Page 254 of Wild Mustang Security Firm

“My fingers are crossed that we’ll actually be the scalpel,” Finn said, letting Avery know without doubt that she was in. Her relief was almost crippling. “So, how are you going to find out where they’re keeping him? Is that why you mentioned Ghazil?”

“Yes. I’m hoping he’ll have an idea where to look. By the way, your brother is a sonofabitch.”

“I know. I still can’t seem to wrap my head around who he’s become.”

“The creep grabbed my boob and pinched my nipple right in front of Thom and then seemed to want to call both of our attention to it.”

“Wait! Why would he do that?” Finn asked, her surprise palpable through the phone line. “Okay, this is weird, but did he leave something behind? Something that might tell us where Thom is? I know it sounds like I’m grasping at straws, but Zara has convinced me that Christian may be playing a very dangerous game. Both she and Ghazil think at worst that Christian is trying to play Fariq, and at best that he’s working against him, perhaps even for an intelligence or law enforcement agency.”

Avery liked Finn too much to want to dash her hopes. Looking down into her dressing gown, she examined the place where Christian had fondled her. There it was… a little black dot where it didn’t belong. “Holy shit. Finn, I think they might be right. I think your brother may have planted a microdot on me. I’m running out to my garage. I have a high-end magnifier for when I’m cleaning old parts…”

Racing out the French doors and down to the garage, she flipped on the light at her work bench and pulled out her magnifier. Carefully she peeled off the microdot and held it under the glass.

Picking up the landline extension, she said, “Sonofabitch!”

“Avery, please tell me you found something that explains Christian’s actions.”

The desperation in her friend’s voice was as heartrending as Avery’s own involuntary grin was broad. “Unless I miss my guess, your brother planted the location on me.”

“How did he do that?”

“When he pinched my nipple, he must have slipped this little microdot on me. It appears to be geo coordinates. It doesn’t make sense for him to give me locations to anywhere except where they’ve got Thom.”

“Do you really think so? Ghazil and Zara have been hearing things they think only make sense if Christian is working for somebody.”

“I really need to talk to them. I think I even recognize these coordinates. I’m pretty sure they’re somewhere in Morocco. Isn’t that Ghazil’s stomping grounds?”

“Casablanca or Marrakesh, I think,” Finn said. “I can’t remember which.”

“I don’t think it’s either of those.” Grabbing her cellphone, she got on the internet. “I’m punching it into my GPS locator right now. Marshan. They’re in Marshan. There’s a ferry that runs from Marshan to Tarifa. I can get into Spain…”

“Do you speak Arabic or Berber?”

“No, but I speak Spanish.”

“That’s fine for Tarifa, but you’ll need someone who can speak one of the others for Marshan. Zara is fluent in both.”

“I don’t want you or Zara involved.”

“Too late. If you’re not going to involve the boys, I’ll be damned if you’re going in there alone. Besides which, I’m already involved and if I don’t tell Zara, she’ll have my head on a platter.”

“It’s one thing for me to risk my neck, and not to put too fine a point on it, my butt, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to ask anyone else to do it.”

“Girlfriend, you’ll be lucky if all he does is beat your ass. Don’t get me wrong, Z and I both love our men fiercely and we both knew what we were signing on for, but both Croft and Noah keep us on pretty tight leashes. It’s time we flexed a little girl power. Besides, it’s my brother that got us into this mess and I agree this is probably better handled with a deft touch rather than a sledgehammer.”

Avery shook her head. “I’d like to argue with you, but I don’t have time and I doubt I’d be successful.”

“You wouldn’t.” She could hear Finn grinning through the phone.

“Tell Zara to meet me at the Barcelona airport tomorrow at this time. I’ll get there earlier than that, but I can do some preliminary work about renting a jet to get us out of Dodge while I’m there.”

“She’ll be there. Take care, Avery. We’ll get him back…”

“And if we can, we’ll see if we can’t help Christian.”

“Thanks. Good luck. I’ll keep the boys here at home busy.”

Avery hung up the phone. Deciding that whatever else was on the microdot could wait until she got on the plane, she got dressed and flew her chopper to the airport where she was just able to catch a flight for Barcelona that connected through Paris.

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