Gunner frowned. “Either way, that doesn’t bode well for her. Clearly we need to smack down whatever Oshiro gang members try to come after her until we can hand her off to her daddy.”
“Exactly,” Spencer replied.
Chas gasped beside him. Yeah. Gunner felt the kick in the gut too. Their kiddo was caught up in the middle of a nasty and dangerous mess. Any time money and power were involved, bad people would be prepared to do terrible things.
Spencer continued, “A friend of Drago’s at the agency collected a DNA swab from Kenji yesterday and is personally flying it to the US to be compared to the swab we took from Poppy. We should have results on that in a couple of days.”
Chas looked ready to puke, which Gunner totally related to. The idea of losing Poppy, of having to hand her over to a stranger, made him feel faintly ill as well.
“I don’t want to do anything too dramatic until we have the results of the DNA test,” Spencer said. “Once we know she’s the right kid, I’d like to draw together both factions of the Oshiro gang and eliminate them both or least give them a good spanking, before we hand her back to Kenji Tanaka. I’d hate to return her only to have something bad happen to her because his family’s enemies are embarrassed.”
“Where’s the Oshiro prisoner now?” Chas asked curiously.
Spencer chuckled. “He’s comfortably ensconced in Chez Barn at the back of our property. He’s not going anywhere.”
“What are you going to do to him?” Chas blurted.
“Nothing for now. We’ll be putting him on a hook and dangling him for the rest of the Oshiro boys to come and get shortly. We still have a few things to arrange before we let them know where their guy is.”
Chas frowned. “I don’t mean to tell you guys how to do your job, but should we be luring the bad guys there when Poppy’s just across the street?”
Spencer grinned. “If you were the bad guys, would you look for her there? It’s the last place anyone will think we stashed her. Plus, we’re very close if we need to get to her to protect her.”
Chas frowned doubtfully.
“Will the Oshiros come for their guy?” Gunner asked.
“Don’t know,” Drago answered. “It’ll depend on who he knows and how much they value whatever criminal activities he’s engaging in here in the States. If he’s a low-level thug, maybe not. If he’s a little higher up the chain of command, I expect they will want him back.”
“If nothing else, it’s lousy for morale not to recover your guy. I think the odds are better than not that they’ll come after him. Particularly if we dangle Poppy in front of them too,” Spencer added.
“You wouldn’t!” Chas exclaimed.
“Not the real Poppy, of course,” Spencer said quickly.
Gunner noted how protective Chas had sounded. He’d gotten pretty attached to the munchkin. Unfortunately, he knew the feeling. The little cutie was irresistible. Made a guy think about rug rats of his own someday.
“What do you want us to do in the meantime?” he asked.
“Stick to the plan,” Spencer replied. “Keep playing hide-and-seek with whatever Oshiro guys are following you while we try to figure out which faction is chasing you and how to draw out both factions at the same time.”
Gunner concurred. Aloud he asked, “How’s Poppy?”
“She’s great. Cute as a button,” Spencer replied.
“Is she making noise? Baby babbling or crying?” Chas asked anxiously. “When she’s afraid she goes completely silent. Is she safe? You’re sure these Oshiro guys can’t get to her?”
Drago answered more gently than Gunner would have guessed the guy was capable of. “She’s babbling up a storm. The gal from the agency who’s watching her speaks some Japanese, and Poppy seems to be responding very well to that. As for her safety, we’ve got that place protected like Fort Knox. Spencer and I have called in a few favors, and some of our friends are supplementing the already formidable security team at the estate.”
“Why don’t you guys start swinging back around toward this side of the country over the next few days,” Spencer suggested. “If this comes to a fight, I’d rather do it on my home turf.”
“But we’ll be leading reinforcements back to possibly even more Oshiros!” Chas protested.
“I swear to you, Chas. We’ve got this under control,” Spencer responded. “With the team we’ve got in place around Poppy, she’s safer than any baby on the planet. I stand by our plan of taking out as many of these Oshiro dudes as we can before we hand her over to her father.”
Gunner ended the call after that and watched pensively as Chas wandered into the bathroom, trailing his fingers in the hot tub’s bubbling water. The bottles of port arrived. Gunner signed for them and carried them into the bathroom, where Chas now sat in the tub, staring out the window.
Gunner stripped silently and slid into the tub beside him. “You really love kids, don’t you?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah. I do.”
“You’re going to be a great parent.”
Chas sighed. “I don’t know if it’ll ever work out.”
“I learned in SEAL training that if you want something bad enough, you should refuse to give up on it until you get it.”
“I’m no SEAL, Gunner. I’m just a slightly neurotic kindergarten teacher from a small town without much of a dating pool.”
Gunner turned to stare at Chas. “Are you kidding me? You’re a great catch. And God knows you’re the most loyal friend I’ve ever had. Why you stuck with me for all these years, I’ll never know.”
Chas glanced up at him. “You were a bit of an asshole there for a while.”
“Still am, last time I checked. But I’m working on being better.”
“When you’re not going all SEAL on me, you’re fine just the way you are,” Chas declared.
If only. “I’m sorry about this morning,” he murmured.
“What do you have to be sorry about? I’m the one who blurted out something stupid and awkward.”
Gunner frowned. “I’m no great expert on relationship shit, but I hear that expressing your feelings is supposed to be a good thing.”
Chas laughed. “Wow. Spoken like the most clueless man ever. You realize you just verified all the stereotypes about strong, silent males being emotionally unavailable, right?”
“Like I said, I’m no expert at relationships.”
“Or feelings, apparently.”
“Or deep conversations.”
“Or basic manners,” Chas added.
“Hey, now. I know how to say please and thank you. And I call women ma’am.” He poured a glass of the deep burgundy port and held it out to Chas. “Here. Drink.”
“A toast,” Chas murmured, waiting for Gunner to pour himself a glass.
“What shall we toast?”
“To Poppy being safe.”
“Well, duh. Anything else you’d like to toast?” Gunner asked.
“To old friends, new lovers, and hot sex.”
Gunner grinned. “Hear, hear. And all the better when they come in a single package.”