“You sure about that?”
I laughed. “JD and I volunteer for the department.”
“Gluttons for punishment, eh?”
“You could say that.”
I opened the door and kept Buddy from pouncing on her. Madelyn was pounce-worthy.
She knelt down and loved on the little Jack Russell. Buddy ate it up.
I escorted her inside and showed her to a below-deck stateroom. I presented the room like a bellhop. “You’ve got a queen berth, a fold-down TV, and a private en suite. If you need anything, I’m on the bridge deck aft, and JD is in the VIP stateroom on the main deck.”
“Fancy,” she said.
Madelyn had a small bug-out bag with the essentials, but she’d need a new wardrobe soon.
“Tomorrow we can pick up whatever items you may need.”
“This is really kind of you. I promise I won’t be a bother.”
“I don’t know. You look like trouble.”
She lifted a sassy eyebrow. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“I’ve got to warn you, it can get a little rowdy around here at times.”
“I can handle rowdy. I’d prefer not to get shot at again. What makes you think they won’t figure out I’m here and attack again?”
I shrugged. “I suspect they don’t know you hold the keys to the platform, or they wouldn’t be trying to kill you.“
“Sebastian has always taken credit for everything. When they find out he doesn’t really control the platform, they’ll try to kidnap me and torture me until I hand over the encryption keys.”
“What do you know about the Consortium?”
“Corrupt elites with their own private paramilitary force. Unaccountable. Off-the-books. I don’t know how you take an organization like that down. Too many players. Distributed power centers.”
“Viktor calls the shots.”
“Take him out, and somebody else will fill his shoes. You can’t stop them. The organization is too big. Too powerful. The only weapon against these people is the truth. And sometimes even that’s not enough.”
I knew just how difficult these shadowy organizations could be to disrupt.
“I’ll get you another burner phone tomorrow,” I said. “Don’t call anyone. Don’t go outside. Don’t tell anyone you’re here.”
“I know the drill. It sounds like so much fun.”
“It beats the alternative.”
“Maybe I should get out of town. Find a hideaway on the other side of the world.”
“As determined as these people seem to be, it would only be a matter of time before they found you.”
Madelyn frowned. “You might be right.”
She thanked me again.
I gave her some privacy, then joined JD in the main salon. He poured two cocktails and slid one across the counter to me.
