Be Brave (35 page)

For a long time, Angel cried, his tears cleansing him of his fear and anger and

pain. Very slowly he became still, his face resting against Kael"s chest, red with

exertion. His chest continued to heave long after he was silent. “Daddy.” Angel"s

voice was so hoarse from screaming that it broke when he tried to speak. “I didn"t

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realize how scared I was for you. I knew I was scared, but it"s the size of the fear I

didn"t understand. And I have been so angry at what Denbigh did to you. Those

things you said to him before you killed him. Did he really do those things to you?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Aren"t you angry about it?”

“I was. Anger kept me alive. It gave me the will to go on. Three things stuck in

my mind when I was trapped and helpless in that cellar. The first one was staying

alive so I could come home to my Angel. The second was staying alive so I could free

Ekaterina just as I promised her. The third was staying alive so I could kill

Denbigh. I achieved all those things, so I"m not angry anymore. I feel at peace, and I

want you to feel at peace with everything you did in Paris. Because everything you

did was right. Are you bothered about the scalpel kill?”

Angel released a long sigh. “I can"t deny it was a big scary thing to do. I felt a

bit numb at the time, but so much was happening. I"ve got no regrets. He was a

piece of shit.”

“Good boy,” Kael said. “How do you feel now? How does your body feel?”

“Empty, like I just had an enema.” He smiled. “Daddy. I love you.”

Kael stood up and carried Angel to the door. He set him on his feet and

unlocked the door. They went to the bedroom, and Angel crawled into bed,

snuggling under the duvet while Kael stripped off his leather. Within minutes they

lay in the cocoon of their bed in the comforting darkness.

“Daddy, can I ask you something private?”

“You already know far more about my work than is safe for you. If I tell you

anything else, I"ll have to kill you.” Kael chuckled.

“Daddy, Denbigh called me the Black Widow"s bitch. A black widow is a spider

that has sex, then kills her mate.”

“I know.” Kael looked at him.

“What did he mean?” Angel asked.

The time to hold back secrets was long past. “There was a rumor about an

operative who had sex with his hits before he killed them. Some of the other

operatives thought it was me. But they were just guessing because nobody tells

anybody anything. People I have known for years at Legoland don"t know what I

do.”

“Was Denbigh"s guess right?” Angel"s eyes were wide as he looked at Kael.

“Yes, he was right. I didn"t rape anyone. But if the man was willing, I did it. Is

that all you wanted to know?”

Cautiously Angel asked, “Daddy, who"s Misha? Is it a girl or a boy?”

Kael"s expression hardened. He didn"t want to think about her right now. “Did

you find my diary again?”

“No, Sir. I only found it the first time because you left it in a drawer.”

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“How do you know about Misha then?”

“You said the name Misha in your sleep so many times over the last couple of

weeks, but especially when you first got home and you were sleeping twenty-four-

seven, and you weren"t yourself yet.”

Kael rolled onto his back, and Angel curled into his side with his head on

Kael"s shoulder. “She was my best mate. She taught me so much, just like I teach

you.” He grinned into the darkness. “The day I met her, she knocked me to the

ground. I never stood a chance.”

“If she could knock down a big dude like you, she must have been strong,

Daddy.”

“No, she wasn"t especially strong, but she compensated by being quick and

learning people"s weaknesses. She spotted me right off as vain and bullheaded.” He

chuckled. “She was great. She had everyone pegged, and she"d give me a head start

by telling me things about people. She was the only person I knew back then who

could make me laugh.”

“Where is she?”

For a long moment, Kael didn"t speak. His throat began to hurt. “One day she

left on an assignment. I didn"t know where because she couldn"t tell anyone. It"s

part of the job.” He stopped speaking to gather himself, taking long breaths in an

attempt to steady his emotions.

“I didn"t see her or have any communication with her for the next five years,

and I missed her every day. I missed her so much it hurt, but I got on with my job,

believing she"d be back eventually. One day Conran called me into his office and

told me everything. All that time she"d been deep undercover in China. Then about

a year before, a spy from our side tipped off his government contact and she was

arrested. Misha was a tough little bugger, like I said. Not strong, but determined. I

bet she gave them a run for their money. Conran said they tortured her for months

and she gave them nothing, not a fucking thing. A prisoner exchange was arranged,

and I was to go to Beijing to collect her and bring her home.”

“You must have been very excited, Daddy,” Angel said quietly.

“I was. I was sick over her being tortured, but I was going to go and get her

and keep her safe. I was going to bring her home, and she"d recover.”

Angel leaned up on his elbow, looking into Kael"s face. Kael almost turned

away, but he felt protected by the darkness and he couldn"t demand more of Angel

than of himself. It was time he faced his demon.

“What happened, Daddy?”

“The exchange was to be made on the Yangtze River. I arrived with a group

from the British Embassy who had brought the Chinese man we were exchanging

Misha for. We were in three cars, and we waited and waited. The Chinese were

hours late, and I was terrified they wouldn"t come. A big speedboat went by several

times, and then it pulled into the dock where the exchange was supposed to happen.

The Chinese man was brought out of the car and got into position to do the walk

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along the dock and onto the boat. Then I saw Misha.” He swallowed hard. “She

never weighed much. Seven and a half stone soaking wet. But she was like a

skeleton. Her eyes were so sunk in her head. Her hair had grown longer. She always

had it short, but it was long and thin, like she was ill. She got off the boat and

started to come toward the shore, but she could hardly walk at all. The Chinese

man walked toward her. They passed in the middle of the dock, which was about

twenty feet long. He was in good condition, and he was in the boat quickly. The boat

began to move back out into the water, and I started running toward Misha.”

Kael stopped speaking. His chest ached it was so tight. His throat felt as if it

had been punched.

“It"s okay, Daddy.” Angel gently patted his shoulder.

“They shot her. Someone on the fucking boat shot her. They were gone down

the river so fast no one could do anything. I couldn"t believe they"d done it. She

stopped and began to waver, and then she fell off the side of the dock into the water.

I dove right in, but even before I got to her, the water was red around her and her

hair was floating. I got her out, but she was already dead. The bullet had got her

through the heart, and she was so weakened from torture that she never stood a

chance.”

Again he paused, his throat so tight he could hardly breathe.

“Did you love her, Daddy?” Angel whispered.

“Yes.” Kael started shaking, and tears flowed down his face. Angel wrapped

his arms tightly around him.

“Let it out, Daddy. Scream if you need to.”

But he didn"t scream. He cried quietly for a long time while Angel held him.

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Chapter Eighteen

Bangkok, Thailand

The smell was noxious to Kael"s sensitive nose, but it didn"t distract him. The

humidity, the noise, and the crowds in the busy market faded to the periphery of his

landscape. The assassin was on the hunt, and nothing mattered but the hit. “
Killing

brings me close to God
,” he had joked to Conran. But Kael didn"t believe in God. He

believed in himself, and he knew what he was doing was right.

This is who I am. This is what I do.

Every cell in his body was calm. He was in the zone, always scanning his

environment, yet completely focused on the man whom he allowed to be no more

than twenty feet ahead of him at any given time.

Darkness fell quickly in Bangkok, despite the city lights. The alleys, the

narrow passageways, the darkened entrances to crowded, dirty buildings in this

shabby part of the city hid a million secrets and gave cover to a million vices. Kael

knew exactly where the man was headed: a restaurant that looked respectable on

the outside. But every man who liked sex with children knew what could be bought

in the rooms behind.

The front of the restaurant was open to the evening air, like many Bangkok

restaurants. The man walked in and up to the bar, where he ordered a beer and

chatted like a jocular, regular patron with the barman. Kael stood across the street

in a doorway with a clear view, but there were simply too many innocent people

enjoying their evening to risk firing through the crowd. He crossed the street and

walked through the restaurant, reaching the bar just as the target walked

confidently through the beaded curtain covering a door in the back.

Now.

The passage was narrow, very dark, and at that second, empty. “Stop and drop

to your knees. Hands behind your head.”

Five feet ahead of him, the man halted and began to turn.

“Don"t turn. Drop.”

The man obeyed.

“Now you can turn.”

Shuffling around on his knees, the man said, “You again. You can"t take me

back to England. They"re done with me. I"ve been paid off. I"m free.”

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“I"m not here in an official capacity, and you"re not going to England ever

again. This is just for me. Every now and then, I get the urge to sweep the streets,

and you"re a piece of shit that needs sweeping away.” Without taking his eyes off

Graham Clement or lowering his gun, Kael said, “Do it now, exactly as I told you.”

Angel pulled his GLOCK subcompact from the shoulder holster concealed

under his lightweight jacket. His hands perfectly steady, he aimed and fired.

Graham Clement crumpled to the ground with a bullet in the exact center of the

forehead.
Third eye
is how Kael had described it to him. “Good lad! Go!”

He followed Angel out into the restaurant, running all the way, and into the

alley exactly as they had planned. They ran until they reached the rented car and

were on the main road out of Bangkok before either spoke. “Has your heart slowed

down yet?” he asked Angel.

“I"m good, Daddy,” Angel said calmly. “That was my first hit. Not my first kill,

but my first hit.”

“It wasn"t official. No one but us knows what we did.”

“I know. But it was the right thing to do, wasn"t it, Daddy?”

“Yes, it was, and you are growing into a man I am proud of.”

“I feel really good,” Angel said. “I feel peaceful.”

Kael took his hand and squeezed it. “That"s my boy.”

Loose Id Titles by Fyn Alexander

Precious Jade

The ANGEL AND THE ASSASSIN Series

Angel and the Assassin

Be Brave

Fyn Alexander

I grew up in Liverpool, England, with a great love of books and the English

language. As an adult I moved to Canada, but I return to England to visit every few

years to remind myself of my roots. I love writing and I love romance, so bringing

the two together is a perfect fit.
Precious Jade,
my first published book, was

inspired by a visit to the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, in early 2009. I have always had