Page 31 of Daddy's Stowaway

Harvey,myself, and my two chosen security from Tahiti drove in one car, while behind us was another group of six. An additional team had left an hour before us to set up a one-mile perimeter around the diner.

All of these precautions were no guarantee that we’d come out of this safely, but I reasoned that Izzy couldn’t be a complete idiot if he’d been chosen as the new head of the cartel, and there would be no benefit in it for him to take out such a high-profile billionaire as myself.

We were the second to arrive. After disembarking from the car, Harvey and I were surrounded by all eight men making up my security team. The men leapt into action, four surrounding us, while two took the rear and two entered ahead of us. As no imminent threat was evident, Harvey and I were escorted to a table in the center of the otherwise empty diner.

Three men stood, and while they all looked dangerous, only one could be the leader. I stuck my hand out to an iniquitous 5’8” guy, much to his surprise, as evidenced by his widened eyes. Then a vile smirk lifted the corner of one side of his mouth. I garnered as much dominant energy as I could to negate his evil presence.

“Mr. Savage, how nice to finally put a face to the voice.”

“Mr. Zamaya, I’d say you have me at a disadvantage. A quick Google search would show you a plethora of images of me. While you, I could only find one, and not that becoming.” I waited and hoped my words were challenging enough without being insulting. His villainous smile grew, showing a mouthful of gold teeth, then turned into a laugh; his two minions followed suit.

“You have bigcajones, Mr. Savage. Now tell me what you have for me.” His laughter died with his words, his eyes black and beady, and no smile vile or otherwise was present.

“I’m sure you’re familiar with one of your captains, Mitch Markos.”

Harvey handed me our first piece of evidence while Izzy barked at his minions in Spanish. He didn’t know I knew Spanish and understood them perfectly.

“Your captain has been a busy guy, but not necessarily for you. He took down a legitimate business owner five years ago and got on the local police radar.” I handed over the FBI surveillance on Markos. “Then, he took their daughter captive and turned her into a drug mule. He grabbed the FBI’s attention again when he was listed as her caregiver after several trips to the hospital for beating her.” I passed the FBI documents and photos of Antonia to Zamaya.

“Two days ago, he sent men to Tahiti to steal the same woman who is now under my protection.” His eyes flew from the files to me. I had hardened my voice so he would know that Antonia was not a bargaining chip. “To accomplish this, he took two families, one of which has an eight-month-old baby, from his soldiers and has them being kept in the basement of one of his illegal properties.”

Now Izzy was swearing. My research hadn’t just come up with his photo, it had given me the one thing that was sacred to Zamaya. Family.

“But here is the worst of it, at least for you. The FBI has evidence of at least twelve separate trades with the Cabal, your direct competition. He’s stealing from you and selling to your enemy.”

Izzy’s chair flew back, landing with a crash as he came to his feet. My men readied themselves for an all-out gun fight. But Izzy waved his hand, grabbed his chair, and sat back down.

“What do you want from me, Mr. Savage?”

“In five minutes, the FBI is going to do a meet and grab with Markos at the docks. While the FBI rescues the families and gets them to safety, I suggest you mobilize the men you posted there and remove Markos before he rats you out for a reduced sentence. I’m gifting you the chance to kill him, and the FBI won’t get in your way. In exchange, I want you to forget you ever saw her.” I held up the photo of Antonia. “And stop pushing your cocaine business in Tahiti. That is my island, and while I appreciate your dedication to growth, I don’t need my employees getting strung out on your particular brand of crap. Deal?”

He spoke in Spanish to his minions, and they took off out the front door, already calling in their troops.

Harvey passed the contract to Izzy with a pen.

“In case you forget your word, Mr. Zamaya, you will sign this, and if anything happens to Antonia or me, copies of this will go to the FBI. Insurance that you remember while we might not be friends, we have a contract that mutually benefits us both,de acuerdo?”

His eyes widened briefly at my use of his language, but he nodded. “Agreed.” He signed and handed back the documents.

Harvey and I took our leave and kept up our serious faces until we were well away from the diner without incident.

“Holy shit, that was insane,” I said as I loosened my tie.

“I got to hand it to you, Alex; you looked and acted like a scary motherfucker.”

I took a few deep breaths. “Thank you, I think. I need a drink, or ten, a massage, and then I’m flying back to Tahiti. Stay as long as you want, Harvey. Consider it a bonus for all of your work.”

Once I was back in my suite, I poured myself a crystal goblet to the brim with top-shelf scotch. I sat back and stared out at the lights and imagined all those twinkling lights were jewels on Antonia’s fingers.

I dug out my phone to see a message from Buck telling me that everything went according to plan and Markos was dead.

I messaged Johnathan and told him to send our prisoner back to the states first class. Lockdown was over; we were all safe.

I called Carl at the hotel in Tahiti.

“Hello, Mr. Savage, how are you this evening, sir?”

“Fantastic, Carl.” And I was better than I had ever been. My faculties were fully engaged for the first time in forever, and she was free from the mafia bonds that had enslaved her. Life was about to become a grand adventure with my queen at my side. “Did you happen to see the ring?”

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