A Cold Dark Promise (Cold Justice #8.5)(7)
A beige Maserati convertible with black leather seats was parked beside the steps that led up onto the boat. Alex admired the car. Fast cars were a weakness of his. A young girl ran past him, hair bleached white by the sun, skin tanned as a hazelnut. Her breath was loud and sawing, as if she’d run a long way.
Taylor Masook.
She unhooked a thin chain that hung across the bottom of the steps that led up to the rear deck, darted quickly onboard.
There was no guard visible. No one was on any of the decks Alex could see.
Then angry shouts erupted and echoed off the old, stone walls of the medieval harbor. A girl shrieked. Alex tensed. A tall man with black hair and a heavy beard came into view, dragging Taylor Masook roughly by the arm across the deck.
Ahmed Masook.
Alex stared openly at the commotion along with a couple of other tourists. Ignoring it would look more suspicious.
“How many times have I told you not to leave this boat?” Masook spoke in English. “You are not to play with the local children.”
“But I was bored, Daddy! You were gone so long. Josette wasn’t here.” The girl whined, fighting her father’s grip as he pulled her toward the main stateroom.
Who is Josette?
“I told you to stay here and you defied me.” The man lost his patience and shook the child. “Do. Not. Defy. Me!”
Alex clamped down hard on the urge to rush up there and punch Masook in the nose and take Taylor straight back to her mother.
Some societies were harsher than others. Any parent would be worried if they thought their child might be in danger. Sometimes that manifested itself in shitty parenting. Alex still wanted to punch the guy in the nose.
The girl cried louder, and the man jerked the kid after him. “I should have left you at home in Dubai.”
So, he did live in the UAE. Why had Masook brought his kid here when there was an international warrant out for his arrest? Was he really that arrogant that he didn’t think he’d be caught, or did he have connections with local cops like Jane suspected?
Alex carried on walking along the pier. He’d seen the shadow of someone moving inside one of the staterooms—probably crew, possibly security. Then there was this mystery “Josette.”
Still, it didn’t seem as if lifting this child was going to be difficult. In fact, if he hung out at that coffee shop long enough, young Taylor would probably make another excursion when her daddy wasn’t looking and Alex could scoop her up off the street. Trouble was, he didn’t have time to wait around. Mallory needed him, and he wouldn’t leave her for long.
Alex stared out to sea, letting the ocean calm him. Eventually the setting sun told him it was time to head back to the small chateau he’d rented on the edge of town.
He turned and began walking back. A cherry-red Aston Martin coupe weaved in and out of the people walking along the pier, then swung into one of the parking bays opposite another massive yacht. A bulky man with a shaved head got out of the driver’s side.
“Sch?nes auto.” Nice car. Alex nodded to him politely. The man gave him a chin lift and then adjusted his suit jacket before heading onto a mega-yacht that looked like a mini cruise ship. The Akula. Shark. Alex knew that boat.
He kept strolling along, meandering and taking photographs of everything and anything as his mind whirled. He’d been out of the game for a long time, but he doubted Vladimir Ranich was a reformed arms dealer.
What the hell was Vlad doing here in Antibes, and was his presence related to Jane Sanders’s ex, or just a nasty coincidence?
Chapter Four
Jane stared at the small kidney-shaped swimming pool in the shady courtyard of the small chateau Alex Parker had rented. Dappled sunlight shimmered on the water, dispersed by the shade of a large weeping willow. The smell of lavender permeated the air, and the faint echo of footsteps off old, cobblestone streets danced delicately over pan tiled roofs.
It should have been idyllic and relaxing, but her fingernails bit into the tender flesh of her arms, and her teeth clamped together so fiercely pain shot through her brain. She needed to know what was happening. Had Alex found Taylor? Was Ahmed still on the yacht? Was the yacht still in Antibes?
A song thrush flitted into the garden and darted away when it spotted her standing quietly in the shadows.
Was she doing the right thing in taking a child away from her father? Would this traumatize Taylor? If so, was it worth it? Or was Jane being selfish?
What sort of woman abducted her own child? A child she loved with her whole being, but who probably didn’t remember her. Jane’s mouth went dry as the thoughts whirled in her mind. Unanswerable questions. Hopeless dilemmas.
She closed her eyes as if that would somehow eliminate her doubts and fears.
She wished she could relax, but the knowledge that her daughter could be close-by made thinking about anything else impossible. If it wasn’t for her bodyguard she’d have already gone down to the marina, hoping to catch a peek of her baby. Which was why Alex Parker had assigned her a bodyguard.
Part of her resented Alex for that, but mostly she was just so grateful he was helping her. She didn’t know why he’d changed his mind. She didn’t care. Her only other option had been going to the Gendarmerie Nationale and asking them to execute the warrant for Ahmed’s arrest. Something told her her ex-husband wouldn’t be here so openly if he didn’t have someone on the French police in his pocket. And if Ahmed discovered she was here, if he ever got his hands on her…she was a dead woman.