My gut does a flip-flop because I’d recognize Visser’s number anywhere. I should have already been at work, my days off having already come to an end. I know exactly what he wants, and I know it won’t be a pleasant conversation.
I slide the ruby into my pants pocket and pinch the bridge of my nose while I press that little green button and put the phone up to my ear.
“Yeah?”
His familiar voice comes out bitten and clipped. “Where the hell are you?”
I pinch my nose a little harder and wince at the pain it causes. “At the port.”
“Which one?”
“Does it matter?”
“Damn it, Charlotte!” The phone rustles on his end, and he says something to someone he’s with before returning to our unpleasant conversation. “Miles said you aren’t supposed to be there right now. He looks about as unhappy as I feel.”
Unhappy is putting it mildly. Ragey sounds more like it. “So he told you?” I ask, annoyed, as I close the shipping container’s door back to how I found it. I then make my way back through the port yard.
Of course Miles would be with the captain right now. I’m annoyed with him and with the situation because chances are Visser told him he’d lose his job if he didn’t tell him where I was. And because of that, he had to tell him the truth about the whole thing.
“When I come back from lunch, I expect you back at the station. At your desk, Charlie, because that’s where you’ll be spending your foreseeable future.”
I stop in my tracks as anger rises up in me. I push out the word, “No.”
“No?” It’s said so deadly and calm that I know, at any second, I could lose my job.
“I’m on to something. I can’t just leave it where it is when I’m getting closer every second.”
“What you’re doing is going directly against my orders. You’re too green, Mitchell. Too young and stupid to have any idea how to handle yourself in this situation.”
Anger rises in my chest because he’s never once called me stupid. I know it’s the heat of the moment, but there’sno excuse. Visser has always been on my side, despite my father, my age, my weight, and how new I am. He may be rough around the edges, but he’s always believed in me. Perhaps me going completely against his orders has tarnished how he sees me.
To save myself, I begin to rattle off everything I’ve found so far, keeping my voice quiet as I stand between shipping containers. I tell him about Andre, Nix, the shipping container, the ruby, and everything in between, minus the time Nix and I ‘share’ together. Like Miles, he doesn’t need to know that, though he’s a smart man. He probably has that figured out by the time I finish my last sentence.
He’s so quiet that my own breathing is loud to my ears. “No one else can do what I’ve already done. If you try to put anyone else in here, it’ll never work.”
He has to know the truth of that. It’d be suspicious if I left and someone else started. Not only do I have my own reasons for not wanting to leave because of . . . well . . . a certain someone I should not have a crush on, but he has to know it’s true. It could jeopardize the entire case. And honestly, I’m not sure Nix would let me leave alive. Certainly not Andre for that matter. I’d probably be the next girl he sold if he had his say in the matter. His interest in me is out in the open. I know he wants me for his own uses, and since I have a fan base, I’m sure one of them would pay top dollar for a night with my corpse.
The thought doesn’t settle well with me. My stomach roils from it.
“You’re in deep shit, Charlie. With me. With your situation. Do you know that?”
I straighten my shoulders to keep from deflating them. “Yes, sir. I know.”
He curses under his breath and then spouts out, “I want you to check in with Miles twice a day. The only timeyou don’t have our phone on you is when it could be discovered. If you can’t comply with any of this, we will take extra measures. Understand?”
A smile graces my face, and I start walking again. “Yes, perfectly.”
“You do exactly as Miles says. No running off to ports like today. No going anywhere without his approval. He’s your babysitter, Mitchell. And if I find out you’re out of control, don’t underestimate how fast I will pull you.”
“Understood.”
He breathes out a breath of frustration, and his tone becomes gentler. “And Charlie?”
“Hmm?”
“As soon as you start taking your father’s road –”
“I won’t,” I say immediately.
