Taking the Thief
“Good morning, sir. I have a stack of reports you asked for,” she hands me a small pile.
“Thanks.” I set them down and give them a cursory glance. It’s harder to examine figures on a computer screen, so those get printed out, and I can make my notes. I work hard to manage the finances as perfectly as possible with several resort locations, I need to make sure everything goes according to plan. Especially after my parents’ death five years ago. Things went downhill fast. In my grief, I lost a great deal of clientele, and the standards that the hotels maintained had fallen. Once I realized the damage that had been done, I got my head on straight and worked day and night to make this hotel, in particular, the best in the Caribbean. In an area of the world where there are beautiful beaches and fancy hotels, the competition is high. My latest competitor is a Russian mobster. I don’t know what dirty tricks that bastard will go to in order to get ahead.
“Don’t forget your sister is coming today,” she reminds me. I haven’t forgotten. I’m planning on making it special for her. I miss the little brat.
“What time is Marisol supposed to arrive?” I ask my assistant, Carina. I’m gathering up everything I need to meet with the staff. It’s our weekly prep and pep talk. Keeping morale high and the hotel running efficiently takes a great team of employees. I have some good ones, and we’re always looking for more.
She has her tablet out, looking through my schedule. “In about one hour. Your schedule will be full until noon.”
“Thank you, Carina. That’ll be all.” I wave my hand to dismiss her. I have to get out of here before I’m late. Even though she’s a good assistant, I wonder if she’s interested in more. She lingers too long and too involved in nothing that pertains to her. It’s either that or she’s looking for a promotion. The latter is a possibility. The other will never happen. I’m a damn workaholic and don’t have time to fall in love with anyone and don’t want to set myself up for a messy fling.
I grab my materials and head out to my staff meeting. I walk into the room and greet my staff, “Buenos dias, todos. Good morning, everyone. My sister will be arriving today, so I will be taking the next few days off. That means that you’ll be trusted to run the place as if I was standing over your shoulder watching. I’m sure you all will, but it’s important that I can trust the staff not to play when the boss is away.”
“Are you going to be around for major issues or do we need to contact someone else,” my concierge manager Xena asks. She’s young but has been working here since she turned sixteen making herself an integral part of the Navarro Resorts family. And she earned herself the recent promotion.
“Give them to Carina, and she will do her best to leave me out of the situations.”
“Anything I need to be made aware of?” I ask them. Sometimes I can see at least one of them itching to tell me how perfect their department is going or cowering if something isn’t going to plan.
“Everything is running smoothly with the food supply. We have enough stock, and the local vegetation has produced enough fruits for the rest of the season.”
“Great. How are guest services, Juan?” He’s the supervisor for the entire guest services. If there’s a problem, he’d know first.
“Perfecto. We haven’t had any complaints at all. The new front desk manager has been a real improvement from the last.” Yes, we fired our last one when he was found stealing credit card information. That is a big problem. Guests don’t want to come back when they feel violated like that.
“Bien, let’s go over today’s agenda.” The meeting lasts a full hour before I call it.
Just as I’m heading back to my office, Grant, my head of security and my best friend, comes walking up to me. I’ve known him for years, and he’s been with me through the tough times. I don’t know what I would do without him. “We have a serious problem.” He leads me to my office and closes the door in a rush.
“What the fuck is going on? Where’s my sister?” He was supposed to pick her up at the airport. The fact that he’s here and she’s not at his side is a big fucking problem.
“That’s the problem. She and her friend weren’t the passengers on the plane.”
Clenching my fists and open them several times before barking out, “What? Then who the fuck was on my plane and what did they do to my sister?” I go around my desk and hit the lock, getting my twenty-two and slipping it into my waistband. I’m not a killer, but my sister is missing, and I want motherfucking answers.