to try a different tact.
“Why should I be responsible for your missing Sapphire? I would imagine that there were quite a few people involved with the logistics in Panama.”
“Yes, you would think so wouldn’t you?” He seemed so calm that I knew there was more bad news coming. “I imagine that is what your brother thought as well.” He watched me carefully while he explained the next part.
“Since this was the first shipment going through a new handler, and it was worth a considerable amount of money, I went to Panama and oversaw the loading of the container myself.” Of course he did , I groaned to myself. He was not the clan master of one of the most densely populated vampire regions because he was an idiot. What had Jason been thinking to try to cheat him?
“Lok placed a special mark on the customs seal with ink you can only see under phosphorescent light. So simplistic really, and it let us know immediately that the container had been tampered with after it left Cristobal. When the container arrived at Tioga it had a brand new customs seal without Lok’s mark. We did check the shipment for the Sapphire anyway, but it was nowhere to be found.”
I took a moment to mull that over, aware that McCallister was watching my facial expressions and monitoring my heart rate closely. I did my best to keep my thoughts from showing plainly in my body language. Even though I had already conceded, at least to myself, that Jason may have had something to do with the missing drugs, I did not understand why he would think he could steal from Liam McCallister. It was their first endeavor, and he was obviously going to appear the guilty party! That seemed incredibly foolish, even for Jason.
“How much was the missing Sapphire worth?”
“I have $1.2 million invested. The street value is nearly three times that,” he told me.
I could not stop myself from visibly cringing at the amount. I was well paid, but that mostly amounted to cash flow. The bulk of my money was tied up in trust until my thirty-fifth birthday, six years away. There was no way I could come up with that kind of money without accessing my trust fund. I had very little hope that the trustees would allow me early access to the money. God knows Jason had tried unsuccessfully enough times.
“Ah, I see you are beginning to understand my problem,” McCallister replied at my cringe. Unfortunately I was also beginning to better understand my problem. I was going to wind up just as dead as Jason if I did not play my cards carefully.
Chapter 6
“You said you were willing to offer me a chance to fix things. What might that entail exactly?” I tried to be as noncommittal as possible with the question.
“I will give you three days to find my missing cargo,” he explained as he got up and walked over to a decanter and glasses that were laid out on a nearby table.
“And if I can’t locate it?”
“Then you will be my new contact at Lassiter Shipping.” He turned back to me after filling his glass with amber colored liquor. “You will work off Jason’s debt by running shipments for me for the duration of one year.”
“And if I don’t agree?” I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear his answer, but I felt compelled to ask anyway. It was always important to understand the implications of not cooperating.
“Then bad things will start happening to some of your friends and associates. I believe you are particularly fond of a Ms. Goldwater, yes?” Yeah, I was right; I didn’t really want to know the answer. I had to give it to him though; the asshole definitely knew how to motivate a person.
“I can’t agree to a year term if you are going to be shipping things in daily or even weekly,” I said, slipping into business mode. I negotiated contracts regularly, this was no different. Well, almost no different. “The risk of getting caught and losing another shipment would
“Why should I be responsible for your missing Sapphire? I would imagine that there were quite a few people involved with the logistics in Panama.”
“Yes, you would think so wouldn’t you?” He seemed so calm that I knew there was more bad news coming. “I imagine that is what your brother thought as well.” He watched me carefully while he explained the next part.
“Since this was the first shipment going through a new handler, and it was worth a considerable amount of money, I went to Panama and oversaw the loading of the container myself.” Of course he did , I groaned to myself. He was not the clan master of one of the most densely populated vampire regions because he was an idiot. What had Jason been thinking to try to cheat him?
“Lok placed a special mark on the customs seal with ink you can only see under phosphorescent light. So simplistic really, and it let us know immediately that the container had been tampered with after it left Cristobal. When the container arrived at Tioga it had a brand new customs seal without Lok’s mark. We did check the shipment for the Sapphire anyway, but it was nowhere to be found.”
I took a moment to mull that over, aware that McCallister was watching my facial expressions and monitoring my heart rate closely. I did my best to keep my thoughts from showing plainly in my body language. Even though I had already conceded, at least to myself, that Jason may have had something to do with the missing drugs, I did not understand why he would think he could steal from Liam McCallister. It was their first endeavor, and he was obviously going to appear the guilty party! That seemed incredibly foolish, even for Jason.
“How much was the missing Sapphire worth?”
“I have $1.2 million invested. The street value is nearly three times that,” he told me.
I could not stop myself from visibly cringing at the amount. I was well paid, but that mostly amounted to cash flow. The bulk of my money was tied up in trust until my thirty-fifth birthday, six years away. There was no way I could come up with that kind of money without accessing my trust fund. I had very little hope that the trustees would allow me early access to the money. God knows Jason had tried unsuccessfully enough times.
“Ah, I see you are beginning to understand my problem,” McCallister replied at my cringe. Unfortunately I was also beginning to better understand my problem. I was going to wind up just as dead as Jason if I did not play my cards carefully.
Chapter 6
“You said you were willing to offer me a chance to fix things. What might that entail exactly?” I tried to be as noncommittal as possible with the question.
“I will give you three days to find my missing cargo,” he explained as he got up and walked over to a decanter and glasses that were laid out on a nearby table.
“And if I can’t locate it?”
“Then you will be my new contact at Lassiter Shipping.” He turned back to me after filling his glass with amber colored liquor. “You will work off Jason’s debt by running shipments for me for the duration of one year.”
“And if I don’t agree?” I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear his answer, but I felt compelled to ask anyway. It was always important to understand the implications of not cooperating.
“Then bad things will start happening to some of your friends and associates. I believe you are particularly fond of a Ms. Goldwater, yes?” Yeah, I was right; I didn’t really want to know the answer. I had to give it to him though; the asshole definitely knew how to motivate a person.
“I can’t agree to a year term if you are going to be shipping things in daily or even weekly,” I said, slipping into business mode. I negotiated contracts regularly, this was no different. Well, almost no different. “The risk of getting caught and losing another shipment would
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