Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Maybe the intimacy he’d felt had been one-sided. Maybe she’d taken a look around and realized she could do way better than a professor of history. It wouldn’t be the first time. Hell, he’d had a couple of women who’d dated him so they could meet his happily married stepfather.
Maybe he had the thirty-year-old blues.
His cell phone trilled, and he glanced down. His research assistant. He’d only hired Luis the semester before, and the grad student was already working overtime. Luis Vasquez was a double major in history and Spanish, making him the perfect research assistant. He also had family ties in Argentina, and those had already started paying off as Luis had left for Buenos Aires the day before. David slid a finger across the screen to accept the call. “Did you make it okay?”
“Not only made it to the city, but I’m already here on the island. I managed to get a cell signal and thought I would take advantage. I hope you don’t mind, but I called Eduardo and he said it was all right to come out early. I’m taking some great film for you,” Luis said.
“I thought you wouldn’t be out until later in the week.” He’d been planning to visit with a cousin of his who lived in a seaside town.
“My cousin took off with a girl he met in his math class. They’re on their way to Brazil for the week. I thought work sounded better than sitting in his place alone. I would have to clean it first,” Luis said with a huff, and then a bit of static came over the line.
“I’m glad you got in okay,” David said. “I’ve run into some problems here.”
“I’m sorry. You cut out on me,” Luis said. “This signal is going to drop at any moment. I wanted to let you know that Eduardo’s eager to talk to you. I think he’s found something his dad left, and it’s in a code from what I can tell. He won’t show me,” Luis admitted. “He’s a little manic, but he seems cool. I’m going to go out and get some footage of the estate and talk to some of the people in the town close to here. I thought I’d wait until you get here to go up to the mountain.”
Montaña del Cielo. Heaven’s Mountain. It was on that mountain that Montez had written his manifesto about freedom for all people, decrying the very capitalism that had granted him the money to buy the island in the first place.
Montez’s story was the thing of legend. And it would also make an excellent documentary someday since Montez had at least three wives and a whole lot of exotic animals in his own personal “paradise.”
“Well, enjoy yourself because when I get there tomorrow afternoon we’re going to work our asses off.” He had one week to get what he needed. Or to convince Eddie that his crazy dad’s life was a brilliant story and he should keep the nature preserve he’d built intact for future generations. Montez had been eccentric, but he’d cared about the people on his island and the wildlife there. “My flight takes off in about eight hours, and I’ll contact you when we land.”
“I’m…forward to seeing…again.” The call started to go in and out, proof that any cell service on the island would be unreliable.
And then the line went dead, Luis obviously losing the signal.
David frowned and set down his cell. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him Kyle’s not coming. The last time I talked to him I told him there would be two of us.” He was going to convince Ian that all of this was unnecessary. It was one thing for Kyle to tag along, but he wasn’t about to ruin someone else’s vacation because his mom was paranoid. And it wasn’t like he would be alone. Luis would be with him. He was fairly certain his mom wouldn’t see his twenty-two-year-old assistant as a proper guard, but there was safety in numbers.
“You’re crazy if you think you’re going in alone.” Hutch yawned. “If MaeBe says there’s talk about you on the Dark Web, there’s talk about you on the Dark Web. I mean, if you want to write a book about being kidnapped and held for ransom, this would be a great way to get some research in.”
“No one wants to kidnap me.”
“Maybe they don’t want to but they have to,” Hutch countered. “They probably don’t even like their jobs. Who would? It’s a pain in the ass to kidnap someone. I should know. I worked for the Agency for a while, and then there’s every single bachelor party we have around here. It always starts with trying to make the dude crap his pants and ends up with someone vomiting. It’s why I’m not having one. Of course, if I was me, I wouldn’t care that I wasn’t having a bachelor party. I would still kidnap me in revenge for all the shit I’ve done before. I have to think about that. Do you think sincere apologies would work? My fiancée bought like fifty pounds of good card stock for our save-the-date cards. I could use those. Apparently good card stock makes things seem more serious.”