Hot Revenge Box Set 4

The coffee strong and fragrant, washes away my doubts and clears my thinking, although granted, it leaves me with my problem.

How to find Juliana?

And what is the significance of the invoice addresses?

I let my mind freewheel, caffeine lubricating the gears.

What's the connection?

?

?

Back to basics...

Finchby’s invoices...

Taken from his own files…

Supply addresses from legitimate businesses…

… Listing women, children… Human cargo.

???

That can't possibly be what went through the customs checks...

Duplicate documents then?

Same references. Same monetary values. Different cargo.

That would seem logical: A parallel accounting system: one for the outside world, one for private records.

Yes, that works. Any competent criminal could make that work. And doubtless, with the money involved, they’d have accountants and bookkeepers… Perhaps even customs officers and tax inspectors on the payroll.

But none of that gives me the connection to Antonio’s bar or any of the others.

Why here?

Frustrated, mind spiralling inward…

Damn the coffee…

I order another

*****

Charlotte

the jeans and boots he uses for riding, and a thick cable-knit sweater… “…I’m going to take Oliver out. Want

day, with a crisp snap to the air. And the sunshine is that brilliant clear white you only get in cold

the exercise. Um…” I look down to my tiny daughter, blinking at the mobile rotating above her in the cot, trying, with unformed muscles,

Mom smiles from her

you give me five minutes,

I can.” My Master takes the few steps to bring him close to me, then reaches down with a long finger, stroking Cara’s cheek. His face might seem impassive to any that didn’t know him, but I see the hidden smile behind his

*****

you.” Straightening up, he runs over

down the neck of my roll-top pullover. “Two woollens, a cotton top and a thermal

twitch, then he stoops by Charlie, locking his hands

hand up his neck. “Shhhh… Calm down. We’re going now.” Oliver’s ears flick forward, but he settles long enough for

yard, he says, “I thought we might take the path through the top field then loop

“Great idea.”

*****

in the world. The ground is firm with the cold and Oliver is trying to take the bit. Head tossing, his

says my Master, then eyes Charlie, also performing, jarring under me. “They both

the end of

fence. No jumping. That gate is

Charlie, and she moves from trot to canter to gallop in

Oliver is larger and heavier, more powerful, than Charlie and almost immediately, he thunders up, first closing behind me, then alongside, snorting steam as he pulls ahead. But as her son begins to draw away, Charlie jolts under me with another burst of speed and as we reach the end of the field, Charlie and Oliver, mother and son, my Master and I,

to a standstill and I do the same. I’m grinning like a maniac, panting, my blood racing. My Master’s eyes are soft.

the mountain, the lake glittering at the bottom, the air frigid and fresh. Oliver and Charlie blow blue from their nostrils. “It’s so good to be able to move again properly. Sometimes, it’s just

to let me

take

I want to ask