Page 70 of Silk Shadow

He was overly polite and spoke with a slight accent. German, maybe.

"Do you have any identification?" Viper didn't like this. He didn't care who this guy was, but you don't just appear out of nowhere asking to talk. That’s not how it worked. And how the hell did he know who Izzy was, anyway?

More importantly, how’d he know she was here?

"Sure." The man reached into his back pocket.

"Slowly," hissed Viper. Izzy had her hand on his back. He could hear her short, shallow breaths. His only thought was to keep her from harm.

The stranger handed over a German passport. Viper didn't drop his gun. "You take it," he said to Izzy.

She reached around him and glanced at the photograph. "It's him," she whispered. “Gert Henderson.”

"Are you alone?" Viper asked. He hadn't picked up any other movement, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

"Of course not," he said honestly. "This is Mexico and I'm not crazy. My yacht is anchored off the coast. We sailed up from Costa Rica to talk to Miss Beaumont."

"How did you know she was here?" Viper was seriously worried. They could be surrounded. Outgunned again. He knew one thing thought, they were taking Izzy over his dead body.

"I have my sources."

"Nobody knew we were here," whispered Izzy. There was fear in her voice.

"Shall we go and sit down and then I'll tell you how I found you," said the man.

Viper nodded. There'd be more people on the terrace. Less chance of a firefight. "After you."

They followed the stranger onto the pool terrace and sat down at one of the tables. The umbrellas had been taken down for the night and the stars twinkled unknowingly overhead.

Viper aimed his gun under the table. "Any suspicious moves and you risk losing a vital part of your anatomy."

The man nodded and put his hands on the table. "I told you, I'm here to talk."

"Why couldn't this have waited until I got back to D.C.?" Izzy asked.

"Because this is off the books, so to speak. I don't want my shareholders to know what we're discussing and I sure as hell don't want yours to either."

Viper frowned. Perhaps this wasn't a kidnap attempt, but he wasn't ready to rule anything out. "Where are your men?"

"On the beach. They're not a threat."

He felt some of the tension drain from his shoulders. "Okay, talk. How did you find us?"

"It wasn't that hard. I managed to get hold of your boyfriend's call records and traced the incoming call from this hotel two days after you were abducted. Robert Hampton-Barnes."

Izzy sat up straight. "Firstly, Robert isn't my boyfriend, and how did you get his call records? Isn't that illegal?"

"Like I said, I have my sources. I knew you'd been kidnapped in San Diego and figured you'd be holed up here somewhere until the heat died down."

Shit. If this guy had found them, the cartel could too.

Izzy slumped back in her chair. "I should report you to the authorities."

He shrugged. "Why don't you wait until you hear what I have to say?"

She sighed. "Okay, fine. Go ahead."

Viper kept the gun angled at the man's genitals. One false move and his balls were going to get blown to bits.

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