Page 34 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)

They had no idea what was happening in their city.

Would they care if they did know? Maybe.

Catholicism was the main religion of Croatia.

They wouldn’t condone the violence that Viktor Kova? caused.

The government had to be watching him. But the Croatian mobster didn’t seem concerned.

Made Tyler wonder if he had more authorities in his pocket than Amir had suggested.

“I’ve got a man on your six, Reid,” Gage warned over the earpiece coms.

Tyler shifted, his Glock holstered at his hip. He rested his clasped hands on the table. Tension filled his muscles. He may have done this before, but he always worked with people he knew. He hadn’t known Von’s team for twenty-four hours.

“He’s armed.” The sound of Adele shifting in her spot in a nearby building came through the coms.

“Where’s the second man?” Von asked. Although safe back at her house, she used Patrick’s drone as a way to keep an aerial view of the location.

Tyler spotted a man in black pants and a t-shirt a block down from the restaurant. If he wanted to make himself obvious, he couldn’t have done a better job. “I see him.”

“The first guy took up position on your eight o’clock,” Gage added.

Bad spot to be in. Gage was standing back in a far corner with a drink at that exact spot. Which meant that the mechanic could easily kill him. And with the second man now taking up a seat in front of Tyler, both men were vulnerable.

The man in black eyed Tyler. He sneered as he tugged aside the left part of his jacket to reveal his pistol. Maybe that was supposed to be a threat. Didn’t turn out as one. Tyler now knew where he could expect the weapon to be pulled from.

“Your boss is a tough negotiator.” The man didn’t offer his name. “Where is the money?” He glanced around, his gaze pausing at the spot where Gage stood with the man’s partner. Hopefully, he hadn’t noticed the mechanic .

Tyler frowned. Did he really expect to get the money immediately?

“I want proof of life.” If he didn’t get that, the negotiations were off.

He needed to confirm they were alive before they agreed when and where to transfer the payment.

After that, they had to make sure they got Elara and her son, and that Viktor didn’t kill them once he got the money.

Tyler wasn’t taking Koen’s dead daughter back to him.

The man laughed. “The dad spoke to her two days ago.”

Taking a deep breath eased some of the tension in Tyler’s jaw.

He kept his eyes on the Croatian. This guy needed to know that he meant business.

“I want proof of life from the last twenty-four hours, or there’s no deal.

” This negotiation was challenging. They didn’t have the upper hand here.

Unless Viktor needed the cash, he could walk away from this.

The man’s response would show how much Viktor wanted that two million.

“Proof of life.” The Croatian chuckled. “You have no trust.” He pulled a photo out of his inner jacket pocket and handed it over.

Tyler took it and frowned. The dark image revealed little.

A woman stood in a small room. Her face was heavily shadowed.

A small form beside her might have been Rian, but it was too dark to tell.

Perhaps the lighting hid Elara’s injuries.

Or worse, it wasn’t Elara, and Koen’s daughter was already dead.

The other major problem, though, was that identification of the time wasn’t in the image.

No clock, no date. Tyler tossed the image onto the table. “This isn’t proof.”

“It is proof.” The Croatian tapped Elara’s form in the picture.

“This is not proof.” Tyler held his ground.

“What, is he playing us?” Von asked over comms.

“It just looks like a black sheet of paper,” Adele replied. Of course, she had the perfect view through the lens of her sniper scope.

Tyler couldn’t respond while sitting in front of the Croatian. He grabbed the paper again and wadded it in his hand. “I want real proof. I want to see their faces. I want to see a date.”

The man spat at him before withdrawing his phone from an inner jacket pocket. He dialed a number and held the device to his ear.

Who was he calling? Viktor? Tyler stretched his jaw. He unclenched his left fist on the table. When had he clenched it? With a huff, he sat back. He’d lost enough in the past. The anger in his chest came from that pain. Viktor was playing games, and Tyler didn’t have the patience.

After glaring at Tyler, the man rambled off in Croatian. His voice rose as he spoke rapidly to the person on the other end of the line.

“What’s he saying?” Gage asked.

Tyler had no idea. He didn’t speak Croatian.

“He’s talking about a video,” Von supplied. “I think he’s trying to get a video recording of Elara and her son.”

“Maybe we’re getting somewhere then,” Adele replied.

The Croatian huffed as he lowered the phone.

“Wouldn’t bet on it,” Tyler muttered.

“You want video, I got video.”

So quickly? That didn’t make sense. The call lasted all of a minute. Tyler nodded once. “Let me see.” He doubted it’d be real evidence. People like Viktor wanted to cause pain for profit. And he’d try hard to get Von’s money without handing over Elara and her son.

The Croatian showed him the video.

Elara stood in front of the camera with Rian’s head barely visible by her hip.

“Hey.” She gave a smile, but her eyes showed the pain of what she’d been dealing with.

“I’m okay. I can’t wait to see you.” She nodded once.

Fear made every movement shaky. Beside her, someone held up a phone with the date from yesterday evening on it.

Everything Tyler would expect.

The man lowered the phone as the video cut off.

“We good, Reid?” Gage asked.

Stop rushing me. Tyler couldn’t actually speak the thought.

And he didn’t know the answer to that question.

Were they good? Viktor’s man gave him the evidence he wanted.

He saw Elara and her son. She showed obvious signs of fear which made sense given the situation.

But that last part. “I can’t wait to see you.

” Who was she talking to? Maybe she thought that Koen would see the video.

“Are you satisfied?” The Croatian asked.

Tyler hesitated. When Viktor’s men grabbed her, Koen said she’d been hurt. “They hit my daughter,” Koen’s words made him reach for the phone. “Let me see it again. ”

The Croatian spat out a word that was likely an insult, but handed the device over.

Tyler played the video. Elara’s reaction to almost everything made sense.

The fear, the shakiness, but there was no hope in her eyes.

If she knew about the rescue, she would have some.

He visually traced her face, searching for an injury.

Sure, Viktor’s men could have hit her elsewhere, but they’d hit her in the head to knock her out.

No injuries marked her face. No blood. No cuts. No bruises.

“I have things to do, I can’t wait all day,” the man grumbled.

“Then why are you wasting my time with this?” Tyler smacked the phone onto the table and leaned forward.

The criminal snatched up his phone and sneered at him. “I got your evidence.”

“Bull. That’s not evidence.”

“You see the woman. You see the date.”

Tyler clenched his right hand. The urge to deck the guy was almost overwhelming.

The Croatian was playing games with innocent lives.

“You had the video altered to put it there. Elara is hurt. She wasn’t in that video.

” He took a deep breath to calm the rising anger in his chest. The last thing he needed was attention from the locals.

“I want a call. Let me speak to her.” The chances were Elara was still alive, at least, until Viktor got his money.

The Croatian mobster wanted to maintain control and make Von and her team feel like they had to go along with everything he said.

“I want a call,” Tyler repeated.

“Reid, what’s wrong with the video?” Adele asked.

He clenched his jaw. Why did they keep asking him questions? He couldn’t respond. Unlike this guy who was willing to reveal that he wasn’t alone here, Tyler wanted to keep that information secret. But Von didn’t seem to have her team working that way.

“If the video’s proof, you don’t need to talk to her. Viktor will get suspicious and think we’re planning on breaking her out and need to tell her the plan,” Gage interjected.

“Quiet,” Von ordered.

The criminal shouted and shoved back from the table. “No. No. No, call! You have proof. Now give us the money. ”

Tyler shook his head. “No.”

The Croatian lost control of the situation. His movements grew more frantic. “You came to us for the girl. You wanted to give ransom for her. Now you have walked away.”

Pushing back from the table, Tyler stood. “Your boss wants that two million. He won’t get it without real proof of life. We’re done here.”

“Wait. Tyler.” Von’s sharp voice cut through the coms. “Give him a day to get it to us.”

Tyler glanced away from the criminal for a second.

“He won’t do it.” He shifted back to the man.

No. This guy knew that Viktor wanted that money, but Tyler was certain that Viktor would rather have control.

Maybe even ask for another two mil if they coughed up the first payment.

If the money was that important to him, he’d have done the phone call to get the cash.

“Tyler, I’m not done negotiating. Tell him, he has one day.”

With a nod, Tyler met the criminal’s gaze. “Viktor has twenty-four hours to give us real proof of life. Or the money’s gone.” And I’ll come for Elara.