The Mercenary (8 page)

And he didn’t apologize for who he was. He simply wouldn’t because he knew he was a necessary evil.

“Anna is on the phone with the Pontufs. They are very concerned about their daughter and are not sure who to trust. We are lucky that they know Anna. Is Olivia on the line?” Savage asked.

“No,” Kirk said. He’d sent her out of the room and told her to go lie down and rest. He needed some time away from her. She was distracting him. Last night when he’d held her in his arms, he’d realized just how much he’d enjoyed it. And that was something he couldn’t afford to let happen now.

“Just Laz and I. Do you need her?”

“In a minute. We aren’t going to let them know that you are working for us. I think the less they know the better. Lambert had already called them before Anna did, so we don’t want to tell them anything that will change their attitude toward him and possibly put their lives in danger.”

“Have you thought about asking Charity or Justine to come to Johannesburg and serve as bodyguards for them?” Kirk asked. Charity and Justine were coworkers of Anna’s at Liberty Investigations. The firm was a top-rated investigation and security firm. The three women worked together like a well-oiled machine. Having worked with them in the past, Kirk was very impressed with the three of them. Those women could kick some serious ass.

“We have. Charity is on her way. Justine will be coming in the next day or so. She’ll help us to gather information to put Lambert in jail,” Jack said.

“Good. I want this wrapped up as soon as we can. Olivia’s not going to last too long in this kind of environment,” Kirk said.

“I think we can wrap this up in three or four days tops. Do either of you have any contacts with the diamond consortium?”

“I don’t,” Kirk said.

“I might,” Laz said. “Let me see what I can come up with. That is a hard nut to crack. They are very particular about who gets into that organization.”

“I know. I’ve been online and on the phone trying to find someone we can use on the inside, but I haven’t gotten very far,” Savage said.

“We might have to just use Anna and Charity on the inside with the Pontufs. That will be enough to get us some information on whatever Lambert has planned. Olivia managed to get some information that will implicate him in the black-market diamond exchange. I’m sure his bosses at the consortium don’t know about that.”

“Good idea,” Savage said. “Let’s move forward with that. Get a package of information together that Charity can use if she has the opportunity.”

“We will,” Kirk said. “When will you be in-country?”

“Six hours. We are landing at a private airfield. Do you think we should get Olivia out of the country?” Jack asked.

“No. I can keep her safer here.”

“I wouldn’t go anyway,” Olivia said coming back into the room. She had a bottle of water in one hand and looked very calm and untouchable.

“Why not?” Savage asked.

“My parents are on their way here and Ray is dangerous. I couldn’t possibly stay someplace safe while they were in peril.”

“Glad to hear you feel that way, Olivia. I’m Jack Savage, by the way.”

“Nice to talk to you. Thank you for sending your men after me.”

“It was nothing. They were in the area anyway.”

“Doing what?” she asked. “Never mind. I probably don’t need to know. Did Kirk tell you that we have a list of men we think that Ray killed? As well as a log of some sort to different areas of the mine that he was using for his illegal mining?”

“I did,” Kirk said.

“We don’t have a diamond expert on our team. Are you familiar with that operation, Olivia?” Savage asked.

“Not really. I can make a guess at some of the things that are in the book, but I don’t really know what any of it means. I have a cousin who works at the diamond consortium, but I probably shouldn’t call him now, should I?”

“No, that wouldn’t be a good idea. We will figure that out. Why don’t you and Kirk keep trying to figure out the logs until we get there?”

“We can do that,” Kirk said. “Laz and I want to take a drive by Lambert’s house to see what the security setup is.”

“Wait until the rest of the team is in Johannesburg,” Jack said. “Your face is on that tape and I don’t want to take a chance of you being recognized.”

“I was going to shave my head,” Kirk said.

“Why would you do that?” Olivia asked.

“It’ll change my look. I can let my beard grow in and dress like a Muslim, too. That might be a better disguise,” Kirk said.

“Whichever you decide. You’re good at keeping out of sight. I’ll talk to you both later unless you need anything else?” Jack asked.

“We’re good,” Kirk said. He hung up the speakerphone and jotted a few notes on the paper he’d been writing on.

“How often have you done something like that?”

“Like what?” he asked, not really sure what she was asking.

“Cut your hair or grown your beard. Pretended to be someone of a different religion…actually, I don’t know what religion you are,” she said.

He could see that she was starting to panic about not really knowing him.

“Who are you?”

“Whomever I need to be to get the job done,” he said, walking away from her.

That was something he’d learned a long time ago being a mercenary. And it was one thing he’d never forget.

A
UGUST
2, P
RETORIA SAFE HOUSE

O
livia followed Kirk out of the living room and up the stairs. She wasn’t sure where he was going, but she wasn’t prepared to stay by herself.

“Stop following me,” Kirk said without turning around.

“I…I don’t want to be alone.”

“I’m going to work out.”

“Good. I could use some exercise,” she said. “I’m used to running every day. Burati used to hate going with me.”

“Fine.”

She climbed the stairs behind him and followed him into a sophisticated workout room. “This house has everything.”

“It should. We need a home base to minimize our running around in a town when we land.”

“Do you have many of them?”

“A fair amount. You’ll find running shorts and T-shirts in the closet. I’m going to my room to change.”

“Uh.”

“You will be fine for a minute.”

She nodded. She got changed quickly and went back in the exercise room. The treadmill was one she was familiar with and she went to it. She put her hands on the handbar and felt a sense of the normal for a second. Looking around this room she could be anywhere: London, Manhattan, Paris. In this room she was safe.

He came back out dressed in athletic shorts and no shirt. He had on tennis shoes and held an MP3 player in his left hand.

“Why don’t you stock this place for women?” she asked. There was a lot of Kirk’s mercenary world she simply didn’t understand and it was only by asking questions that she’d come closer to getting it. That she’d come closer to figuring out what it was about Kirk Mann that made him so irresistible to her.

“There aren’t any women on our team and we don’t usually have anyone here who isn’t on the team.”

She went into the bathroom and got changed. Running would actually help to make her feel normal, she thought, though she was no longer sure what normal was. She had realized while listening to Kirk and Jack talk that her life was never going to be the same again. She couldn’t go back to pretending she didn’t know that men like Kirk existed.

She’d learned more about him since they’d met yesterday than she knew about Ray in all the months they’d been engaged. That was a lie. She didn’t know Kirk, and that was fine because the one thing she did know about him—he was very good at keeping her safe—was the only thing that mattered right now. She tried to imagine the future and not feeling this vulnerable, but she couldn’t.

The most important thing to her way of thinking was the fact that Kirk wouldn’t lie to her the way Ray had. He wasn’t the type of man to smile at her one day and try to kill her the next.

Kirk was already running on the treadmill. She watched him run, admiring the athleticism of his body. She fiddled with the settings until she got it set to her stride and pace and started running. She didn’t have headphones, so she just let her mind wander and found that she was able to start making some sense of the events of yesterday.

Well, as much sense as she could. She thought that Ray must have killed a man who either had threatened to go to the authorities about his illegal activities or a man who was doing illegal work for him. She didn’t know that man, but she offered a quick prayer for him.

Why had Ray called her to bring the black envelope to him? The file in there had made no sense to her or to Laz or Kirk when they’d all looked at it.

Maybe someone else on the Savage Seven would be able to figure it out. The information seemed to be about a defunct shaft of the mine. In fact, the pages were all about the mines that had been abandoned at one time or another. She tried to remember the conversations she’d had with Phillip at a dinner party last year. She knew that the consortium routinely ordered the different mines to shut down to keep control over output. She kept jogging, letting the cadence of her feet center her.

What if that defunct mining shaft was where Ray was mining his illegal gems?

She hit the stop button and turned to look at Kirk, who was still running, sweat trickling down his back. She reached over to trace the track of it down the center of his spine.

He hit the stop button and turned to her. His breath was heavy and his chest was moving up and down. She realized she wanted him. How was that possible? She had never had much of a libido before him, but it seemed the adrenaline from her brush with death was manifesting itself sexually.

Kirk was having a hard time keeping his hands to himself and his thoughts off Olivia. It took all of his willpower not to stop the treadmill, grab her, pull her down on the floor in the gym, and make love to her.

It felt like eons since he’d felt the soft touch of a woman and he wanted Olivia’s silky legs wrapped around his hips.

“What?” he asked her. His voice was rough with desire and he didn’t bother trying to disguise the hard-on pressing against his shorts.

“Um…I was thinking that the information in that black envelope.” She seemed a bit distracted by his body. Her eyes kept moving over his chest and she was running her thumb over her fingertips.

“What about it?” he asked, trying to get his mind back on track.

“What if he used the abandoned mine for his illegal activities?” she asked.

Kirk stepped off the treadmill and away from Olivia. She looked tempting in that baggy T-shirt with the sweat mark in the center. The baggy shorts just served to emphasis the slimness of her waist and hips.

Lambert, he thought. He had to keep his mind on Lambert. The sooner they got this girl back to her safe little world the sooner he could be back to normal.

“That makes a lot of sense. I bet he is using it,” Kirk said.

“That’s the only way he’d be able to get the diamonds he’s selling on the black market. The consortium is very tight about what is mined. They won’t allow the diamonds to be flooded onto the markets because that would erode their profits,” she added.

“Let’s go find a computer and see if we can see the mine from the satellite,” Kirk said.

“Okay. I don’t think it’s available on regular satellites.”

“We have access to government satellites, so we’ll be able to check it out. When do they do most of the mining at Onyx?”

Olivia bit her lip. “I don’t know for sure. Ray would never let me come down for a tour. He works long hours like most businessmen.”

“Let’s get this information processed and see what it yields. Maybe we can go out and check out the mines,” Kirk said.

He was tired of being in the house. He didn’t like inactivity and though they’d only been here for less than twenty-four hours, he was restless. “You can stay here.”

“No. I can’t. You can’t go alone and I don’t think I can stay by myself.”

Kirk rubbed the back of his neck “We’ll figure something out.”

He still couldn’t get into Lambert’s mind. And he had always been able to understand the men he targeted or the enemies he went after. One of the things he was good about was figuring out what made the other guy tick.

“Do you know anything about his past?”

She shrugged. “A little. His parents are deceased and he’s an only child. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes. Where was he born?”

Olivia followed him down the stairs and he could feel her behind him. He was trying to ignore the lust for her, but it was hard because of her proximity. His hormones didn’t rule him—at least not at this moment.

“I don’t really know. I think he was raised here. I do know that he started working for Onyx and moved up the corporate ladder there.”

“Has he only worked for them?” Kirk asked, building the picture of the man in his head. He should have done this earlier. But he had been too busy making sure she was safe. Now it was time to figure out Lambert and close this case.

“Yes. The mines are like that. Most people work for them their entire life. In fact, there are generations of families who have always worked there.”

“Even during different regimes?” he asked.

“Yes, they say that life doesn’t really change for the poor,” she said.

“That’s true of any country. I’ve seen it everywhere I’ve travelled.”

“Me, too,” she said. “It’s funny to me how people will hate someone of a different ethnic background without even realizing that they are basically the same. We all want the same things from life.”

“You think?”

She nodded. “People just want to do the best for their families and keep them safe. Don’t you think that’s true?”

Kirk looked at her. “Probably. It’s how we define ‘best’ that sets cultures apart.”

“Yes, that’s it. I have met people who were happy living in their dirt-floored huts in the Amazon. Happy because they had water and their kids had food. I mean that was literally enough for them to be happy.”

They’d arrived in the living room and he leaned over the computer to wake it from sleep mode. He didn’t want to think about how much he liked Olivia.

But somehow that didn’t matter just now. Just now they were two people who were very much the same. They were two adults in an impossible situation, he thought. He wanted her and he needed to keep her safe. Would it be better to bed her and ease the ache inside or keep ignoring her?

He hadn’t had a partner since his sniper scout Joe Gibbs had been killed on maneuvers. And he hadn’t missed having one. He’d gotten used to working on his own and relying on his own skills and those of the Savage Seven.

Now this woman was making him remember things he’d forgotten, like how good it felt to share a discovery on a mission with someone else. And how much he enjoyed watching her butt as she walked.

This simple extraction was getting complicated and Kirk didn’t like speed bumps on missions. He had to figure out what to do about Olivia and move on. Keeping her safe and out of harm’s way was imperative. But shutting down Lambert and making sure that he didn’t kill anyone else—especially Olivia—was his objective.

Olivia knew her way around the computer pretty well, but Kirk was better. He accessed a network that she didn’t ask too many questions about and started searching for information on the mines that Onyx Diamond Group owned. It didn’t take too long to find the proof that Ray was indeed mining in an abandoned area.

“I’m going to see if I can find satellite images of the murder you witnessed. Call Savage on this number and put him on speakerphone,” Kirk said.

Olivia pulled a chair up to the table he was using and dialed the number on the satellite phone. “Savage here.”

“It’s Olivia. I’m going to put you on speaker,” she said.

She pushed the button and set the phone on the table. “What’s up?” Jack asked.

“Olivia made a connection to an abandoned area of the mine and I’ve been going over some of the satellite footage of the mine. There is definite activity there. I am also going to search for the murder she witnessed. Have you already done that?”

“Anna ran the time through the satellites that we have access to that would have been in that area and she didn’t find anything,” Jack said.

“So don’t waste my time?”

“She’s better than anyone I’ve seen on the computer.” Savage’s wife Anna was a computer whiz.

“I agree. I’ve made a digital copy of the activity I observed and I’m putting that in the file for Charity,” Kirk said.

“Olivia, how well do you know that guy at the consortium?” Jack asked.

“I know him very well. He’s married to one of my cousins.” She had always liked Phillip—he was funny and charming and threw the best parties.

“Who is it, by the way?”

“Phillip Michaels.”

“Do you trust him?” Jack asked.

“I think so,” Olivia said. She’d never had any reason not to.

“Make damned sure you do, because you will be trusting him with your life,” Kirk said.

That took her aback. For a minute, she’d felt like her old self again. But there was no going back to the old Olivia. Trust was second nature to her. She simply trusted everyone and she realized now that wasn’t the best way to be. That, right now, if she put her faith in the wrong person it could mean her own death.

“He introduced me to Ray, but I don’t think he knew about Ray’s illegal activities,” she said.

“You have to be positive. If you can trust him, then we can get Charity to go to him with the information we gather and that will help us to trap Lambert,” Jack said.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I don’t want to put Charity in danger. I mean, Phillip is one of the nicest men I know, but I would have said the same of Ray a few days ago.”

“I will provide cover for Charity,” Kirk said.

“What kind of cover?” she asked.

“Backup with my weapon,” Kirk said. “But don’t worry about that now. I wanted to let you know what we’d found.”

“Thanks,” Jack said. “I’m going to have Sam Liberty call the diamond consortium and see if he can get a lead on someone we can use. He has more contacts in that area than we do.”

“Sounds good. Mann out,” Kirk said, hanging up the phone.

“Who is Sam?”

“He owns Liberty Investigations. I’ve never met him, but Jack and he communicate on some of the jobs we’ve done. Sam works with a lot of governments and Fortune 500 companies, so he’s got contacts everywhere.”

“Do you think it’s safe to leave this house?” she asked, thinking that maybe they could go and get her address book. She might have more information in there.

“Why?”

“Because I think if I got my address book I’d be able to find some of Ray’s contacts.”

“How will that help us?”

“Maybe someone has seen something.”

Kirk shook his head. “We’re not investigating this crime.”

She nodded.

“I do want to go to his office. Is that where he spends most of his time?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I want to set up some bugs for recording. I think we need to find out what Ray is doing and who he is talking to.”

“Okay. When will you go?”

“Soon.”

“Are you thinking of leaving me here?”

“Not sure yet. If I take you with us, you’d have to stay well back and listen to orders. And no talking.”

She nodded. “I think I’d prefer anything to sitting here worrying about Ray killing my parents or my friend. I hate this. I might not be a soldier like you are, but there must be something I can do.”