Lovin' Danger: Mata Hari Series Book 4 Read online

  So Sadie had succeeding in getting Casanova the medicine he needed. But at what cost? She loved that dog enough to risk anything. The flashing red light on the locating app moved closer.

  Out of the door to Jimmy’s Steakhouse emerged a man carrying an unconscious woman. Sadie. A waiter ran around him and lifted his hand in the air to hail a cab.

  Seb didn’t recognize the man holding his woman. Was she knocked out? Had he hurt her? Seb strode over to him. “I’ll take her,” he said, putting his arms forward and giving the guy a hard stare. The man looked older than him and soft. Seb could take him easily, if he had to.

  The man’s dark eyes stared back at him. “The lady has had too much to drink.”

  A yellow taxi pulled up and the waiter said, “Here you go, sir.”

  Pulling his eyes away from Seb, the man walked over to the cab. The waiter opened the back door. Carefully, the man with the dark eyes placed Sadie inside.

  Seb pushed him aside and got in the back with her, lifting her head to place it on his lap.

  Without a word, the man took the front, passenger seat. His confident demeanor grated on Seb’s nerves, but he’d have to wait to punch him later. His first priority was Sadie. Seb gave the address of their apartment to the driver and softly moved tendrils of her red hair from her pale face.

  The taxi accelerated away from the curb.

  “What did you do to her?” Seb asked.

  He shrugged. “She’ll be awake soon.”

  “Why?”

  The taxi turned left. Seb stared at the back of the driver’s head. To get to their apartment they should have gone straight. Seb took a quick glance around the cab. It looked normal. “What the fuck?”

  The strange man laughed, again. Damn. There was a raw meanness to that laugh, one Seb would never forget.

  A thick wall of glass rose between the front and back seats. The door locks clicked into place. Seb held Sadie tighter. Never had he loved anyone more than her.

  And now they were trapped.

  13

  Chapter Thirteen

  Seb checked Sadie’s pulse. Slow and steady. He pulled his mobile out of his jacket pocket and turned it on, but there was no signal. None at all. The hair on the back of his neck rose. It should still be on, damn it. Pushing one button after another didn’t help. Godverdomme. The car must have some sort of electronic blocker. Who is this guy?

  Now what? If he figured out a way to open a door, he couldn’t jump out with Sadie unconscious. He had to wait to see what the asshole did next. He looked around assessing the situation.

  The car drove through town to the docks. A boat? They were going to a fucking boat?

  They came to a stop beside a twenty seven foot Kingfisher, a motor boat built for fishing. What the hell?

  The driver, built like a Schwarzenegger wanna-be, opened the door. Pointing a Glock in Seb’s face he said, “Get out. Bring the girl.” His voice had a grisly sound to it.

  Sebastian edged out first and then pulled Sadie out carefully. He kept his back to the men to shield her. As he held her in his arms, she winked at him. A hallelujah dance played through his nervous system. If they could both fight, the odds of them winning more than doubled. He turned to face the men and stared down at them. “What now?”

  “Come aboard. I will fix you a drink. We will talk. And maybe we can come to some agreement.”

  “Agreement?”

  “After the drone didn’t kill your girlfriend, I did more research on her background. I found out all about you. You have money, Mr. Wilde.”

  So that was what he wanted. “Name your price.”

  “Come on board. We will talk. Man to man.”

  Sadie did a good job of looking out of it. That man-to-man comment would anger her, but she hid all emotion from her face. If they survived this, he’d have to tell her what a good actress she was. If…

  With Sadie nestled in his arms, Sebastian followed the lead guy onto the boat and into the cabin. The driver with his gun followed behind. Sweat trickled down Seb’s spine. But knowing it was about money, made him feel better. He could deal with greedy people. Just not deranged ones.

  “My name is Leon Krykos the fourth. Put Sadie on the sofa.” The orifice pointed to a bench with a cushion on it.

  Seb lowered her carefully to the platform and pushed her hair out of her face. “She’s so out of it.”

  “Your woman will be fine.” He sat at a table and motioned for Seb to sit at the chair opposite him. “Before you sit down, give me your gun.”

  Seb handed over his Berretta and sat.

  “I have orders to kill Sadie.”

  Seb stared at him feeling sweat slide down his face.

  “I met with her, because I don’t like murder and I thought I could make a deal. If she gave me the information the KOTL want, then I could let her go, but she says she doesn’t know where the tablets are hidden and has no map or information to find them. She says she has nothing.”

  Seb nodded again. “So now you want money?”

  “I don’t want to kill her.”

  “Won’t they come after you, if you don’t?”

  “I don’t think I’m that important to them. I will be considered a failure. That’s alright with me, as long as I have the money I need to live well and protect myself.”

  “I see. So you want to let us free.”

  “Not exactly. My failure will result in the loss of my inheritance. I expect you to match that amount, or there’s no deal.”

  “And how much would that be?”

  “Twenty million.”

  Seb didn’t flinch. There was no way he could possibly raise that much money, but obviously this asshole didn’t know that. “Twenty?”

  “I know you don’t have it on hand.” He tilted his head as if he knew everything there was to know about everything. Arrogant. Asshole. Prick. “But they say you have the golden touch in the art business. I’m betting that over the next few years your accounts will grow nicely. I want a part of that.” He turned his gaze to Sadie who looked comatose. “You can pay me a nice yearly dividend. Say five mill.” A sly smile swept across his face, as wily as a fucking weasel. “The woman’s worth it.”

  Seb stared at him.

  “I know you keep a close watch on the looted art market. If your regular business can’t bring in the money, it can. You can make our arrangement work.”

  Seb’s gut wrenched. “If I agree to your deal, what assurance do I have you will stick to it.”

  “Check up on me. I don’t kill people.”

  “But the KOTL?”

  “Yes, well I can’t control them. They may send more assassins. You will have to deal with them one at a time.”

  Seb leaned back against the cushion. “And if I don’t pay?”

  “That would be most unfortunate for both of you.” His geiten neuker smile returned. “I’ve hired five guards. It’s my backup plan. They will keep you imprisoned, until the next KOTL, hit man arrives.” Running a hand through his oily, black hair he paused for a minute. “Killing you will be as easy as shooting ducks in a pond for a pro.”

  Seb fantasized about reaching across the table and strangling him, but the man’s thug held his gun steady, aimed at Seb’s chest. Doing something stupid now, might feel good for a micro-second, but then he would be dead and Sadie. . .

  “Well Mr. Wilde. I have made my offer clear. What do you say?”

  Seb could feel Sadie’s movement. He didn’t dare look her way. That would draw attention to her. Instead he stood up. The thug went rigid with attention and his gun remained pointed at Seb’s heart.

  Leon kept eye contact with Seb and rose. “Don’t do anything stupid, Mr. Wilde.”

  A Japanese-glass, fishing float flew through the air and knocked muscle man square on the forehead like a glass beach ball. “Don’t call my man stupid.” Sadie’s sweet voice sounded strong and clear.

  ***

  Sadie had listened to every word the men spoke. Yada yada yad
a. . .Would the man from the KOTL ever get to the point? Sadie’s head throbbed and her stomach churned as if a million deranged bees were holding a rave inside. Her fingers itched to move. Leon was going down. As soon as he finished spitting out his plan, she’d nail him. Were all Greek millionaires so long-winded? Sheesh. She listened, and listened, keeping her body as lifeless-looking as she could. Stealing a look around the cabin, she figured out where everyone stood and what she could use as a weapon.

  Finally, Leon finished his side of the negotiation. What an arrogant ass.

  In one swift movement Sadie rose, reached for the glass ball covered in fish net sitting on the table beside her and with all her strength threw it at the minion with the gun. Got him. Yes! Right between the eyes. Her years of pitching on the Seattle Sea Birds team had come in handy once again.

  “Arrgh,” cried out the guard as he stumbled back from the impact and put his hands to his head. Sebastian was on him with a flash.

  Sadie jumped behind Leon and, before he could say a word, she had him by the throat in a deadly choke-hold.

  14

  Chapter Fourteen

  The elder Leonidas Krykos III did not know how to explain to the KOTL leaders that his son had failed to kill Sadie Stewart. He had been summoned by the council, which meant they probably already knew the details. All the same, he had to plead his son’s case.

  They met in an ancient church, in Cairo. Would they terminate him, or his son? It was possible. They knew too much and had proved themselves useless. Less than useless. Leon sighed. He had thought old age would bring its rewards, but it seemed to bring nothing but disappointments.

  And where was his son?

  Dropped off at the door, the older Leon waved to his driver and body-guard to carry on. This was one event he needed to attend alone, completely alone. He had sworn an oath to the KOTL and had failed them. Dressed in his best, black, business suit, he pulled his shoulders back and lifted his chin, determined to look undefeated to the end, while his insides shrank with defeat and his gut twisted with worry.

  Inside the chamber five people sat at a long table. The smell of mold and sweat laced with anger hovered in the air. None of them stood, but they all stared at him through round holes in their dark green hoods. The center person, known as Asteria, lifted her arm and pointed to the chair opposite their table, indicating that Leon should sit there, alone in the center of the room.

  Leon sat. His breathing labored as his throat constricted under the gaze of the council. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he said. Two words he had vowed as a young man never to say. “My son failed. I have failed.”

  Silence. Deadly silence. The menacing eyes continued to spear his resolve.

  “I thought with his knowledge of technology, he could eliminate Sadie Stewart, but. . .”

  “She still lives.” The voice, which came from Asteria, was low and menacing like a rogue wave ready to collapse on top of him.

  “He built a highly sophisticated. . .”

  “Drone. You thought you could take her out with a drone.”

  Leon nodded. “When the skilled assassin failed to kill her in Venice in a conventional way, I figured we had to try something different. It was my turn to find a solution, so I talked with him.”

  “You were thinking outside the box.”

  Leon nodded. The comment had not been meant as a compliment. The derision in Asteria’s voice raked Leon’s senses as surely as the razor sharp claws of a raptor. More like outside his own coffin.

  “The woman must die,” she said.

  The four men on the panel began pounding the wooden table. “Bang, bang, bang!” The sound grew louder.

  “I did what I thought best,” said Leon with as much contriteness as he could muster. “If. . .”

  The pounding continued.

  Leon raised his voice to be heard over the noise.

  “If you would give me one more chance.”

  Asteria lifted her right hand and the pounding stopped. The sudden silence hit him harder than the pounding. He tried to breathe, but his chest tightened to the point that little air got in. He firmed his jaw. “I will kill Sadie Stewart. I will find a way. I swear.”

  “Do you swear on your life?”

  “Yes.”

  “On your son’s life?”

  Leon hesitated, which surprised him. Not until this moment had he realized how important little Leon was to him. After another second, he said, “Yes.”

  The room fell silent.

  A shiver stole up Leon’s spine. How on earth would he kill her? There had to be a way. There had to be someone he could buy that could get the job done. He was no soldier or assassin. And nor was his son. “I will find a way.”

  Asteria nodded. “Then Sadie Stewart will die.”

  15

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sebastian arrived back in Amsterdam too late to meet with Walter Easterbrook, the British dot-com guy who bought art for prestige. Walking home from Central Station he mused about how little that meeting mattered to him. So what if he missed the biggest art deal of his career. There would be others. There was only one Sadie Stewart.

  When he opened his apartment door he found his best friend Xander sitting in his favorite chair, drinking his Belgian beer. The distinct aroma of baby powder hit him. His eyes dropped to the baby Mauritz, sound asleep in a carrier on the floor.

  “Xander.”

  His friend raised a finger in the classic, just a second pose. The sounds of crowds cheering at a soccer match blared on Seb’s big-screen TV mounted on the wall. Sebastian closed the door, dropped his bags and without a word headed to the fridge for a beer.

  When he returned to the living area, Xander had migrated to the couch and Sebastian took the chair. “What’s the score?”

  “Two for Sadie. Zero for you.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “You gotta stop thinking with your dick.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. A hell of a homecoming. “Everything worked out.”

  “According to who? You’re so fucked in the head, man. She left you naked, chained to a bed. I have the picture by the way, courtesy of New York’s finest. Then you got kidnapped and almost killed.”

  “Almost. You have to remember the almost part.”

  “That’s the third time you put your life at risk. You could play with less dangerous women.”

  “But no one is like Sadie.”

  “Is she worth it?”

  “Hell yeah.”

  Xander threw a cushion at his head. And the Ajax team scored on the TV.

  16

  Chapter Sixteen

  New York City

  Sadie sat back in her folding chair in the park soaking in the beauty of the day. She smiled at Beatrice who studied the playing cards she held in her hands as if they held the keys to the universe. Bee’s bridge friends had declined their invitation to get together for a game of bridge, so it was just Beatrice and herself this time. They were playing gin rummy and Bee was cheating. Sadie was sure of it and out ten bucks. No one could win that many games. Sadie watched her closely, trying to catch her at it, but cheating at gin didn’t seem like a big deal after what they had been through.

  Cassy, dozing in the late afternoon heat lay on the ground in such a way that his body touched both women. He’d gone on a five mile run with Sadie in the morning, and acted like his old frisky, puppy-self. Sadie’s life seemed normal again, or at least as normal as her double-life could ever be.

  Sadie reached down and scratched under his ear. The poisoning made her realize just how attached she’d become to the flea bitten pooch. Cassy rolled on his back and she scratched his tummy. His tail thumped. There was something perfect about their relationship, she had never imagined existed between a woman and a dog. The predictability, the unconditional love, the furry wonder of it all.

  “Gin.” Bee smiled her winner’s smile as she slammed her cards down on the table. What the hell did she do this time?
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br />   Sadie nodded and put her cards down. She had come close this time, but hadn’t made it.

  Beatrice took all the cards and shuffled them with the dexterity of a Vegas dealer. No doubt she’d learned her cheating skills in the back rooms of the casinos. While she waited for her cards, Sadie did a glance-around to check the park out. Everything seemed safe. For now.

  Bee started dealing. “So where’s the Dutch giant?”

  “Amsterdam. But he’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “He’s quite the catch.”

  Sadie laughed. “I’m not sure who’s catching who, but I get what you mean. He’s okay.” She winked at Bee.

  “That good, heh?”

  “Oh yeah.” Ripples of pleasure ran along Sadie’s skin short-circuiting her thoughts as she remembered their last night together. She hoped she wasn’t blushing, but she probably was.

  “So why don’t you quit your modeling-or-whatever job you do and be with him. Life’s short honey.”

  “I like what I do.”

  “Uh huh. Is it, you can’t give up the free lipstick, or you can’t give up getting shot at?”

  Sadie bit her bottom lip. “Maybe both.”

  Beatrice picked up her cards and shook her head. “Sooner or later he’ll get tired of waiting for you.”

  “He’s not exactly waiting. We’re together lots.”

  Bee shrugged. “But it could be so much more.”

  Possibly. Sadie didn’t like to think about that. It was too big, too. . . well big. Thinking of commitment to a man made her skin crawl and her feet itchy. She’d been married once and that had been the biggest mistake of her life. Another marriage could screw things up. She liked her life the way it was “My boss would have a heart attack.”

  “Fuck the boss. You only live once, honey. There are no dress rehearsals on this runway. Go for it.”

  “And this comes from a lady who likes living alone.”