Page 109 of Emerald

“I thought you were alone,” she hisses angrily.

“This is my backup, they arrived today. They are here to help with the plan,” I explain to her.

“Do you trust them?”

“Yes. Sophie is my sister-in-law. Brooks and Nash are ex-military, and I trust them all with my life,” I explain to her.

“You might be putting that to the test in a couple of days, hope you’re right,” she says snarkily.

“Come, let me introduce them, you can see for yourself.”

It is a frosty introduction, but after a while, we finally move past our suspicions. We have now moved inside to listen to Anna’s plan.

“I’ve been able to secure a seat at my table for you, Elena. Nash, you will be at the next table,” Anna explains. Nash stiffens and he’s about to argue with that plan, but Anna continues, “The reason for that is I need you to disappear after the appetizer, and if you are at our table, my husband will become suspicious. He looks dumb, but he’s not,” Anna explains. “You will need to wait in the parking lot with your car ready to go. Because we will only have minutes to get as far away from the event as possible before people notice we are missing.”

“What about Pearl?” I ask.

“That’s where your two friends come in. I’ve secured your friends positions on the bar staff to be used for the cocktail hour before. Pearl and some girls I have been able to find who were stolen will be waiting in the accessible bathrooms, which are right next door to a fire exit,” she explains.

“Does that exit have an alarm?” Sophie asks.

“I had a walk through the event space earlier and tested it, there was no alarm when I accidentally went through it this morning. And when I asked in case others do the same, they assured me there was no alarm,” Anna states.

“How many girls?” Brooks asks.

“Ten plus Pearl,” Anna answers.

“I’ll have to arrange a bigger helicopter.”

“I would go for two, one for you and the girls and then one for us. You will take the girls when everyone is seated for dinner right after the cocktail hour. We only need a couple of bar staff to stay on and man the bar inside the event, so you will be dismissed.”

“And how are we supposed to get the girls if we aren’t working anymore?” Brooks asks.

“You will need to work that out, I can’t think of everything,” she states, dismissing him with an eye roll.

“Then what about us?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Between the first course and the second course a band will be playing. That is when you will need to disappear,” she says to Nash, “and you and I will excuse ourselves to use the restrooms. None of the men will bat an eyelid at us going to the bathroom together. We then slip out of the same fire exit where the car should be waiting for us and then we high tail it to the helicopter.”

“You don’t think he’s going to send a search party out for you when you don’t return?” Nash states.

Anna smirks coldly. “Not when he’s dead.”

Silence falls between us all.

“How?” Nash adds.

“That is something that you don’t need to worry about,” Anna tells him.

“Don’t you think they are going to think you’re involved if your husband is dead and you’re missing?” Nash asks.

Anna glares at him. “Like I said, that part doesn’t involve you.”

“It does if we have the cartel after us because we are accomplices to his murder,” Nash states.

“No one is going to know you are involved,” she says through gritted teeth, getting angry over Nash’s questions.

It’s time for me to deescalate the situation. “We aren’t looking to start a war, we just want to save these girls.”

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