Every possible precaution had been taken, Brett reminded himself as he ran through the list of everything he’d set in place to ensure Jeremy’s boss didn’t get away. Mari thought this was merely a meeting to give the images back, but he knew better than that. In the world of digital images, there was no way to make certain that every copy had been erased. There wasn’t a chance in hell that Sokolov would let this drop and disappear because he’d given him a memory card from Mari’s camera.
Brett shouldn’t have been surprised to realize that Jeremy’s boss was Russian. When dirty diamonds were involved, as they were here, there was a good chance that the Russians were somehow behind things. The way Jeremy had explained it was that Sokolov had paid him to simply receive and deliver a briefcase. The briefcase contained millions of dollars of stolen Russian diamonds. A quick internet search had beefed up Brett’s scant knowledge of the Russian diamond trade. He now knew that not only were the diamonds mined in Russia highly valued, but the way the diamonds were cut and polished also caused a larger percentage of the raw stone to be wasted, therefore raising the price even higher. In some diamond businesses this made them more coveted, and as a result, a dark and seedy black market trade had erupted over the last decade or so.
Jeremy had stupidly stumbled right into the middle of it and gotten in so deep he couldn’t figure out how to walk away. Therefore, the mission today had changed to more of a rescue mission than it had been before. Not only was he attempting to make sure Mari was free of this threat, but he also intended to extricate his friend from the Russian mob’s hold over him. When the dust settled tonight, he wanted them both to have their freedom, and then they could each make their own choices for their future. He, for one, was hoping they both chose to stay right where they were, provided Jeremy could get his head back on straight and sober again.
Standing in the open on the beach was probably his least favorite spot to wait for this to go down. It was tactically difficult to cover and with the resort just behind him there were way too many innocent people in harm’s way to make him happy, but it also meant that Mari was nearby and hidden at the same time which gave it some bonus points. Plus, he knew that Michael, Dex, and Jeremy were all close by watching him through scopes and binoculars. He’d trusted each of those men with his life enough times in the past to know they had him covered and then some—which was good since he’d followed instructions to the letter and stood here in shorts and a summer shirt completely unarmed, feeling about as protected as if he were naked.
A noise behind him had him spinning, sending sand spraying up around his legs.
“Ah, someone is a little jumpy.” A thick Russian accent greeted him as a man wearing a dark suit and hat walked toward him seemingly out of nowhere. There were three men flanking him wearing thick suit coats that did little to conceal their weapons underneath. He’d briefed Casa Blanca’s head of security Luke McBain and knew that his guys were top-notch, but he mentally kicked himself for not insisting they met somewhere else. This could go sideways in far too many ways to count.
“Not jumpy, just cautious.” Brett fought to appear relaxed and disinterested.
“I’m sure your Army has trained you well, but that training will be of no use to you here.”
“That was a long time ago. I’m a civilian now.” Brett shrugged as if his Army career meant nothing to the man he was today. His hands hung loosely at his side, carefully avoiding his pockets or anything that might make them draw their weapons. “I have what you’re looking for.”
“I’m sure you do.” Sokolov glanced around. “But where is our friend? Your woman?”
Mari and Jeremy were carefully out of sight and Brett intended for it to stay that way. “It’s just me here, as you instructed.”
“Not quite. I instructed for your photographer friend to bring me what belongs to me. You insisted on doing her bidding for her and I reluctantly agreed, but now I have changed my mind. I insist on seeing her too.” The Russian stood with his feet apart, his leather dress shoes looking awkwardly out of place on the white sand of Barefoot Bay. His hands were clasped in front of him in a pose that Brett was sure Sokolov thought made him look intimidating and in charge.
“Not gonna happen,” Brett responded. “I’m going to take the memory card out of my pocket. Tell your gorillas not to shoot me.”
The Russian laughed and nodded at his men as Brett took the memory card out of his pocket. It was the actual card from Mari’s camera, but there was no way for the Russian to know it was not the only copy. The originals were in Mari’s cloud account for safekeeping. Just in case.
“This is the only copy,” he lied without hesitation.
“I’m sure it is because you do not appear to be a stupid man.” His heavy Russian accent reminded Brett of a cartoon character, but a cartoon character had never made him as angry as he was right now.
“I assure you, I am not. So take what you came for and go.” Brett extended his hand trying to convince Sokolov to take the card.
“Isn’t there one more matter you wish to discuss with me?” Sokolov asked as he slowly began to walk forward, his musclemen trailing in his wake like obedient dogs. “The small matter of your woman’s reputation?”
“I’m trusting you to do what’s right, just as you are trusting me that I haven’t made a copy of this.” He held up the card for effect. “I am curious about one thing though?”
“What is that?” Sokolov asked, sounding bored.
“Why did you do all this? Why steal your own diamonds?” He prayed the recording app on his phone could pick up both of their voices enough to stand up in court.
Sokolov laughed and the sound was enough to send a shiver down Brett’s spine. There was absolutely no humor in the sound. It was merciless and cold. “Cash! Insurance money pays as well as or better than selling those rocks. The market has gone soft. Plus, since I still have the stones, I can still sell them.” He snapped his finger for dramatic effect. “By doing this, I double my money.”
“So you paid Jeremy to intimidate the courier and steal them for you, collected the insurance check, and still sell the diamonds?” Brett played dumb hoping the man would spell it out in even more detail. “Why go through all the trouble? Why not just report them stolen without the whole act?”
Sokolov laughed again. “You’re an idiot, you know that? My business partner had more scruples than I do, unfortunately. The courier worked for him and he refused to go along with the plan.” Sokolov shrugged as if it meant nothing. “Luckily he’s no longer a problem for me or for the business we built together.”
“The business partner or the courier?”
“Both.” Sokolov chuckled at his own humor.
Brett nodded as if he found this all very interesting. “So really it was just a matter of being efficient and making double your money.”
“Or triple!” Sokolov said dramatically. “Everything would have been fine if your woman hadn’t foolishly been snapping photographs. She needed to learn a lesson, and we needed to make sure those pictures never saw the light of day.”
“You did all of this for the money?” Mari’s voice behind him sent Brett spinning around and completely forgetting that there were now three armed men at his back.
“Mari! What are you doing?” he demanded, but the chaos behind him drowned out the sound of his voice. Sokolov surged forward toward both Brett and Mari. That was enough to snap Brett out of his stupor and he quickly grabbed for Mari, trying to pull her behind him but she danced out of his grasp and went closer to the Russian. Jeremy had come running up behind Mari apologizing for letting her get away from him, but there was no time for any of that now. He’d answer Jeremy later. Provided they all made it out of this alive.
“You did all of this,” she gestured around them, “to make more money?”
“You Americans are so naive it borders on stupid!” Sokolov was so angry his face was dark red and he spit as he yelled at her. “Of course, I did all of this for money! You’re lucky I didn’t kill you, you stupid bitch!” He lunged for her again, but Brett was faster and got between them easily knocking the older, rounder man off balance and sending him sprawling in the sand. His bodyguards immediately turned their weapons on him and that’s when all hell broke loose.
Jeremy pounced on his boss and held him down in the sand where the bigger man threatened everyone in earshot. Michael came out of hiding from one of the cabanas nearby, weapon drawn. Dex came barreling out of the trees yelling FBI and telling them they were all under arrest, but nobody was listening. Brett desperately tried to keep Mari behind him, but she was fighting mad and clawing at him to gain her freedom all the while yelling at Sokolov.
“Mari!” He shook her gently trying to get her attention. “Calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down! This man scared the hell out of me and all he wanted was some damned pictures and some cash!” Her indignation was palpable. He could all but feel her body throbbing with rage as he tried to contain her so she couldn’t send herself flying at Sokolov again. She wasn’t even hearing him now she was so focused on being angry.
Luke joined the fray riding up with the rest of his security team in golf carts. Sand flew all around them as Sokolov’s guards tried to flee. Luckily for all of them, dress shoes and a suit weren’t exactly conducive to running on the soft powdery sand of the beaches at Barefoot Bay. Dex caught up to them fast enough to make it laughable.
“Did you get his confession on tape?” Dex asked. “I have to admit that this will look good for the office if we can wrap all this up in a neat package for the prosecutors.” It wasn’t every day you booked a Russian mafia boss on a smuggling and murder confession.
“Tape? Nobody uses tape anymore.” Brett laughed, pulling his phone from his shirt pocket and hitting stop on the app he’d downloaded this morning. Hitting play revealed a great audio recording of his conversation with Sokolov. “It sounds good.”
“Send that to me,” Dex ordered, giving Sokolov a shove toward the parking lot.
“You bet.” Next to him, he realized that Mari was trembling as the adrenaline crash hit her. “Come here.”
“I don’t know how to thank you,” she said.
Brett glanced around the beach and saw all of the Russians secured in handcuffs. His friends had made sure of that while he’d kept Mari safe. As much as he wanted to get her away from here and let her process everything that had just happened somewhere quiet, the reality was they’d be tied up for hours giving statements and turning over evidence. For now they weren’t going anywhere.
There was only one thing left to do. Brett pulled her close and kissed her. The noise around them disappeared as Mari wrapped both arms around his neck and he lifted her off the sand.
* * *
The next morning Mari woke up in her villa at Barefoot Bay to the sun streaming through the open curtains and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. Pretty much her definition of paradise. The night had gone on forever, giving statements to both the police and the FBI. One of Sokolov’s bodyguards had turned on his boss and had given them so much evidence that Dex had told them the agents would be sorting through it for weeks. He was looking at a slew of charges. The insurance fraud was just the tip of the iceberg. Embezzling, theft, fraud, filing false police reports, and not the least of which was threatening and trying to blackmail her. Police were searching for the business partner and the courier. If they were really dead then murder charges would take priority. She’d have to testify when the trial came around, unless Sokolov was smart enough to take a deal or plead guilty.
She threw back the sheets and went in search of Brett who was somewhere nearby she was sure. She found him sitting on the patio with a cup of coffee and her cell phone laying on the table in front of him.
“Oh, you found my phone?” Mari asked as she leaned over and gave him a kiss, letting him pull her down into his lap.
“It was ringing and woke me up. You have a few dozen voicemails, missed calls, and several texts too. I’m guessing you’re back in business.”
Unless she was mistaken, he seemed a little disappointed that she would be leaving Barefoot Bay soon. Gathering up all of her courage—even more than it had taken for her to go charging out on the beach to confront Sokolov—she took a deep breath and said what she’d been wanting to say for days. “I don’t want to go.”
“What?” he asked, confused. “You don’t want to go back to work?”
“I don’t want to go back to New York—at least not to stay.”
“I’m not following you,” Brett said, but Mari suspected he was following her and just wanted her to spell it out for him.
“I was thinking of moving.”
“To…?”
“Mimosa Key.” She smiled and watched his reaction. “Or more precisely, wherever you are.”
He kissed her hard and quick and she knew for sure her heart had found its home.
“I love you,” they said at the same time, laughing.
“It’s the strangest thing because just before I met you, I was feeling like everyone around me had found their other half and I was wondering if maybe I had missed mine somewhere along the line. Then I looked up and saw you watching me through your camera lens and something just…clicked.” Brett’s words sent more happiness soaring through her heart than she’d ever thought possible, but she couldn’t resist teasing him just a little bit.
“Maybe it was the shutter on my camera.”
“Brat.” He swatted her hip playfully and pulled her back in for a longer kiss. Sitting behind Rockrose they were completely surrounded by a privacy fence and beautiful plants. No one could see them or would ever know they were here. It was absolute paradise and she wanted to stay right here forever. Then she thought about how beautiful Brett’s house was and realized that was even better.
Home. She had found her home.
* * *
Brett watched Mari work with efficiency and confidence as she took family after family through the process of having their family portrait taken. He’d long ago lost count of how many sessions she’d done, but she didn’t show any signs of being tired or slowing down at all. She arranged a single mother with her son and daughter, said something that made them all smile, and the mother wrapped her arms around both children and squeezed them tight. Mari quickly snapped a photo and then shifted positions and snapped again before peeking out from behind her camera and saying something to the boy that made him tuck his chin down slightly and smile even bigger. Mari snapped three or four more pictures before moving again to repeat the entire process. Altogether she took no fewer than a half-dozen shots of each and every family together, as well as individual photos of each person.
“My light is fading,” she said to him, sounding a little stressed.
“Can I help?” he asked, even though he knew the answer already.
“No, I’m fine. I just want to get as many done as I can before the light fades.” If they couldn’t get everyone done today, they’d reschedule, but he knew Mari didn’t want to disappoint anyone.
“I think there’s only two more families waiting. What if we set them up at the same time side by side so you can just shoot without having to stop and pose them?” Gussie DeMille asked, appearing beside Brett. She’d been there off and on all day volunteering to help in her husband’s absence since TJ was out of the country working at a Paris fashion show. “I’m no professional, but I think I can copy what you’ve been doing well enough to get them set up.”
“Yeah, let’s do that. I can help too,” Brett offered, and Mari’s smile told him she’d thank him later.
“Okay, stop the honeymoon eyes you two, my husband is out of town for another week.” Gussie laughed at them and went off to usher both families onto the beach.
“Thank you,” Mari whispered, kissing him and he wondered again how on Earth he’d gotten so lucky.
“I love you.” Sometimes he said it just for the thrill of watching her eyes go all soft and dreamy like they did now, and sometimes he said it because he still couldn’t believe it himself.
“Love you too,” she said and kissed him again, letting her tongue slip just inside his mouth to tease him. “Now get to work so we can get out of here and go home!”
Home. The idea that she said that referring to the same house where he’d once rattled around alone amazed him. He’d already called the owner and told him he was buying it and told him to come up with a number. No negotiations. No questions asked. It was his home and he wasn’t leaving it until Mari told him she wanted to live somewhere else.
Jeremy walked up from down the beach where he’d been doing yoga with Libby Monroe. Yoga, of all things. Brett shook his head, but it had done wonders for Jeremy. Ninety days sober and counting.
After the arrests had gone down and all the dust settled, Michael had told Jeremy as soon as he had himself together and felt like he was ready, there was a job waiting for him. Brett suspected that Jeremy was about to accept the offer and Brett couldn’t be happier.
Amelia and Leslie joined them on the beach, circling Mari as soon as she was finished, and the three women laughed. Brett watched Mari turn red and then cast a look his direction and he knew for certain he was the subject of their laughter and he couldn’t find it in him to be bothered by it.
“You’ve got a pretty good thing here,” Jeremy said next to him.
“Yeah, I do. You want in?” Brett asked.
“I do.” Jeremy seemed to struggle for a moment and then said, “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Then don’t.” Brett didn’t want his thanks. He just wanted his friend back and okay again.
Mari joined them, bringing both of the other women with her, and Michael and Dex completed the circle. Brett was pretty sure there wasn’t anything else he needed in this world. His family was right here.
THE END