Chapter Eight
Frazer ignored Lucas Randall’s silent glower as he walked back into the main living area of billionaire financier Robin Greenburg’s enormous luxury yacht, Ascension. He still held Agent Chen’s hand as if he had every intention of dragging her off to bed and making mad, passionate love to her. As soon as he was sure no one on the outside could see them he let go of her hand and raised his brow at Lucas.
Ashley was posing as his lover, and Lucas was going to have to get used to him having his hands on her for the next day or so. They’d needed Ashley’s technical genius onboard this vessel and having a woman running around in a bikini was good cover. Foolishly, few considered them a threat.
Lucas was posing as crew, as was Patrick Killion and a couple of Brits that Killion assured him were trustworthy. This mission was an off the books joint CIA/FBI operation with full cooperation from Interpol. The only member of Greenburg’s real crew was the captain who Robin assured him was trustworthy and closed-mouthed.
He’d better be.
Years ago, Frazer had saved Greenburg’s life by arresting the man’s then wife who—unbeknownst to Greenburg—had already disposed of three husbands before she’d gotten her razor-sharp talons into what she must have thought of as the motherlode. At first the guy hadn’t believed Frazer and had threatened to destroy his career. Then Frazer let Greenburg watch him interview the woman. The evidence Frazer had was overwhelming and it hadn’t taken long until she’d confessed to the murders in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. Then she’d told Frazer in minute detail how she’d planned to get Robin drunk and push him overboard on one of their moonlit cruises.
Who said romance was dead?
Frazer regularly took advantage of the guy’s gratitude and media interests to strategically aid FBI cases.
It was ironic that over the years the billionaire had invited him onto this boat dozens of times. Frazer had never had the time, nor the inclination, to indulge in this sort of vacation. But now he needed the vessel to blend in with the other paragons of opulent wealth.
Greenburg was off on some Australian outback adventure, and the boat had been moored in Monaco, thank god. It was perfect cover for Millionaires’ Quay and allowed them to bring in all the necessary equipment and firearms they might need—kindly provided by the CIA who was eager to jump on this unexpected, but solid intel.
“Matt and Scarlett are in place,” Lucas told him, staring out the window toward one of the smaller quays.
Frazer checked them out with binocs. Sure enough, the two lovebirds were on the tiny deck of the small sailboat they’d rented. Scarlett sat cross-legged sipping from a mug and Matt was showing off his muscles as he stretched out on the deck.
Once it got dark, Matt Lazlo, a former Navy SEAL, would attach some hi-tech listening devices to the hulls of mega-yachts. Scarlett Stone was a physics genius who added some nice color to Matt’s cover. More importantly, Scarlett had been developing her own virtually undetectable listening devices. As sea water created serious problems for radio signals Frazer had asked her to help them out. Matt hadn’t been happy, but nothing bad would happen to Scarlett. The two of them would work independently from the rest of the team. They planned to leave on tomorrow’s high tide.
Ashley sat down and started typing on her laptop.
“Alex was on the pier. Did you see him?” Frazer asked Lucas.
Lucas nodded.
“I didn’t see a thing.” Ashley admitted. She was still nervous around Frazer, but she’d turned out to be an excellent behavioral scientist with computer skills that allowed them to dig deep into the unchartered waters of the dark web.
“Probably because someone was sucking your face,” Lucas said dryly.
“It’s a hard job but someone’s got to do it.” Patrick Killion joined them in the lounge and gave Frazer his trademark shit-eating grin.
Frazer quirked a brow. Kissing Agent Chen, while not a chore, certainly wasn’t something he’d want to do for any reason besides work. “I’m going to head into town with Killion and wait for Alex to find us. You guys see what you can pick up or observe from here. If you’re a good boy,” Frazer eyed Lucas, “I’ll let you sleep in the main stateroom with one of the other agents tonight.”
“Pretty sure I’m the one who decides who gets to sleep with me,” Ashley commented.
Lucas grinned.
Frazer nodded. Touché. “Don’t go breaking cover while I’m away.”
Ashley snorted. “Yeah, I think I’ve got the undercover thing down pat. See you in a few.”
Frazer’s main priority was still getting the groom-to-be to the church on time without any bullet wounds or arrest warrants. He changed into jeans and button-down white shirt and flip flops, which felt weird on his feet.
It had taken some doing to arrange this op on the fly, but everything had come together nicely.
They were going to find out what these bastards were selling, who the potential buyers were, and on top of that, they were going to retrieve the Masook child to go live with her mother—her legal guardian. Then they were all going to go home because they had a wedding to attend. A wedding he didn’t intend to miss.