Page 75 of Wrecked
“The same person I believe who has put Phoebe in danger. Her father, Adam Kovac.”
He grabbed his head. The lights above and behind him silhouetted his body. Moths flew in and out, taking kamikaze runs at the lights.
“Man, this is screwed up.” He dropped his hands. “He’s your stepfather? Why would he do that?”
Muscles in her neck tightened. “Kovac isnothingto me andneverwill be. He got my mother pregnant and married her, then basically ignored her after Phoebe reached six. He went back to his world of shipping and high finance while dating other women, most of them closer to my age. My mother had him served with divorce papers. She didn’t ask for anything astronomical, just a reasonable amount to raise Phoebe. Kovac called, talking nice and telling her they’d work out the details. He asked that she wait until after October because he had so much traveling coming up.”
“Sounds like it should have been an amicable divorce, but I get the feeling that wasn’t the case,” Leclair said.
“You’d be correct. A week after that call, Mother came down very sick and no one has been able to heal her. I can’t prove Kovac poisoned her, not yet, but this is a man who will not willingly pay for a divorce. Now he’s involved in something bad, and Phoebe is in the middle of it. I think Phoebe was taken to force Kovac to do what the kidnapper wants to happen, or Phoebe will be used to hurt Kovac.”
“What do you think he’s doing for his part?”
“Honestly, I have no idea. My first guess would be using his shipping lines, but in addition to doing business with the US, he has contacts all over Europe, India, and Asia.”
Leclair’s eyes moved back and forth while he stared at nothing. He sorted through every piece of information.
“How can anyone use a child in what sounds like international espionage of some sort?”
“I haven’t been close with Phoebe, but I don’t hate her like he does. In hindsight, I wish I’d taken more time with her and maybe I could have steered her away from the fast crowd she hung with. I think she confused them with friends.” Hallene’s eyes burned, but she would not cry. Her MO was to curse and go for the jugular when protecting someone.
“Damn,” Leclair whispered. “There is bad in this world, then there’s evil.”
He got it. He understood every part of what happened to Phoebe was unfair on multiple levels.
“I’ve told you all I can about who I’m hunting,” Hallene pointed out, ready for his side. “Who areyouafter?”
He washed a hand over his face and again leaned those muscular forearms on the table. He started to speak then became very still and whispered, “Don’t move until I tell you. Then stand up slowly and lift your bag to hunt for something. Then laugh out loud and walk over to my side.”
She was so disappointed he would not share what he had. “Have you lost your mind? I asked for—”
“Hush.”
That had been a command as surely as a general giving an order. He wasn’t playing a game.
Her training took over, warning her to pay attention. She looked closer at him. He’d dropped his chin, leaving the brim of his ball cap to shield his eyes, but his gaze stared past her with hawk-like intensity.
He saw a threat.
Her pulse jumped out of sight. She could see nothing in the reflection of the restaurant’s small window slotted into a brick wall.
She felt vulnerable with her back exposed and no way to see what was coming, but she remained still.
Leclair continued in a serious monotone as he casually picked up his meal remnants and placed all of it on his tray. “Once you reach this side of the table and I tell you to go, walk into the restaurant. Turn left immediately and run to the back exit. Wait for me only thirty seconds. If I’m not there by then, find a place to hide long enough to load the gun in that bag with the ammo I heard jingle, then use your instincts and escape.”
He was saying if he couldn’t follow her, as in he would be injured too badly or ... dead. He was risking his life for her.
She’d pushed him to be her backup.
She never expected him to put his life between her and danger. “I’m not leaving you.”
Eyes still fixed on something behind her, he said, “Don’t, Hailey. Not now. This is important.”
This was it, the moment she either believed him without question or not. This was no joke. He could have pulled something fast before now, but he hadn’t.
He’d complained they weren’t ready to operate as a team because she was holding onto control with an iron grip.
It was time for her to step up and become the person who could follow instructions just like any of his team members who valued his assessment.
