“How are you?”
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“Sore.” She watched him approach cautiously. She watched Gavin stay on high alert, as if he were ready to handle any possible threat to either of them. She figured it was good if he would be ready because the shape she was in right now she wouldn’t be worth much to anybody.
Jack exhaled softly. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he shifted nervously.
“What is it?”
“Well you probably already heard that our fearless leader spent most of your hospital stay on the phone rearranging things.” She hadn’t heard the details, but she knew their next shoot had been moved up. With the way she felt now she would be lucky if she could walk without wincing in pain, let alone deliver her lines.
“Well…um…I don’t know how to tell you this, but…well he’s arranged a dive.”
“I’m not certified.” She wasn’t worried she was sure she had to be certified to go on a dive.
“He’s made arrangements for that not to matter.”
“What?” There was no way; there was just no way he could have done that. Then she realized, in this business, money was a strong motivator.
“I’m sorry. We all know how much you hate going under the water—”
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“Pardon me?” They all knew? She hadn’t told any of them, so how could they all know?
“Warren told us a couple months ago. Jerry was complaining about increasing the adventure shots and he wanted something dealing with the water and diving. Warren told us then.”
“And just how many people were there when this discussion took place?” Gavin’s tone was not without a hint of anger.
“Nick, Michelle, me and Jerry of course.” He turned his attention back to London. “I swear I didn’t know what the meeting was about when Jerry told us we had to be there. And I honestly thought you’d be there too…but once they started talking I realized why you weren’t there.”
She thanked him for his visit, for the information he had provided, but she couldn’t keep up her cordial disposition much longer.
It wasn’t until Gavin shut the door and secured the safety lock that she allowed herself to relax—at least a little. “I would quit if I could,” she mumbled. “But if I did he’d probably take me for everything I own.”
“He’s making you do a dive. That violates your contract.”
“No it doesn’t. The no dive rule was never in the contract. It was verbal, but never in writing. That was my fault because I trusted him to be a man of his word…and I guess I didn’t worry because I wasn’t certified.” She shrugged, the best she could with every muscle in her body aching. “I can’t go down like this so I have a little time; right?”
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He came to sit beside her. “I aim to see that you have more than that.” She could hear it in his voice. He planned to protect her, to make sure she was safe, but she couldn’t let him.
“You can’t go down with us, Gavin.”
“And why not?”
Why not should have been obvious, but since it wasn’t she would gladly spell it out for him. “Because somebody has already tampered with your gear. Trust me; that rope didn’t fray on its own. If they would do it there what makes you think they won’t tamper with a tank and kill you while you’re underwater? No, you won’t go down with me this time.” She watched as his hands curled into tight balls.
She was still trying to figure out if she could find a way to keep herself from going down. She didn’t know if she could, but she knew one hundred percent for sure she wouldn’t let him go.
“You don’t make a move before I get to the Keys. Is that understood?”
She nodded affirmatively. She had no intention of diving if she could help it. She planned to use every excuse in the book to keep from going underwater. She didn’t know how Warren had arranged it, who would allow the permit on such short notice and on such unsafe grounds, but he had arranged it and somebody had approved it. Now it was up to her to be sure she didn’t have to do it. She didn’t quite have that part figured out yet, but given a little time she was sure she could come up with something.
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The stress of the situation, the emotions she had experienced today, all of it had her stomach churning. “I feel nauseous.” Her stomach felt as if it were ready to wage war for the day’s events. The last thing she needed was to spend the night throwing up. She wasn’t sure her body could take the force of it.
She had some decisions to make about her future. Jack had apparently already made his. He assured her once this season was over, once his contract was officially up, he wouldn’t seek to sign another.
He had said death wasn’t what he had signed on for and so far one of the crew had died and they almost lost another today. He said he didn’t have the stomach for that kind of adventure. She was starting to wonder if she had the stomach for it herself. She would have to make some changes, too, once her contract was up too. The problem for her was that her contract had her locked in for at least another two years. She wasn’t sure she would survive that long.
“Bora Bora,” she said absently.”
“Come again?”
“I would if I weren’t so sore.” She couldn’t believe the man was still thinking about sex—or maybe he wasn’t. The look on his face told her he was amused by her one track mind. She didn’t have a one track mind. She was assuming he did, and it was clear before Jack came to the door that Gavin was precisely calculating how to get inside of her without causing her any further pain.
“I was referencing your words, London, not sex.” Capri Montgomery
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She nodded slowly. “I see.”
“Are you going to tell me what Bora Bora has to do with anything, or not?”
She could stay silent, but he might as well know since it might just affect him if he seriously wanted to pursue a long-term relationship with her. “Well,” she exhaled slowly. “I was thinking I could pack my bags, take all of my money and run off to Bora Bora. He can’t sue me for everything I own if he can’t find me; right? And I wouldn’t have to go under water either.”
“You’re not running off to Bora Bora.” He nearly took her head off with the force of his anger.
“Why not?”
“Because I love you.”
“You could love me in Bora Bora,” she stated flatly.
“You’re not running off, unless it’s to Massachusetts.” She shook her head no fervently before remembering why she shouldn’t move any part of her body so vigorously. “What would you think about moving to South Dakota? The Black Hills area is gorgeous, and I have a fairly nice spread of land not far from there, a spacious home—and I put in Envy Lawn so you won’t even have to worry about the yard upkeep.” If the lack of yard work didn’t sell him then she wasn’t sure what would. The lawn had been initially expensive to have installed, but worth it in the long run. She never had to pay anybody to The McGregor Affair
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keep it up while she was away. With the amount of land she had she would have gone bankrupt trying to pay a landscaper.
He chuckled. “My brother’s in Boston.”
“Oh,” she sighed. She understood the desire to stay close to family.
“My mother’s moving out to Hollywood. Eve’s in Florida and my other sister is in Arizona. If I move to South Dakota we’ll have the geographic locations basically covered.” She looked into his eyes, trying to discern if maybe he was considering the option. She knew it would be asking a lot. She would understand if he said no, but she really hoped he would say yes—to what she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t asking for his hand in marriage or anything like that. No, what she was asking him to do was live with her. She
couldn’t believe it herself. Had nearly dying made her lose her mind? They couldn’t live together—or could they?
“So, are you saying that you will move to South Dakota?”
“I don’t know. I feel a need to stick close to Thomas. After we almost lost him—well I guess you can say I tend to smother him. He would probably be glad if I did take off for another state.” She nearly laughed. “Well then what if we spend summers in Boston and winters in South Dakota?”
“It’s cold there in the winter.”
“Well then what if we spend summers in South Dakota and winters in Boston.”
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“It’s cold there too.”
She exhaled sharply. “Gavin, seriously, we’re going to have to pick a place.”
“How much land do you have?”
“Fifty acres.”
“Fifty acres?” He sounded astonished. “I think that settles it.
Your place it is.”
She laughed before leaning in to kiss him. “Ouch,” she moaned.
Moving wasn’t the problem; his possessive caress of her waist was.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’ll draw you a bath so you can soak some of the soreness off.”
“Shower,” she nodded. “I don’t think getting in the tub is going to work so well.” And even if she did manage to get in it, she couldn’t assure she would be able to get out of it. “Care to join me?”
“You’re torturing me aren’t you? Seeing you naked without being able to do what I’d like to do with you.” She smiled. “Sorry about that, but I really am hurting—and even more so by the second. It hurts worse than Alaska.” It hurt a lot worse than Alaska. “I’ll make a deal with you.”
“I’m listening.”
“You help me shower, and when I’m better, I’ll let you have your way with me.” She winked at him, encouraging him to make whatever he wanted to out of her words.
“I’m holding you to that.”
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“I’d prefer if you hold me to you,” she brushed her hand over his chest. She didn’t care if he did hold her to their bargain. In fact, she was counting on it. Gavin McGregor had a way of touching her that made her toes curl. He could do whatever he wanted and she would still come, of that she was sure. “Shower?” He looked her over; his eyes slowly perusing her body.
“Shower,” he agreed before helping her to her feet. “But once you’re better woman you’re all mine. And trust me; I’m planning to eat you up.”
“I’m counting on it.” She was counting on it and looking forward to it immensely. He was hers and she was his. There was no denying that fact. They were meant to be together, and she had no intention of pushing him away again.
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Chapter Twelve
“Failure wasn’t part of the plan,” he snapped. “I told you to be sure that rope broke—”
“And it did break,” Nick barked. He didn’t usually—if ever—talk to his employer that way, but the man was starting to work his last nerve. It wasn’t his fault that the first attempt with the snake didn’t work. And it wasn’t his fault now. He had done everything he’d been asked to do. “How was I supposed to know she would switch gear with him?”
“Next time be sure they both break and you won’t have that problem.”
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couldn’t push for it because that would make him seem suspicious. No, he would just have to figure something else out. Yellowstone was out, but there was always Key Largo. A lot could happen to a man down there. And if need be, he would take out whoever else got in his way—including London McGowan.
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Chapter Thirteen
“Maybe,” Sully checked his surroundings one more time. “I think we’re going to execute the plan soon. I know it’s moving things up, but we don’t have a choice. It’s nearing zero hour, Gavin and if we don’t get these bastards soon we can kiss the world goodbye.”
“Warren moved the location. After what happened to London I guess it makes sense, but given the man’s propensity for actually caring about human life more than ratings, I have a feeling Key Largo is where the deal is going down. We’re scrapping Yellowstone and heading to the Keys. We leave in the morning.” Sully knew plans had changed. He had been watching the suspects on his end and he noticed the increased nervous actions. The secret meetings escalated, and they were getting sloppy too. He almost The McGregor Affair
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had enough to take the weak link in. The sooner he could break him, the sooner they could wrap this case before anybody else got hurt, or worse, killed.
“I’m driving down. I’m sure whoever is behind this won’t mind taking out an entire plane to get to me. From what I have been told, I would have been booked on a separate flight from the crew. Something about available seats—as if I believe that. Drake will cover my load while I’m in route.”
It didn’t matter. He had a stop to make in between. He had a feeling—a strong feeling, that he was going to need more artillery than what he was carrying.
“Be careful, McGregor. I’ll join you in Key Largo as soon as I wrap things on my end.”
“I’ll see you there. And Sully,” he paused, waiting for acknowledgement. “Don’t get yourself killed.” Sully laughed. “An early grave isn’t my plan; I can assure you of that. I’ll see you in Key Largo.” Before Gavin could utter his own goodbyes Sully had disconnected the call. He really hated when he did that—ending a call so abruptly it had a tendency to make him think something was wrong.
Of course, knowing Sully’s phone etiquette had prepared him for frequent hang-ups, so he learned not to worry.
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Chapter Fourteen
Gun loaded and ready to fire, Sully did one last check of his backup weapons. They had to do this right. They had to get all parties in one go and without anybody getting away. If they missed even one person then they risked having their entire mission blow up in their face. Locking them all up, tonight, and without word leaking to anybody else—good or bad guys—was crucial. They were running a tight ship now. Secrecy, or lack there of, could mean the difference between success and failure, life and death.
The meeting wasn’t going down within the company. That alone was red flag number one. From what Sully had gathered through his research and months of investigation, Nathaniel Shaw was obsessed with conducting secret meetings in conference room A. So when he got The McGregor Affair
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the call, summoning him to a meeting of minds—a meeting of criminals—in the middle of nowhere Virginia he knew something big was going down. He received the call just after leaving work. He had seconds to call Langston and inform him of the change in plans before he connected with Gavin. He didn’t know exactly where they were going. All he knew was that he had been given clear instructions to drive out of D.C. to the first gas station where he was to await further instruction. Those further instructions included disposing of his cell phone and driving to a payphone at another gas station. He wasn’t worried. Langston had fitted several tracking devices on his car and on his person as a just in case something like this happened. All he needed to do was activate the device in his wrist watch and he knew he would have help…eventually.
After driving to the phone he received his last instructions. They were meeting in the woods. Either his cover was blown and they were planning to bury him out there, or the deal was ready to break open. He knew the final piece of the puzzle was with the crew of Treasure Hunting, but he also knew there was something still m
issing, something their buyer couldn’t work without, something that was still, until yesterday, safely secure within the company walls.
“I’m glad you joined us,” Shaw grinned. “We’re going to be rich Sully. Richer than God,” he laughed. “Now of course your share of this will be slightly less than ours, but since what you’re going to need Capri Montgomery
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to do tonight takes a bit of the proverbial cake, we’ve all decided to up your share by fifty thousand.”
“And just what is it you expect me to do tonight?” He could see nine of the ten men who normally hung around at Shaw’s beck and call.
One of the men, their snitch, was safely tucked away in a secure facility. Of course they probably all thought he was carrying out his orders for the night. Those orders, as he had been informed, were to be sure nobody checked the secure vault at the lab until late afternoon.
They needed that much time to get the computer chip to the buyer.
After that, they would need somebody to find the chip missing that way they could divert suspicion from themselves. If all went according to plan, the guard on duty wouldn’t realize he was monitoring a looped video feed of the room. The next scheduled check wasn’t until one o’clock the next afternoon. The schedule was like clockwork, always constant, never fluctuating. As long as nobody felt the need to go into the room before they were able to disconnect the looped feed—which would need to take place with the change of the guards at precisely noon, then they were home free.
They could let the authorities try to figure out when the chip had been stolen and how. The timing needed to be perfect because they were banking on the authorities making the assumption that the chip was stolen by either the guard, or somebody leaving for the noon break.
Everybody knew the ten men always had an eleven o’clock meeting that lasted well past the lunch hour. How convenient, Sully The McGregor Affair
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acknowledged the genius in their plan. They had set this up, perfected the timing, expertly constructed the details of the crime, and they had almost gotten away with it free and clear. As it stood, Sully and Gavin both had a lot of work to do before they could, with certainty, say that these bastards hadn’t gotten away with it.
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