“I’m guessing that these guys can help arrange something for you,” she said, “or at least get you started in the right direction.”
“I’m not sure that governments of either country would want anything to do with me because of my father,” she said.
“I guess the issue would be whether your father would be coming to visit.”
“No way,” she said, “he crossed the line, and we can’t go back.”
“Which is why the US would probably allow you to come to the States, but they would want to set a trap for him,” she said.
Aleah stared at her, with that deep fathomless gaze, then shrugged and nodded. “I was wondering about that myself.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “This is a hard way to start motherhood.”
“But,” she said, with a gentle smile toward the little baby beside her, “at least I got to start it.”
“That’s very true,” Shelly replied. “I hate to ask or seem like I’m prying, but what’s the deal with the baby’s father?”
“He’s off on a military deployment in the US Navy,” she said. “I don’t even know where he is or if he even knows any of what has happened to me for the last six months. He may think I just ditched him.”
“Oh, gosh, that’s terrible,” Shelly said. “Listen. If you give me his name, maybe we can find a way to contact him.”
Aleah looked at her with hope. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“I don’t know,” she said, “but surely somebody’s got to tell him that he’s a dad at least.”
Aleah smiled. “I don’t think he knew anything about that either. The whole thing might be just too much of a shock.”
“Did he love you?”
“Yes,” Aleah said. “We were to get married before he left, but they moved up his departure date, and we couldn’t get it arranged fast enough.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “That’s terrible.”
“It would be fine, I think, if I could actually connect with him and explain.”
“Well, give me his name and any information you have about where he might be stationed,” she said, “and I’ll see what I can find out.” With that, Aleah grabbed a napkin off the bedside table, and, using a pen that the nurse had left behind, she quickly wrote down the information. Holding it out, she smiled and said, “Thank you, Shelly. It means a lot that you’re even willing to try.”
“Hey, when you’ve got a precious little bundle, like this one,” she said, “you do whatever you can.”
“You are so right,” she said. “Even though she’s just hours old, I would do anything for her. It’s strange, you know? All those months when I was pregnant, it didn’t seem real. I was always terrified that something would happen, and I’d lose her. Especially when I was stuck with those men, and I had literally no one else.”
“Did they ever … abuse you or anything like that?”
“No. It was always there, as an implied threat, lording over me, but they never got that far,” she said. “I was never really sure what would happen when things inevitably went south. I knew I couldn’t count on them to protect me or my baby.”
“Well, from what I’ve heard, it’s unlikely that either of them are alive to care at this point,” Shelly said.
“I know I should feel bad about that on some level,” Aleah said, “but I can’t even begin to find that kind of emotion. All I want to focus on is my daughter and somehow creating a new life for the two of us. Hopefully with Renault.”
“That sounds like a perfect plan to me,” Shelly said. “Life is short as it is, and we’ve both been through horrific scenarios. We are lucky to have even survived. Whoever would have thought that I’d get kidnapped twice in the same week?”
At that, Aleah’s eyes opened wide. “Were you in that telecom building that got blown up by my father?”
“If you mean the one that he had shot up, yes,” she said. “I’m the only person from my workgroup who survived.”
“Shane got you out of there, didn’t he?”
“He did,” Shelly said gently. “And I won’t take it kindly if anything goes wrong, and he gets hurts too.”
“I know,” Aleah replied. “I’d feel bad as well. He’s gone to so much effort to save me, a complete stranger, and my baby, and I don’t want anything to happen to him either.”
“Well, let’s just keep positive thoughts, and hopefully nothing will.” She looked at the sleepy mom and said, “Looks like you are due for a rest again. I’ll head back to my room, but it was really nice meeting you and your precious daughter.”
Shane was in his room onboard the naval ship, on the laptop, working side by side with Diesel, when a message from Gavin came up in the chat window.
No more messages from either party.
Decisions?
Your call, Shane.
“Let’s take out both of those assholes,” he said out loud, then typed a similar message in the chat box.
Agreed, Gavin replied.
We need their locations so we can make a plan.
I’m afraid we’ll have to draw them out, Gavin said.
Shane took a long deep breath. I don’t want to use the women as bait.
They already are.
They don’t have to stay that way, Shane argued.
Better answer?
Shane looked at Diesel. “Gavin’s asking if we have a better solution than using the women as bait.”
Diesel immediately winced.
“I know, right? It goes against everything I believe in,” Shane said.
“The thing is, they already are bait, and both men will come after them,” he said. “Really, the best thing we can do is set up something to catch both father and kidnapper at the same time.”
“Doesn’t that make the women bait?”
“I think it’s all about the motivation behind it,” Diesel said.
“Still sounds like they’re bait,” Shane said bluntly.
“We’ll protect them,” Diesel said. “That’s already a given. In this case, it means that we’ll have to do our utmost to protect them and to set a trap, knowing that neither of these men will ever let it go.”
“We could slip the women out and hide them somewhere else.”
“We could, but we also know there’s a good chance that both of these men have the connections to find out where they are.”
“That’s true,” Shane said. “Shelly’s guard from MI6 was a good example of that. I nearly got her killed by protecting her.”
“Exactly,” Diesel said. “So the question is this. What can we do to minimize the risk to them, keep them secure, and set a trap at the same time?”
“I won’t do it if they don’t know full well what’s happening and the risks they are taking.”
“They’ll know full well because they already do. These are smart women, and believe me, they are already aware that these guys just won’t stop. Trust me. They already know,” Diesel said.