I wander into my room—a small but elegant cabin with just enough space for a bed and nightstand on either side—and find my overnight bag ransacked by the Coast Guard. At least, I assume it was by the Coast Guard. I don’t really care. There was nothing of value in there, and nothing that could identify me for what I am. I focus on folding my clothes up and pulling out my night things, while replaying all of Elmira’s words.
Her warning about Luke. Is she working with Aref by telling me this, or against him? Is it a test? Are they seeing if he has the guts to stick around? If I do? A glance down at the four-inch scar along the inside of my elbow reminds me of the last time I dealt with a husband and wife. I was still in uniform and answering a domestic abuse call. While my partner was handcuffing the drunk husband for punching out his wife, she had a change of heart and took a swipe at me with a paring knife.
Aref and Elmira don’t seem like the drunken knife-wielding type. They’re more calculating than that. Perhaps they’re the type to pay a late-night visit to my room. Or pay Luke a visit to his room. Is that what Elmira was warning me about?
I can’t even call Warner to see what he thinks because, for all I know, this room is bugged.
I know I can’t just sit here and wait. So I venture out of my room, more intent on keeping Luke out of trouble than catching him as he gets himself deeper into it.
Chapter 31
LUKE
“You deal with Vlad. You know what he’s like.”
Aref puffs on his Cohiba, a model of sophistication as he leans back on the couch in a plum-colored pinstripe suit. If he spends four hundred grand on a bottle of scotch, I’m afraid to guess what his clothes cost. “Yes, I do. Difficult at the best of times. Someone I’d like to feed to a pit of crocodiles most other times. With Viktor gone, it’s increasingly been the latter.” He shrugs in an “I don’t really give a fuck” way. “But I’m fortunate. If he tries to dick me around, then he gets to find another reputable source for shipping.” His smirk suggests that would be pretty damn hard. “I imagine they’re going to take issue with you making deals directly with me.”
“Or anyone else, besides them.” I lick the spicy taste of my own cigar from my lips as I let my head fall back and take in the million stars above. I could definitely get used to this life.
Aref seems to ponder this while ashing his cigar in a tall planter next to us. The others have vanished into their cabins; otherwise we wouldn’t be able to talk so openly. My own eyes keep drifting to the set of stairs that will lead down into my cabin and, more importantly, Rain’s.
“There’s no reason that you and I can’t establish a business for different parts of the world,” he finally says.
“That’s exactly what I told Rust.” I have no fucking clue where Vlad’s delivering all the chopped cars, other than the few countries Rust mentioned earlier. Thailand, China, I assume Russia. “Where are you proposing?”
Aref doesn’t miss a beat. “Africa. There’s a big demand for SUVs by government and military. I’ve had someone reach out to me, to see if I could help.”
“And they don’t believe in paying the manufacturers?”
Aref chuckles. “Not these people. They don’t believe in paying, period, if they can get something for free. This would not be free, but it would be discounted by their standards.”
I weigh my words carefully before I speak again. “Vlad and Andrei have been making business less profitable for us. If you were to present us with a fair arrangement, I’d say Rust would have a hard time saying no to you. But it’s got to be a long-term plan, not something to pull us in before you start adding upcharges at every delivery.”
Aref holds his hands up. “That is not how I do business.”
I’d like to believe that. He seems like a stand-up guy. “Let me ask you something, though . . . you have all this.” I wave a hand around. “So why get involved? You could lose everything. I don’t get it.”
He draws another puff of his cigar. “ ‘Why, customs officer, I had no idea what was in those crates. Prove that I did before you can charge me with anything.’ ” His smile is foxlike, his eyes darting behind me, as Elmira sweeps past me with an ashtray for our table. “My wife doesn’t like that I smoke cigars.”
“That’s not true. I simply don’t enjoy finding filth polluting the soil for my cannas,” she murmurs, her eyebrow raised toward the evidence beside him.
He laughs and reaches up to grip the back of her slender thigh through her dress. “To answer your question, Luke, I’m in a risky business but I don’t take stupid risks. I’m careful about who I do business with and who I trust. And I always go with the winning horse. This woman here?” He peers up at her, his dark eyes glassy with booze and lust and adoration. “She’s the only one I trust completely. We have no secrets between us, and she has an uncanny radar for bad business propositions. Spots them within five minutes.” His hand shifts up to her ass, giving it a good squeeze, showing me a hint of an aggressive side that I wasn’t quite sure existed.
Bending down to plant a kiss on his lips, she slips away quietly, Aref’s eyes trailing her swaying hips until they disappear. “I never thought I’d find a woman who understands me completely, who feels like my equal. When that woman doesn’t like someone, I don’t like someone. And I don’t do business with them. Those other men here tonight married foolish cows, and they spend entirely too much effort keeping them happy and quiet. Elmira doesn’t feel they are good partners for us, and that’s why my business with them is limited and will never expand beyond what it is. Of course, they have no clue how much more money they could be making. They think they’re on top of the world.”