Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(95)

“Caldwell was an up-and-comer. Big on the scene. He quickly gained a reputation for being able to get things done. Cleanly. He gained the notice of Maksimov, and Maksimov was interested in dealing with Caldwell. It was why Caldwell was leaving Costa Rica, having reconstructive surgery and assuming an entirely new identity and relocating to Kosovo.

“I got in with Caldwell at the right time. I gained his trust and I did what I had to do to make myself invaluable to him. I also exerted a lot of influence and control over him. It’s what I do. It’s what I did with Farnsworth. It’s a gift, I guess you would say.”

“Some gift,” Maren muttered.

“It’s a very valuable gift,” Hancock said. “After a while I can control them by making them do what I want while making them think it was their idea. And it was working fine until you.”

Maren tied off the knot and then stepped back with a frown. “What did I have to do with anything?”

“He’s bloody obsessed with you,” Hancock said bluntly. “He’s convinced himself that the child you carry is his.”

She went pale and reached out to brace her hand on the bar. Steele wrapped his fingers around her elbow to steady her.

“Easy, Maren,” he murmured next to her ear. “He can’t touch you here. Remember that.”

“He went crazy after I got you out. Lost focus. Didn’t give a shit about Maksimov. Started blowing him off because he was too busy turning the world upside down looking for you.”

“Oh God, please tell me you didn’t give him any information on me,” she said faintly.

Steele slipped his arm around her shoulders, offering her silent support. He was too pissed to say anything.

“I didn’t have to. It’s not hard to find, Maren,” Hancock said in an oddly gentle tone.

Steele was starting to wonder if Rio wasn’t right about Hancock having a heart buried somewhere under all those layers of stone. Hancock was being extremely gentle with Maren, treating her with gloves on. And she’d told Steele the lengths to which Hancock had gone to reassure her when Caldwell had kept her under lock and key.

“So what happened?” Maren blurted. “Why are you here and not with him?”

“I have Maksimov to blame for that,” Hancock replied. “Well, and the fact that Caldwell lost his shit and went off the rails.”

“Spill it,” Steele cut in, impatient to get to the point.

“From the moment Maren left, Caldwell was consumed with getting her back. Nothing else mattered. He was pissed at me, but still afraid enough of me not to push me. He didn’t think I knew the lengths he was going to in trying to locate Maren. He asked me a hundred questions about KGI, when before he’d blown them off as no threat to him.”

“And what did you tell him?” Steele asked harshly. Fuck it all, but all they needed was a batshit-crazy person unleashed on KGI. As if they didn’t have enough to deal with already.

“Nothing that would get him anywhere but enough to keep him busy and occupied. With Maren there, Caldwell was less interested in dealing with Maksimov and more focused on Maren. He was very close to losing his patience where she was concerned, and I expected him to make a move any day.”

Steele’s nostrils flared and his hold on Maren tightened, his fingers digging into her shoulder.

“I had hoped that if I removed Maren from the equation, Caldwell would refocus his attention, forget about her, move on. I underestimated his obsession with her.”

Steele’s eyes narrowed. “So the great badass Hancock f**ked up.”

“If I’d f**ked up, I would have left Maren there,” Hancock said, coldly meeting Steele’s stare.

“Anyway, when Maren was there, Caldwell kept canceling his meetings with Maksimov, citing his surgery and that he wasn’t fully recovered. Even well after the normal recovery period, Caldwell kept blowing him off, and Maksimov is not a man you want to piss off.

“As I said, I’d hoped that if I removed Maren, Caldwell would refocus and move forward and I’d be one step closer to taking them both down. I set up the meeting with Maksimov and then that morning, Caldwell simply disappeared. I went through his correspondence, his computer files, anything I could lay my hands on.

“Then Maksimov shows up and there’s no Caldwell and Maksimov didn’t take that very well. His men worked me over and told me to deliver a message to Caldwell when and if he showed up again. It wasn’t a threat. It was a promise. Caldwell is a dead man.”

“Not if I get to him first,” Steele growled.

“Well, that’s the thing. You’re likely to do just that.”

Hancock glanced at Maren, reluctance in his expression as if he didn’t want to tell her what he was about to say.

“He knows where your parents live. It was evident he’d done extensive research on them and the area in which they live. He’s likely searching for you, but as unstable as he is, he’s likely to completely lose it if he doesn’t find you there.”

All the color leached from Maren’s face. Her eyes were huge, stricken with instant fear. She twisted from his grasp and lunged for Steele’s cell phone, her fingers fumbling with the buttons.

Steele got to her and forced her to look at him. “Breathe, Maren. Call your mom. Make sure everything’s all right. Then let me talk to her. I’ll tell your mom and dad what they need to do and I’ll have Sam get the plane there for them immediately. I don’t want you to worry. We’ll protect them and we’ll protect you.”