Think.Think clearly.The ambassador was no ordinary father.Even if he didn’t hurt Karolina in the physical sense, he would delight in torturing her in other ways.Unless Karolina was a spy for her father and her work here was done?
No.No!He refused to accept that.She’d proven from the moment they’d met that she was her father’s daughter in name only.
The Kawasaki was his fastest way out of London.He’d barely gone a mile when a call came through on his helmet mic.
“Is that Casanova?”a familiar voice wheedled.
“What the hell?”
“If you want your wife back alive, you’d better get here to the embassy fast.”
“Wait—” The ambassador cut the call before Conor had chance to ask if Karolina was okay.Okay?Was he crazy?Karolina could only be in mortal danger.
Gaining entry into the embassy was easy.The butler was pleasant because he remembered Conor as an honored guest, but the guard next to him remained stone-faced as he escorted Conor across the hall.
“Please convey my salutations to the ambassador, and thank him once again for a most instructive gift.”
Even though the security guard clearly wished him dead, or perhaps hoped he might be asked to have a hand in Conor’s demise, the man leered at him.A wife as a gift he could understand.
“You won’t mind if I wait in the library while you tell the ambassador that his son-in-law is here?”He didn’t wait for the thug to answer.The library door was open a crack, and the room served his needs as well as any other.
“Don’t let me keep you from your duties,” he told the guard with a familiar pat on the arm.“I’m sure you have better things to do than wait with me,” he prompted when the guard seemed hesitant about leaving him.“Just let the ambassador know I’ve arrived, will you?”
While the man hurried away, Conor used his high-tech wristwatch to kill the lights.His watch could bring down the national grid.Tonight, he’d settle for turning off the power at the embassy.With the door left open a crack, he could hear the guard blundering about in the darkness.After waiting a couple more seconds, he slipped out the door.
It was a shock for Karolina when the lights went out.Then she realized the power cut couldn’t have come at a better time.Freeing her wrists, she made short work of the rope lashed around her ankles.Rubbing the raw skin, she stood and stretched her stiffened limbs.
She sensed rather than saw the man in charge of guarding her, coming toward her.It had taken him a second or two to become accustomed to the lack of light, by which time, Karolina was free, fired up, and ready to fight.
Using all her senses, she detected the guard, his midsection, and, a split second later, both knees.As he stumbled, she launched a vicious kick at his head.The crash brought her father running from the adjoining room.He’d have a gun.Lashing out, she had the relief of hearing something heavy drop and skitter across the floor.
With a shout of anger, the ambassador barreled into her, bringing them both to the ground.He covered her mouth with his hand.As she launched a kick, she grunted in pain as he rammed an elbow into her ribs.He yelled and pulled back when she bit down on his hand.Gagging at the taste of his blood, she spat it out and raced for the door.Trying to slam the door in his face met with unyielding force.Springing away, she made a dash for the stairs, but the ambassador was close behind her.
The ambassador tightening up his defenses came as no surprise to Conor.Iron grills slamming into place around him however, were an inconvenience he hadn’t bargained for.Add to that deafening sirens that threatened to disorient him, and his dive toward the fast-closing space beneath the last remaining grill was purely instinctive.
He skidded across the floor and emerged on the other side with not a moment to spare before the bone-crushing grill hit the ground.Jumping up, he felt along the wall until he found the door leading to the basement.Opening it cautiously, he descended the stairs into unrelieved black.
Hearing Karolina’s furious protests as she was recaptured drove him on.
“Ah, so now I have a matching pair,” the ambassador crowed.Lights flashed back on without warning.Conor had guessed the embassy would have a generator, but had underestimated the time it would take to switch the power back on.
Screwing up his eyes against the glare, he saw Karolina shake her head, warning him to say nothing, while the ambassador waved his gun to indicate that Conor should stand against the wall alongside Karolina, who was shaken, but unharmed, he noted with relief.
“Drop your gun.”The ambassador’s glance at Karolina saved the need for additional words.This was a man who would kill his own mother without a second thought.The daughter he barely tolerated wouldn’t stand a chance.
He dropped his weapon.
“Now kick it away.”
He did that too.
Resting the length of his body against Karolina’s with the intention of reassuring her meant he was unprepared when she dove for the gun.Snatching it up, she held it at arm’s length in both hands.And leveledit at him.
“Is this a joke?’the ambassador demanded, staring at his daughter as she held the gun on her husband.
“A joke?No,” she stated with icy calm.“Now you can have all the ponies you want and I can have my freedom.That’s my price, by the way, in case either of you is in the slightest doubt.Drop your gun, Daddy—”
“Daddy?”both Conor and the ambassador exclaimed.
