Page 53 of Finding Love in the Clouds

“Sophie, I always knew you were a keeper. You’re too good for this guy. Maybe you should jump ship and come over to mine,” he said flirtatiously.

“Knock it off, Julio. You know the rule: no poaching the girls. What’s going on,” Fernando said with a scowl.

Julio held up his hands to signal his surrender. “Not poaching, just offering. Anyway, your little unauthorized conversation in a public place warranted an in-person visit. I was in the neighborhood, give or take a thousand miles, and the other boys are busy with weddings or something, so I agreed to come knock some sense into that thick skull of yours.”

After finishing this statement, Julio slapped Fernando upside the head and then resumed his relaxed pose in the plush seat, arms crossed against his chest, all his muscles bulging.

“What is going on here?” Sophie asked, affronted by the abuse, brotherly love or not, and the tone of this unexpected conversation.

“See, here’s the thing, Fern. When Sarah’s brother paid a midnight visit to your secured home and told you to never say her name again, he wasn’t kidding. When he said you had to get your house in order and prove to him and her husband that you could be trusted, he wasn’t kidding. Nothing about this situation is a joke. You decided to move forward with potentially working with her, and Braveheart Securities has been getting things ironed out for you to do that over the past two weeks. So, imagine Rique and my surprise when we get an encrypted message containing this transcript of you obviously saying not only Sarah’s name but Marie in the same conversation. Not to mention the little bombshell Sophie dropped onallour heads with her revelations in Venice. You have both slipped up on Sarah’s security multiple times on your little European vacation, and that has not made a good impression. Add to the list the little connection to the Cartel and… Houston, we have a problem.”

“Braveheart Securities? That’s an awesome name,” Fernando complimented, impressed by his brother’s creativity.

“Thanks. It was Rique’s idea based on your BBC replacements that didn’t fly. He thought you’d like it. You are missing the point,” Julio said with a sigh, running a hand over his short-cropped black hair.

“No, I’m not. That conversationwasin private. It was just Sophie and me in the back of the busandin the gondola. No one could have possibly heard us,” he stated defensively.

“I thinkthatis the point here. You are a regular Joe. You don’t understand how this works. Let me explain. One, T is monitoring you to see if he can trust you to keep his sister safe. The fact that he has the transcripts of these conversations proves that he can’t. Two, when dealing with secret information, such as hidden identities andkeeping people safe, you always assume that everyone and everywhere is bugged. That every line is tapped. The wrong person hearing what you have to say could mean someone you love dies. In this case, it could be Sarah, Sophie, or Javier. Third, the back of the bus or a gondola in a Venice canal is private… come on, bro. Really? You are on a geriatric tour visiting some of the most dense tourist locations on the planet. Do you have any idea the range of a pair of quality hearing aids? Those old biddies heard everything y’all were saying back there. That tour bus was parked and unmonitored while at destinations; anyone could sneak on and place surveillance devices on it. And that is all assuming that no one is bribed to plant one or that they are unwittingly carrying one around that was planted on them. Don’t even get me started on the gondolier. You aren’t past the point of no return with this business deal or this relationship. You can decide this is all too much and go back to just being your average media tycoon and worrying about the paparazzi. If you decide you want to move forward with either of them, though, things have to change because now, lives depend on it.”

Both men looked at Sophie when she sniffled, and Fernando instantly wrapped his arm around her. “It’s okay, love, I told you we would figure all this out. This wasn’t how I imagined the conversation going, but we already knew my brothers were going to need to help us. They have this information. We don’t know that anyone else does. Don’t borrow trouble until we know for sure.”

“Listen, I’ve been a little busy this week and am arriving late to this party. What’s up with the Reyes Cartel? Sarah, I understand, having met her men firsthand, but the cartel is a new angle. Spill before we run out of time,” Julio interjected, his voice all business.

Chapter Fifty-Two

“First of all, you’re saying we were careless with information that was shared on the back of a practically empty tour bus and a gondola with one possible witness. How do we know it will be safe if we talk about it here on a completely packed train? And how was the information obtained in the first place? None of our geriatric tour group, as you called them, were present for the gondola ride, yet you have transcripts of conversations in both locations,” Fernando asked.

“Good, at least you’restartingto think. Do you really think I would be on this train, talking to you, if there were any possibility of a further breach in our security thanks to you two jabber jaws? I’ll give you thirty seconds to figure it out, and then I’ll tell you,“ Julio challenged, looking down at his watch.

Fernando considered all kinds of scenarios, but he couldn’t see how any of them were feasible. He felt Sophie stiffen at the same time realization hit him.

“Our phones!” they said in unison, glancing at each other in horror before turning to Julio for confirmation.

“There’s hope for you two yet,” he said, clapping his hands together.

“But, how? I thought Enrique had our technology buttoned up?” Fernando asked.

“You have opened yourself up to questions about your loyalty and your ability to maintain important confidential information. Enrique has your technology buttoned up. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t allowed access to certain allies in an effort to prove your trustworthiness. Which, you failed, by the way. Our mutual friend reached out and said fix it. I’m here to do that, and you should be grateful it’s me and not Rique or Tom because they are both pretty mad at you right now. So, first question: do you want to move forward with your plan to work with Sarah? Understanding that there will be absolutely no room for error in the future. There will be severe consequences in the future if her safety is jeopardized by our family again. We aren’t just talking about a book deal anymore. We are talking about people’s safety. Their lives.”

“I understand. I didn’t before, but I have a better idea now and moving forward, we will be extremely careful with any and all information regarding her. Will I be able to discuss her book details over the phone or only in person? What about in my Suburban or now on planes as we’re working during our commute between locations?” Fernando asked, trying to wrap his head around how his communication routines were going to need to change.

“We’ll have to verify everything with Rique because I’m not sure what measures he has in place or are practical to put into place. For now, no communication about Sarah outside your office and home, which we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, is secure. The car we will have to work on. Nothing confidential in there for now. Planes. You, little brother, are about to join the elite club of jet owners. No, yourplane will not be going in the BBCDGT flight network, no matter how much pressure Gabe puts on you. Not until we can tighten up the security network around you. You need to get on that right away, seeing as you won’t know when you will need it. My guess is it will be soon. You will need at least six hours’ notice before a flight for your new security team to do a full sweep and clean anything not put in place by us. Any more questions on that front?”

Fernando turned questioning eyes on Sophie, who shook her head. “No, we understand the parameters now. Will our phones still be monitored and listened to by Braveheart or yourallies?”

“Definitely. For the record, they have always been monitored by Enrique. The data was just collected, analyzed, stored on servers or whatever, and never processed for any reason. If at any time one of us was endangered, attacked, or abducted, alerts would have gone off, and Rique would have needed less than ten seconds to pull the information and have all the data for the minutes, hours, and days surrounding the incident in the palm of his hand. The monitoring has always been for our protection and still is. The same is true for our allies. They are watching over us for our protection and that of their family. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and we have benefitted from it over the years. The only reason you are on this web now, or have become aware of your position on it since you have always been there, is because you pulled a string connected to the sister, and the mighty spider now has his eyes on you. He is trying to decide if you are a friendly little spider he will allow to play on his web or a fly he will suck the life out of,” Julio explained.

“Nice analogy. I don’t feel threatened at all,” Fernando quipped.

“You shouldn’t as long as you decide where you stand with Sarah and how tight-lipped you will be with her information. Plain and simple,” Julio replied with a shrug... asif it really was that simple.

“Well, I want to move forward with a working relationship with Sarah. My original plans have changed, and I want to bring her on as a partner in my publishing house—one of our top-tier authors, at the very least. As soon as you and Rique give me the green light that all the security measures Tom demanded are in place, I will reach out to her to schedule a meeting and discuss terms.”

Julio nodded. “Good. That’s settled. Now, back to the cartel business.” He looked at Sophie with appraising eyes. “That little surprise got everyone’s attention. Good job keeping your mouth shut on that tiny nugget. I wish you had divulged it to Rique a little sooner since you know you can trust him, but we all get it. Now, where do we go from here? I need the details, Sophie. When was the last contact you had with any of them, your old home or childhood friends? Don’t leave anything out. Tom will not allow any further contact with Sarah until we understand the danger. The family is keeping you at arm’s length untilweunderstand the potential threat. Phone calls, with your cell phones only, are fine, but no visits, at least with Sophie in tow. Also…“ pointing his finger between the two of them, “How serious is this. You two are looking really chummy right now. Are we talking long-term security plans around the clock for entire families now?”

“Did you read the full transcript?” Fernando asked,

“No, like I said, I’ve been a little busy this week handling a crisis situation. I just wrapped it up this afternoon and came straight to find you. I was handed that document on the plane. I had no idea why I was coming to see you other than Rique said I could... or Tom and his brother would. That was a pretty easy call. I just want to throw it out there that I almost didn’t make their deadline for handling this, so you may still get a visit if they are already in transit. They seem like that type to do things just for good measure.”

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