Bared: A King's Hart Novel Book 3 (BWWM)

XVII. Inconstant Variable

Armand Ambrose.

The second call came in and Ambrose sucked in a breath when he saw that Nathaniel was calling again. The best thing to do was let it go to voicemail. He'd answer him once the last camera was set and Nuri was safely seated in the van whilst they drove away.

He was practically there in the room with her. Every word, every gesture- he was able to catch it all thanks to the inconspicuous camera at her necklace and the wire he had on her.

Nuri Hart was one brave soul, and he knew she would jump at the chance to help Nathaniel put a close to a chapter that shouldn't have even been in his book of life to begin with. Nuri met up with Emma, well now Emily, to "talk designs" and Nuri understood that she was to rig the hell out of that house.

"That's two," Maddox, one of his men said, his eyes trained on the tablet in hand.

Outside Emma's town house, a black work van parked exactly two cars down from her home. Four of Ambrose's crew sat engaged in their gadgets, analyzing everything. It was cliche but it was also reality.

"She's moved on to the kitchen," Locke, another one of his men said, a tablet if his own showed a black screen with green lines and a white dot that that represented Nuri.

"First camera in place and ...," Maddox waited and once the red light went on he chuckled, "first camera on."

"You sure this chick ain't a spy?" Locke asked with a smile.

"The kitchen is set, three cameras triangulated to damn near perfection, goddamn!" Maddox said to the screen.

"I wanna marry her," Locke teased. "Nathaniel King is one lucky son of a bitch."

"She's entered the first bedroom," Maddox added shaking his head.

De Petite didn' come to play games, a smile played at Ambrose's lips at the thought.

She'd only been in there fifteen minutes and played the woman like she was a piano at the Southern Baptist Church. Emma was not ready for the likes of Nuri.

Hell, Nathaniel wasn't even ready for the like of Nuri.

"You doin' good Cher," he said in the headset. "Keep the pace."

He just needed her to hang in there for a little while, keep focus and not give too much away. Once that last camera was set up, he'd give her the word and she'd do all she could to make it out of that house.

He had to get her back to King in one piece, or suffer through his rage for putting his precious cargo in harm's way.

Luke and Harper sat up front, unmoving. Those boys were like the same person.

Literally... since they were twins, they shared the same DNA. One moved and the other knew to move with him. They were ready for the call to do their thing and extract Nuri by force if need be.

All those years, Emma was playing everyone for a damn fool, and that damn Kayman, the vile creature, didn't know shit about Emma and what she was up to. From the looks of things, when Ambrose questioned -slash- tortured him, the man was harmless.

Ambrose wasn't sure what Kayman wanted with Emma, and didn't really give a shit if he was being completely, but there was an innocent child in the mix. The boy made things more complicated. Complications meant that he couldn't simply take the bitch out like she deserved.

He was able to really sit with Kayman and get as much info as he could on Emma, and was relieved to find that Kayman was just as clueless as King was about her still being alive. What he was able to learn was that Emma was indeed nearby and that she contacted him threatening to expose him. Ambrose doubted the man wanted anything to do with Emma other than to watch her take her last breath.

If Kayman knew about Junior's true paternity, he didn't let on. That's why Ambrose had one of his men get DNA on the kid while he was at school. Nathaniel was his boy, and he would be damned if he let Emma trap him into anything. The kid was cute and all... but not cute enough to be deceived.

Ambrose was convinced that Emma stirred the pot all on her own. He wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't the very same one to put herself out there. She must have gotten tired of lying in wait... that or she saw Nuri closing in on Nathaniel.

The sick feeling of dread crept in, seizing him up by the collar and settling right on his shoulders. Something was amiss. All the pieces were there but they weren't fitting properly.

Everything was going as it should. Not a single solitary item was out of place, which never happened ever. Ambrose was good at his job, the best some might say... nothing was ever that perfect. We are humans after all... only God knew all and saw all.

For the many years he'd been at this gig, without fail , he knew that when things were going according to plan- right on schedule... like today, it meant that he didn't have all the facts.

There had to be an inconstant variable lurking in the background, he just couldn't place it.

"Incoming call," Maddox said snapping his fingers so that the other men knew to listen in and straighten up.

"Nuri's moved to the first bathroom," Locke said before Ambrose had the chance to ask him where she was.

The pressure on his shoulders doubled. Ambrose swiped his thumb across the phone's screen and played the single voicemail that Nathaniel left for him. "Got a call from Humes just now, worried about Nuri. He says she's at Emma's today. I guess you know about that already. Call me." 

Fuck.

Ambrose shook his head. "Nathaniel knows Nuri be here wit us." He probably done gone ape shit right about now.

Humes. 

Michael Humes, the Englishmen... yes it was all making sense. 

Not really it didn't make a lick a sense to him right now, but when he dialed Nathaniel back and didn't get a response- -twice - - he knew he had to shift gears.

Another call to Nathaniel went unanswered.

Merde," he cursed under his breath. "We shutting dis shit down," he barked at his men.

"Nuri, Petite," he said calmly into his headset not wanting her to be alarmed. "Now y'listen real good Cher. Y'need t'get outta dere tout de suit. Seem we got a change o'plan."

Locke and Maddox gave him questioning looks while Luke and Harper straightened up front. 

"Let's do this shit," Luke said and started the van's engine.