Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
He had to force himself to stand there, to not immediately go to her or he would be on his knees.
One of them had to be strong.
“Damn it, Taggart,” a familiar voice yelled. Ezra Fain strode in, a frown on his handsome face. “I told you I need them alive—that meant all of them. At least most. I’ve got four alive and one of them pissed his damn pants.”
Tag pointed a finger his way. “Next time, don’t freaking be late. I had to bluff and I hate bluffing. Now I have to go. I’m supposed to pick up the stupid cake. Why does Jake need a cake? He’s getting pudgy around the middle.”
“You are not going anywhere,” Ezra began.
They began arguing, bickering like an old married couple, but Brody was numb. He turned and started to walk away.
“Brody?” Steph’s voice made him stop.
It didn’t make him turn around. “You should check on Alfi and Tucker. I think they’re going to need you.”
He walked away. It was time to go home.
Chapter Sixteen
“So you found the thumb drive?” Hours later, Avery stood in the big kitchen of Serena Dean-Miles’s main house, making her famous grilled corn dip, across from where Steph sat with Nate in her arms. “And it was in Nate’s diaper bag?”
“I love that,” Serena said with a grin. “The whole time it was sandwiched between wipes and butt cream.”
“It fell into one of the pouches. I never zip the inside pouches.” Steph had been giving the women the rundown of how the mission had gone. It was good to have something to do rather than brood over Brody. “When Alfi told me he’d tossed it in the backseat of the Jeep, I remembered that the diaper bag had come open and I’d just stuffed everything back in.”
Serena groaned. “I hate when that happens. I’ll perfectly organize it all and Tristan will somehow get in that sucker and pull out everything. He’s fascinated with Brianna’s things. You’ll see, Avery. You think you’re out of the baby stage with Aidan, but toddlers require an enormous amount of stuff, too. Did you find the drive and pass it along to the Agency?”
She shook her head. “I told Li and he and Big Tag decided to figure out what was on it first.”
“Ah, that’s why they brought Adam up to the office,” Serena said with a smile. “He was grumbling the whole time about how someone needs to figure out how to use a computer before they start the new business. I told him Hutch would take over for him but he’s out of town this weekend.”
“So what was it?” Avery asked, curiosity plain on her face. “I’ve been dying to know what that group was willing to kill so many people over.”
“It was a video,” she said, rocking Nate gently. “The journalist had smuggled it out of a diamond mine owned by one of the world’s largest companies. Do you know what the Kimberley Process is?”
“No idea,” Avery admitted.
Serena gasped, her eyes lighting up. “I do. I wrote this book about conflict diamonds. Well, it’s mostly about a three way, but conflict diamonds were in there.”
“That’s right.” Avery nodded. “I remember. The conflict diamonds were being smuggled out of the country disguised as bling on the backs of women’s jeans.”
Serena picked up a jar of paprika. “I thought it was a fun twist. Isn’t the Kimberley Process a way the governments decide if a diamond is conflict free?”
She understood some of it. “Yes, all the legitimate diamond merchants of the world have an agreement that they will only purchase raw diamonds from mines that don’t fund wars. It’s worked quite well to get most conflict diamonds out of the public. But our poor journalist discovered that a merchant out of Antwerp had cut a deal with a terrorist group to purchase over twelve million dollars worth of raw diamonds. On paper, they’d come from a reputable mine, but Johann Kavner had the proof.”
The terrorist group was known for slaughtering entire villages in central and eastern Africa if the populace refused to follow their narrow version of religious law. They’d also made headlines for stealing young girls to gift to their soldiers. It hadn’t come as a surprise to Steph that they would trade in diamonds they had used slave labor to produce.
“So the company de Vries was working for panicked when they figured it out,” Serena surmised. “And they sent his group after Johann.”
“Who tried to get away, but got caught a few miles from my clinic. They shot him, but Johann wouldn’t give up the hiding place,” Steph explained. “At some point he gave the thumb drive to Alfi. When they couldn’t find it, they decided I had it since I was the one who treated Johann, and I ran. They took Anya and came after me. Luckily, I had friends and those friends had big guns and are paranoid about where their people are. I think if Tucker hadn’t done what he did, I would be dead now.”