Chapter 3
—Marriage to him is the greatest adventure of all.—
Leighton opened the door to the nondescript four-door sedan he and Savage were using this evening and slid into the front seat. The dome light didn’t come on since Savage had already turned it off.
They’d all arrived in New Orleans a couple hours ago and had hit the ground running. That was the great thing about having a private jet at your disposal. Made travel a hell of a lot easier. They’d also procured various vehicles they’d be using while here.
“Her condo was a bust,” Leighton said before Savage could ask him. He’d snuck into Luciana’s condo. The security was more than decent, but not good enough to withstand Gage and Leighton’s skills. She needed to replace her locks regardless. Gage had disabled the actual security system, but he’d picked her locks with surprising ease.
“Nothing?” Savage asked.
“No. No laptop, but I saw the cord for one on her desk. She likely takes it with her to work.” There were a few other electronics, like an MP3 player and e-reader, but nothing he could use for their purposes. And he hadn’t found any other weaknesses that might allow Gage to infiltrate the casino’s security. There were other employees they thought about targeting, but she was potentially the best option since Kuznetsov was her uncle and she was an executive manager at The Sapphire. It stood to reason she’d have access to everything they would need.
“I’m surprised he doesn’t have more security on her, considering most of the world doesn’t even know about the existence of his daughter.” Kuznetsov kept the daughter’s existence vault-quiet but let Luciana work with him for all the world to see. Sure, they had different last names, but it didn’t take much digging to find out they were related. And it wasn’t as if Kuznetsov kept the fact of their familial tie a secret.
“She’s his niece,” Savage said absently as he steered out of the parking spot. They’d parked across the street from her condo complex. “That’s different than a daughter.”
“He should still increase her security. She could be a target.” For some reason it bothered Leighton that her security wasn’t as tight as it should be for someone related to a man like him. He shouldn’t care at all but it annoyed him. Especially since Kuznetsov had raised her. The man should take better care of his family.
“It’s good for us anyway,” Savage said. “Does she have any safes or anything?”
“One in her closet. It was open.” He nearly snorted at that. It was as if she’d opened it for something, then half-ass closed it. It hadn’t quite clicked into place so he was able to peek inside. “Just personal papers and what looks like some heirloom-type jewelry. I took pictures of everything in case Gage can use it.” They’d have been able to break in later and see what was inside but it had saved him time.
“Oh, he called while you were up there. He said she’s leaving her volunteer position now and headed into work, according to her phone’s location.”
Gage had discovered that she volunteered at a suicide hotline. Her own father had killed her mother then killed himself. So that was likely the reason why. Her volunteer work made Leighton question whether she was as evil as her uncle, but sometimes there was no explaining why people did what they did. The psychology of why she was volunteering was pretty damn obvious. That didn’t mean she couldn’t have a darker side, couldn’t be neck-deep in everything her uncle was.
“You ready for tonight?” Savage asked.
“Of course.” He ignored the sideways glance his lifelong friend shot him. He was getting tired of the way everyone looked at him. As if he was broken. Just because he didn’t laugh or joke around like he used to didn’t mean he was broken. He was just different. Life changed. People changed. Every single one of their group should know that. He wasn’t some young kid anymore who thought he was invincible.
“Hey, thanks for Valencia’s new backpack,” Savage said as he took a left at the next stoplight.
Construction in this part of the city was ridiculous. Hell, most of the roads in and around the French Quarter were insane.
He lifted a shoulder. “No problem. I saw the unicorn on it and thought of her.” He didn’t know jack about kids but he knew that Savage’s daughter loved unicorns, rainbows, and pretty much anything related to princesses or tiaras. Though lately she’d been very interested in pickpocketing, thanks to Skye’s tutelage. “So how is everything, post marriage?”
“Kind of the same. Actually, it’s better,” Savage said. “There’s something to be said for making everything official.”
Leighton figured it mattered to Savage since he’d officially adopted Valencia. He could understand and respect that. He was pretty certain that marriage and kids and all that stuff wasn’t in the cards for him but he was happy for his friend. All of his friends.
Sometimes it was hard not to feel like the outsider, however. They were all his family, but now that everyone was settling down, sometimes he could admit that he was more aware of his loneliness. But he shook that thought off. Right now he had a job to do, and that was to play the role of Spencer Johnson.
He could do pseudo-charming trust fund jackass, no problem.
* * *
“All right, let’s go for ten in a row,” Skye said, lifting the green grape in her hand.
Colt opened his mouth and waited as she aimed—and made it. Grinning, he chewed, then said, “What’s the record?”
“I think, like, twenty, for that Idaho job. But I bet we can beat it today.” She popped a grape in her own mouth before turning her attention to the vehicle across the street. Or more accurately, the man in the vehicle. “What kind of a name is Marco anyway? It seems too simple for this…monster.” Or alleged monster, but please, the guy worked for Kuznetsov and had a fairly long criminal record. Mostly petty stuff when he was younger. Clearly he got smarter. Though he did have more than a handful of assault charges. Assault with a deadly weapon. Assault with intent to kill. And it just went on. But all of those charges were dropped. Because people “changed their minds.” Yeah, right.
Colt simply made a noncommittal sound as he watched Marco Broussard, one of Kuznetsov’s men, talk to a man they were pretty certain was a smuggler. Broussard’s exact role in Kuznetsov’s organization wasn’t certain, but he appeared to look out for his New Orleans-based business interests.
“Open up,” Skye said again, tossing another grape at her husband.
“That’s eleven.”
“So…Leighton seems like he’s ready for this operation,” Skye said into the quiet. Silences with Colt were never uncomfortable. Never had been. Not even from the beginning, when they’d still been getting to know each other.
“I think so too,” her husband said.
Colt knew Leighton a lot better than Skye did. “I know you guys are worried about him but honestly, he just seems kind of lonely.” Something most of the crew didn’t seem to understand.
He shot her a surprised glance before looking back across the street, waiting for their mark to make a move. So far Marco had just been sitting talking to John Leroux, a man who’d been brought in by the New Orleans PD more than once on suspicion of transporting stolen goods. He’d never been charged, however.
“What?” Skye asked, snapping a picture of the two men together for their records. “Like that’s so crazy? We’ve all basically paired off. And now Gage and Nova are engaged.”
Colt made a sort of grunting sound. “Yeah. I never really thought about it. And I guess I kinda thought he’d end up with Hazel.”
Skye snorted. “Those two? I know she’s bisexual, but no way. They’re way too much alike. Leighton needs someone different, maybe a little softer. In a way, he reminds me of Axel. I can totally see Leighton ending up with someone like Hadley.” Once upon a time, Skye would have never imagined having a conversation like this. One that dissected their friends’ relationships. It was all too…complicated and weird. But she’d finally accepted that she had friends. And these friends were more like her family now. That meant she cared and had opinions.
Colt just made that grunting sound. They’d been together long enough that she knew what his grunts meant. Right now, he disagreed with her.
“You’ll see that I’m right. Because I’m always right,” she added.
“Is that so?”
“Yep. At least you had the good sense to marry someone as smart as me.”
Colt laughed aloud then and reached across the center console, taking one of her hands in his. They were rarely affectionate during operations, wanting to keep their heads solely focused on whatever job they were working on. Then they’d screw like maniacs once they had downtime. But she’d come to learn that her husband needed that extra affection sometimes. And she was learning to give it freely.
Because she would give Colt anything he wanted. The man had made her feel alive from the moment they’d met. He’d never made her doubt who she was, never made her feel different—even when she knew she didn’t respond to many situations the way most people did. She also knew that most men wouldn’t be secure enough to be with a woman like her. She understood that. But Colt…he was truly her North Star. And that was about as fucking poetic as she was ever going to get.
“Oh, he’s moving,” she said, even though he could see the same thing she could. Skye slid her earpiece in and turned it on. “Gage, you there?”
There was a short pause. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“You find anything new on that Leroux guy?”
“How long have we worked together, Skye?”
“Years…give or take.”
“And you still feel the need to ask me questions like that? You owe me a pizza.”
“Fine. I’ll make sure it has extra pineapple on it.”
“You’ve got problems if you think fruit belongs on pizza… And yes, I’ve compiled a list of known associates that Leroux and Broussard have in common. Leroux doesn’t work for Kuznetsov that I can tell, but he does do some smuggling for him. Basically contract work, but he’s not loyal to the Russian. Just…I can’t tell if he moves people or not.” Frustration was clear in Gage’s voice. “So far it just seems like he moves stolen stuff. For rich assholes.”
So he might be useless for their purposes. They needed to figure out who Kuznetsov used for trafficking people in and around New Orleans. That person would lead them to the girl. Of course, that was if they couldn’t find her at one of Kuznetsov’s hotels. They were covering all their bases now, trying to find her—and any others they could. “Thanks, Gage.”
He made a noncommittal sound, then, “You guys manage to tag his car?”
“No. We haven’t been able to get close enough,” Colt said. “Besides, from what I can tell, he’s hired a driver. Maybe the guy works for Kuznetsov’s organization or maybe it’s really just a hired service. The company looks legit though.” They’d already sent Gage all the details of the name of the company that’d picked up Broussard. Putting a tracker on the car would do nothing because the vehicle was going to end up back at the same place where it had started.
“All right. Let me know if you need anything else. I’m going to be monitoring Leighton for now.”
“Thanks.” Skye narrowed her gaze on Marco’s vehicle as they followed after him, and imagined choking the shit out of him. It seemed too much that he would lead them directly to a bunch of trafficked women, but she could hope.
For now, they were going to follow their leads and do their best to find Hazel’s family friend.