“Anna Neills. Mr. Myers is waiting for us in the conference room. This way, please.”
Trent gave Chloe another wink and followed Anna into a conference room that barely qualified as such. Yeah, the Guardians were trying to look as if every dime went to good causes.
Travis had made sure that there was a lot to be found online for Trent’s background check.
He was a rich kid who had inherited a surf-empire fortune and spent his days playing. He’d also asked Chloe to let folks know he was for the oceans. The meeting had been a snap to setup after that.
In the conference room, Bradley Myers looked up from a computer—it had a Power Point presentation showing up on a flat-screen TV. Bradley grinned, showing uneven teeth. He wore khaki pants, a camp shirt, boots, with a red scarf, of all things, tied around his neck. He at least looked friendly. “Mr. Larson, please come in and join us.”
“Dude, pretty fancy place you all have here.”
“We rely utterly on the generosity of our donors.”
Trent nodded. Well, that set the tone of asking for a hand out. He sat down and rocked back in his chair.
Anna Neills sat and folded her hands in front of her. She had long nails and the red polish matched her blouse. Trent had a hard time not thinking about the color of blood and Macbeth’s wife.
He turned back to Myers. “Chloe was like, telling me you were pretty involved in protecting the oceans from things like oil leaks. I’m looking to get on board with some of that action. No way I want to risk getting cancer from surfing in slicks.”
Myers nodded and managed to drop his wide smile. “If there were only more people who thought like you did, we wouldn’t have such a problem in this world. Chloe mentioned you were considering a sizable contribution?”
Trent let the question hang. “Dude, trust fund’s a bitch. I have to justify my dollars. They’re usually cool with charities, but I was thinking maybe a few million would be a good start. But I want to show them I could do more.”
Anna sat up. Seemed she liked the mention of money. She smiled. “Are you thinking of joining us on one of our expeditions?”
“Oh, that’d be awesome. But, man, I’m leaving for a trip through the Middle East in two weeks. Gonna be seeing what the surf’s like over there, y’know?”
Myers asked, “What countries were you planning to visit?”
“Dude, there’s a real little country—you know, like named after that Star Wars dude. Jar something.”
“Jawhara?”
“Yeah. That’s it. Man, the beaches are like totally white, and the waves are supposed to be like better than North Shore.” Anna and Myers stared at him. “Hawaii? The pipeline? Thirty foot monsters that make you feel like you fell off of a sky scraper? That’s for me, man. I’m in it for the rush.”
Myers tapped something on his phone. “Could you excuse us for a moment?”
“Sure, but, dude, I’m catching the evening set so I need to jet in like ten.”
“We’ll be right back,” Anna said. She wasn’t bad looking when she smiled.
Trent nodded and leaned back to rock in the chair again. Travis would be listening in on their discussion from the hidden mics.
A few minutes later they both came back in. Meyers sat down next to Trent. “We have a proposition for you.”
Trent glanced from Meyers to Anna. “Like, dude, I don’t swing that way. Only threesome I ever go for is two girls.”
Meyers blinked and blushed. Anna forced out a laugh. “So funny.” Her smile dropped. “Would you be open to carrying a few things with you to Jawhara on your trip?”
“Oh, well, sure.”
Meyers grinned. “Now…about that donation?”
Five minutes later, Trent left. He’d told them he didn’t do checks, but he’d given them his accountant’s number and told them the funds would be transferred tomorrow. They’d end up calling Slade’s accountant, and once they provided him with their banking information, Travis would be able to loo
k into their financial records.
They were one step closer to stopping whoever was using the Guardians to get rich. Trent gave Chloe a wink on his way out and another peace sign. He also started to hope it wasn’t a mistake to leave her working with these jerks.