Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Damon sighed. “Damn it. They’re kidnapping young women and training them to be assassins or sex workers? Here in Europe?”
Penny reached over and patted her husband’s hand. “They are, my love, which is why we’re going to have a new challenge.”
Damon’s head fell back and he cursed.
“Dad, Sami, and I will handle the heavy lifting,” Oliver explained. “Ariel and Mum will deal with Sosa and Gabby and the others when we figure out how many there are and what it’s going to take to free them.”
“Hey, I’m working on this, too,” Lucy added. “I’ve got feelers out. I suspect between what the girls know and what I can discover, we can at the very least devise a plan to extract their friends. Also, from what I’ve discerned, it’s not just assassins or rape victims. Don’t call them sex workers. Sex workers choose their professions and provide something a lot of people need. They’re rape victims. Slaves. Sosa was trained to be an assassin, but they are pretty much a one-stop criminal shop if you’re looking for young women.”
Tim held up a hand. “I would think they would want some dudes, too. No offense to the many deadly women in this room, but men are still better at killing. All the stats prove that.”
“I would agree with you on a mass scale,” her father began, “but they’re not looking for some shooter. They have their weapons of mass destruction. I talked to Sosa on the plane. She admitted to a couple of her victims. All political or business enemies of the men who paid for her services. Every one of them needed surgical precision.”
“Which is why I question the ham-handedness of how she handled you,” Kala pointed out. “Dad, I understand what you’re saying and I get why Mom wants to believe them, but blowing up your car in a public parking lot is not her usual MO. If we believe her, she’s good with poisons. Two of those assassinations she’s claiming were labeled natural deaths because she did such a good job. So why change it up and cause a massive scene?”
“Because the other thing she does is research on her targets,” her mom said quietly and her hand covered her dad’s. “I think she knew she might have a shot at getting Ian to listen to her. I think she wanted to get caught. She’s worried about one of her sisters, worried she won’t last much longer.”
“You think this is all a play to get us involved?” Lou asked.
It was a smart one since there was no way they could ignore the situation. “I’m trying to see the advantage to Huisman planting Sosa here. I saw her. She wasn’t playing. She’s terrified of him.”
“Or she’s an excellent actress,” Ben countered. “It would be exactly like Manny to embed someone with the group that’s investigating him. And you should understand he would know exactly how to slip her in. He’s never tried to kill Mr. Taggart before. He doesn’t need to. We haven’t really threatened him.”
“I assure you the data we got in Nepal threatens him,” her father replied. “I know Charlie thinks he can’t know we have it, but I suspect he knows and this is all chaos to distract us from what he’s hiding in one of these locations. And before you tell me he’s likely looking for something, something either Sosa or Gabby could get from us, that’s why we moved. I didn’t want them around sensitive material, and The Garden has far better security than I can provide since I don’t live in a club.”
“We’ve got eyes on them at all times,” Damon promised.
“And if I’m uncomfortable having an obvious spy around?” Ben asked.
Her father simply shrugged. “Then you probably picked the wrong business to be in, Benjamin. We are working with you, but you should understand I’m in charge of this operation. CSIS is more than welcome to conduct their own investigation if you don’t appreciate how I’m handling it. You have the same intel. You can do this on your own.”
Tim held up a hand. “I vote for sticking with the team. Like it’s nice here. I totally believe this British dude can handle two young women.”
Damon huffed. “Then you haven’t met some of the women I’ve dealt with.”
Ben’s jaw had tightened. “I have my assignment, Mr. Taggart. I’ll do my job and if you don’t want my advice, I can keep my mouth shut, but you should understand that I won’t allow the fact that you let Manny play on your emotions and your history to hurt me or mine.”
“Agreed.” The tension between her father and Ben was palpable.
Kala looked from one to the other. “Well, this is awkward.” She looked to Cooper. “Dude, thanks for being cool with my dad. This whole marriage thing would be a lot if you two were always on the verge of punching each other.”