising,” Gwen explained. “He’ll probably show something like he did to my grandfather last year about Stratos 2.0 to attract the right buyer. Then he’ll bring the money, rings, and you, Audrey, to open the vault at the exchange.”
“And guess what’s happening this Friday night?” Reed folded his arms, and Audrey and I turned toward him, clearly the last of everyone to catch up.
“There’s an auction,” Natasha filled us in. “It’s held annually. This year marks the twentieth anniversary. Same family, same location in New Zealand. They sell black market antiquities. Stolen IP. Government tech. Whatever Mitch has would fit in.”
“And one of the three vault locations you identified as a possibility is near this event,” I said in understanding.
Natasha nodded. “An hour’s drive in Arrowtown, on private land that was retrofitted with modern security. It’s smack in the middle of a historic gold rush town in the mountains, which makes it the perfect spot for a secret bunker or underground vault.”
Mitch really did coordinate this down to the last damn detail.And now he was backing Audrey into an impossible corner. If she didn’t help him open that vault, the intel would fall into someone else’s hands. More than likely, dangerous hands. Either way, someone would end up with whatever Mitch had locked away.
“I programmed my software to search everywhere Mitch may have been in that timeline we pinpointed as important,” Gwen said. “And now that we know about this vault location, I’ve placed special emphasis in New Zealand to see if Mitch was ever there before he died. Well, fake-died.”
This was feeling more and more like a legit lead. Good.
“But why didn’t Mitch just sell what he had a year ago? Why go to such lengths to do all this? He wouldn’t even need me, right?” Audrey scanned the room; then her shoulders dropped as if it’d just clicked. “Oh. Because he’d be a dead man walking. For-real dead and unableto spend the money. He knew he’d be hunted down forever. So he had to make sure everyone believed he was truly dead until the right time. Meanwhile, it was hiding in plain sight with me.”
“The only one he probably trusted, especially since you wouldn’t even know what you had,” I said, shaking my head, tense all over again.
“But if everyone now knows he’s alive, doesn’t that place Mitch back in the same predicament he’d have been in last year then?” Audrey asked.
“No.” I closed my eyes, the blood rushing from my face. “This isn’t just about him becoming rich, it’s about him buying his safety, which he couldn’t do before. He probably didn’t know who he could trust with the evidence, either, worried one of his low-life friends would stab him in the back and sell it themselves. You know, something he’d do.”Which is why he picked you.
“And how does he buy his safety now?” Audrey’s soft voice had me opening my eyes.
“With our help,” I gritted out. “He’s playing us. Trying to use us as his own personal army in New Zealand.” I brought my hands to my hips, anger flying through me. “He knows about Chandler’s off-the-books teams. Maybe not about us since we’re new, but Bravo and the others.”
“You’re saying Mitch knows that after Stratos was shut down, new units were created by President Rydell and Will Hobbs in its place?” Ryder asked, his gaze cutting to me. “He also somehow knows Stratos was relaunched at some point outside of government hands, and who better to take out a clandestine unit of Tier One operators who’d want him dead—”
“Than to pull in another group of the best operators in the world to handle his problem,” I finished for him. “Money. Safety. And Audrey. Then he’s off-grid forever.” I swallowed. “Will Hobbs had to have told Mitch about the new replacement units in 2013, Bravo and Echo.”
“But something clearly sent Mitch over the edge to start all this up when he did,” Gwen pointed out. “Unless someone else is calling the shots, and he’s just a puppet?”
“Like Arlo dying.”Well, if he’s really dead. “Or the puppet could also be looking to cut his strings and get control himself.” I couldn’t help but unleash that sick idea, too.
Audrey dragged both hands down her face. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“No.” Ryder reached for her arm, waiting for her to look at him. “This absolutely does not mean I’m putting you in the crosshairs of Mitch’s mess. Like hell are you going to New Zealand. End of damn story.”
“We have to get what’s in that vault, though. And shouldn’t you help shut down this Stratos unit? Who knows what kind of missions they’re going on and why. I married this man, drawing you all into this, so I’ll be the one to help you get out of it.” Ryder opened his mouth to protest, but Audrey was quicker. Possibly even more stubborn. “So readmylips, mister.” She lifted her chin like a challenge, then echoed his words back to him in a slightly friendlier way: “I’m going ... end of freaking story.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Audrey
“Don’t you dare blame yourself for Mitch’s choices,” Ryder shot back while sitting next to me. “He’s clearly a skilled manipulator. How could you possibly know the kind of man you were marrying?”
“He was fourteen years older, charming, and I guess he tricked me into ...” I backed down as soon as I realized where I was going with my words. I was about to slam headfirst into Ryder being right.
Not my fault. Only Mitch’s. That didn’t make the truth hurt any less.
