Relentless (Benson Security 2)

“Couldn’t you lot use your ninja skills and break her out without trading the mummy?” Patricia sounded hopeful.

“Not enough people,” Callum said. “Carlos’ compound is fortified and manned by an army. It would be a suicide mission.”

“Why do they want the mummy anyway?” Elle asked.

“It’s wearing a treasure map that leads to Incan gold,” Ed said.

Elle’s eyes lit up in the reflected light from the projection. “That is so cool.”

Callum seemed to groan, but it was so quiet that Julia wasn’t sure if she’d imagined it.

“There’s another complication,” Joe said, and Julia felt his voice vibrate throughout her body. “See

ms Grandma is the only one who can read the map. It’s written in some Incan code.”

“Hey.” Patricia threw a cushion at his head. It hit Julia instead. “I’m not your grandma.”

“Not yet,” Joe mumbled, his hand resting on Julia’s knee.

Not yet. What did that mean? There was only one possible answer, and it sucked the air out of Julia’s lungs.

Danger! Danger! Run! Abort!

“Breathe,” the devil whispered against her ear as he stroked her back. “It was a joke.”

She wasn’t so sure. It didn’t feel like a joke.

“Esteban isn’t going to take the mummy without taking Patricia too.” Callum rubbed his jaw. He did look weary, reminding Julia that the team had travelled halfway around the world to help them. “He doesn’t want a swap. He wants it all.”

“I figured he’s probably tailing us,” Joe said. “That’s what I would do. Follow Patricia to the mummy; take it and the woman. Then off Alice. Everything tied up with a neat bow.”

Julia turned and smacked his chest. “You can’t talk about Alice like that.”

“Sorry, baby.” He captured the hand that had smacked him and pressed a kiss to the palm. Julia sucked in a shaky breath.

The silence in the room was deafening as everyone watched their interaction with fascination. Julia fought the urge to burrow into Joe and hide until the attention focused elsewhere.

“I agree. Esteban has no intention of trading Alice,” Callum said with absolute confidence.

The weight of his words pressed down on Julia’s heart. She looked at her gran and saw her eyes turn glassy with tears.

“They’ll trade her for me,” Patricia said firmly.

“No!” Julia jumped off Joe’s lap. “You can’t do that. It’s a death sentence. As soon as Carlos is finished with you, he’ll kill you.”

“But he won’t do it until he has the treasure. It will give you time to get me out.”

“Come here.” Joe grabbed her wrist and jerked her back into his lap. “No one’s trading Patricia to the psychopath.”

“I don’t know,” Ryan said. “It sounds like a good plan to me.”

That earned him another smack from Callum. At this rate, Ryan would have brain damage by the time they got back to the UK.

“That’s because you haven’t heard Julia’s plan.” Joe rubbed the inside of her wrist. “Tell them.”

Plan? Was the man insane? She didn’t have a plan. She didn’t have anything. Most days she didn’t have the will to get out of bed, let alone solve a mess like this.

“Julia?” Callum’s voice brought her eyes around to him. “What’s the plan?”