It was no time to smear on an arrogant smirk, but boy, did Matthew want to. The Bolivian was feeding right into his hands. He just hoped that the anaconda was hungry.
“Whatever you like, Juan. You’re the one holding the gun.” Appealing to his ego could help calm the situation, he thought.
“Go, Lewis,” Juan commanded. He turned to Matthew. “So where is it?”
“Just straight down. It appears to cover most of the bottom. At least as far as I could see.”
“All gold?”
“Yes, and piled up. It’s hard to say how high as I needed to come up for air.” Matthew glanced back at the water for any indication of the deadly reptile. Not even a ripple on the surface.
Lewis was already at the edge of the lagoon, his goggles on. “Want me to go in now?”
“No, I want you to stand around for a while first.” Juan rolled his eyes. “Of course, I want you to go in now, you idiot.”
Matthew dared to turn his back on Juan and watched as Lewis dove into the water.
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Chapter 69
ROBYN NOTICED HOW MATTHEW KEPT looking at the lagoon. What had he seen down there? She didn’t sense that he had lied about seeing the treasure. Still, she set her gaze on him, hoping that he would feel her watching him and make eye contact. It wasn’t working.
Glancing at the others, they too were all watching the surface, but more out of curiosity than with the intensity Matthew was giving it. She studied Matthew’s body language. He was standing back from the water’s edge.
Assuming the treasure was under the water, the Incas wouldn’t have just tossed it in there without protection. Even if someone had made it this far, it was possible they may still miss out on the vast fortune.
Then she recalled the way he had shot out of the water and onto the land, how out of breath he had been. Matthew was an excellent swimmer and in great physical shape. He wasn’t heaving for breath from exhaustion. He was afraid. Something dangerous was down there.
As if on cue, Lewis shot to surface. He was flailing his arms and treading water, but for the exertion, he wasn’t making any forward movement.
Her eyes darted to Matthew. He just stood there. Although he was the closest to the lagoon, he wasn’t moving. He had sent Lewis in there knowing that it could mean the man’s life.
She wasn’t sure how this made her feel about him. Sure enough, he wasn’t the one pulling a trigger, and she knew that he had killed before in self-defense, but this seemed more contemplated.
Juan had a gun, yes, and Lewis was his partner, for the lack of a better term, but she wasn’t willing to concede to their tactical advantage. She had chosen to remain positive that they could overpower the Bolivians given the right timing and maneuvers.
Another thing nagging at her was why Ian had handed over his weapon in the first place. It was hard to believe that he did so out of the goodness of his heart. People who worked for Vincent didn’t have hearts, did they? There had to be a selfish motive, and it probably boiled down to the threat Juan had made to Ian’s life versus the idea of being left in the jungle to die.
All these thoughts fired quickly as she watched Lewis struggle to stay above water. Whatever he had seen down there frightened the hell out of him, taking away the man’s ability to swim.
“Help him,” Juan yelled to Matthew.
Matthew remained still.
“Help me!” Lewis’s voice was full of panic.
More sweeps of his arms, trying to close the distance to land, were brought to a halt when a large snake shot up out of the water next to him. Its head and neck arched back, reaching the height of at least four feet. Its body was easily ten to twelve inches around.
At lightning-fast speed, it lunged at Lewis, catapulting itself across the water. His screams pierced the air in a deafening pitch.
Robyn’s instinct had her wanting to turn away, to close her eyes, but her gaze was fixed to the situation unfolding before her.
“Do something!” Juan shouted. He no longer seemed concerned about holding them at gunpoint. He had left the group and nudged Matthew’s back. “Get in there. Save him.”
Another slew of screams and then all fell silent.
The snake coiled around Lewis’s body. And reminiscent of a Hollywood movie bearing the name of the snake, Lewis watched them helplessly. The constriction of the anaconda must have been too tight for him to make a sound now, and with that, the snake slipped beneath the water, taking Lewis with it.
Robyn looked away, her hand to her mouth and tears beaded in her eyes. She understood why Matthew stood there, but she didn’t have to like it.
-
Chapter 70
BRODY HUNG AROUND THE STATION, waiting for the results of the facial recognition scan to come back. There was nowhere else for him to go right now. His priority was Sophie Jones, and he could only hope that there would be a living woman to find when they tracked their perp. The statistics weren’t stacked in her favor. Kidnapping victims, especially those without any ransom calls, were usually dead within twenty-four hours of disappearing. And that was after the abductor performed unsaid horrors on the victim first.
He dropped into his chair and propped his feet on his desk. As soon as he got comfortable, his phone rang.
“Fuller here.”
“Bob here.”
Brody smirked. The man might have a nasty habit to shake, but he was amusing. “Tell me you’ve got a hit.”
“I’ve got a hit.”
“And you’re not just saying that because I told you to say that?” Brody teased.
“No, I’m not just saying that.”
Brody straightened and grabbed a pen. He held his hand poised over a notepad. The top sheet was already filled with his messy handwriting, and there wasn’t a clear spot to squeak in a few more characters. He tore the paper from the cardboard backer to realize that’s all he was left with. Whatever. It would work. “Shoot.”
“The guy’s name is Ian Bridges. He lives here in Toronto. The entertainment district.”
“So it’s not the actor. Address?”
Bob rattled it off.
“Thanks, Bobby. Reward yourself with a ciggy. You did good.”
“I was just thinking the same— Hey, you almost had me.”
Brody laughed, hung up, and grabbed his coat from the back of his chair. Out of habit, his hands prepared to tear off the piece of paper to take with him, but cardboard didn’t work as well. He took the whole backer.
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Chapter 71
IAN SAW HIS OPPORTUNITY. The remaining Bolivian was at the edge of the lagoon, in shock and mourning his friend. He was vulnerable.
Ian shoved aside what he had just seen, assigning it to a compartment in his brain that he never cared to access again. The memory would be stored there along with so many other things from this expedition—the poisonous insects, the fiery caterpillars, the trap that shish-kebabed Kevin, the disappearing ground, the shooting spears, the plunge into an underwater cavern, almost drowning. All those memories needed to be purged. At this point, he couldn’t have cared less if Vincent paid him a dime. He just wanted this trip behind him. And he needed to get out of this damn country while he still could.
With these thoughts firing in rapid succession, he hurried next to Juan and landed a roundhouse kick in the Bolivian’s face, dropping him to the ground.
Ian bent down for the gun. Matthew went for it, too, but his reaction was a tad slow.
“I’d rethink your plan.” Ian straightened to a standing position in time with Matthew, but Ian held the Glock. Suddenly aware of the vulnerable position he was in by standing where Juan had, he moved so he could see the three friends and Juan. Based on the loud snapping noise he had heard just before the Bolivian went down, Ian had likely broken his neck, but he wasn’t going to take any chances by exposing his
back to the man.
“Tie him up,” Ian directed Matthew. He didn’t need Juan to wake up and come flying at him with a machete.
“With what?”
“Here, Matt.” The woman handed him some zip ties from her backpack, clearly cautious of each step she took.
She and Ian locked eyes for a split second. She wasn’t as innocent as she liked to make people believe. She glared at him, and he knew the zip ties must have originally been intended for him and Kevin.
Matthew lowered to his haunches.
“Around his wrists and ankles,” Ian directed.
Matthew lifted one of Juan’s wrists and let it drop. As if looking straight through Ian, he spoke to his friends. “He’s dead.”
“God,” Robyn said, starting to pace. “Three deaths?”
“Get over there with your friends,” Ian told Matthew.
He rose and walked past Ian, never taking his gaze off him. He was cocky, Ian gave him that.
Robyn slipped her arm through Matthew’s and then opted to put it around his back. Matthew reciprocated.
Ah, how sweet. The lovers reunited.
Really, it made him sick. Monogamy was for people who didn’t know better.
“Why did you give him your gun?” Robyn asked.
Of all the questions, he hadn’t anticipated her asking this one first. He saw hopefulness in her eyes, as if she were ready to see the good in him. It reminded him of the look she gave him when this expedition started out and they had to push the boats down the river. He hated it.
“Don’t mistake my actions for interest in your lives. I personally don’t give a shit about any of them.”
“At least you’re honest,” Cal said.
“What are you going to do to us?” This from Matthew, always playing the leader.
“None of you are worth my bullets. Just get me out of this damn country.”
-
Chapter 72
BRODY CALLED IT. THIS SITUATION required the Emergency Task Force and he was on his way to them now. There was no way the backup of a few officers would be enough. While it was likely they were going after one man, he seemed to be a professional. But had he simply kidnapped her or had he murdered her? If it was simply an abduction, Brody was certain that the kidnapper’s motivation was powerful and tactical. He also had the gut suspicion that there was a lot more going on and that it did, in fact, somehow involve the mayor’s son and his friends.
Cal hadn’t shown up at his apartment, according to the surveillance they’d put in place. If you could call it “surveillance.” Given budget restraints, Brody drove by a few times a day and knocked on Cal’s door each time. He’d also managed to track down the building manager, who’d said that Cal had been planning to go away for a week. He’d asked the man to collect his mail from the box.
This lined up, at least relatively, with Robyn Garcia’s absence. She was supposedly on holiday from the museum, except they still wouldn’t tell him how long she was going to be gone. It could be a week like Cal, or nothing more than a coincidence.
Then there was Matthew Connor. The man was famous more because of who his father was than for making his own headlines. There weren’t many straight-arrow kids anymore. It was apparent that William either had control over his household or the ability to ensure things were kept from the public. It would involve many key players to keep things quiet, but inevitably, tidbits always leaked out. With Matthew, nothing ever had. He really was the city’s golden child.
But Erik had said that William had visited him at his office—a highly unusual move on the part of the city’s mayor. He was known to be catered to, not to do the catering. Erik had told him that he had the distinct impression that William had no idea where his son was, even though on their first meeting, he had mentioned Matthew being in Rome.
Brody had his resources, too, and was able to track down the dig there. He even managed to get Marshall Abbott, the site’s manager, on the phone. He was a cantankerous man who was still mumbling Matthew’s name up to the point when he abruptly hung up. It seemed Brody wasn’t the first one to make the call. He wagered that William had been there before him. So wherever Matthew was and whatever he was doing there was outside of the mayor’s knowledge. He was just as in the dark as the rest of them were.
All this had brought him to this point. Today, they would rescue Sophie, hopefully, and find out how Matthew and his friends tied in, if at all.
Lance Tucker was an ETF team leader and a man Brody had great respect for. His track record alone was enough to inspire awe from any law officer. He had the most successful ops with minimal casualties. Sometimes deaths couldn’t be helped, but Tucker was a man who didn’t accept the standards. He did everything to avoid casualties. He had fired men for being trigger-happy. There wasn’t room for a dismissive attitude on Tucker’s team.
Brody watched as they each geared up with vests, AR-15s, two pistol mags, two AR-15 mags, one flashbang, pepper spray, flashlights, handcuffs, a radio, and a small personal medical pouch. What most people didn’t realize was that they wore anywhere between thirty-five and fifty pounds around their torsos alone. There were another three or four pounds for their helmets, and some members also wore face shields. If that wasn’t enough artillery, they each had a thigh rig on one leg with a pistol, another magazine, and a multi-tool. On the other leg, each of them had a gas mask. And of course, it didn’t end there. They also wore tactical boots with steel shanks and toes. Essentially, they were prepared for war.
And that’s what Brody needed on his side—warriors. As he watched them getting ready, he noted their movements were precise yet fluid. There was haste to their actions as dictated by the situations they were called in for, but they were organized and mechanical. Professional. Just like the man they hunted today.
Brody left them and headed to Ian Bridges’s condo building. He’d made the call to cordon off the area, a block in each direction around the building. It was quite possible Ian Bridges wasn’t in this alone, so they had to be ready. Brody didn’t want to consider the possibility that Bridges wasn’t holding her in his home. At least this was a starting point.
He stopped the department car so quickly the nose dipped and then raised. He went to the first officer he saw. “Everything in place?”
“Yes, Detective. Officers are stationed inside the building to ensure that anyone who comes down is taken to a safe room.”
“Good. And no one is let go until everyone provides—”
“A name and full address.”
Brody didn’t much care for being interrupted, but he let it go this time. He nodded and stood there, squinting in the setting sun and looking up at the building that housed Ian Bridges’s condo.
Brody just needed Sophie Jones to hang on a bit longer, assuming she was still alive.
-
Chapter 73
IAN’S DEMAND THAT THEY TAKE him home surprised Matthew. What about the treasure? Maybe there was a part of the man that no longer cared. And maybe they should have spread out to explore the cavern for an exit. But Matthew needed to get inside those dwellings. It was a pull he could no longer ignore as the archaeologist and the explorer in him battled for dominance. But he’d have to appeal to Ian’s greed first. He just hoped that the man’s fear of the jungle hadn’t completely eradicated his earlier vision. While he was certain that gold lay on the bottom of the lagoon, he had yet to see the gold chain.
“It’s possible there’s more treasure to be found,” he tried.
The callous expression on Ian’s face made Matthew question his resolve. He refused to put Robyn’s and Cal’s lives at stake again, just to satisfy his whim.
“And what makes you think I care about that anymore? I just want out of this godforsaken country.”
Matthew wasn’t sure how to approach it. He no longer felt like Ian was concerned about pleasing Vincent
. He was now on a solo mission, and it was one that hinged entirely on survival.
“There’s no telling what we could find,” Matthew said, hoping to appeal to Ian’s greed.
The gun Ian was holding lowered slightly.
“We could split the profits,” Matthew went on. “We might even find a way out in the process.”
He watched as Ian chewed on the proposition. Seconds later, the man bobbed his head. “Whatever, just get me out of here.” Ian snarled and turned his back on them, tucking his gun into the waist of his pants.
“Thank God,” Robyn whispered. “I didn’t think we’d ever get in those dwellings.” He followed her gaze, which was focused on Ian walking away.
Watching after the man Matthew came to realize the sacrifices made thus far, the lives lost. First Kevin and then Lewis and Juan. He shouldn’t have been surprised by the double cross of the latter two. What he cursed himself for was not seeing it sooner. Daniel had told him Juan and Lewis were only going to take them down the river and no farther. He shouldn’t have let himself believe the Bolivians’ statement that there must have been a misunderstanding in that regard.
Now both men were dead. One in a way Matthew summed up as the thing of a nightmare, and the other was brought down by a single kick and a well-placed foot.
Considering the latter, it was possible that Matthew had underestimated Ian. Witnessing his moments of cowardice on this journey managed to overshadow what he was capable of—what he did—back in the real world. Or at least what Matthew surmised he did when he wasn’t abducting women.
Ian put his satellite phone to his ear—its waterproof case had obviously protected it—and Matthew could make out some of the conversation. Enough to know that he was reporting to Vincent.
Matthew continued to listen. Ian had mentioned everything going sideways. There was a bad feeling in the pit of Matthew’s gut that told him the original plan had been to kill them once they’d found the City of Gold. It made sense from Vincent’s standpoint. It meant fewer witnesses to point fingers at her. After all, how could she ensure their silence when they returned to Canada?
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