Page 129 of Heart of a Villain

THIRTY-FOUR

Adrían paced the length of the living room at Mike and Xara’s. Larke and Ayesha had taken his place, staying with Sayeda at the police station. Larke had already started studying international law since the group began discussing purchasing land in the EU, but he knew a wall when he saw one.

Sayeda would be extradited.

If, once extradited, they fucked around and lost her, they would lose her for good. It was why his bag was already packed, and they’d started preparing the plane before he stepped foot outside the restaurant.

While he flew to Verde Horizonte, the rest of the team would stay behind to finish formulating a strategy. The most important thing was to make sure they didn’t lose Sayeda. Lorenzo would likely up the brutality, both because he’d lost Sayeda once before and because of his and Lorenzo’s exchange at the bakery.

Maybe he should have played nice.

It wouldn’t be easy to get to Chefe in a way that circumvented Lorenzo. He had exactly one avenue to do so, and he was banking heavily upon Chefe to be as outdated and stubborn as he’d always been.

They were waiting for Julien to share the update from Larke, but Adrían could already tell from the look on Julien’s face that the news was the opposite of what they’d been hoping to hear.

“They’re taking her tonight,” Julien said, ending the call. “Now, I know I didn’t miss an international warrant, but for this to be happening so quickly, Lorenzo had to have started this process a while ago.”

“Don’t they have evidence that Rafael entered Sweden, at least?” Dez asked.

“Private plane,” Julien explained. “Usually, yes, he would have been listed on the manifest, but ‘Rafael Henriques’ probably isn’t the name they used. Plus, as it stands, the Swedish police don’t have a reason to launch an investigation on their home turf.”

“What’s the ETA on her arrival?” Adrían asked.

“Tomorrow afternoon. It’s quicker than we planned for, but?—”

“It’s still within our locus.”

Xara brought him a mug of tea, and he stopped pacing only long enough to accept it before he was moving again. The tea itself would have little to no effect on his anxiety, but the support helped more than they would ever know. He also appreciated that the conversation centered more on how to get Sayeda back. Had this been Chamas, it would have been about exacting vengeance and carrying out a vendetta, shifting the goal from his girlfriend’s life to what impression Chamas could make in the organized crime community.

Here, bloodshed was imminent.

They knew it was coming.

So, there was no need to broadcast.

“Let’s run through everything one more time,” Gage said. “Larke and Eesh will stay with Seda as long as they feasibly can.”

They ran through the multiple plans they’d agreed on, as well as the various extraction points once Sayeda was secured.

“What about my cargo?” he asked. “Am I cleared to transport it?”

Xara looked around the room. “Should I ask?”

“Probably not,” Mike said.

“Yes, you’re cleared,” Gage answered. “In the meantime, Trevor and Lee are going to take point on the Gamma issue. Since Stockholm, there’s been no movement, but we want to focus the majority of our manpower on getting Sayeda back. Lorenzo’s sovereign will be at an all-time high, which means he’ll have to get knocked down a few pegs. Now, Adrían, I understand that there used to be a poem about you?”

“A limerick,” Joel clarified. “Dude had folklore.”

Adrían shrugged. “Chamas protected the communities that too many times went overlooked by our government. People turned to them more than they turned to the police. I had a…nature about me, so I stood out. It was something made up by children to use during things like jump rope.”

“The first thing you need to do when you land in Brazil is to make sure who needs to know you’re there knows,” Gage added. “You’re going to have to immediately challenge Lorenzo’s authority. My best advice? Act like you never left.”

He drained his mug.

Xara slipped it from his hand.

“We have a rule of thumb,” Joel explained. “Keep an open line of communication. If you go dark for more than seventy-two hours, we show up. If the situation since we last spoke to you seemed dire, or Gage or Dez says we should head out, we’re wheels up in under sixty. This isn’t an Alpha or Omega situation. This is an Adrían and Sayeda situation.”

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