The Troubleshooter

45- Surprise Bitch

Nico POV

"Stop fucking scowling. We heard you fucking Sophie" I taunt Matt.

"Sophie isn't your sister!" He spits back.

"Hey! She's like a sister" I argue, pressing a hand to my chest in mock offence. Suppressing the smile threatening my lips because he's finally talking again.

It was gonna be a long ass flight if he kept up the silent treatment.

"If you knock her up I'll be giving you the definition of a shotgun wedding" Matt grumbles.

"Hey I'm not you!" I chuckle, dodging the book he throws at me. "Besides you don't need to bring a shotgun… I already bought the ring" I confess.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, I was gonna propose at Christmas. You know how much she loves the holidays" I explain.

"No."

"No?" I ask surprised. The last person I thought would object to this is Matt.

"You can't propose at Christmas. That's like saying 'Merry Christmas, I am your present.' do something else" he orders. I want to object, but in a weird way he has a point.

"But I don't want to wait." I pout.

"So do it before Christmas" he shrugs. "But not on my wedding day" he adds

"I think Sophie would actually be ok with it being on your wedding day" I point out.

"I don't doubt it, Sophie loves you guys. But I do mind. Sophie deserves the day to be all about her. If you take her focus we're gonna have a problem." He warns me.

"Ok dude chill out." I laugh, who knew he was such a romantic.

"I'm serious, day before, day after, I don't care but the wedding day is off limits"

I nod my understanding thumbing through the book Matt threw at me.

"What makes you so sure he'll be in Athens?" Matt asks.

"He's a creature of habit. If he's using his yacht to hide from us he'll either sale to Milan or Athens from Cannes." I explain

"So why not Milan?" He asks.

"My gut says Athens" I reassure him.

"Oh great we're following your gut" Matt scoffs.

"Yeah you're right, I can't track people down… how's your wife again?" I ask pointedly, successfully shutting Matt up.

When the plane lands I'm pleasantly surprised by the warm rush of air that greets us. After the chill of Cannes and Venice it's definitely welcome.

"Ok 'Mx Gut', where now?"

"First to see Amber, she's got a warehouse for us to use when we find him. Then we can go freshen up while we wait for a call from the marina" I explain.

"We're staying in a warehouse?" Matt groans.

"No, we're staying at my villa. Can't expect princess Matt to rough it can I?" I mock him.

"Is there anywhere that you don't own a place?" He chuckles.

"Sheffield, cause that's what I have you for" I reply climbing into the driver's seat of our hire car. I connect my cell to the Bluetooth dialling Amber as I drive. 

"Nico, have you landed?" Amber's voice comes through the speakers.

"Yeah, what have you got for me?" I ask.

"Old seafront storage unit. Hasn't been used for years, no nearby neighbors so noise won't be a problem, and you can access it by boat or car so you have options." She lists off.

"That's perfect, you're amazing Amber, thank you."

"We're even now, remember, I'll send you the details" she promises. We both know that even or not Amber is too good a person not to help when she's asked.

Stopping at my apartment I pull out my laptop loading up all the information we have on Benji, his properties and his yacht. I'm less than half way through the updates from my men which have no results, when my cell starts vibrating against the table.

Seeing it's Jayy my connection at the Marina my heart starts pounding in anticipation, the thrill of the chase rearing its head.

"We've had a radio request for docking at the marina, it's definitely one of his" she explains in hushed tones.

"Do we have an ETA?" I ask, trying to keep the excitement from my voice.

"Two hours, I can give you a clear window but only for fifteen minutes max" she promises me.

"That's perfect, you're a star. We're on our way" I tell her, ending the call and powering down my laptop. "Get your shit we're going" I call towards Matt in the kitchen.

Shoving my laptop back in my bag we head back out locking the place back up because we won't be coming back here now.

Less than half an hour later we're at the Marina leaving our hire car there to swap for a van. After a quick briefing with Jayy and a call to Amber we start getting our gear ready.

"You think a shotgun is a good idea?" Matt asks, as I unzip my bag.

"It's a tranq dart gun. We don't need to kill the yacht crew but we don't want them in our way either. Besides we only have a small window he'll be easier to move him if we knock him the fuck out" I reason.

My leg jogs as we wait for the signal from Jayy to make our move. Finally we see Jayy step out of her office using a piece of green card as a makeshift sun visor.

Green means there's five or less people to take care of.

I take out the two on the deck from the dock before we board. Like the well oiled machine we are Matt and I move as one. Signalling in silence as each room of the yacth is cleared.

Matt is the first to come across someone using the handle of his gun to knock the man unconscious before slowly lowering him to the floor. Hearing voices ahead Matt meets my eye moving like a shadow towards the sound.

I pull an EpiPen style tranq dart from my pocket ready but before we reach the door someone steps in my path.

I quickly silence them with my hand over their mouth using the tranq to subdue them. Jayy must have miscounted.

I step up to the door beyond which we can hear Benji's voice and I knock. What can I say, Mrs Canossa raised me to use my manners.

"What!?" Benji shouts, yanking the door open.

"Surprise bitch!" I greet him my fist landing in his eye with a satisfying crunch before he drops to the floor.