Page 15 of To Catch a Sub

“Wait a minute.” Landon grinned. “You got caught.”

Colette grimace and he laughed.

“You got caught. They know who you are, and even though you somehow got away, they’re chasing you. That’s why you’re here. You want Interpol to protect you from Russian organized crime.”

Across from them, Barry whistled.

“Your plan was to bargain with that.” Landon pointed at the diamond. “You give us the Saudi diamond, we protect you.”

Landon had to give credit where it was due; she’d played this brilliantly. According to her carefully crafted statements, she’d taken possession of the item in good faith, not realizing it was potentially stolen until later, and then immediately brought it to the authorities. Charging her with handling of stolen goods would be pointless as it would be thrown out immediately.

If he were still with the Met in London Metro he would have arrested her anyway, and torn through first her statement and then her life in an effort to find something to charge her with.

Landon stared at the gem. They had it in their possession, and no force on earth would allow Colette to walk out of here with it…but possession wasn’t enough. They needed the information that only she had about where it had been and who (besides Colette herself) bought or stole it last. Returning it without those details would cause a major international incident.

And if that wasn’t enough, she also had information on human trafficking.

She’d walked in here and backed his ass, and all of Interpol, into a corner.

Barry must have been thinking the same thing, because he whistled. “Well done.”

“Thank you.” Colette gifted him with a smile.

“Ma’am, I don’t take kindly to threats,” Anu said slowly. “Keep that in mind.”

“This isn’t a threat. I’m merely doing my civic duty, but seeing as my civic duty has put me in danger, I really thought you’d want to help me.”

“And now a guilt trip? This is a masterclass,” Barry said in awe.

Colette’s lips twitched and Landon bared his teeth at his friend. “Stop encouraging her.”

“Sorry.”

“So a Russian organized crime group had the diamond?” Anu asked.

Colette arched a brow. “What makes you think that? I discovered the information on human trafficking while on a different appraisal job. One I took right after I began to suspect what the diamond might be. I realized Landon was the best solution to both issues.”

Landon felt a surge of pride and protectiveness. Fucking idiot. Being name-dropped as a solution to a problem by Colette Beaumont wasn’t a good thing.

His boss looked ready to explode. If Anu wasn’t a consummate professional, she would have been screaming in frustration.

Colette had that effect on people.

She was also brilliant. She’d walked right in to the offices and dangled multiple juicy tidbits in front of them, never saying anything concrete, and when she did offer new information, all it did was confuse and complicate things.

They were losing this game, though the fact that she dropped the British accent felt like a victory. A very small victory, but Landon would take what he could get.

“Let me clarify.” Anu sat forward, her tone business-like. “We have the diamond, which needs to be authenticated and, assuming it is what you say, a plan for facilitating its return needs to be made. Before that can happen, we need Ms. Beaumont’s information about where she, uh, found it.” She looked at Barry. “Talk to Aggie. Let her know what’s going on.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Then we have the issue of human trafficking.” Anu arched a brow. “I assume you have evidence?”

“Pictures of documents,” Colette replied.

“With you?” Anu asked.

Colette shook her head, as if disappointed Anu would even ask such a question.