Josef snugged the package closer to his body. He figured it was better not to attach it directly onto his person but to keep it close. That way, if things backfired, and were blown up, well he could always regenerate, unless the burning got him or he lost his head. But he didn't intend that to happen and really, when had he ever lost his head over anything? Especially something as sappy as getting his two best friends back together.
No, years ago he had survived that bombing of his penthouse office. He wished the others had had his years of survival experience plus using the cure. And despite everything, he had to admit, Coraline's advice on how to survive had held up quite nicely. In fact, she had given the fire department the idea: drop, and roll. Of course, privately she had added that it helped to have at least one blast and fireproof area nearby. Wherever Josef went now, a little cubby was made just for that purpose. Coraline was crazy but seemed to always survive somehow. Mick thought he had killed her with fire but Josef knew that couldn't have happened. She was too old a vamp and just had too much regenerative power to go down in flames. Which is why he found it so intriguing when the Monaghans crisped up immediately.
He figured that a mere 150 years wasn't enough, glad that he had 300 more than everybody else around here. He sniffed. There were probably much older vamps in this armpit of the world but his ego would bet his smarts against any of them. Even this World Leader wanna be. Josef wondered once again who the heck it was that had figured out his secret? He'd found Lance and all his other contacts in Europe and the Middle East. They hadn't known about Beth so he doubted any of them were in on it plus no one could even give him a name. No one that is until Interpol called, asking him why The Shadow was seeking him out? Man, the humans were incredible. Josef sneered. Code naming this guy after a graphic novel hero. Those boys at Interpol wanted him bad but how had they figured out the connection to Josef of little Amber's kidnapping? Now, that wasn't as obvious as a mole but it stood to reason. If they knew about one, they knew about the other.
Yes, it was clear: he had a traitor, one soon to be ashes traitor. Someone in Josef's organization knew about Beth, knew she and her daughter were special to him and that they were being protected. So was the traitor working for this Shadow or was it the "man" himself? Given the ransom demand, he speculated no one working for him was powerful enough for this kind of operation but he had definitely gotten in bed with some shady characters in his professions. Problem was no one he dealt with in arms sales or, for that matter, in the financial world, would know he possessed such a precious commodity. Once again, he checked the package's position.
There were several different ways to go about this exchange with Shadow but now that he had the Beth/Amber telepathy in play, he figured the easiest one was to play it straight up. But with a little twist.
And he would soon know the traitor's real name.