"Fantastic catching up."
Cat walks toward the table in the center of the small room. "As much as I'm loving this moment for you all, we have work to do."
"My wife is always so giddy, isn't she?" Aaron says sarcastically, smirking at her.
I love the ease between them, even in moments like this. It makes me miss Keira.
"I'll be giddy when there are no more rapists and pedophiles on my boat." She gestures to the blueprints. "Gather round, boys. Let's run it one more time."
The plan is perfectly lethal.I love everything about it.
At 11:30, Cat—in her role as Caterina Mortelle, gracious hostess and mafia queen—will announce the start of the exclusive meeting for the network's leadership. A private discussion about the division of routes, dispute settlements, and expansion into new territories. The real reason they're all here.
The key players will be escorted to the conference room on the lower deck. All seventeen of them, plus their guards and lawyers.
Once inside, the doors lock.
Dom controls the security systems from this room. The moment that lock engages, the yacht's communications go dark. No cell signal, no satellite, no radio. The captain disables the lifeboats. Marco will be inside the conference room, armed and waiting.
At midnight, Cat and Aaron walk in and reveal exactly who they are.
What happens next depends on how cooperative the network heads feel like being.
"Most of them will choose death," Aaron says matter-of-factly. "They know what cooperation means, and it would be worse than death."
"Either way, we have all their routes, names, and accounts already. We won't need them for information, so killing them will be fun." Cat claps her hands in excitement.
Dom pinches the bridge of his nose. "For fuck’s sake, not this again."
Cat scowls at him, sticking out her tongue. "Let me have my fun. You know these fuckers deserve it."
Aaron ignores them, eyes on me as he continues going over the plan. "By morning, the largest trafficking network in the Western Hemisphere loses its leadership."
"Where does Calder fit?"
"Calder thinks he's being brought in as a new transportationpartner. He's been promised a special introduction to the inner circle at 12:15, after the main business concludes."
"Let me guess. The introduction isn't what he's expecting."
"He'll walk into that room expecting a handshake and a seat at the table." Satisfaction flickers across Cat's face. "Instead, he'll find seventeen dead or restrained men and us waiting for him."
"And then?"
"Then he's yours." Aaron gives me a sly grin. "We'll have him restrained and delivered to you by 12:30. Whatever you want to do to him, however long it takes."
Love the sound of that. I can't wait to hear the crunch of his bones. It'll be music to my ears.
"Keira's extraction?" I already know, but I need to hear it again, even just to quiet the noise in my head.
"We've arranged a wardrobe emergency for her, which will require immediate attention. One of our people will pull her away. Dom will meet her at the port-side service door and get her off this boat."
"She's out of here before Calder even enters that meeting room."
"Exactly. By the time he realizes something's wrong, she's already on her way to shore," Aaron confirms.
"And Hale?" I ask.
Cat touches her earpiece. "Zoe, status check."
