Chapter 46

RPOV

I knew that Steph had walked from the apartment but stopped myself from turning to watch her leave. My full attention was on the woman now moving to sit next to me and I had to concentrate on not letting my face show just how repulsed I was with her.

I knew that she would try and seduce me and to be honest eighteen months ago I might just have let her. That's where my memories took me as I thought about the last woman that I'd allowed that to happen with. Eighteen months ago, I'd had to put all of my emotions to one side in order to achieve the targets for a mission. Collecting intel came in many forms and on that occasion the way forward was for me to get close to the daughter of the cartel boss that we were after.

I shook those thoughts from my head because she had been the last woman that I had touched, other than Steph, and I had no intention of allowing Sophia anywhere near me. The message that had come through as Sophia had arrived had come from Hector, with one word written, enimega. I was prepared for the games that she was playing. My one despair was that Steph would have no idea what was going on and that my actions would hurt her. I knew that I needed to get rid of Sophia as quickly as possible but for her to believe that I would turn up at that club as planned was necessary before she would leave.

As her hand rested on my thigh, I removed it and placed it back onto her own knee.

"Sophia, I won't play games with you. When needed then I can appear to be your lover but not before then"

"But Carlos"

"No Sophia. What we need to do is go through what your plans are for tonight"

I saw the resigned look cross her face, almost as if she was put out.

"I'll be there from 11 o'clock and mingle with some of the clients. When you come in, get yourself a drink from the bar and stay on one of the barstools. You'll be approached by some of the other girls but I'm sure you can keep them away from you. I'll approach you and we'll make the show that we're going to use one of the private rooms"

"How will you explain why you've been away?"

"I'll say my mother was ill. People know that I've stayed close to her, no one will suspect anything. Once we're upstairs heading to the room we can take the back stairs down to the basement. There's a large place where the liquor stock is kept that you can hide in"

"Where's that in relation to the room that you mentioned?"

"You have to walk through the store room to get to that room, so you'll see the people as they walk through"

"Why don't I arrive earlier and check that room out for myself?"

"There are cameras down there that are turned off five minutes before the meeting"

For someone who supposedly only came across this room by accident Sophia certainly knew a lot. That only gave credence to this being a set up.

"Where will you be?"

"Once you head downstairs, I'll stay in the private room so people will believe that's where you are"

"Then we know what we're doing then"

"I still have some time left before I need to go, I could spend it here with you"

"Later Sophia. If tonight goes well, then we'll have as much time together as you want"

Once Sophia had left my apartment, I was on the phone to Hector, there were two things that I wanted to know. Where Steph was and when that bitch had left the building.

"Steph?"

"Your office, she's upset"

"Sophia?"

"Elevator"

"Take the elevator straight down to the lobby without it stopping"

"She has phone"

That didn't surprise me, but I was curious how she'd managed to get her hands on one.

"How?"

"When Bobby took her to the apartment, she must have picked his pocket"

"What can you do?"

"Sorted Jefe. All contacts and information password protected. I'll track her with it"

"Message Tank and tell him to pull Seb and Nate from their job at the club"

I finished the call eager to get downstairs and used the stairs to get me to five. The floor was quiet as I came through the door but a look toward the conference room showed where Hector, Les and Isaac were. As I passed the open door, I could see them watching the screen of Hector's laptop, no doubt following where Sophia was going and exactly who she was calling. I carried on down the corridor and carefully opened the door to my office, shutting and locking it behind me. I didn't want Steph to run out on me before I'd explained myself and if she wanted to leave after that then I would let her. Well, maybe.

The room was in darkness but the light from the street showed me exactly where Steph was. I quietly walked over to the couch seeing the dried tears on her cheeks and the slight redness around her eyes from crying. I had no doubt in my mind that she'd ended up berating herself, thinking that she wasn't good enough for me. That was the furthest from the truth that she could be, it was me that didn't think that I was worthy of her love.

I knelt down in front of her and tucked a stray curl of hair behind her ear. To me she was far more beautiful than any woman like Sophia, her wild curls and blue eyes, captivated me. Her body was perfect and so attuned to me that no one else could ever take her place. My hand gently cupped her cheek while I moved my mouth over her face, trying to cover every part of her skin. I watched as her eyes opened, at the way that she looked at me, a mixture of fear and shock.

"I love you Babe and only you. No woman could ever entice me away from you"

"Sophia?"

"Gone. I knew what she was trying to do and believe me when I say that I never allowed her to touch me"

"So, upstairs?"

I lifted her so that I could sit down with her in my arms and let my fingers glide through her hair, pulling the tie out to loosen it.

"She tried to seduce me, but I cut her dead. Babe, I told you that I hadn't been with another woman other than you for over a year. That last one was part of a mission. I'm not proud of what I did but it was a way to get information"

"You slept with a woman for your job?"

"Yes"

I knew that Steph needed to know that, it was something that I knew could make or break us, how she saw me, how she reacted, what she could cope with. As the seconds slipped by, I waited constantly watching for a reaction.

"That was over a year ago. We weren't ready to be together then. We are now"

"You're not repulsed by it?"

"No. I know you are a very sexy man Carlos and I know you have a history. But I hope we have a future"

I was overcome with what she'd said, I felt like a weight had been lifted from me knowing that she was prepared to accept me and everything that I'd done.

"You any more secrets that I need to know about?"

I laughed as I answered.

"No, I think you know most of what I have done and am capable of. Can you live with that?"

"Yes"

"Then I think we need to finish what we started before we were rudely interrupted"

I used my hand to undo her jeans, slowly easing them over her hips and down her thighs. They fell to the floor while my other hand firmly held her around her waist and my mouth was suddenly on hers. As the kiss ended, I looked at her, concerned that she was okay with this.

"Are you sure?"

I watched as she nodded her head in response, as it all that I needed to continue with my movement. I lifted her leg and placed her foot onto the edge of the couch then using soft feather light kisses traced a path from her knee up her inner thigh to her mound. Even though she still had her panties on the feeling that went through me felt exquisite,
I felt myself harden even more as her soft moans reached me. As my mouth rubbed against her mound, I felt her pushing her hips forward desperate for my movements to touch against her folds. I eased her panties down desperate to get closer and used my tongue to swirl against her. She was so wet and so ready for me as I felt her respond. Her hands held tightly onto my shoulders as I bit down and felt the waves of her orgasm ripple through her as her muscles clenched down on my fingers.

As Steph became steadier, I sat on the couch so that she was now straddling across my hips, my erection was pushing hard against the zipper of my trousers and I felt her nimble fingers open the button and slowly pull the zip down. Even that movement seemed so seductive to me and as my trousers were eased down I found myself caught between her wet curls. My hands lifted my own T-shirt above my head and I now started to sweetly lick and kiss around the outline of her bra. I stopped my movement and looked into her face. I did not want to hurt her so needed to be sure that she was okay to continue. Her answer was soft, a low guttural sound coming from her throat.

"Don't stop"

Was all it took for her bra to be unfastened and for my mouth to tweak and tease against her nipples. I felt her rub against me and push me to lean back slightly and allowing those hands of hers to stroke me, using the wetness from herself to lubricate and massage me. I was so close to bursting and knew that I needed to be inside of her, to feel myself being surrounded by her. I reached to my side and found a condom in the pocket of my trousers, ready to tear the package open before rolling it onto myself. Her head shook as she saw what I was doing and pushed my hand away.

"We don't need it"

I'm sure I groaned at hearing that and had no reason to argue with her, I didn't want anything between us, I wanted to experience the feel of being inside of her again.

As she slowly lowered herself down, I guided myself inside. Ever so slowly, relishing the move that being inside of her brought. I rubbed my thumb against her clit as she came down on me, and as I went deep the movement exploded another orgasm through her. Her clenching muscles sent me over the edge and as she arched her back, I lifted her hips changing the angle and thrust once, then twice before I felt the most exquisite feeling flowing through me. As my orgasm rolled it tumbled me through feelings I'd never had before. The feel of her skin rubbing against me and coming inside of her. It was something that I would never tire of, I was addicted to the sensations that it created.

"Thank you"

I wasn't too sure what she was thanking me for because I was certain it should have been me thanking her.

"Babe, I am totally devoted to you, totally in love with you and only you"

"I'm sorry that I doubted you. I felt so jealous because I love you so much"

As we lay on the couch, our bare bodies covered by the blanket my hand was slowly making circles on Steph's back. I was sure if we stayed here any longer then I would take advantage of the situation and continue loving her. I felt her move as she lifted her head and could see that she was wide awake, her eyes had that quality about them that meant that she was thinking.

"What are you thinking?"

"That it would be nice to stay here and continue"

I smiled knowing that I was thinking the exact same thing. Though from how her expression changed it seemed that whirlwind mind of hers had moved onto something else.

"I smell smoke Babe. What are you thinking?"

"That Sophia and the rest of her friends won't be at that club. They'll use other men to trap you"

"Like the ones we came across at Sophia's apartment?"

"Yes. Hector found my camera and there were shots of them meeting at that motel"

"Go on"

"Sophia arrived with Andrews and Tasha arrived with Calhoun"

"Randall and Baines?"

"Randall was there though not Parker, but it might be that he was too clever, and the camera missed picking him up"

"So we're looking at the four as the ringleaders"

"I think so, but I feel sure that the man Leo called Dee could have been there, we just don't know who he is or what he looks like"

I could see that Steph was getting worried and to be honest I had no desire to walk into a trap. She looked up at me her face full of concern.

"You're not going to go, are you?"

"No. Let's get dressed and see what Hector has found out"

I helped Steph to move away from me and then lifted her to her feet. As she bent down to retrieve her clothes, I watched her as I picked mine up as well. She turned suddenly and looked at me as though me watching her was making her worry.

"What's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing. You are a beautiful woman Babe, someone like Sophia doesn't compare"

I saw her blush slightly and couldn't understand why she would think otherwise. As she pulled her T-shirt over her head, I walked up to her and held her in my arms.

"I love the way your hair curls and frames your face and your eyes are so expressive to me. You have an amazing body, with curves exactly how I like them and legs that are long and sexy. You are perfect to me Querida"

I waited for her to argue with what I'd said and was pleased when she accepted the compliment, that was progress. As we were about to leave the room a small beeping sound came from Steph's desk, I left her to deal with that while I went to the conference room and to find out what Hector had for me. As I came up behind where he and Santos were working, I could see that Santos was watching a small red dot on a map while Hector looked to be browsing through a computer.

"Hector"

"Zook, he had this. That kid, Charlie, had major skills and he'd known something weird was going on, so he left this laptop with Zook to make sure it was somewhere safe"

"Have you found anything that could help?"

"Si. At least what they were trying to do a few years ago. Seems they thought they could hack into a secure building and then devise a link up to open an electronic vault"

"Where?"

"Edselsons"

Okay I think I had heard of the name but had no idea why so just looked at Hector waiting for him to enlighten me.

"They are one of the biggest importers of diamonds in the states"

"Would their plan have worked?"

"No. Each program and device would have worked individually but by knocking out the security the vault would have gone into immediate lockdown"

Had they continued to pursue the possibility of stealing the diamonds, it would certainly have made them extremely rich. What I couldn't understand was why Calhoun would get involved with a diamond heist. Then again how else could they get their hands on those diamonds?

"Hector, if they couldn't steal them from the source where else would they find them?"

"Maybe as they came into the country"

"The airport?"

"You know Ranger, Beautiful had me listening to a theory of hers. I wasn't too sure where she was going with it, but I asked around anyway"

I knew that Steph hadn't mentioned anything to me and had probably been using Santos as a sounding board, but I was slightly annoyed that Santos hadn't really taken what she'd said seriously. I just looked at him, waiting for him to carry on with what he was saying.

"Well, Steph was trying to figure out why a man who had lost his family in 9/11 would affiliate with a group who were acting like terrorists"

"Maybe because he wants more funding or a more proactive operation against them"

"Yeah, I think maybe you're right on that. Do you realize that of any of the men that I spoke to, you are the only one to have been sent to the Middle East recently?"

"The talks that are happening?"

"Possibly. If this new agreement goes through all troops will be out of Afghanistan in 14 months and the Taliban will be dealing with any terrorists"

"So the clandestine work over there is being phased out?"

"Looks like it"

"Calhoun is a big supporter of using that to fight against terrorism"

"Well word is that he may be out of a job, forced into retirement or a transfer"

It was beginning to make sense now. He knew that I would be far more aware of what was happening in Yemen than one of the younger men that were being used. They would have collected the intel, completed the job as asked and then been happy to come home. Now though Calhoun had evidence that a possible threat had been ignored and if that threat became a reality here on home turf then he'd have a good argument to keep his job and maintain his way of combatting terrorism through the clandestine jobs. The fact that he was masterminding it just wouldn't be seen or even considered.

I started to pull together what I'd learnt in the last ten minutes. There was a plan that would create a major incident that would be blamed on terrorists while allowing the others to steal the diamonds.

"The airport"

"An explosion to cause a diversion?"

"Possibly, now we need to work out . . ."

I was cut short by Steph running into the room waving a piece of paper in her hand and heading straight for us.

"I know who Dee is, I know what they're after"

We all turned to look at Steph, shit this getting people to finish a story was getting irritating. I looked at her and raised an eyebrow, knowing that would spur her to continue.

"Dee is Dominick Edelson, youngest of three brothers. His father just about disowned him a few years back because of his playboy mentality. He was destined to work in the family business, but Daddy won't have him near it"

"And Daddy deals in diamonds"

I saw the surprised look that she gave Hector when he said that but could tell that she had more.

"Apparently the firm have a special consignment coming into the country, one of the big companies in South Africa has agreed to sell them and Edelsons have bought them"

"When. We need to find out when and which airport"

That piece of information had something else click into place. Fin had said that the woman we now knew as Beth had been trying to find out information from a South African diplomat. Could she have been trying to find out who was buying large quantities of diamonds and when they would be importing them into the country?

I looked over to the screen that Santos had been watching and noticed that the circle that represented the phone that Sophia had dimmed from a deep color to a circle on the screen.

"What's happened to the phone?"

"The battery is probably flat"

I watched as Steph started to look at the map and could see as she worked out where it was.

"How long was she there for?"

"She probably got there, maybe 30 minutes ago but we have no idea where she is now"

I watched as Steph continued to look at the screen and then as she started to turn and make for the door. I was very worried that she was going to do something stupid, like head over to where Sophia had been.

"Babe?"

"I think I know what she was doing. I'm going to make a call"

I hesitated in following her and then decided what the hell. I wanted to know who she'd be calling and what she'd be asking that could possibly help. Hector just shrugged his shoulders at me, and Santos muttered "I've no idea" giving me the impetus I needed to sate my curiosity. I'd assumed that she'd gone to my office so opened the door to see her reclined in the chair behind my desk. She was leant back with her feet propped up on the desk, so was at an angle where she couldn't see me. I stayed at the door out of view but where I could hear her animated voice as she spoke on the phone.

"Gloria, it's Stephanie Plum, how're you doing?"

"That's great, I always said that you two made a great couple"

"You heard right, it was never going to work out"

"No I haven't"

"Really? Wow, I would never have guessed that"

"Yeah, I think I have"

"She'll get over it"

"I have no idea"

"Well I have a favor to ask of you. Talk is that one of my FTAs is going to do a runner"

"Sure am"

"She's called Sophia Singsong though her real name is Sophia Munroe"

"Maybe half an hour ago, real pretty blonde woman"

"She did, really? Yeah that's helps a lot"

"Okay, no, well I doubt it"

"Nice catching up with you as well"

I had no idea other than the name Gloria, who Steph had spoken, what Steph was trying to find out. Even though the call had ended Steph hadn't moved and I was picturing her in my mind as she sorted through what she'd heard in that conversation. As the chair turned, I found myself looking into her eyes and knew that she'd been aware that I was there the whole time.

"Sophia booked a single ticket under the name of Munroe, first class, from JFK to Dubai. Departs 11 o'clock tomorrow evening"

"That's not all you found out is it?"

I walked up to the desk as she sat forward, her elbows on the desk and her chin in her hands. I squatted down so that I was eye level to her to hear what she'd found out, because her face said that it wasn't all good.

"The gossip's doing the rounds, saying that Joe is suspended"

"That's good isn't it?"

"Not when people are saying it was because I interfered with a case he was on"

"And?"

"Apparently my mother is saying that he was trying to save me and that's why his case got messed up. Basically, that it was my fault"

I could see how much hearing that was upsetting her, even though we both knew it was a load of lies.

"Babe, the people who are important to you know the truth"

"I suppose, but why does my mother have to say things like that about me?"

"Babe, I'm so sorry"

I leaned forward to take her head in my hands and gently kissed her, I would do anything to wipe away the sadness from her eyes. I was almost cursing Frank for telling me his story because I was almost tempted to repeat what he'd told me. The problem was that I didn't know if knowing the truth would hurt Steph even more.

"Babe how did you come across the name Edelson for Dee?"

"I used this amazing search program that we got from Larry, a multi complicity search. Anyway, you input the names of people and the program finds any instances of commonality. Dominick Edelson was always in the papers and it seemed he spent time with Sophia"

"Proud of you Babe, you did well to find that"

"Hector helped"

"How about we go see if Hector found out when the cargo arrives from South Africa"

As we went back into the conference room Isaac was there with Santos talking quietly away from Hector.

"Got it"

Came from Hector which caused everyone to surround him.

"Flight from Johannesburg"

"They won't create the diversion until that plane has landed and it's being unloaded"

I turned to Santos as he said that, glad that he was thinking ahead for what we'd needed to know. What we needed to do now was to plan out how the hell we were going to divert a major incident and catch them at the same time.

"Santos, tell everyone to meet in an hour"

"Babe, we have food waiting for us"