Taggart handed her the phone.
Ben eased his head around the left side of the SUV, trying to figure out where Kenzie had gone.
A bullet hit the ground not an inch from him.
So many spankings. How long could he go? He worked out. As exercises went, the motion was probably one he could keep up for a long time.
Sosa dialed a number and put the cell to her ear. Then dialed again. And a third time before someone picked up. “Gabby, it’s Sosa. No, I am not dead. Like he could kill me. No, I find the target and he turns out to be nice man who wants to help us. Like we always talk about. He is spy with many contacts, and his wife is one of us. Not one of you because you are actually French, but she know about us and wants to help. Also, his daughter is Bratz doll, and she’s stalking you now. Come out of tree. They have the Pop-Tarts and you can have all the bread you want, and they have many streaming channels.”
Ben sighed. His life depended on traumatized girls who wanted to escape a low-carb diet and binge watch some shows.
“Hey, tell her I’ll take her to Costco and she can buy out the bread section,” Taggart snarked.
Sosa’s eyes widened as though he’d offered her the world. “Yes, he say he has Costco card.”
Then there was a scream and Ben no longer cared someone was going to shoot him. He stood and started running for the tree line. Kenzie couldn’t be hurt. He wouldn’t even think about her being dead.
Kenzie had someone on the ground and they were tussling.“Zhalkiy gadyonysh. Lezhat’, a to budet khuzhe.”
The other girl was on her belly, and there was a sniper rifle about three feet from her hands along with a backpack that had obviously fallen since it had spilled out across the grounds.
He was pretty sure Kenz had climbed up that tree and hauled her prey down.
Damn, she was hot when she was fighting. Also, he was pretty sure she still wasn’t wearing underwear.
The young woman Sosa referred to as Gabby’s head came up, and a flash of hope hit her eyes. “Mister, please help me. I was bird watching and this crazy Russian woman is trying to kill me. My friend Sosa is here. She will tell you.”
Ben holstered his gun since it looked like Kenz had this one. “Hername is Gabby, babe, and I don’t think she speaks Russian.”
“No, she is not smart enough.” Sosa was suddenly beside them, and she was allowing Taggart to balance against her shoulder. She’d tied her sweatshirt across his injured leg. “She only to be speaking French and English. Her Russian is not good. French is bullshit so we use English, which is also bullshit, but it wasn’t English man who sells me out so here we are.”
“They told me you were dead.” Gabby’s English was way better than Sosa’s. “Could someone tell the Bratz doll not to kill me?”
Kenzie’s eyes held a deeply enraged flame that he hoped never to see again. His baby could only be pushed so far. He needed to calm her down.
“You are not a Bratz doll, baby. You are the sexiest fuck toy ever created. You’re Spy Barbie, and I will give up all my secrets if you let that one go,” he said in a soothing tone. “Although you look hot like that. Damn, baby, you are fierce.”
“Like a model?” Kenzie asked, her eyes narrow.
“Like a psycho,” Gabby complained.
“Like you could be onVogueright now,” Ben replied. He was dealing with a gorgeous beast. He thought he’d seen this part of Kenzie before, but that had almost always been her twin. So much so he’d questioned if Kala was always the one to do the dirty work and Kenzie handled anything that needed a softer touch but no, here she was. There was a part of this woman who relished the kill when she thought it was justified. Which it wasn’t here. She would feel bad later. “Baby, she’s a kid.”
Gabby frowned. “I am not a kid.”
Ben pointed to one of the items that had fallen to the yard when their tussle had taken them out of the trees. “Then why do you carry around a teddy bear?”
Kenzie’s head swiveled, and she caught sight of the sad-looking pink bear on the grass. Her hands loosened. There she was. The sweet side. It could be coaxed back out. “Oh, that’s so cute.”
Sosa shook her head. “It’s good way to smuggle in the poisons.”
Gabby took advantage and rolled out from under Kenzie, grabbing the bear. “I do not poison. That is Uma’s job and she would… Well, she would poison me if I try. You know who gave this to me.”
Sosa’s expression softened. “I do. Gabby, he say he can help. Hesay he will help get our sisters out.”
Gabby clutched that worn-out teddy, ignoring the guns and knives that had also fallen. “I don’t simply want out.”
“I will help you burn them all down,” Taggart promised.
