Nico (The Mavericks Book 8)

Ankerby.
He kept reading, looking at the Australian rally she was to attend and how well advertised it was, only to find her announcement as a keynote speaker at this big event was splashed all over the website. So thousands, if not millions, knew that she was coming here.
Nico was also registered at the same hotel where she had disappeared. That gave him the best access to look for her. She did not travel with security, according to the notes that he had, so, up until now, her own safety hadn’t been an issue. He was pretty damn sure that, after this though, that would change. On the other hand, maybe it would calm her down, and she wouldn’t be quite so visible. Nothing like the threat of losing your own life—or that of one of your family—in this level of danger for you to rethink your life’s plans.
Yet, if this kidnapping was connected to her brother and his secret undercover world, then a whole lot of government rethinking needed to be done here, in Nico’s opinion. Not only had the brother been compromised but he had put his sister in danger too. However, if this was connected to the sister’s activism, then she could have added another level of danger to her brother’s undercover activities. Like her brother needed more reasons why somebody would go after him. If he was black ops and undercover, it meant he was working deep and dealing with other governments.
Somebody somewhere would want him dead no matter who, how, or why. That was just a given, and learning anything more about that wouldn’t necessarily help with finding his sister. The information was sketchy on the rest of her life, like who exactly was her husband. A name was here but nothing about what he was like. Why and how did he die? There were again no details.
Nico hated to question his death and life like that but hated even more not having answers. Where had they lived in the US? Just because the husband’s family was from Arizona didn’t mean they had resided there once they married. That was also where she had gone to school though. He kept digging and finding different layers upon layers and taking his time.
When he finally ran out of questions, most still unanswered, he closed his eyes and tried his hardest to get some sleep. Because, once he landed, he would be filled with an adrenaline rush. Go, go, go. And that just reminded him of something else. He quickly sent a message on one of the six burner phones he’d brought with him.
Am I alone?
No. He’ll meet you at the airport.
Nico smiled at that. He had no clue who he was supposedly working with from here on in. He wanted to ask the Mavericks chat window for more details but realized the plane would be landing soon anyway. Nico set his watch to match the current Sydney time zone. It was now Friday, early evening. Regardless, it still felt like the wee morning hours of Coronado to Nico.
By the time Nico got off the flight, he headed straight for the exit and outside. He hadn’t been there ten seconds, looking around to see if he recognized anybody, when a vehicle drove up. It was a sports car, something that he’d have picked up himself. He took one look at Keane in the driver’s seat and hopped inside. “Well, thank God, it’s you.” Nico immediately handed him one of the burner phones.
Keane nodded, pocketed the phone, grinned at him, and smacked him hard on the shoulder. “This way you don’t get to hug me.”
“I’ll just hug you when we exit the vehicle,” Nico promised.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” Keane said with a laugh, as he pulled away from the airport.
“How did they reach you? I haven’t seen you in years.”
“Apparently they have feelers everywhere, finding guys who are ready for a change.”
“Right.” Nico nodded. “I helped Miles out in the last job. Jesus, that was a nightmare.”
“I hear you. This one’s just … I’m not sure what it is though.”
“Ryker said it could be worse than Miles’s job finding that serial kidnapper who turned out to be a serial killer. But seems two jobs were pending. So we didn’t get assigned that one and got the other one instead.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a different one,” Keane said. “Ryker said a hold was on that job for a few days. So this one was more pressing, time-wise.”
“Good,” Nico said. “You can help me on this one, and then that horrid one can be yours. That serial killer last time was enough to finish me. Luckily the collector killed the serial killer. I’d have gladly taken him out myself with a quick bullet between the eyes and saved the government and all the people the pain of keeping that guy alive.”
“Well, he’s dead, so that’s the good thing. But he got an easier and faster and less painful ending than any of those poor women. I heard the details from Miles.”
“You know him too?”
“Yeah. He was part of my briefing.”
“I’m not quite sure how this Mavericks system works, even after this much time,” Nico said. “I was asked to come and help Miles, and, of course, I jumped at the chance.”
“They didn’t give me many details either on the Mavericks system,” Keane said. “They were pretty closemouthed about it. But they did tell me something to go on for our op. Heard we also had some government interference on this job.”
Nico snorted. “Isn’t that always the kicker? I don’t get why this woman was taken from her hotel.”
“You should,” Keane said. “She’s an activist, and somebody wanted to shut her mouth.”
“But you heard about the family connection?”
Keane nodded, and his face turned grim. “We need to know if it is connected to her kidnapping. Because, wherever that guy’s name is listed, there’ll be mentions of other US operatives too.”
“In which case they’re all compromised.”
“Apparently they were all over the world, including Russia.