Page 77 of Shark Bait

“Tonight.”

I plant my feet on the ground, almost knocking Shark off balance. He stands just as I do, Valerina joining us. “Tonight?”I repeat. “It seems so sudden. Is this how such hunts normally go?”

“Yes and no. My job is unpredictable. I stay flexible to allow the target to make his moves, and I move with him. Unless I’m hunting a target I need to move toward a specific location, then I control their movements, and it becomes more predictable. This target is meeting your brother tomorrow, and I need to be there to ensure he’s taken down during the meeting.”

“My brother?” My heart’s beating a mile a minute.

“Sit down.” Shark helps me sit. I’m swollen all over and have gained at least three pounds in the past two weeks, and my belly is large compared to my frame. Hence Shark’s always helping me with balance and getting up and sitting down. Once I’m seated, he crouches in front of me again. Val remains standing.

“Falena and Fis have been conning various people for a while now. Falena provided the clients and ideas, while Fis executed the logistics. In your case, they used a woman from your college who leaked some of your lyrics to a man she believed was a talent scout. This scout gave one song to Falena, who pitched it to a music executive. A real one in this case. Falena figured out this song was worthy of the executive’s notice, so he flew you in and pitched several songs to a few other executives. Believe it or not, bidding wars ensued. Falena likes auctions. Illegal ones, because it stains people, and he uses it to blackmail them into silence.”

The night Falena sold the song they were bidding on the hardest was the same night the scout claimed the lyrics were his and that Falena has no right to them. The scout showed the executives the journal with written songs to prove his claim.”

I gasp. “No way.”

“Yes way,” Shark says. “It gets better.”

Don’t I know it. Cringe.

“The scout ends up selling all the songs at a crazy price. And get this.”

“What?” Val and I ask at the same time.

“He splits the money with Falena.”

My mouth makes an O because I’m speechless. “The scout…” I clear my throat. “Do you have a picture of him?”

“Of course.” Shark frowns and grabs his phone, then shows me an image of a guy who flirted with me, made sure I was drinking all night, and then used me and stole my journal.

“This guy was in on it with Falena from the start?” They played me so well, I almost felt bad for Falena when I got pregnant.

Shark nods. “Yeah.”

“That’s the baby’s biological father.”

Shark rears back and puts the phone away. “The pregnancy wasn’t part of the grand plan.”

“Falena seemed afraid,” I say. “When I told him I was pregnant, he was afraid.”

“That might be because the scout was found dead with your journal. This is where it gets interesting.”

“Like it wasn’t until now?” Val asks. “Oh, don’t stop. Go on, go on.”

Shark continues, “The scout’s death and your journal prompt the call to the US embassy. At this point Falena is in real trouble so he calls in all kinds of favors with local police so that your disappearance is pinned on the scout because by then, people were looking for you big-time. The investigation died down again, the case was going cold, your family thought you were dead. Then I find you. Falena calls Fis’s phone, and Fis doesn’t answer. Now, Falena is angry, wants revenge, thinks you’ve somehow cursed him, and since he can’t get you, he calls Denver.”

“Denver? Why Denver?”

“Denver signed a deal that can deliver the millions that can cover Falena’s debt. Besides, Denver has something Falenacovets: singing talent. But what Falena doesn’t know is that Fis was a person of interest to the intelligence community. Remember what I found in the engine room?”

I nod.

“Because of interest in Fis’s dealings that had nothing to do with you, an asset who had been working Falena for a while fed him ideas. One of the ideas was to arrange a meeting with your brother, take Denver’s money, and disappear.”

I interrupt. “An asset?”

Val answers. “An asset is someone providing intelligence to the CIA agent.”

“Oh wow. The CIA knows I’m missing?”

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