Perfect Storm | JJ Maybank [3]

three

FOR EVERY PROBLEM Jo encountered, she always had a solution. Sometimes they weren't good ones, but she was always able to find a way out of a bad situation.

This dilemma she found herself in at present, though, she wasn't so sure there was an escape. Jo had stopped fighting, hoping maybe her chances would be better if she complied and let the guards yank her towards the mansion that sat before her. She wondered if Kie was there. Why did they want her in the first place? What could Carlos Singh possibly need her for?

"Mr. Singh!" The guard called out for his boss, his hands never leaving Jo's arms.

"Bring her in," an accented voice said.

Jo's heart began to beat harder as she was forced through the huge house and into an eccentric office. Sat at a desk by the window surrounded by ancient trinkets was a dark-skinned man with a beard. Jo was pushed forward and made to sit in the chair across from the desk, her eyes wide as the man peered down at her.

"Josephine Routledge," he hummed, his hand gliding over his tie.

"How do you know my name?" Jo breathed. Panic coursed through her. If this man knew her name, then surely he'd been looking for her and her friends.

But why?

Mr. Singh chuckled. "It's my job to know everything," he said evenly. "I know all of your little friends' names too."

"Where's Kiara?" Jo demanded, desperately trying to ignore the threat laced within Singh's words.

"Ah, don't worry," Singh said. "She is unharmed. And as long as she cooperates, she will remain that way." Jo gripped the arm rests of the wooden chair, her face hardening. "And so will you," he continued. "Great minds that work together can get a lot done, you know."

"What is it that you want from me?" Jo hissed. She clenched her teeth as she glared at the man, hating how powerless she was in this room surrounded by armed guards.

"Firstly, it was most impressive you and your friends made it as far as you did, you know," Singh said. He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands together. "No one has ever made it over the wall and lived to tell the tale. But, I am not surprised that you did," Singh said. "You have so much of your father in you, you know."

Jo leaned forward, narrowing her eyes. She suddenly felt sick sitting in the same room as this man. "What do you know about my father?" She growled.

Singh smiled and stood up, walking around the desk to a picture on the wall. "I know that he's looking for the Royal Merchant. But that's not all, you know. The Royal Merchant gold is just the beginning."

He pointed to the picture that hung on the wall; it was of the Merchant on fire.

The same one that Jimmy had.

"The Merchant and the Cross are only a small piece of the real treasure," Singh continued. He turned to face Jo. "It is said that they came from El Dorado. A city of gold."