Page 45 of Alex

Evelyn was a little disappointed to see her here, they had met once at a charity event she was attending for Zenobi and she had seemed sweet. If she was dating that guy she was in for a shock because he had more boyfriends than she’d had hot dinners.

In her mind she tried to pick out the major players, the ones here for the actual auction rather than the party. She counted probably ten who were significant contenders. There must be hundreds of weapons on board this yacht. They were swimming with some dangerous sharks tonight—she just hoped she wasn’t the one that ended up bleeding.

She and Alex had positioned themselves beside the railing on the main deck with their backs to the sea, limiting the chance of any surprises, when they spotted Pax and Blake.

Alex nudged her arm as he turned and looked out to sea before speaking into the comm. “Everyone in position?”

Evelyn laughed to cover the movement of his lips in case anyone was watching. Making it seem as if he had said something to make her laugh. A chorus of checks lingered over the headsets as they prepared for phase two of the plan.

“Keep your eyes peeled for Osiris. I want to know the first second anyone gets an inkling he’s on board.”

Evelyn heard something odd in his tone as he issued the instructions. A weighted feeling of doom settled in her as her neck hairs bristled making her shiver. Someone’s watching me. She turned to look for the culprit in the crowd and found nothing suspicious but movement from the sun deck caught her eye and she saw a silhouette of a man move away from her view.

Evelyn shook off the feeling and focused on the job at hand. She would tell Alex as soon as she got a second. Remaining vigilant she swept her eyes over the sun deck again looking for a ghost and finding nothing except a pair of lovers engaging in a stolen kiss. Her body relaxed as she let the feeling of dread go laughing inwardly at her own paranoia. That was what being hunted did, it made a person see things where there was nothing to see.

Blake and Pax moved towards them, Blake waving his hand and drawing mild attention as if they were old acquaintances.

“Henry, it’s good to see you.” His voice sounded like he’d had the royal plumb well and truly shoved up his ass and was just a tad louder than socially acceptable.

“Carter, good to see you.” Alex held out his hand for Blake to shake.

“Have you met my wife Vivian?” Blake introduced Pax and Alex.

Alex took her hand and shook it briefly as he then made the introductions to Evelyn. She could see they had caught the interest of Simon who was slithering his way towards them. Blake’s cover as Carter Mountford was the draw they wanted to lure Simon.

Carter Mountford was a real person—he had been a diamond thief and playboy. What he wasn’t was alive having been killed during a raid by Eidolon but due to his resemblance to Blake, they had kept his death a secret so they could use the cover. Will had dropped the odd speculative news item onto the web making people think he was in fact alive and going about his scoundrel’s life. Zenobi had done similar things so she hadn’t been shocked when Alex explained it to her.

“Carter Mountford?” Simon asked taking the bait.

Blake turned, a look of bored arrogance on his face. “Yes. Who wants to know?”

“Simon Booth. This is my party.”

Evelyn could hear the excitement in his voice as he held out his hand as Blake shook it.

She and Alex politely disengaged with nary a glance from Booth who was regaling a very bored looking Blake with a story about Eton. As per the plan she would slip off to the toilet and then try and get into Booth’s private quarters while Alex stood guard.

Squeezing his hand, she raised up and kissed his cheek. “I need the little girl’s room.”

“I’ll wait here. Let me hold your drink.” His role of attentive boyfriend was well and truly in place.

Making her way down the narrow, dark walnut wood walkway towards the stateroom she passed the galley where she could see kitchen staff busily milling around waiting for the chefs to give the order for the trays to leave. She saw maybe eight wait staff and two chefs with probably another ten up on deck making twenty staff so far.

Glancing around quickly she saw a guard move towards her from further up the corridor. He wasn’t like the guard from earlier. This one was tall still but less bulky and was genuinely handsome with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was almost boy-next-door pretty if it wasn’t for the massive scar that ran from his right browbone and across his cheekbone ending at his chin. It gave him a terrifying look which matched the frown he was wearing.

“You can’t be down here, miss,” he said sternly but without suspicion, his lilting accent making her think he had spent a good amount of time in Ireland.

“Sorry. I was looking for the ladies’ room. Can you help me?” she asked softly making sure her voice was non-threatening, flirtatious even. She knew the others could only hear her when she activated the two-way comm on her bracelet but to do so now would make it dangerous.

“Yes, of course. This way.” He held his hand in front of him for her to proceed him as he led her back the way she had come.

She needed to get past him and into that stateroom. He led her down a different direction from where Alex was standing towards a large saloon and as he walked her through the room Evelyn started to get a gnawing feeling in her gut. Something was off. He was leading her towards the sun deck and that wasn’t right at all.

Suddenly the feeling of doom from before, the prickle on her skin came back as he pushed her towards some steps. She faltered and turned coming face to face with 9mm Glock. Her eyes moved up and she saw the dead look of someone who didn’t care that she was a woman or that she was weak. He was doing a job and that was the only thing he bothered about.

“Boss wants to see you,” he said his voice almost lyrical.

Evelyn shot him a glare but said nothing as she climbed the steps to meet the boss.