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“I love you, Butterfly.”
“I love you, Michelangelo.”
Shortly after we hung up, I crawled into bed and pulled out the book I’d been reading before he left. Rather than stay on my side of the bed, I rolled to where he’d slept, hugged the pillow, and breathed in his lingering scent.
20
MICHELANGELO
“I’ve been in contact with Mallory Felice,” Nemesis said after leading me into the conference room in Vauxhall Cross, SIS headquarters, where I’d met with Cayman Trace the day before. “You may know her as Flick.”
“I do.”
“I understand she, you, and Sundance have a theory about the Calabrian Syndicate’s interest in increasing their involvement in human trafficking.”
“I mean no disrespect, ma’am, but any theorizing would come from them, not me.”
“You have experience with the Calabrians.”
“Not on the right side of them—if there is one.”
“That’s right. You worked primarily with the Sicilians. Some say they owe their success in art forgery to you.”
I shuddered. “A distinction I’d rather not have. Particularly, given I believe they may be behind the fraud against people close to me. If not them, the Calabrians.”
Nemesis sat back in her chair and steepled her fingers. “It was the Sicilians.”
That made me sit up and take notice. “Do you have evidence to support your speculation?”
She studied me. “It’s a hunch, and as you’re aware, catching forgers is not my mandate.”
“Of course not.” I sat back like she had. “Let me see if I’m following you. The Calabrians see potential in the worldwide art business. They also see it as an arena where they’d have respectability, apart from the forgery side of it. However, the Sicilians have usurped their market share, if you will.”
“Correct thus far.”
“You believe I have enough of an in to convince them I could help them take down the Sicilians. If I’m able to get far enough inside, I may have access to the trafficking side of their business—at least enough to figure out who the players are.”
“You catch on quick, Michelangelo.”
It was, in essence, the same plan Doc, Merrigan, and I had, just tweaked a little.
“I’d need time to reestablish myself as being back in the business.”
I caught a faint smile. “Precisely. We’re not ready to move on our side of it, anyway.”
“Are you saying you don’t already have people on the inside?”
“MI6 does. Not the coalition.”
“If that’s the case, it concerns me. The more people who are undercover, the more risk there is for discovery. Not to mention, conflicting agendas.”
She nodded. “Understood. That can be remedied.”
I held up a hand. “Wait. I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”
Nemesis grinned. “Neither have I.”
“Touché. So, where do we go from here?”