Page 92 of Nanny for the Mercenaries

I opened the first one:

Harrison: IT’S A SETUP. KADYROVIC KNOWS. GET OUT.

Only thanks to years of practice was I able to remain completely calm. I tucked the phone between my legs and reached next to the seat with my left hand, where my pistol was stashed. My fingers felt around, touching the cheap plastic of the seat, before finally feeling the holster.

Before I could grab it, the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed into the side of my neck. “Nyet,” Kadyrovic said into the radio receiver. “No touch.”

Fuck.

“Do we have a problem, Mr. Kadyrovic?” I asked in a voice that was much calmer than I felt.

“Take us back to the city,” he ordered. “Slowly. If you try to bank hard and throw us off, one of us will shoot you. I can assure you, I have a quick trigger finger.”

I did as I was told, steering the helicopter around in a smooth turn. “I do not understand what is happening, but I am quite certain this is a misunderstanding. Or a mistake.”

The hooded bodyguard had not said a word until this moment. Now he laughed. “The only mistake was what you did to my brothers in Prague.”

The voice triggered a memory deep within my brain. The hairs on my neck would have stood up if not for the gun pressed against them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bodyguard remove his hood. Even then, I barely recognized the man. He must have had some plastic surgery done to his face. But after hearing the voice, there was no mistaking him.

“Anton Novak.”

38

Archer

“If you try anything, we will kill your daughter,” Anton Novak said with a sneer.

“You’re going to kill her anyway,” I said. The words made me want to throw up.Kaylee. Oh God. Not Kaylee.

“Maybe!” Novak admitted. “But perhaps not! Ah hah hah!”

Kadyrovic kept the gun pressed against my neck the entire flight home. My mind raced. I was quite certain I could throw the helicopter into a death dive before Kadyrovic could pull the trigger… but of course, I would die in the process. And it would ensure Kaylee’s doom. I couldn’t do that. I had to stay alive.

So I flew us back to Baku without a fight, and landed at the helipad behind our office. Novak hopped out first, then aimed his gun at me while Kadyrovic did the same. Then they had me exit the helicopter and walk across the runway.

As I had feared, Jordy was on his knees outside the office, with his hands bound behind his back. The other bodyguard stood a short distance away with a pistol trained on him. Jordy gave me a look of defeat.

“It’s not your fault,” I told him. I picked my words carefully, knowing they might be my last. “It’s nobody’s fault.”

“It’sbothof your fault!” Novak said in a crazed, sing-song voice. He sounded like he was on drugs. “You sealed your fates for what you did in Prague. My brothers are rotting in a prison in Hamburg because of you.”

“We were fulfilling a contract,” I said. “We did not make the decisions. Blame the European Union, not us.”

“Big governments are so vague and faceless,” Novak said. “I blame them, but I like blaming you, as well. And all of Mathos Company.” He laughed again, on the edge of madness. “It gives me great pleasure to know that I have used your own company against you!”

“What do you mean?” Jordy asked.

Kadyrovic chuckled. “Stupid Americans. Too arrogant to see what is obvious to the rest of us.”

“The contract to assassinate him,” Novak said, gesturing at Kadyrovic. “Weissued the contract. Put the money in escrow and everything. Worth it to lure you out here. We asked for your team, specifically. And you rushed here as fast as you could! Like moths to a flame! Ah hah!”

The bodyguard that had stayed back with Jordy spoke up. “Amir has not reported back. I suspect he has failed.”

“Your men are worthless,” Novak said acidly.

“My men are quite capable, I assure you.” Kadyrovic took out my phone and held it up to my face to unlock it. “Fuck. The big one stopped us from collecting their daughter and the nanny.”

“Harrison Gray.” Novak said the name like a curse. “I wanted him here the most. Give me that.” He scrolled across the screen. “They have location sharing enabled. He’s on the road, halfway between their hotel and this location.” He tapped the screen a few times and then held it to his ear.

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