Page 17 of Shark Bait

“Why daughter?”

“Our age difference. They’ll eat it up.”

I shake my head.

“I’ll be anything you want me to be, Shark Daddy. Just don’t leave me out here.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Promise.”

I offer her my pinkie, and we shake on it.

“How much money do you think I have here?” she asks.

“Fifteen mil. Give or take.”

Just when I think she’ll let me handle the cavalry the way I thought of handling this, she shouts, “I’ve got over fifteen million in this sheet. You can have one.”

The soldier nods. “Deal.”

She squeals. “Easier than I thought.”

“You’re leaving me, then.”

“I’m not.” She pales when she realizes what she’s done. A hand covers her mouth, then she looks up at the chopper. “Two people. I’m an addition for a million dollars. Got it?”

A rope drops, and two men descend from the chopper. These guys will take care of the vessel. I brief them while the lollipop thief continues negotiating for both of us to get on the chopper. The mercenary accepts her offer of a million dollars, but I’m certain he won’t board another person, which means she’s going. I’d let her, but if Alessio found out they’d rescued a woman instead of me, the chopper would go up in flames somewhere over the blue sea.

More shark food.

Briefly, I consider eliminating the rescue crew and piloting the chopper myself, but then I remind myself I’m not a random killer. I work exclusively for Alessio and on assignments he hands out based on his judgment. I don’t do personal missions. I don’t ask about reasons. I just execute missions. In that way, I’m a very simple man, doing simple things.

In contrast, a pregnant woman is complicated.

I guess I like complicated things.

Once the mercenary starts using a firm tone with her, I get agitated. Before I put a bullet between his eyes, I rest my hand on her shoulder and whisper in her ear, “I’ve got this.”

I can choose between two options. One, the girl boards, and I stay behind. Two, I call Alessio. I’d rather she board the chopper than talk to Alessio about this situation on the phone. I need to tell him about her face-to-face. Bringing in a stranger, a kidnapping victim whose father is a police officer, into an already delicate situation involving the disappearance of twenty-eight members of an organized crime unit is not a small matter.

It’s an “incident.” One incident Alessio will freak out over. And that’s saying something since Alessio is a measured,controlled man. He hates being blindsided, and this counts as a blindside.

In addition, I never cause incidents. The reason I’m the best is that my work is flawless, reliable, and incident-free.

Once the two rescue crew members take over the yacht, the pilot lifts the chopper higher, readying to leave. Lollipop thief takes out a wad of cash and starts waving it at him, promising a second million.

I snatch the money from her hands and toss it back into the sheet, then grab the rope and hook the sheet onto it.

“Hey, whatcha doing loading that money up? It’s gonna fly away with them!”

“Don’t worry about the money. It’s all yours, I promise, and if they take it, I’ll find them.”

The blades’ wind whips strands of her hair across her face as she stands there, gazing at me with those hopeful green eyes. “What’s the plan, then?”

I look up to check on her money, which is safely inside the chopper. I catch the rope and start to strap her in, hoping altitude isn’t bad for her pregnancy. I’m a little stressed out the climb might hurt her baby. I’m hopeful that these guys must have lifted wounded people before, so one preggo girl shouldn’t prove too difficult.

She moves away.

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