Page 52

“Can I help you?” She pushed a long, sparkly earring through her tiny lobe as she glanced up at me in the mirror.
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat and was glad the prosthetics hid my embarrassment as I gawked. “I’m Dan. I’m stepping in for Paul tonight.” It felt good when her face fell. “I’m a friend of the team’s and your escort tonight.”
“When was this decided?” Her hand moved to her stomach like she was uneasy.
“About an hour ago.”
“I see.” She picked up her lipstick then dropped it, giving away her nerves. “Um, excuse me.” She brushed by, and I grinned, pleased it worked.
“Nicole,” I called to tell her it was me, but she marched up to Cole who had a hard time keeping a straight face.
“Something tells me Blackstone keeps their team in the know, so why am I minutes away from walking into that den of vipers with Dan here?” She pointed at me, and Cole rolled his eyes. “Where’s Paul? Why isn’t he taking me?”
“Nicole,” Cole’s smile appeared, which only seemed to piss her off more, “you’re missing?—”
“Do you know how hard this job is for me?” she blurted. “I try to act like I’m not terrified, but I am. When I found out what happened to my last team, and Ben was taken, I couldn’t sleep for days. Those men are ruthless heathens who will stop at nothing to get what they want, believe me!” Bruno’s face flashed before me; whatever he did to her sure left a mark. “I’m putting my life in danger here, for good reason, but that doesn’t mean you can pivot the plan at the last second.”
“I didn’t,” Cole said calmly, “and Dan isn’t taking you.”
She looked at me in confusion. “But he said?—”
I pressed the button on my vocal box so she could hear my real voice. “It’s me, Paul. We had to know that I didn’t look or sound like me.”
“Seems to me someone could use a Marcus Martini.” Mark beamed and handed Nicole a drink. She took a deep swallow.
“Sorry for upsetting you.” I felt bad when I saw her finish the entire martini.
She handed Mark the glass. “How very Day of the Jackal of you.” She screwed up her face then ran her finger along her bottom lip. “We should get going.”
Cole brought the computer over to show me the map of where Talya’s oldest friend lived. “I know you know the plan, but I want to run through it one more time. You and Nicole work the party, and the rest of us will check out the friend’s house. Keith has altered his look a bit and will act as your driver and will be your eyes outside. If any of us gets anything, we share it real time.”
“Got it. What are the odds her friend will be there?” Nicole crossed her arms. “The Cartel will be turning over every rock in this country, especially the Canos and Perez families. God only knows who else is after that child.”
“It’s a start.” I knew I sounded snarky, but my lack of patience with all this was eating me up inside.
“Are you two able to act like you don’t want to kill one another?” John piped in with a smirk, and she shot me a nasty look.
“We’re professionals. We got this.” I handed Nicole her purse. “Okay, let’s go.”
Cole stood and opened a box. “Earpiece,” he handed it to her, “and a tiny pin camera that will look like it’s part of your dress.” He watched as she pinned it through the fabric. “Just push the front and back of it to activate, but they’ll do a sweep of you when you first arrive, so only turn it on once you’re in.”
“Copy that.” She tested out the earpiece. “Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear,” I confirmed.
“One last thing, if you ever need Paul to intervene, you need a safe word.”
“I’ll order a dirty martini, because Sully normally has champagne circling at these parties.”
Cole nodded at me. “Dirty martini is her safe word.”
“Copy that.” I took her arm and headed for the door. A limo was parked and waiting. If we were going to this thing, we were going to look like we belonged.
“Nicole,” Cole addressed her one more time, “if you get any tip at all on where the child might be, repeat it when you’re alone. We’ll be listening. We just need one lead, so let’s make it count.”
I opened the door to the limo, and she slipped inside. I signaled to Cole that I was good and joined her.
“You know where,” I called to Keith, who was dressed as our driver. He would stay outside in case we needed him.