Page 61 of Wired Target

“Missed you too.”She rested her silky head on his shoulder for a moment.His chest hurt with love.He patted her back.

Armita introduced Momi to Feirn and told her to fetch her block set to play with while the grownups talked.Momi ran off with Feirn in tow.

“Can I hold him?”Connor asked, reaching out an arm for Sean.

“No.You’re injured.”Armita took the armchair near the bed and settled the baby on her lap.“You can see him from here.”

Connor gazed at the baby.Sean was radiant with health and good energy; his changeable hazel eyes tracked every move Connor made as he cooed and babbled.“He’s beautiful.Reminds me of Jake.”He frowned at Armita.“What happened in the house?”

“Pim Wat.She came for the children while Sophie was occupied outside—with you.”

Shock widened Connor’s eyes.“But I saw her ...”

“You saw an assassin who dressed up as Pim Wat used to look.One of Mendoza’s people.”

“How ...”

“Pim Wat sneaked in during the distraction at the gate.She came at me in the kitchen with her knife.I knocked it away.She grabbed another knife from the block and threw it at me.Gave me a scratch on the ribs.Then, I nailed her with a jar of spaghetti sauce.”A wicked gleam lit Armita’s dark eyes.“Unfortunately, she lived.”

Connor shuddered in reaction.“Where were the children?”

“They were in the nursery, thankfully.”

“They could have been hurt!”

“She did not want that.I did not want that.So, no.They wouldn’t have been hurt.”Armita’s certainty was bracing.

“And then?”

“She went down.I tied and gagged her and took her to the basement.Then, I went back up and got the children and brought them down too.We waited for Sophie to come.And she did.”

“And Pim Wat?”

“Still in the basement.And yes, she’s alive.”Armita paused thoughtfully.“Unless Sophie killed her when I left them alone together.But I don’t think so.She told me she’d leave her in the dark for McDonald to fetch, and then play with.”

Momi returned.Feirn followed, carrying a bin of blocks.“You want to play, Unco Connor?”

“Thanks, Little Bean, but I need to rest right now.”

Armita fetched a bottle of formula and fed Sean.Both seemed unperturbed by the events of the day.Connor watched Momi and Feirn stack blocks on the floor, his mind in a whirl.

Somewhere beneath them, Pim Wat waited in the dark.

Alive.

35

The smell of burning plastic, hot metal and spent fuel assaulted Sophie’s nose as she headed for her car after seeing to Connor’s transport to the main house.She glanced at the open gate; she was on her way to see her father in the hospital, and there was no point closing the entry when the threat was over.

“Why shut the barn door when the horse has galloped away?”she muttered.

Her phone dinged with an incoming message; Sophie stopped to look at it as a voicemail from an unknown number registered.She didn’t have time to listen to a strange message now.She’d pick it up once she got on the road for the hospital.

She slid the phone back into her pocket as Lei approached.

“Going to see your dad?”

“Yes.”Sophie paused; she’d told Lei and the other first responders when she came up from the panic room that the intruder had run off.She hated to lie, but couldn’t risk Pim Wat becoming entangled in the investigation and being taken away; she needed her mother as a bargaining chip with the CIA.“I’ve got to see how Dad’s doing.”

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