Loyalty's Betrayal by Mari Carr & Lila Dubois

Author:Mari Carr & Lila Dubois
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farm Boy Press

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Dimitri spread the paper map of the island on the hood of the car. It was safer to use paper than in-car or app-based maps. The fleet admiral, whose past meant he, like Dimitri, knew how to operate with an abundance of caution, had given it to him.

Right after Dimitri had reaffirmed his promise to kill Mateo if he was the traitor.

The thought made Dimitri sick. With the ease of practice, he pushed the emotions aside and focused on the task at hand.

“What are the dots?” Cecilia asked quietly. She seemed to have picked up on his mood.

There were four black dots on the map. Three were on the north side of the island, not more than a mile or two from the border of the Triskelion property. The last was on the south side of the island, not far from Douglas.

“They’re places Manon, the murdered fleet admiral’s other wife, might have met with her lover.”

Cecilia took a steadying breath. “And we’re going to investigate?”

“Yes.”

“Why us?”

“Because there’s a traitor in the Spartan Guard.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the full truth. Dimitri knew how to keep secrets. He wouldn’t tell her that the fleet admiral had been escaping the guards, roaming the island, doing an investigation of his own, and had identified these four locations—each of which was a holiday home, a property rented by people who vacationed on Isle of Man to enjoy the pastoral beauty of the island.

“I thought Manon left the isle, and that was part of the problem—Mateo didn’t tell anyone because he was protecting their privacy.”

“Yes.” He studied the map, folded it small, and returned it to his back pocket. “But that kind of betrayal and loyalty takes years to build. Not months.” He opened her door for her.

She waited until he climbed in and started the car before saying, “You think Manon and her lover—the American sniper—were secretly meeting somewhere on the Isle of Man.”

“Yes.”

“Right under the Spartan Guard’s nose? Her husband’s nose?”

“Exactly.”

Dimitri knew what drove people—or at least the less noble aspects of human nature. From what he’d learned of Manon, what Mateo had recounted about what she’d said when confronted, he suspected meeting with her lover near to Triskelion was part of the appeal. The very nearness would satiate her desire to undermine and repudiate her spouse, the fleet admiral.

That was why, of the four locations the Viking had identified, he chose the one that he suspected would have a view of Triskelion Castle.

He merged onto the winding country road, bringing them almost into Douglas before turning east, and then north, backtracking, but staying on the winding road that hugged the east coast of the island.

They stopped in Laxey, Dimitri racing into a pharmacy to get some seasickness pills and a bottle of water for Cecilia, whose queasy stomach hadn’t appreciated the scenic drive.

After some cursing in Italian and the application of damp paper towels to the back of her neck, Cecilia was ready to go. Needing to

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