Chapter Six

Joshua Benning hugged Nick, thumping him on the back, while Olivia stood back, trying to put names and relationships together. No one seemed to mind stepping around the two men. This was Dulles Airport. Greetings and farewells were part of the fabric of the building.

Nick had a convoluted family and she had not seen him greet anyone other than family with such familiarity. With Joshua Benning, he leaned into the hug, looking as pleased as Joshua.

They stepped away from each other. Nick looked at Olivia and held out his hand. “This is my…uncle. Or cousin. We haven’t sorted that out yet. Joshua Benning, Vice President of Intergovernmental Relations at Astra Corp.” He glanced at Joshua. “Congratulations on the promotion, by the way. This Olivia Davenport Castellano, the new Ambassador for Vistaria to the United States.”

“Olivia, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Joshua Benning said, taking her hand in a firm grip. “Are you a long-lost cousin, too?”

“An honorary one,” Nick said, “but definitely family. Once we win back Vistaria, I’ll explain the family connection to you.”

Joshua looked at his watch. “My flight back to L.A. leaves in two hours. We should find a seat somewhere and trade news.”

Nick raised his brow. “This really is a flying visit, then.”

“I’m here because your message said urgent.”

“I appreciate you dropping everything for me. You’ll be glad you did, though.” Nick caught at his shoulder. “Let’s find that seat.”

They found three stools at a bar and snagged them. Nick ordered scotch, neat, for all of them and pulled out his phone while Joshua stretched kinks out, between them.

“Make it Johnny Walker Blue,” Josh said. “I’m buying. You can take the bottle back with you to the hotel.”

Nick raised his brow and looked at the barman.

“We have Blue,” the barman confirmed. “For a bottle of that price, we would need payment up front.”

Joshua pulled out his wallet and dropped a credit card on the bar. “There you go.”

The barman nodded and went away to get the boxed bottle and open it.

“Expense account?” Nick asked.

“Nope. I’m doing pretty well since I got back to the States. This is a personal thank you. How’s Minnie?”

“Radiant,” Nick said, “and as overworked as the rest of us.”

“I think she’s thriving wonderfully,” Olivia added. “She looks like a woman who has found her role in life.”

Joshua blew out his breath. “That’s good to hear.”

Nick had been paging through his phone. Now he laid the phone in front of Joshua. “Recognize that?”

Joshua picked up the phone and studied it. He pulled glasses out of his breast pocket and put them on and studied it closely. “I’d say it was one of the test ingots we smelted when the mine on The Big Rock was starting to roll, only the seal on it is wrong.”

“Good guess,” Nick said. “That photo is what made me yell for you to come here. I didn’t want to risk sending it over a public phone network. It was a risk having it sent up from Vistaria. Serrano has opened up the mine, Josh. He’s going to use the silver to buy himself respectability.”

Joshua was silent for a long moment, absorbing the news. Then he blew out his cheeks. “Well, I knew the bugger was crazy. I guess this confirms it. He thinks he can get away with it?”

“What’s to stop him?” Nick asked, and Olivia looked at him, startled. It seemed to be an odd response for someone so driven and determined as Nick Escobedo.

“Well, you, of course,” Josh replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“It’s your mine,” Nick pointed out.

“We don’t have an army at our disposal.”

“And I don’t have any reserve capital to fund mine,” Nick said.

Joshua laughed. The chuckle began slow and soft, then evolved into a full hearted belly laugh that had people turning their heads to see what was so funny. He reached out for the glass of scotch the barman put in front of him and raised it. “You sneaky son of a bitch,” he said and sipped the scotch. He sighed. “I can’t give it to you interest free. Not even for family. They’d skin me alive.”

“You could give me a family discount,” Nick said. “Think how good you’ll look when you retrieve the company’s expensive asset for them.”

Joshua shook his head and looked at Oliva. “I told Nick he should hit up international corporations for a loan, months ago. Never thought he’d turn around and put the squeeze on me.”

Olivia smiled. “You have skin in the game, Joshua. Nick is giving you a chance to get your mine back.”

“Yeah, I know.” Joshua winked at her and turned back to Nick. “How much do you need?”

“Not nearly as much as you’ve already sunk into the mine,” Nick told him. “Twenty million.”

Joshua’s jaw dropped open. “Twenty million?”

“I have three Black Hawk helicopters I want to buy, just to begin.”

“I don’t know anything about military transport, but I suspect even one of them is a lot more than twenty million,” Josh replied.

“About fifteen million, new,” Nick said. “These are used and I can probably get them for about eight million each. I’ll use your money to put a goodwill deposit on them. About five million for the three, as we already have them in our possession. The rest will be used for equipment and supplies.”

“I had no idea war was so damned expensive,” Joshua muttered. He glanced at his watch. “How soon do you need it?”

“Today,” Nick said. “Olivia and I have been shopping all day. The bill is due by end of business.”

“There goes my sleep for the next twelve hours,” Joshua said philosophically. He almost sounded cheerful.