Oh, I will. Trust me.
And by the time he was finished, the other man would be eating from his proverbial palm.
Coulter took a seat and settled himself in. “Rafe Owens.” He dropped the name and then . . . he waited.
“Should I know who that is?”
Reaching into his suit jacket, he pulled out a photo from the inner chest pocket. “The man is former MI6.”
“British intelligence?” Crawford took the picture from Coulter’s hand. “Okay, but why would I care about him?”
“After leaving MI6, Owens started an elite, high-level hostage extraction team known as Tactical Operations, or Tac-Ops for short.”
“Four minutes, Mr. Morris.” The asshole reminded him that his time was running out.
“He has a daughter.” Coulter’s gut was tight as he handed the other man a picture. “Her name is Brittany.”
The woman in the picture truly wasRafe’s daughter, but her name was Alice, not Brittany. Though to Coulter and the members of Tac-Ops, the brilliant blonde was commonly referred to by her call sign—Shadow.
After his previous phone conversation with Rafe, Shadow had used her master hacker skills to create a digital trail for “Brittany”. If Coulter’s instincts were right, Crawford wouldn’t be able to resist the tempting bait.
“She is quite attractive, I’ll give you that.” Crawford nodded with appreciation. “But I still don’t understand what this man and his daughter have to do with me.”
“Brittany is blonde, beautiful, American, and most importantly, her father has garnered numerous enemies over the years.” Another truth. “The guy has powerful enemies from all parts of the world. Ones who would love the chance to get their revenge and aren’t afraid to use an innocent woman to do it.”
“If this is true, why haven’t these so-called enemies used the man’s daughter against him before now?”
“Because as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Brittany Owens doesn’t exist.”
Another partial truth.
Until recently, Shadow and Owens’ familial relationship was known only to them and Coulter. But after Shadow found herself mixed up in a dangerous situation, the members of Tac-Ops finally discovered the truth.
“Go on,” Crawford instructed.
“Rafe Owens is a smart, calculated man, and he didn’t get where he is today by being careless. He loves his daughter more than anything else in the world, hence his careful design to keep her identity hidden.”
“Yet you were able to find her,” the other man challenged.
“Owens is good, but me and my team are better.” Coulter leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table before him. “You, me, and my team are the only ones on the planet who knows this guy has a kid.”
“And you want to sell her to her father’s enemies?”
“I wantyouto sell her to someone willing to pay what she’s worth.”
Crawford’s initial reaction was to give a quick shake of his head. “I’m already in the middle of putting together another auction, as you well know. Why would I set a multi-product sale aside in hopes of finding a buyer for just one?”
“Because I can guarantee you’ll make a shit ton more money with this oneproductthan all those others combined.”
The man across from him grew quiet as he seemed to consider all Coulter had shared. “Let’s say I agree to what you’re proposing and put my current plans on hold to focus on this one sale. What do you get out of the deal?”
“A finder’s fee, plus fifty percent of the winning bid.”
Crawford threw his head back with a full-belly laugh. “No one has ever taken half of what I’m owed, Mr. Morris.”
“That’s because one’s ever given you a product as valuable as the one I’m offering.”
It turned his stomach to refer to Shadow or any other woman in such a demeaning way. But the only way this would work was to speak Crawford’s language. Play to the audience and all that BS, no matter how sick it made him feel.
