Page 22 of Leo

“None. I just knew that every time I turned around, someone was there in a denim jacket. That wouldn’t have alerted me, except that it’s ninety degrees outside today. Who wears a denim jacket walking around the city in ninety-degree weather?”

“That’s a good question,” said Mav. He opened the door to the church and looked up and down the street. He didn’t see anyone, especially not anyone in a denim jacket. They pushed him toward the vehicle, surrounding him as they shoved him into the backseat. When they pulled away from the church, he smiled at the men.

“I guess I can assume that you’re not just regular friends of Tillie’s.”

“You can assume that,” nodded Leo. “Tillie and I are dating. Hopefully, we’ll be married soon. We all work together and run a security agency.”

“Definitely making more sense now,” he said, nodding.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” said Pax, “is there something you’ve been working on or something that you saw while overseas that might cause someone to come after you?”

“The obvious is my father’s wealth.”

“Not yours?” asked Mav, looking in the rear-view mirror.

“The wealth is technically my father’s until he passes. I mean, I have my own money, my own wealth, but the titles, the property, the home is my father’s for right now. As for seeing something while working in the field, it could have been anything. I’d been working in Laos for five months before this assignment.

“My father wasn’t happy about me wanting to do this, but I just felt as though I needed to contribute to the world beyond just funds. Plus, if I was supposed to take over the agency one day, I wanted to know what it was like to be a volunteer.”

“I think that’s admirable,” said Leo. He looked at the others, then back at Fred. “Laos can be a dangerous place. What were you doing there?”

“Oh, I was actually working at Vat Phou. There was asanctuaryon the site dating all the way back to prehistoric times. The first megalithic stone structures had been built probably as early as the second centuryBCE. There are these two stone cells with carvings of a crocodile, serpent stairs, and several platforms that we think were used as offering platforms.”

“Well, as fascinating as that sounds,” grinned Brax, “why were you there?”

“Oh, sorry. We were working on restoration and archaeology digs. Our agency provides funding and dig-site help for archaeological digs. It’s really exciting. Several key pieces from the site went missing recently, so we were hoping to prevent that from happening in the future.”

“How?” frowned Leo.

“I’m not sure. I wasn’t part of the security team. I was just digging,” he smiled. “You’d be surprised how therapeutic a good dig in the dirt can be.”

“Oh, we know,” grinned Pax. “If you were enjoying the work, why did you choose to leave and go to Botswana?”

“They closed down the site for volunteers. They were only going to use government-appointed volunteers. So, I asked my father to find me something new, and he did.” Leo turned to face Fred, then looked at the others.

“Fred, I’m not sure what you saw there or what was discovered, but I think you found something that others didn’t want you to see.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

By the time they’d returned to Belle Fleur, Fred had spoken to his father, promised to do whatever the team told him to do, and was guaranteed that he’d be a part of any future conversations.

When Luke, Cam, and Eric called to say they’d be taking a trip of their own to vet out something, everyone was a bit surprised.

“We just had a bad feeling about the call from Jewel. She’s not at her apartment, her neighbors weren’t even sure of what her name is, and I can’t find anyone that’s seen or heard from the woman,” said Hiro.

“This is crazy,” said Tillie, shaking her head. “What is going on? We’ve got two people missing. Again!”

“Were either of those women on the dig with you in Laos?” asked Leo.

“No,” said Fred, shaking his head. “I met them on the plane and then met Tillie when we landed. Gemma is nice but seemed to be all business, which I respect. Jewel was just fun. I mean, nothing happened with us. She’s far too young for me. But she was fun and energetic. I liked being around her.”

“Fred, when the men took us in Botswana, did you notice anything different? Anything unusual about Gemma or Jewel?” asked Tillie.

“Not really. I mean, I guess neither seemed terribly upset,” he frowned. “I have to admit I was shaking on the inside, worried that I might embarrass myself in front of the three of you. You were cool as a cucumber. Pretty badass if you ask me.”

“But they weren’t?” asked Mav.

“No. I mean, yes. Gemma and Jewel seemed fine. They would say that they were nervous or worried, but it didn’t look that way. When Tillie said she was getting us out of there, they tried to stop her.”

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