The Hitman's Pregnant Bride: A Baby Romance (12 page)

"
Y
ou found something
?"

"Come into my office."

Andreas practically sprinted into his office. There was an open Heineken next to Chung's computer.

"What have you been up to?"

"I ran national property searches under some of the assumed names that the FBI has in its files about Odhran and his associates."

Andreas could see cars on Chung's screen. "You ran some traffic cams?"

"Nothing came up for any vehicles registered to any of Odhran's aliases or any of his associates' aliases. I tried to run facial recognition on Harold, but we can't be totally sure that..."

"That Harold's face hasn't been mutilated beyond recognition." Andreas felt his jaw tighten. Damn. He needed more time with his punching bags. "I need a beer."

"Heineken okay?"

"Yeah."

He sat beside Chung as Chung took a beer out of a small fridge within easy reaching distance of his desk.

"You can't see them on any traffic cams. Why wouldn't Odhran stay at his house? It has to be the ideal place to extract information out of Harold. Why would he move?"

"You think that there's something secret at the estate?"

"Maybe. I know that Harold is alive. I can feel it. I know that I'm not deluding myself with a pretty fantasy. Where else would they take him and why? It wouldn't make sense to try to make it through customs with Harold. It's not as if Odhran is overly concerned with American law enforcement, not if he's kidnapped an FBI agent and is holding him for information."

"You think that he would be scared of you? You're a pretty big guy."

Andreas shook his head. "I don't think that he considered me a threat. He might now know who I am."

"You want to go to the FBI?"

"No, not unless I want to end up in jail." Andreas snorted. "Wait a minute...what if he's waiting for someone?"

Andreas felt as if a lightbulb just went on in his head. He drank more of his beer. In vino veritas. He looked around the room. He looked at a boat in a glass bottle.

"That's a pretty boat," he told Chung.

"My parents had a boat like that once."

"Okay." He didn't know much about Chung, but he didn't want to be too nosy. Being too inquisitive didn't pay in their line of business.

He put his beer down. "Wait. There was a failed raid that took place in Chesapeake Bay, but the feds thought that it was dumb, bad intel. What if it wasn't bad intel. If Odhran had storage containers in Chesapeake Bay..."

"Then they could keep Harold Kaine there without anybody noticing. They are big enough to live in. Some people have turned shipping containers into homes. Zappos turned containers into Container Park in Las Vegas. It's a real possibility."

"Would anybody ever look for Harold Kaine in a shipping container?"

"Probably not. We've got the location from those documents, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to get some reinforcements."

"I'll go check in on Phoebe."

Andreas went into the bedroom and looked at Phoebe, who was still curled up on the bed. She didn't stir an inch, but he knew that she was aware of him watching her and being inside of the room. He didn't want to wake her. He wanted to surprise her when he brought her father back. She had been way too much stress lately, more stress than was really good for the baby. He stepped outside and gently closed the door.

He hung around the back side of Chung's. He needed to wait for back-up before he took on Odhran on his own turf.

Andreas had kicked his smoking habit a long time ago, but he went to the cabinet where he knew Chung kept his cigars and smoking supplies. He needed a hit right now.

Going into a secluded corner, he lit one cigar with a cheap Bic lighter. He choked when he took his first drag. He was out of practice. He hoped that he wouldn't throw up like he did his first time as a kid.

He blew a smoke ring. The nicotine helped him loosen up just a little bit. He could make it there in time to save Harold. He could do it. He told himself those things as if it would make it true. He could make it in time and bring Harold home safe to Phoebe and Sally. Odhran might not be breathing when everything was said in done, but then, he'd started it when he kidnapped Phoebe.

P
hoebe woke
up in the darkness and panicked a little bit, heart racing, thinking that she was still in her lavish prison on Odhran's estate. She relaxed a little when she remembered that she was at Chung's now.

She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that Andreas had a real lead. She turned on the lights and got dressed. She wasn't really all that clean, but she'd just have to deal with it.

She slipped out the back door of the restaurant which led straight to a parking lot. There were a few cars there. Andreas' SUV was out there.

She could hear them talking quietly. The wind carried their words over to her.

"Harold...bay...rescue..."

They really were going to get her daddy. Andreas would want to take his car; she knew that he liked to be at the wheel. She knew the code to get into his car. Unnoticed by the men who had gathered for the rescue mission, she climbed through the car until she got into the backseat and hid under it, making herself invisible.

She waited for them to come into the car, but they took too long. She fell asleep.

W
hen she woke up
, she heard packs being loaded into the trunk next to her. Two guys were riding with Andreas, who, true to form, was driving his own car. The others must be in another car.

Finally, Andreas put the car into reverse and headed towards the Beltway.

Her heart began to beat as fast as a hummingbird's in her chest. Maybe she was crazy to stow away on this rescue mission. She didn't know what Atana would do if she realized that Phoebe wasn't at Chung's.

Maybe she was doing it because she didn't have complete trust in Andreas anymore.

Whatever it was, she felt as if she needed to be on the real rescue mission. Maybe she'd be needed in some way and an angel whispered in her ear to nudge her into sneaking out. She might be very ill-prepared, lacking any kind of weapons training, and pregnant, but Odhran had her father. And Harold Kaine would come home safe tonight.

No matter what.

Phoebe felt the car go over what felt like every pothole in the DC metro. Seriously, did this SUV have no suspension at all? She know that she felt more than usual since she was flat against the floor, but a particularly huge bump made her hit her heat on the metal underside of the backseat.

“Ouch!”

She winced, not from pain. She knew that she’d been discovered when the car swerved over to the side of the road.

“Phoebe?” Andreas opened his door and opened the trunk. “Baby, are you here?”

She bit her lip and debated answering. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t heard her. There were two other people in the car.

“It’s me,” she admitted, crawling out from under the back seat and standing up. “Hi, Andreas.”

“Are you serious?”

She blushed.

“Why would you do this?”

She blushed harder. “I don’t even know why I’m here.”

“Let me introduce you to Ricky and Bill.”

“Hi,” she said, giving a small wave.

“Ricky and Bill and I…we go way back.”

“Okay.” She got the subtext. They were the same…the same kind of men as her husband.

Phoebe looked at Andreas and she could see irritation written plainly on his face. She had snuck into the car on impulse. She had no clue why she was here.

“Baby, you might see some stuff that you might not be ready for.”

“I know,” she whispered.

Andreas sighed. “It’s too late for us to take you back. Just stay hidden in the car, okay?”

“I will.”

Phoebe was beginning to seriously regret coming on this ride. She didn't know why she'd inserted herself on this mission. But she was scared -- scared that she might never see her daddy again.

They got back on the road and Phoebe had to admit that actually sitting on the back seat was much more comfortable than sitting on the ground.

She saw the men get out of the car. There was a truck next to them.

"My wife's in the back of my ride. It's a long story." Andreas closed his door, which muffled their voices so she could no longer hear what they were saying.

She swallowed hard. She told herself that she was okay sitting on the sidelines, but she could see all the men doing a double check of their weapons.

Andreas came around to the back of the car to take out the packs that they'd stowed there.

"You just stay in the truck, you hear?"

"I will," she said. She knew that it was silly to ride along with them, but she wasn't a child. She could follow simple directions.

"I'm sorry that I came."

Andreas nodded. "I'm going to put you in the truck, okay? Once you are there, don't move." His eyes were a dark grey and very serious.

"I won't."

He squeezed her shoulder and closed the trunk. Phoebe went out the side door of the SUV. Andreas helped her into the flatbed of the truck.

She was determined to stay out of sight while the mission to extract her father went on. She felt the truck roar to life and resigned herself to even more bumping, and not the fun kind.

"
W
here'd you put her
?"

"I put her in the truck. Nix stayed back to keep an eye on the cars and my wife. He's not built for this, anyway."

"Nah. He hasn't killed anyone."

Andreas tried to put his worry about his wife in the back of his mind. She should've been safe at Chung's. Now she was right next to the most dangerous person that she'd meet, one who had already kidnapped her once. He hoped that she'd stay put. She really shouldn't have snuck out. He couldn't imagine what his wife was thinking when she snuck into his car. It was ridiculous dangerous. She left a place of perfect safety to ride along in his car when he was wearing body armor. She didn't even seem to know why she was there.

Andreas took deep breaths as he ran through the hand signals that they'd use and their game plan for the extraction. Andreas knew that the men were prepared just as well as they could be. He undid the safety of his gun. He came near the warehouse that the Feds had raided before. Odhran was around here somewhere.

Andreas hoped that Harold Kaine was conscious when they found him. He could only hope that the part of the interrogation where they began slicing hadn't happened yet.

He winced. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain any of this to Mrs. Kaine, who definitely had noticed at this point that her husband wasn't home.

"Showtime," Ricky said.

He needed to focus.

Damn it.

"Odhran," he shouted. "You didn't invite us to the party." He nodded at Bill, who began banging the butt of his gun on a big piece of metal that rang like a gong, making an incredible sound that spread throughout the whole dockyard. Bill immediately disappeared just like a ghost.

"What are you doing here, Andreas?"

Andreas spun around to look at Odhran, who was flanked by two men who looked like bodyguards. He was wearing a gold suit. He was unreasonably flashy in it. For heaven's sake, they were in a dockyard. Who even wore suits here?

"Let's get on with it."

"Get on with what?" Odhran said, his tone light and innocent. He stepped into the dim lights of the warehouse. It was hard to tell where Odhran had come from, but that's why Andreas had brought a crew.

"It's a private party," Odhran said, his tone icy. "But you're a big boy, aren't you? You know that already."

Andreas ground his teeth. Odhran acted as Andreas hadn't killed more men than he could count on his fingers and toes.

He saw one of his crew members pointing to one of the containers. They knew which container Harold Kaine was in.

Odhran saw Andreas looking at the container. He raised his hand.

Immediately, Andreas felt a huge amount of force hit the center of his chest. He fell backwards. That bastard had his goons shoot him. He felt like he'd been kicked by a horse wearing an iron horseshoe.

He fell on his back and stared at the sky. To add insult to injury, he felt another shot go into his thigh. They must've realized that he hadn't bled when they shot him in the center of his mass. Andreas winced as he got to his feet and limped into the darkness, doing his best to weave through the narrow alleys of the containers. He needed to get closer to the one that Hawk had shown him had Harold Kaine.

Orange container. He needed to get closer to the orange container. He had to holster his gun because he had to try to staunch his blood-flow while he was on his feet and still walking around. If he had time, he'd tie a tourniquet there, but he didn't have that luxury.

He kept walking until he saw a glimpse of orange.

A bullet hit the container two inches from his face. He spun and shot in the direction the bullet had come from. The sound of a thud told him that he'd hit whatever thug was gunning for him.

"Andreas, right?" Odhran called out.

Andreas could hear the click of Odhran's fancy shoes. He really wasn't dressed properly for the docks. Andreas didn't answer Odhran's call.

He finally got to the orange container. He shot the lock off of it because he didn't have time to pick it. Inside, there was a guard who wasn't very alert. He pistol-whipped the man and shot him in his shooting arm before hitting him again to knock him out. He had an extra gun in his ankle holster. He put it in Harold's hands. His face was covered in blood and his eyes were swollen shut.

"Sorry it took so long, Harold. I had a little trouble finding you."

Harold didn't say a thing.

Andreas realized that Harold wasn't conscious; he was being held up by the duct tape that kept him attached to the chair.

He shook Harold's shoulder. "We're breaking you out, okay? Stay with me. Hold this gun. I'm going to unlock your handcuffs."

He rummaged around in the unconscious guard's pocket until he found a key for the handcuffs. He undid the cuffs on Harold's eyes. Harold's pupils were different sizes. Definitely concussed.

Fuck. This was not ideal.

"Stay with me, Harold." He put a hand on Harold's arm to pull him out of the container.

Stepping out of the container, he immediately saw Phoebe held by one of the thugs dressed in black.

Fuck.