“You better pray he does, little girl. Things can become rather unpleasant for you otherwise, right, Nico?” he asked, turning to the blond man that had entered the room after Maldonado and had stayed guarding it, his arms crossed over his chest.
He gave Elle a cocky once-over, the icy glint in his eyes all but stopping her heart. “I can get the info from her, no problem. She has more spunk, so she’d be more fun than her supervisor was, but that won’t put us closer to Alex, or bring him here. And working her would entail quite a lot of damage. I believe he will come for her. He fought hard to protect her that day at the Diablos. My face can attest to that. I’m actually looking forward to meeting him again. I have my own score to settle with that bastard.”
Maldonado closed in on her. Everything in her screamed to back down, but she stayed in place, her chin up. “True, such a pretty girl. It would be a pity to damage her looks. She won’t make us so much money then.”
She tried to control her body and not break into shivers, not sure whether she managed it. “You won’t make any money out of me, because you’ll have to beat me to death first.”
“We’ll see. Once we have you hooked on our stuff, you’ll do anything for your next high. Anything. Anybody. As many times as we want. When your looks give out, we’ll harvest your insides. Women are like pigs; nothing goes to waste.”
“My associate is very eager,” Exxum said. “Please think of our offer and act before it expires. Work with us and we might be able to find a satisfactory resolution for everyone, one that doesn’t include your early demise. In the meanwhile make use of the facilities. Take a relaxing bath,” he said pointing at the adjoining bathroom. “Enjoy yourself. Nobody says this has to be unpleasant.”
“Not until the real unpleasantness begins anyway,” Maldonado added, a promise on his smirking face.
“You are not making that appointment, are you?” James asked while Jack loaded guns and clips in a bag.
“I don’t have many options.” As per the instructions on the message Jack had received, he was supposed to be at a convenience store off exit 44, off I-95, alone and unarmed.
“It’s a trap,” Cole muttered, adding to the gloomy atmosphere in Jack’s apartment. “For all we know they might murder you on sight.”
“I know.” Jack would not think twice about exchanging his life for hers, but Exxum wouldn’t honor that deal. He would kill both of them, just to make a point. “We’ll just have to pray you can shadow those motherfuckers to their hideout and to Elle. Make yourself useful now that you’re here.”
If Jack had his say, the Bowens wouldn’t be there, but as always where this crowd was concerned, he’d had no option whatsoever.
“What about contacting the cops?” Max said. “Tell them Exxum is keeping her against her will.”
Jack shook his head. He knew her well enough to notice she hadn’t been herself, but she hadn’t been wrestling on the tape. Going to the police and trying to explain she hadn’t left with the bodyguards of the richer-than-God bachelor voluntarily was going to be impossible. Like claiming the Golden Boy was selling guns instead of sending humanitarian help. Exxum wasn’t a big narco police were dying to get their hands on like Maldonado had been. Exxum was untouchable.
There was another fund-raiser in two days in Boston, so Exxum would stay close by. According to Jack’s intel, he had several properties around Massachusetts, four of them isolated enough to grant the privacy to serve his purposes; what they didn’t have was the time to check all of them out. And his informants were coming up empty.
Making that appointment at the convenience store off exit 44 and beating the shit out of whoever appeared was an option too, although Cole was right and they might not know where Elle was.
Ronnie entered the room, not even flinching at all the guns on display. “So, how are you planning to get Elle back?”
Good question. He’d been racking his brain, trying to figure that out.
“You’ll find her. Let me bring you guys something to eat.”
Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. “You’re a genius, baby girl. I know how to find Elle. We’ll follow the greens.”
“You mean the money?” James asked, looking confused.
“No, we follow the veggies,” Jack said, getting to his computer.
The Bowen men looked at each other as if Jack had lost his mind.
“What veggies?” Max asked carefully.
Jack couldn’t believe he’d been so dumb as to overlook the obvious. “Exxum is a strict vegan and gets fresh veggies and exotic fruits delivered every day, wherever he is.” He’d seen this firsthand in his interactions with him. Granted, they’d been always in Florida and the Caribbean, so his supplier must be different, but the man was a stickler for habit. “There aren’t so many companies that deal with such exclusive, highly perishable products in Boston. Cloudberries are a favorite of his, which only grow in the Scandinavian Arctic uplands in August, yet he gets them fresh all year around. Arctic bramble too.”