Just then, as Shane watched, the man stepped back and called out to his daughter again.
“Aleah, come out. I don’t want to have to come in there and get you.”
“I’m not coming out,” she said, in a world-weary voice. “I’ll marry Renault, and we’ll move to London.”
“That won’t happen,” he said. “You’re my only blood, and you have my only grandchild,” he said. “You need to come home.”
“There’s no home for me with you, not like this,” she said. “And now that you’ve senselessly killed so many people, you know Interpol will seek you out for the Americans.”
“I did it to save you,” he cried out.
“Yes,” she said, “you did, but the end result is I can’t go anywhere now without knowing that’s what you’ve done. You didn’t have to kill those people.”
“I did,” he said. “There was no other way to make sure they knew I was serious.” There was silence at that.
Until, of course, Shelly yelled out, “You didn’t have to kill the people in my office. They were completely innocent. They didn’t deserve that.”
“None of us deserve anything,” the father snapped. “I didn’t deserve to have my whole life ripped out from under me when my daughter was kidnapped six months ago.”
“I’m surprised that you care,” Shelly snapped.
Shane winced, wishing she’d stay quiet, but she was as feisty in captivity as she was at any other point in time.
“I care,” he said. “Aleah is my cherished daughter.”
“Father, as you well know, we haven’t had anything to do with each other in a very long time,” Aleah cried out. “I don’t understand what’s suddenly changed.”
Just then a new voice entered the fray. “What’s changed is that you are owed to me,” the stranger said.
There was a shocked silence, before Aleah called out, “Owed to you? What are you talking about?”
“Yes,” he said. “You were given to me many, many years ago, when you were just a child. We have a contract, and your father was paid a handsome dowry. When he refused to hand you over, I took you myself,” he said. “But imagine how I felt to find out that you were not pure, and, worse than that, you were carrying another man’s child.”
“Well, since I didn’t know anything about this arrangement,” she said, “I can hardly be judged for having found somebody I love.” In the silence, Aleah’s voice cried out again. “Is it true, Father? Did you sell your cherished daughter to this man?”
There was still only silence.
“See? He can’t answer you to deny my claim. Not only did he receive money but he also received backing. Political backing, financial backing. He cannot step away from this,” he said.
“But you don’t even want me anymore,” she said, her voice angry.
“I don’t want some crying brat, but I will take you,” he said. “But you are certainly not what I expected, so you won’t be my only wife. But together we will have children.”
Jesus, Shane thought to himself. What the hell is this? But, of course, in these other cultures, particularly anywhere in the Middle East, the rules of family and marriage were very different, and difficult for women, who were little more than possessions.
As Shane listened, Shelly piped up, “She’s already made a choice, and you weren’t it. She loves the father of her child, and she wants to spend her life with him. You made a pact with the devil, so deal with the devil yourself.”
At that, the stranger gave a snort. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “If he can’t return the money and pay me back for all the other benefits he enjoyed, he might as well be dead.”
At that, Shane slipped down the tree and raced forward, until he came up on the other side of the house.
Aleah’s father called out, “We have an agreement, a pact. He’ll say whatever he can to get you out, but he won’t shoot me any more than I’ll shoot him.”
“Are you so sure about that?” The stranger’s silky voice permeated through the darkness once again.
“Yes,” the father said, “because I am privy to an awful lot of secrets that you don’t want revealed.”
“Just like the information I have on you,” the stranger said.
“Therefore, we protect each other as planned.”
“Or I just shoot you, and any secrets you hold stay hidden,” the man said.
“Aw, but then you have to trust that I haven’t implemented a plan to send the secrets out to the world upon my death,” he said calmly.
Such a sense of arrogant assurance filled Aleah’s father’s voice that Shane wasn’t sure who or what to believe. “They’re both nuts,” he whispered to himself. Nobody was around him in the darkness. Pulling out his muted phone, he sent Diesel a message. Anyone around you? I have one down.
One down here, Diesel replied.
Any idea how many more?
No. But there has to be several.
Just as Shane was thinking about returning to the woods again, a shot rang out close to the house. He swore silently because he hadn’t left any weapons with Shelly and Aleah. And that he couldn’t stand. He studied the countryside, slipped back toward the trees, and, just as a verbal exchange broke out again between the two men, still fighting for control, Shane slipped up behind the house.
Moving silently and below window height, he slipped in through a downstairs window. Once inside, he stood, gun at the ready, and didn’t even see the blow that came out of nowhere. He dropped to his knees, as the pain made his skull feel like a ratchet had been used on him. But he bounced back up as fast as he could and took on his attacker. The fight was hard, furious, and completely in darkness.
He was amazed when he landed the few punches he did, but, once he had the man in a headlock, he didn’t stop until his adversary sagged in his arms, completely unconscious. Pulling his phone back out, he checked his victim with the Flashlight mode and sent a snapshot to Diesel. Stripping his captive of his weapons, Shane tied up the man and left him under the window.
Then he sent a text back to Diesel. Headed for the stairs. Keeping low, he quickly made his way through to Aleah’s room. It was empty. He headed to Shelly’s room and found the two women huddled on the floor of the closet. They both started when they saw him. He held a finger to his lips. Shelly scrambled toward him. He gave her a quick hug and whispered, “Go back and sit with her again.”
He noted that the baby was tucked up in blankets and that they were half in the closet. He motioned for them to get farther back into the closet, and he partially closed the door and then pulled the mattress off the bed and put it up in front of them. With any luck, errant bullets would get lodged or at least deflected before going any farther. With that, he did a quick sweep of the house but found nobody else inside. He stayed low when he heard the men outside arguing again. He left the bedroom and headed for the front door.
Chapter 14
Shelly wanted to race behind Shane, and, even as she shifted, Aleah grabbed her arm and whispered, “Stay here.”