the Ritz Carlton on Key Biscayne. He’d made sure to dress like a tourist, complete with cargo shorts, obnoxious tropical print shirt, flip-flops and a camera bag draped over his shoulder. He didn’t need to draw attention. He shouldn’t even be on Key Biscayne, after last night’s events.
Stupid. It hadn’t occurred to him Sullivan would have his cop ex hanging around. The only thing saving Terence’s ass right now was he’d used his silencer, so he was pretty sure no neighbors had heard the shots. That and the fact he hadn’t hit anyone. But she knew. The bitch cop knew he’d fired. Hell, now it looked like two cops knew.
That was all he needed. He wasn’t going down for taking shots at a fucking cop by mistake.
His gut told him this game wasn’t going to end well for him. He always trusted his gut. No way in hell he was about to ignore it now.
“Do you have news?”
He winced at that sharp female voice. Did she practice the bitch tone or was it just ingrained? He wished like hell he could deal with the big guy instead of her. “They left on Sullivan’s boat this morning.”
“Where?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Did you plant the GPS device onboard before they left?”
Fuck, yeah. He did everything she said, just like a friggin’ yes-boy. Which included plugging Kimbel, because the guy had a sick obsession with Sullivan that was making her nervous. “Yeah. It looks like they’re headed to the Bahamas.”
“Give me the coordinates.”
He recited where they’d been when he’d checked his computer in the rental car five minutes before. Sullivan’s boat had at least a four-hour head start, but he doubted it would matter. It was a two-day trip by sailboat from Key Biscayne to the Bahamas, longer if they were navigating the waterways and going deeper into the islands. But by air it was only a couple of hours.
“Keep tracking them. We’re on our way to Nassau.”
He hung up the phone, fought to keep from slamming it on the cradle. Taking one last puff, he blew out a long breath of smoke, ground the butt into the concrete with his shoe and slipped on his shades as he walked toward his rental around the block.
No, this wasn’t sitting well with him. If he were smart, he’d keep his options open.
Options. He was an options man. Not a yes-boy.
Before he could change his mind, he climbed into the tan sedan, pulled out his cell and dialed Odyssey.
Pete massaged his aching forehead as he ran through his latest inventory sheet. He really needed to schedule another overseas buying trip, swing through Europe, stop off in Turkey, maybe even head into India, but just the thought left a pit in the bottom of his stomach. It’d been a long time since he’d enjoyed one of those trips. An even longer time since work had been anything but a diversion.
He thought of Rafe and Lisa as he scanned the list, flipped the page. Then chuckled, because he’d recognized that shell-shocked look in Rafe’s eyes when the man had been here yesterday. The barracuda had definitely taken a bite out of him. And judging from his demeanor earlier, she’d knocked Rafe right on his ass.
Hell, six years ago, that had been Pete, hadn’t it? Rafe didn’t stand a chance.
His smile faded as he refocused on the pages in front of him. His storage facility was still full, but there were pieces he needed to add to his collections. A few special things buyers had asked for that he didn’t have on hand. As he made notes on a notebook at his right and turned to the last page, though, all thoughts about buying trips and demanding clients and his SOL partner slipped right out of his head.
His Egyptian collection filled one whole sheet. And even though he’d known it was inventoried with the rest of his holdings, the list still stopped him cold.
Line after line of Egyptian relics, jewelry, statues and artwork. All items he hadn’t been able to pass by during the last five years without buying. All things he had no intention of ever displaying.
Shit. He needed to get rid of it. Every single piece. The smart thing to do would be to sell it all off, but each time he’d tried, it’d been like taking a knife to the jugular. So far, he hadn’t been able to do it. So there it all sat. In storage. Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of Egyptian artifacts he